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ALL: How would you give a cancelled soap the PP treatment?


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Right. Francesca James when she EPed AMC had that great quote about how Pine Valley should be a modern Peyton Place--same split between generations, small town community, rich and while not poor not-rich--except with humour which PP didn't have much of really. Of course her vision never really materailzed--and I'm not sure if it could have.

I actually think that if PP did another soap they should prob attempt a brand new one--but I suppose they may still wanna connect it somehow with an old show (or AMC/OLTL.)

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Who is "they"? Isn't this thread basically fanfic? Cast whoever you want and have them play whatever you want.

I think the problem with having Lily and Holden or Carly and Jack or Josh and Reva is that the audience, and probably the actors, would expect them to have a "big story". And so much of their stories in the last 10-15 years were them constantly breaking up and getting back together. That's literally all they did. I don't know how you'd write them if they're not doing those things and on the show at the same time. People would just expect them to get back together so whatever story you tell with them would inevitably be their "pre-relationship" story.

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While I like Vee's ideas, and some of them are close to where my mind is, I would move Reva and Josh to their own series outside of Springfield after their initial story arc in the main show. The Lewis show I'd have located in Tulsa or Venezuela (if you know GL in the 80s that's where off screen Lewises tended to move though when Daniel Cosgrove left they have Bill move there for work too.) Olivia/Natalia, and most of the Coopers have left town (Frank moved to to be near his daughter, while Marina just left after break up with Shayne who moved out of town too). Lillian and Buzz sometimes come and visit Beth, but they no longer live in Springfield.

GL Springfield:

Main cast that we know:

1 & 2. Reva and Josh for their initial story arc where they deal with the fallout of Edmund and Jeffrey being alive. They all end up in Springfield and when Jeffrey goes to see his son Collin is killed in front of Reva. This convinces them to move away to the new show (see below).

3. Mel (working as an attorney, loving life and not being repressed as in the past)

4. Ed (trying to be a father figure not only to his family, but also to the Marlers, is with Holly, but she only lives in Springfield part time…)

5. Blake (single mother of three teenagers, glad to be free of Frank Cooper and the expectation of needing a relationship to be happy)

6. Phillip (searching for meaning of life and is rocked by the fallout of Alan's death and his secrets. Depending on the secrets different characters appear.)

7. Beth (balancing act of being a mother and an attorney with Phillip's Alan angst)

8. Matt (running Lewis Construction, sleeping with female clients while fixing their homes as their husbands are at work, rebuilding Company/Boarding House for the Reardon family)

9. Susan/Daisy (works with Mindy newly out of design school)

Younger characters:

1. Leah (for an arc until she left town. Dated Jason used him to lose her virginity.)

2. Kevin (in love with himself hates everyone except his mom, Holly, Ed, Jason and Clarissa, using Maureen sexually)

3. Jason (emotionally withdrawn sleeping with Maureen like his brother, seemingly loves everyone, but hates himself)

4. Maureen (teenage vixen, torn between Kevin and Jason, wants to be noticed)

5. Clarissa (wishes she could fix her family, but can't. Freakishly smart, in some ways older than her age due to trying to parent her brothers and mom)

New characters:

Mel's boyfriend who works at Beth's law firm

Mindy's assistant at her design studio and his boyfriend who works with Mel

Blake's love interest who eventually leaves town for a new job and ends up in the Lewis show with Roxie.

Susan's love interest

Guest/recurring characters:

Holly (travels for work as a journalist when home tries to keep romance alive with Ed while not trying to fall off the wagon. Just recurring as she comes and goes due to her job and visiting her daughter Meg who lives in Canada)

Rick (doctor who wishes he had better relationships with his children and his humor covers his pain. He lives in Springfield, but spends time overseas to see his son Jude.)

Mindy (fashion designer with a boutique torn between her obligations in Springfield, her career overseas and the Lewis clan)

Doris (still mayor and develops friendships with people other than women)

Amanda (rewritten as Alan's daughter who falls in love with Doris)

India (comes in to stir up trouble with the Spauldings)

Ross (appears in Clarissa's fantasy sequences as a voiceover discovered to be in a coma 6 months to a year into the story.)

Random women of various ages for Matt to hook up with, if any of them are deemed popular will come back into the story.

