On Footprints' fifth anniversary, producer Michael Ross reflected on the stories that
were never supposed to be -- and the ones that never saw the light of day.

In the summer of 1997, I drafted an 18-page document that outlined the storyline of a soap opera through 2007. Though the town was without a name in the original draft of that document, it would soon become the bible for Footprints. And when I began writing episodes based on that outline and posting them on the Web, that bible was my guideline.

Five years later, little of what I plan and write for FP has much to do with what is found in the original outline. It's amazing to see how much my original vision of the series has changed; as my influences morphed and my perspective on writing and the soap opera genre evolved, so has the series undergone a wild amount of changes. Gone from the stories of today and the foreseeable future are the Days of Our Lives-esque escapades and gimmicks. The tale of Tim and Claire being held captive in the jungle might have made it to your computer screen, but plenty of similar stories never will.

Just as certain stories have been scrapped from my plans for the series, so have plenty of elements found their way in that were never a part of my original bible. Here I've assembled some of the more interesting additions and omissions so that you can have a peek "behind the screen"...

Months later, Paula was to pay a visit to the institution, only to realize that Sarah had planted an imposter at the facility. Simultaneously, Brent would have gone missing from the hospital. Dr. Smith (yes, he was still around!) would have told Molly that Brent was dead, though as everyone was about to discover, Sarah was really holding him captive in an abandoned house on the outskirts of KB. (Gasp!) Several years down the line, Sarah would have been released and, after reconciling with Molly and Brent, would have found love with Matt, the father of her son.

Fall from Grace The original outlines contain no mention of Sally or Alex Marshall. Sally entered the picture when Christina Potter, then FP's storyline consultant, decided it would be funny for Don Chase to take a spill off his ladder. Thus was born the concept of Don being a victim of Dr. Smith and waking from his coma to find his long-ago ex at his bedside.

Extended Lease Since there was no Sally, there was no Alex. Lauren wasn't supposed to emerge as a major character, either, which means that Jason and Courtney's original plotline was much different from what has played out. After Shannon was locked away, Jason and Courtney were going to be married and then re-focus on their skating career. They were to qualify for the World Championships, only to have Courtney be murdered in the dressing room by an escaped Shannon moments before she and Jason were to take the ice.

True Colors The bible had Ryan as Claire's true rapist. Though they reconnected for a time following Tim's death, ultimately Ryan was supposed to revert to his evil ways and kidnap Claire, raping her again during the ordeal. Obviously there were a number of problems with that setup, what with it being completely insensitive to the issue of rape and making the character of Claire look like a moron...

Building a Mystery Danielle Taylor was scheduled to be a main character, but not for several more years. The idea to bring on the Fitches and a mystery centering around a missing maid came from a novel that I happened to read, and I liked the idea of broadening the canvas beyond just the Fishers, so I decided to bring in Brent's sister as the love interest for Andy so that there would be some connection to the core group of characters.

On the Fly An assortment of relationships were never meant to be but struck me and seemed to fit so well into my plans, including the Katherine/Nick, Sally/Stan, and Matt/Sarah pairings. The big beneficiary of this on-the-fly style has been Brian Hamilton, whose relationships with Molly, Kelsey, and Katherine were all last-minute additions to the story.

The Other Side Originally, another group of characters was set to step up to front-burner status in the period following Tim's death. Susan Johnson and Byron Willis, both bigwigs at Willis Advertising, were to be married--until Susan's presumed-dead husband, Mark, showed up at the wedding with their teenage daughter, Jennifer. Though Susan was introduced as one of Molly's superiors at Willis, the storyline never materialized because it was so disconnected from the rest of the FP canvas.