Ryan’s Hope

1 9 7 5 – 1 9 8 9 (USA)
3,515 x 30 minute episodes

Ryan’s Hope was a daytime soap opera from ABC focusing on the Irish-American Ryan family – headed by matriarch Maeve Ryan (Helen Gallagher) and Johnny Ryan (Bernard Barrow) – who ran a bar called Ryan’s Bar on Manhattan’s Upper West Side where most of the action of the series took place.

Taped in New York City, the series used Manhattan for its locale, and use it they did. Audiences were treated to walks in Central Park, visits to the New York flower market, and Manhattan street scenes, which are unlike any in the world.

Created by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, the series debuted on 7 July 1975 and, over its 13-year run, the show won 17 Daytime Emmys and 11 Writers Guild awards.

Despite its critical success, the show began to flop in the ratings in the second half of the 1980s. In 1984, ABC moved Ryan’s Hope from 12.30 pm to noon daily, switching it with another soap, Loving.

Unfortunately, some network affiliates liked to run their local news at noon, and when the number of affiliates carrying Ryan’s Hope dipped below 75%, ABC cancelled the show.

After Maeve Ryan sang one last rendition of Danny Boy, the long-running soap faded to black on Friday 13 January 1989 for the final time, leaving fans to wonder, who was Grace’s father?

The series ended with a wedding (always a crowd-pleasing event on daytime dramas) and an excuse for a cast reunion.

Bernard Barrow died of lung cancer in 1993. He was 65.

Maeve Ryan 
Helen Gallagher
Johnny Ryan
Bernard Barrow
Jillian Coleridge Ryan 
Nancy Addison
Dr Patrick Ryan 
Malcolm Groome
Dakota Smith Ryan 
Christopher Durham
Franklin Ryan 
Michael Hawkins
Dr Faith Coleridge 
Faith Catlin (1)
Catherine Hicks (2)
Karen Morris Gowdy (3)
Siobhan Ryan Novak 
Marg Helgenberger
Teddy Malcolm 
David Bailey
Angel Nieves 
Jose Aleman
Jack Fenelli 
Michael Levin
Ryan Fenelli Hyde 
Yasmin Bleeth
Leigh Kirkland
Felicity Lafortune
Mrs Williams 
Cynthia Belgrave
Ken Grahanti (Grantham) 
Corbin Bensen
Mendenhall 
Richard Briggs
Dr Bucky Carter 
Justin Deas
Martha McKee 
Tovah Feldshuh
Dr Seneca Beaulac 
John Gabriel
Sydney Price 
Robin Greer
Ramona Gonzalez 
Rosalinda Guerra
Dr Roger Coleridge 
Ron Hale
Delia Reid Ryan Coleridge Crane III
Ilene Kristen