Where the Heart Is is an American soap opera telecast on the CBS television network from September 8, 1969 to March 23, 1973. Created by Lou Scofield and Margaret DePriest, the program ran for 25 minutes, the remaining five minutes of its timeslot ceded to a CBS news break. Scofield and DePriest were the original head writers. A year after the soap's premiere, they were succeeded by Pat Falken Smith. In 1972, Smith was replaced by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer. The series was produced by Tom Donovan and directed by Richard Dunlap. Storylines Set in the fictional town of Northcross, Connecticut, Where the Heart Is focuses on the sexual and psychological intrigues of the dysfunctional Hathaway family. Although some believe that the serial was patterned after Grace Metalious’ scandalous novel Peyton Place (and subsequent television adaptation), the serial was actually CBS’ attempt to create a psychosexual, family melodrama popularized by NBC's Days of Our Lives. With such prurient themes as unabashed adultery, out-of-wedlock babies, and vaguely incestuous love triangles, the serial's irreverent, fast-paced stories were in contrast to the other serials on CBS which were staid and conservative. The serial opened with the death of pious Hathaway family patriarch Judge Daniel Hathaway. Judge Hathaway had three adult children: Julian (James Mitchell), a professor of literature at the local university, Kate (Diana van der Vlis), a sympathetic but sexually repressed law student, and Allison (Louise Shaffer), the liberated feminist black sheep of the family. In the first episode, Allison returned to Northcross for her father's funeral, having left town years before with her sister's fiancée Roy Archer (Stephen Joyce). Intrigued by the new family dynamic, Allison and Roy decided to settle down in the Hathaway mansion, much to the chagrin of Kate, Julian, and the family's cantankerous housekeeper Stella O'Brien (Bibi Osterwald). Having never gained his father's love, Julian sought affection elsewhere, developing an unfortunate affinity for the many young women he taught at Northcross University. When the serial began, Julian had recently married nubile Mary (Diana Walker), his adult son Michael's former girlfriend. Michael was pursued by the amoral Vicky Lucas (Robyn Millan), even though she knew he still carried a torch for Mary. Vicky, the daughter of Ed Lucas (Joseph Mascolo) the owner of a restaurant in Northcross, called the Starlight, managed to seduce Michael, and when she conveniently became pregnant, he married her. Vicky attempted to