Syndicated Soap Opera 'Rituals' Premiered September 10, 1984

Rituals ran during the 1984-85 season as a syndicated five-days-a-week soap opera.

Syndicated soap opera Rituals premiered on September 10, 1984, and ran 5 days a week for 1 year (260 total episodes). It was produced by Lorimar and created by Gene Palumbo, Ken Corday and Charlene Keel. The show was loosely based on Keel's novel of the same name.

Rituals took place in the fictional Virginia town of Wingfield. The community was the home of Wingfield Mills and Chapin Industries, the town's leading employers. Also located in Wingfield was a boarding school for girls called Haddon Hall. The series focused on the Chapin, Gallagher and Robertson families and the people who were connected with them either socially or professionally.

The story began with the death of Chapin family matriarch Katherine, and while everyone mourned her, her long-absent daughter, Taylor (Jo Ann Pflug, who was soon replaced by Tina Louise), stepped off a helicopter holding a racehorse's victory wreath. Katherine's will was read, setting off a round of battles and squabbles over the will.