Daytime serial Ryan’s Hope ran from 1975 to 1989 on ABC, telling the tale of the Irish-Catholic Ryan clan, overseen by matriarch Maeve Colleary Ryan (Helen Gallagher) and patriarch Johnny Ryan (Bernie Barrow) — as well as their extended family, friends and foes. Created by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, Ryan’s Hope seldom strayed from grounded, realistic tales set in the worlds of New York City medicine, politics, law, crime and the mob (though there was that one story in which a gorilla kidnapped Delia in an homage to King Kong).

In Tom Lisanti’s book, Ryan’s Hope: The Oral History of Daytime’s Groundbreaking Soap, actor Richard Backus, who played Barry Ryan, said, “At the time, Ryan’s Hope was considered sort of the thinking man’s soap. It was considered the best written show with the deepest characters.”