[ Soap Beat ) New writer will quicken 'Edge' story lines By Connie Passalacqua "Edge of Night," which has been on TV for 27 years, is the soap most favored by intellectuals and soap purists. It's the orily soap where mystery and suspense are served along with the usual domestic drama that dominates other soaps. The secrets to "Edge's" popularity has always been its superior writing. In the last few years, however, its ratings have been slipping. In a highly controversial move, Procter and Gamble, which owns the ABC soap, recently replaced Henry Slesar, its brilliant longtime head writer, with Lee Shel don, a 33-year old writer with no daytime experi ence. Sheldon, however, does have extensive credits in writing nighttime mystery shows. Among the shows he wrote mystery scripts for were "Charlie's Angels" and "Quincy." "I'm used to telling sto ries in 48 minutes," he says, "so it's quite a stretch for me to 'do a soap." Not surprisingly, his main aim in changing "EON" is/ quickening the pace of storytelling. "What used to take nine months to tell, will take three," he says. "There are many more scenes in each act and I like to use a lot of physical movement." Sheldon has already Sharon Gabet introduced four new char acters, He's also now turn ing the show's starring couple, Raven and Sky Whitney (Sharon Gabet and Larkin Malloy), former full-time socialites, into a husband-and-wife detec tive team, not unlike the couple on "Hart to Hart." Sheldon is adamant about one change in the show's story line: "I don't like to do rehash scenes. In order to enjoy the show, viewers must see it more often." But without what Shel don calls "rehashes," many viewers cannot follow the plot of his complicated mystery stories, because not even the staunchest soap fan watches every day. What will be the fate of "Edge" under it's new head writer? 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