GL Lewis/Shayne show located in Tulsa and/or Venezuela

Main cast that we know:

1. Reva

2. Josh

3. Shayne (Marina gave up rights to Henry and now lives in California.)

4. Roxie (who has rebuilt her life and no longer in an institution)

5. Rusty (owns a private security firm which would employ hot young actors)

6. Trish (who lost her husband in a car accident clashes with Reva over what is best for the family.)

7. Bill (trying to make it on his own without his parents looking over his shoulder)

8. Lizzie (Bill's wife hoping to get away from the insanity of her family)

Recurring/Guest Characters

1. Billy

2. Vanessa

(Lizzie and Bill would appear in the Springfield show when needed. Billy and Vanessa would go between Springfield and the Lewis show also.)

3. Colin is a little boy wouldn't drive story yet

4. Jonathan visits, but becomes estranged from Reva over how he knew that Jeffrey was alive and didn't tell her.

5. Sarah (Lizzie/Jonathan's daughter)

6. HBIV (Lizzie/Bill's son)

New characters:

Adult children of Roxie, Rusty and Trish and their love interests. Shayne's new girlfriend along with players from the baseball team that he is coaching.

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"They" as in if this ever actually happened and this show had casting directors.

I agree about Lily/Holden and Carly/Jack. The latter in particular had so much bad writing that I never felt like they actually got to even be a couple.

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Josh and Reva, I think, can function as tentpole characters just fine. If AMC is (presumably) doing it with Angie and Jesse and Adam and Brooke, GL certainly could. This is not to say that you can't give them new story, because you can just as those shows will with their couples, but after the Jeffrey and Peapack debacles I think that audience is just going to be happy to have them still running. And I think the audience is starting to learn to adapt now to a new model of how to do things with the new AMC and OLTL, where it's not all supercouple all the time. They're also of a certain age, which helps with that transition.

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"Josh and Reva, I think, can function as tentpole characters just fine. If AMC is (presumably) doing it with Angie and Jesse and Adam and Brooke, GL certainly could. This is not to say that you can't give them new story, because you can just as those shows will with their couples, but after the Jeffrey and Peapack debacles I think that audience is just going to be happy to have them still running. And I think the audience is starting to learn to adapt now to a new model of how to do things with the new AMC and OLTL, where it's not all supercouple all the time. They're also of a certain age, which helps with that transition."

Totally agree and like your ideas on GL. I think J & R would be like Bob and Kim on ATWT, definatley, the elders, definatley acting their age and maturity, but not "fuddy-duddy's" (oddly enough I could still see Bob and Kim still hitting the sack, which I could never have imagined out of Nancy and Chris or Tom and Alice Horton.) Newman in particular is really, really good with the younger set, no matter who was working with , and with that one GayShayne he worked with the worst, but he could bring out the good. I could actually take Zimmer better during the Peapack days as she brought her game "down," and played it more real. Zimmer is amazingly good when not dealing with over the top stories and even with her divaness, she relates to everyone she has a scene with. I think that having them as the tentpole couple, still sexy and affectionate with each other, seen it all and done more would be perfect as a nonjudgmental couple for everyone else to bounce off of.

I actually would bring Ross back from the dead, no explanation, just a toss off line of "Well, with you missing all those years and me thinking your dead, we have a lot to catch up on. Frank, oh yes, he is doing fine now that our marriage was invalidated, he is back with Eleni in California." and then have them start the other tent pole couple with their teenage and college aged kids. I would bring Michelle back without Danny and she would be folded into the Mahler clan as during the Rauch years Ross was more of a father to her then Ed, and I would have Rick there as the town doctor, but, and I hate to say it, I would recast.

But yes, the focus would be on the young people with Reva and Josh and Ross and Blake acting as the tentoles, mentors. The Spauldings would still be in place, with Phillip in charge, A-M and Amanda and Lizzie all there and all of them still as dysfunctional as before..( I would have Amanda and Phillip take the Alex/Alan power struggle thing with Beth and AM caught in the middle.) Occasionally we would see Ed and Holly, Nola, Vanessa stop in town for short while to stir things up and to bring back old times.

But the most important thing, there would be NO Coopers to be seen! They reak of Wheeler and Peapack as much as a hand held cam does so they are gone.

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At this point I'd go for:

A new version of THE EDGE OF NIGHT with widowed Mike Karr raising a teenaged Lauri and trying to find his wife's killers with the help of reporter Nancy Pollock. I'd hire a beloved soap veteran for the role of Mike.

A modern, sophisticated version of THE DOCTORS focusing on a group of young doctors like Steve Aldrich, Matt Powers, Maggie Powers, