INT: Let's continue with sports?
FB: You mentioned earlier about being the first woman, I remember I was in a locker room at the Rose Bowl and Robert Wright who was the head of NBC at the time was in a client tent afterwards and somebody introduced us and said, "This is the stage manager." Mrs. Wright said, "I'm so happy to see a woman stage manager." I said, "Yes you should speak to your husband here about getting a few more. I think I'm it." I don't think he was happy with that. Actually, I don't know if it was that game or another one, before I met him I was in the booth trying to get ready with Merlin Olson and Dick Enberg and we were getting ready to go on and this man comes in and starts talking to them. I said, "Excuse me, we are starting a game." I pushed him, did whatever I had to do. Off we go. And afterwards the audio guy asked, "Do you know who you just pushed out of the booth?" I said, "No I had to get them on the air." He said, "That was Robert Wright." I don't think he recognized me. But they never did get another woman. But I was the first woman at a locker room at a playoff or whatever in baseball. I remember going in there, they are taking their clothes off because they know I am there, I tried not to notice, then they poured the champagne all over me. They accepted it, they thought it was fun. I was with NBC, I wasn't a sports writer, I wasn't going to hurt them. It was kind of fun. After I got into football and baseball I wanted to get into golf. Carl [Carl McCarthy] had that sewn up. I will never forget the day, he says, "I am going on vacation to Mexico." I said, Be careful." No, he was skiing. I said, "Be careful, you can hurt yourself." I get a phone call, he broke his leg, he can't do the Bob Hope golf tournament in Palm Springs. They hired Orlando Smith and want you to do the talent on the ground. So off I go. Larry Cirillo says it's Bob Hope's twenty-fifth anniversary or something, get as many as you can to wish him happy birthday. This man didn't know me from a hole in the ground, but I had called him to get into sports. Now I go off, its the pro-am, here are actors and people I knew from NBC. Everybody came right over and did what I asked them to do. Cirillo is standing there, wondering, "How did she do that?" I got everything he wanted except Jack Nicklaus who had to practice his putting. I got everybody. Interviews after the tournament, everything went well, I get a call saying "Don Ohlmeyer wasn't too happy with the fellow in the booth, do you want to do Tucson?" I said, "I would love to do it." He said, "You did such a good job we will give you the chance, we just need the booth. If you do well maybe you can do the rest of the tour." Off I go to Tucson. Now I have John Brodie in the booth - is it okay to tell this? I don't know him, I introduce myself, and Arnold Palmer was the color man. Now John, he is a football player, you say, "Good morning, isn't it beautiful?" He says, "No it's awful." "Do you want something black?" "No, it's grey." He is a negative kind of guy, nice man but he is a quarterback, he ran the show. "John, I will countdown but don't talk until I touch your shoulder. It takes time for them to roll the tape up. If you talk when I say one we cut you off." He talked, it was beautiful. In and out of commercial, right dialogue, proper things to read. Perfect. On camera, perfect. "I'm doing really good, right?" The next day comes, this is an intelligent quarterback, he can remember signals. Do I have to tell him five, four, three, two, one? No. He did this yesterday. We come in and he says, "Hi, folks," but I haven't said one. And Ohlmeyer is screaming and says, "Don't say anything ever again, I will tell you when to talk." We go to commercial, Ohlmeyer says, "Don't take anymore cues from that stage manager. I will cue the rest of the show." We finish the hour and a half, we go downstairs, go to the client tent, I see Don Ohlmeyer. I walked up to him and said, "I would like to say something to you. I think it was wrong of you to immediately believe his mistake was mine. Let me tell you how it was. Yesterday I said, 'I'll say countdown, you don't talk until I touch your shoulder.'" I'm touching Ohlmeyer's shoulder. "Now I didn't figure this morning I had to repeat the direction, I did not. I counted down and he talked on my one. He did not wait." I was livid. Don said, "Oh, okay. Sorry." I walked off. Everybody, I remember, said, "You did it, you won't work again." I did not do anything wrong, I was in the right, Brodie was wrong. I get a phone call from Cirillo, "Do you want to go to Texas next week?" I said, "I'm not fired?" He said, "No, you are not, Ohlmeyer realized he made a mistake and you were right, you are hired." Nineteen years I did sports for NBC. [INT: That's a great story.] You got to stand up for yourself once in awhile.

INT: Did you ever do the Olympics?
FB: I did the pre-Olympic trials in Rome. They wouldn’t, the west coast, you know for NBC sports, the west coast is the hinterlands. Everybody goes to all the places from New York. I was taking a trip to Italy at the time. And I found out it coincided with the pre-Olympic trials in Rome. I talked to Charlie Jones who was the announcer in golf, doing track and field. They said, "If you are there we will hire you." My dad is funny because he can speak Italian. He would run and get newspapers and whatever, he was the translator for Charlie. I did that in Rome for a week, that was fascinating. [INT: So being a...] Oh, I forgot. They asked me to go to Beijing, I forgot. I would have had to do the opening and closing ceremonies and sit in between. I had just met my soon-to-be husband, I thought, "I will never see him again." I wanted to go but never had an interest in the far east. Between that and Donny [Donny De Simone], I turned it down.

INT: So as a staff stage manager you are in a unique position. You have been able to do everything from live sports to the daytime soap. You’ve done some variety and quite a bit of it. How about the area of news. We have grown up in political times along with television, what is your experience and how does it relate to stage manager?
FB: The first thing I did was the debate with, who was it, Jerry Masterson and I did it, I don't even remember the names. We ran that one, all the secret service. That was a funny story. When we had Ronald Reagan at the birthday bash at the Kennedy Center with Dave Wader [David Wader] who you may be interviewing. The Secret Service had to sweep the center. For Bob [Bob Hope], he likes to have little cards, so I had all these index cards and also had scissors to cut and paste. I went out for some reason, came back with my bag and stopped me, they found the scissors, they said, "You can't take the scissors." I said, "I have to. I'm Mr. Hope's stage manager and I have to cut things up for the index cards." They had a big conference and let me take it in because they realized I wasn't going to kill anybody. I had to do my job. But then I did, that was the only news thing I did was that debate but then I kept running into presidents. Gerald Ford in golf, Reagan in baseball, I have a picture of Nancy [Nancy Reagan] in the booth, me with Ronald and Vin Scully. He got such a kick out of being in the booth. It's amazing, you are the President but you come to the baseball game and you are in the booth with the announcer and it is better than being the President. The reaction of these people running the world, it's a little baseball game. That's about it as far as the news. News is a whole different section.

INT: When you work in variety, especially with Hope [Bob Hope], because he gets such a variety of people with, if I'm correct, very little time for rehearsals. Are there any stand-outs or experiences that you had to deal with? Guests coming in, putting out a fire?
FB: Not really. I went with him to Annapolis. Again, the one stage manager. That's rough, because you are doing everything running around trying to get the Secretary of State... and in Texas we are in a hanger doing another, he was always with the troops or in Annapolis with all the cadets. You had to really be on your toes to keep everything going and set up right and moving. 'Cuz when he came in he didn't want to work or wait around. He wanted everyone on their toes. He had such a reputation of being tight with his money and we were in Annapolis and he and his makeup guy took me out to the site one day, 'cuz my little cadet hadn't showed up. He said, "I want to stop at the PX on the way." I wanted to shop, too. I got a rain jacket and a couple of things. I was paying for it. He said, "Put your money away." And he paid for my few little things. He isn't cheap, he was just a great guy. I love Bob. And his wife was charming. She was charming. Just a good group of people.

INT: There is a whole area which is actually making a comeback with reality TV in the form of game shows and competitions. With game shows you have some talent, but a lot of technology. Things that need to be cued as opposed to people. You are dealing with directors who are cuing things rather than stories and people. I would love to know how you started in game shows and what was different about your work as a stage manager in that genre versus everything else.
FB: That's a whole other level. I'm not talking about stage managing. I'm telling stories. [INT: You are talking about stage managing. As you have said, the stage manager function seems to go in a few different areas.] Well, on WHEEL OF FORTUNE, you go in and sit, make sure the prizes are set up right. You had your list of what would come out on each platform. In those days I think stuff was on platforms, you have to make sure the board is set up right. That was a different thing, you didn't cue much, but you cued things rather than people. Except for the girl and the host. I will never forget on HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, you had to get how many people out into the squares. They didn't want to come out. They were having fun backstage getting ready and telling stories. You had to drag them all out. In those days too, I don't know how it works now, but you did five shows in one day, you never stopped. Everyone was upset, you only got paid for one day of work instead of five shows. That was interesting. You didn't have much to do there except for people. On NAME THAT TUNE, that was a other whole thing. Now I'm getting mixed up with my compliance and practices stuff. On NAME THAT TUNE I had to time credits, had to time all of the plugs. One thing I will remember, as the stage manager, you had to set up the boards at the end with all the sponsors. You would spend hours saying "A little more to the left." In those days you didn't have digital; you had cardboard and would slide it into a slot. It's all pretty basic now.

INT: In the span of your career, the word "stage manager" is really a very accurate title. On a game show you had to manage every detail, every thing. And you had to do it by the rules. In the stage managers craft, how could you or did you prepare on the technically oriented shows?
FB: Well the PA would give you a list of what the prizes were, which shows, how you were doing them, who was on them, you had your schedule to follow, they laid it all out, and you had to make it work. [INT: Also on game shows, you talk about the professional people you had to work with. Whether it's the host or a talk show host, or whether its an actor. Now you are getting into the game shows and you have contestants who are not actors, who may have never seen a camera. How do you make them feel comfortable?] Well as far as the contestants were concerned in different shows, that's a whole other contestant area. You had to make sure they were locked up, that they didn't get out, that they didn't see anything we were doing on the stage. Between you and the coordinator you knew they were safe. They didn't come out until they were ready. You didn't deal with them. The coordinators dealt with them, told them how to act, what they were to do, that was a whole other world. That was the one time we didn't have to deal with the people. I don't know what happens now.

INT: It seems to me like you have covered and worked in every genre of live and recorded television?
FB: I missed tennis. [INT: That’s still sports. Let's get into the personalities. I know you worked with Don Rickles, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Regis Philbin, Mike Douglas.] Regis was funny, let me interrupt. I used to do the Rose Bowl every year. One year, I was doing Regis as well. As a staff person you were put on everything. They say do it and you do it. He decided he would do a New Years Eve show. We went in in the afternoon, set it up, it went on the air at midnight, we went to two, I went home, showered, change, went to the Rose Bowl at 4 AM. Did prep and sound check, waited, did the game, finished at six thirty or seven, and Dick Enberg said "I am having a party." I said "I've been up for two days, I'm going home." Because of the way they scheduled, you never knew where you were going to be. If they scheduled you, you just kept going. They don't do that anymore. [INT: You never really had the ability to turn anything down. Was there a situation where you refused something?] Never.

INT: Soap operas, you've done a lot of live and specials, one-shot deals. Soap operas you’ve worked on for more than twenty years, how does one keep it fresh? You haven't retired, don’t look like you will retire, how do you keep it fresh?
FB: I don’t know, I never thought about that. It's funny, some days you feel like it's one show and it will never end. You can't remember what the beginning was or the middle, you just keep going. One day we were there for fifteen hours, going back and forth. Now we try to stay in one studio, but this time we go back and forth. We were all half-dead, slogging across to change studios, and I said, "This must be what hell is like." You go from one stage to the other. And you never finish the show. You just keep going back. Everybody laughed. But I don't know if it's because everyday is a different challenge. I walk in and say I never thought I would see anything different. And I have. Everyday something different happens. That sounds ridiculous. You think you've seen it all. But some circumstance, something comes about and you go, "I thought I had seen it all and I haven't." Maybe that's the intrigue. You just never know what will happen so you keep going back.

INT: So you’ve been with a soap for so many years. How do you keep from being burned out?
FB: I think because of the way they set the schedule up originally they wanted me there five days a week for continuity. After a few months my boss came down and said, "We think you are getting a little beat up so we will start putting you on game shows a couple of days a week. We will put everybody three days a week." Because it was rough. Then I got into the sports. And I would work Monday, Tuesday, have Wednesday off, maybe work Thursday, not the soap, and then travel Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on the sports. Basically I had one day a week off. But I was doing different things. When GE took over NBC they called my scheduling woman on the floor and said that, "You made a big mistake with this girl here. You have her working three hundred days a year." She said, "No, she only has Wednesdays off." They said, "You can't have one day off." She said, "Well, she wants to work on the weekend." Well, they couldn't get over that. Then on my Wednesdays I would go over to B AND B [THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL] for three years. I think I'm a workaholic. And of course when I married my husband he was the lighting director on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. So for the fifteen years we were together we were together. It wasn't like I never see my husband. But I think the coming and going, when they were smart enough to take me off a couple of days and not have you constantly, it kept it fresh. It's like you come back to something new. Now, the last six or seven years its been pretty much days and I would work three or of our days and take this off. As a freelancer you had that option. Now because it's a weekly, they want us there everyday. I'm there week in and week out, but we have thirteen weeks a year off. I don't get burned out. And if you do you have that week off to pull yourself together.

INT: Through all the work you’ve done over all these years, are there any particular directors that stand out that you’ve had the opportunity to work with, that have influenced you or have really made a difference?
FB: I loved Harry Coyle in sports. I admired Don Mischer for what he could put together. There are so many I don't know where to begin. Everyone I worked with has been talented and giving and friendly and pleasant. Except for a couple of personalities I can never say I didn't enjoy being with any of the crews I worked with. [INT: Are there any directors you would still like to work with?] Sure, I mean I'm a second assistant director, I crossed over and did all the paper. I didn't have to go to the trainee program because I had enough hours as a stage manager. I filed in that paperwork so I could be hired as a second assistant director, except I'm lost at NBC, nobody knows I'm alive to hire me. [INT: Would you like to do a movie?] Of course. When I did the couple I mentioned, being a PA and working to get the permits in the White House event, though it was slower, it was fascinating. There were different areas to cover. I would love to do a movie before I quit. It probably won't happen, like I won't ever get an Emmy. But you never know. Hope springs eternal. [INT: Get an Oscar instead.]

INT: Of your job, both the one you are doing currently and looking back, what is the best thing about being stage manager for you?
FB: The best thing, as far as, well because I've been at NBC primarily, and I started there as a dancer, on THE DINAH SHORE SHOW [THE DINAH SHORE CHEVY SHOW] years ago, that's been my home for fifty years. It's like a home away from home. Maybe that's why I keep going back. A family, you are with the same people day in and day out. They are your family as opposed to your real family. It's a friendly atmosphere normally. I forget the question. [INT: Best thing?] That's it, you have a place and a job to do. And it's appreciated usually. And you feel you are giving something to the industry. You try to make your product the best you can make it. I think that's all anybody can ask for at any job. And it's challenging, everyday is different. It's never the same. That's probably the key to the question why you are not burned out, it's never the same. And how can you be bored with something that's different all the time? [INT: And when you were that dancer and watching the people in the background, before you decided to be a stage manager, and then you became one, what were your expectations and did anything surprise you about the job that you hadn't expected?] I don't think so. I worked with so many of them, so many people had stage managed me. I remember I was doing the DEAN MARTIN [ROWAN AND MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN] show, here was one fellow who used to come down and instead of knocking on the door he would open the door and say, "Fifteen minutes." There we all were standing in our underwear. But no. I can't think. [INT: The fact it's always exciting and new, by not having expectations of one thing, that keeps it fresh.]

INT: There have been huge technology changes, a lot of requirements that could involve the shooting day. Have things like product placement affected your work?
FB: We only did product placement for maybe two or three products in the space of a couple of months a few years ago. Just make sure the broom is sitting there so they can see it. It didn't affect me. We are still an old fashion soap. [INT: With your work as a stage manager you worked in so many different areas, what would be your advice to someone coming in now saying I want to be a stage manager?] Go to the theater. I don't know, with this technology. I will never forget when we got ear pieces in sports. One of the fellows brought me the hidden one, I said, "I'm going to try that on the talent this week." I will never forget, I had them ready to go, no camera, and Ohlmeyer [Don Ohlmeyer] is screaming in my ear "Why don't you get them mic'd up Fran?" I said, "They are mic'd; they have wigglies in their ear." I said, "Turn your head Don," the other fellow, I said, "This is something new you are trying. Wow that is great." But the fact was that then they could bypass me and talk directly to him. Afterwards I could have killed the guy for bringing it up. But I don't know if they will find a way to get rid of us and not utilize us. I don't know if there will be a way to put it in their ears and give them cues, but maybe they can. I don't know what I would tell a young person wanting to be a stage manager. I don't know what the longevity of stage managers really is. It can be utilized in another way, I do not know.

INT: Fortunately you make a perfect segue. I'm getting into Guild [DGA] involvement, with a contract you can't be replaced with an ear piece. That is in the contract. Did you ever have any desire or think about directing on your own?
FB: They tried to get me to be an associate director and move into the booth when Berle [Milton Berle] retired. But I didn't want to. That's when Herb Stein moved up and did that, I stayed as stage manager. And sometimes I think that was a mistake, if I should have stayed and done that or maybe progressed like Arleen Sorkin and other people I know who became directors. I know we had Pam Fryman direct for a while, look at her. I would want a sitcom or variety show. I think the best thing I would love to do is the variety show because I know music. When I stage managed MIDNIGHT SPECIAL with Ellen Brown who was the AD, I would sit and talk, work together on stage setting up the music segments and she would show me how she counts the bars for the camera cuts, and I watch shows now and thought, "Why don't they get a wide shot?" I would do it differently. If I directed that's what I would want to do. But not a soap.

INT: Regarding the Guild [DGA], did you join right away at NBC?
FB: I joined it with ALL IN THE FAMILY when Norman [Norman Lear] gave me my six weeks. I served on the national board of negotiations for contracts, I served on the AD/SM board, those were the days where you have only one term. You've been here how many years? They threw me out after my first term, said you can't run again. George Sunga was - I replaced him or he replaced me. [INT: You had a thirty-year break, come back.] Okay. But you had to leave. And I don't think, I can't remember if I ever put my name back in or not, I think I didn't because I was so busy working I didn't know if I could make the meetings so I never looked into that again. I had participated in some DGA things at the beginning of my career. [INT: Can you remember the first meeting you attended and what it was like?] Scared to death. I don't really remember except thinking, "What do I do and say?" I didn't know anything. I was new, but it's a good way to learn and meet people, that's for sure. [INT: You were involved with the board of negotiations, what kind of experience was that?] That was fascinating. We went to New York, we had meetings in New York. I will never forget because GE was about to take over NBC and I will never forget because I remember this one fellow stood up and GE was saying this, he said, "We are not making light bulbs here, we are making show business. Don't sit there and tell us we have to do it this way. You make light bulbs, we don't." I thought, "Good for him." It was quite an interesting experience to go through. [INT: Have you found over the years that again, jumping through so many genres and being at a network with such a corporate overlay, have there been times where you had to go to the Guild and say, "I'm not sure if things are being done quite the right way?" [INT: And has the Guild helped you?] Our main thing was when they took away our hour lunch. In the Guild rules, it was explained, and it made sense, because of sports and different areas, the wording is a reasonable meal period. When you work an eighteen-hour day and you get a half hour lunch I don't think that is a reasonable meal period in a fourteen- or eighteen-hour day. Apparently the Guild agreed that if they would bring in the food so we didn't waste time going to get it then the half hour would suffice. Try doing it everyday, guys. It's not healthy and it is really not, I don't think it's right. There aren't many people working in a soap opera that anybody cares that much. It's not that big of a deal. When I was on sports, you go in anywhere from six to nine in the morning. They have donuts. Now you can't say "In five and a half hours you can have lunch." In five and a half hours I'm on the air. That doesn't work. We are in the middle of a national network golf show. I understand a reasonable meal period as it works for you. They would bring sandwiches, you throw it down or you don't. But when you are added, like I say day in and day out and you don't get a proper meal, that has always griped me. I guess they can't figure that out. But other than that the DGA, Don Gold comes around and checks us out. Whenever I have questions I've had them answered. Off the cuff I can't think of anything.

INT: On an educational basis, working twenty-four seven almost, have there been any educational seminars they had?
FB: My education is everyday in the studio. But I think the young kids coming up should take advantage of everything offered to them. How else are they going to learn. They can't follow me around everyday. And if you can't get work, we have these interns who come to the studio, here is another thing. They put them in the office, they pick up our lunch order, deliver scripts, once in a while they come down and watch the stage, and then they are back to their college or whatever. Maybe they are told to stay in the office, but to me that's not learning anything. How is that learning? Putting a lunch hour and a script, I don't know if we train them properly, or if the colleges train them properly. I'm sure our director training program is a little different than that for the film. [INT: I was going to ask, guests on the set, I was fortunate to observe you but interns don't know what they want to do. I take it you are as open now as you always were, if someone comes up with a question, can I observe?] Sure, I try to explain what I'm doing. I say, "Watch me but if you have any questions and I have the time I will explain." And why it has to be done this way.

INT: What's the most important service that you feel has been provided to members by the Guild [DGA]? Insurance or work-related things?
FB: I think the fact they have controlled the pay scale, the wages that they can work it around to save money but they can't cut our salary. When we were staff I know they couldn't fire you unless it was for a big cause. Now if you are freelance, you come and go. I have a couple of personal issues I won't get into here with not being given the right information about retirement. I think the situation could be cleaned up, a lot of people come to me. "Does this sound right, am I covered here?" People don't seem to understand the retirement criteria or the health benefits. Maybe the people you talk to aren't fully knowledgeable. I think that's one area that has to be looked into. [INT: And finally, do you think the perception of what you do as a stage manager has changed within the Guild and how it is perceived on the outside, over the many years and genres you have done?] Well, I got to tell you, it really hurts every time I go to a DGA Awards dinner and they show a clip and everybody laughs. But I think Deidre Hall and others on other soaps have brought to light the fact that we are not just diddling around there. That we are turning out a product a film company couldn't do. My husband did seminars on lighting and when he told people that he hung two hundred and fifty lamps in six hours they were like, "What!" I think the business is becoming more aware of what we do, but it has an unfortunate stigma on it. I don't care because we are still on the air. Forty-three years later. We are doing something right. [INT: And speaking of being on the air. Presently here in 2009, the economics are changing. Sadly every six to eight months you read about the demise of impending doom of a soap opera, or even on the sets you work on, you never know how many years you have to go. You've seen soaps go from the highest of the high popularity when you were growing up, listening to the radio did you hear soaps?] I never saw or heard a soap until I worked on one. Didn't know what I was getting into. Isn't that funny. I didn't know what I was doing. [INT: You basically got on a feature film that's lasted twenty-three years] Thirty-three years. [INT: Going back to the present situation, do you think the genre is going by the wayside, or will it be around?] It will be around in some way or another. There are too many people who enjoy it or like it. That are hooked on it. If we can do it cheap enough and NBC and Sony get the money they want, which apparently they are because we have been picked up again, I think it will keep going. But I think what I hear, or what I've been told right or wrong is they feel eventually when the networks no longer want to show it, they can encapsulate into a smaller situation and put it on the Internet or cable. What is all the streamy awards I just did a show for. There is a whole other world I don't know anything about. There are places to put this if the networks don't want to carry it. Because there are people who want to watch a soap opera. Otherwise they wouldn't be here forth-three years later. [INT: Hopefully they will find a way to pay for it.] We are cut to the bone but are still doing an hour show on two stages. So they can cut it to one stage, they can make it smaller cast, there are many ways to fit it to a different area. It all depends on how many people want to bother with it I guess. [INT: You've seen a complete arc.] I really have. I never thought when they were cutting and firing, I said, "I never thought it would end like this." For all these years it has just gone on. Nobody thought about it ending. It would always be there. And to see it kind of go around this curve, I think there is some life left in the old girl. It will be interesting to see what happens.

INT: Regarding safety on the set and in the studio?
FB: I think we always have, we are very conscious whether we have been to a seminar or not. We always have a Burbank fireman on scene if anything untoward is going to happen. But all we are doing now is lighting under ten candles. Our safety fellows are up to date on everything, they have licenses, it's usually fairly simple. It's a gun shot, a door breaking in, a little blast. We aren't doing the things we used to do with fire bars and the smoke and the ceilings falling in and the airplane crashes and train wrecks, all the insane stuff. For awhile there it was almost like we were trying to be MTV. The producers felt we had to keep up with the night time and the movies. And we were a soap. Sit there and have your tea, talk about your girlfriend, who got laid and who didn't. That's what, wear pretty clothes and have good looking men and women. That's what the women who are at home ironing want to see. They don't care if a plane wrecks. That's reality. I think we went off in the wrong direction with all this reality stuff they started doing. Levitation wasn't reality but a train wreck or whatever. Unless its THE TOWERING INFERNO or Irwin Allen, I don't think you should try to do that on the small screen. That's not what a soap opera is. The reason we are number three and going along is we are back to the basics. Who's in love with who, whose triangle is this? Is she marrying him, whose baby is that - it's the intrigue everybody liked originally.

INT: I can't thank you enough, this has been terrific.
FB: Was that enough? [INT: I think so]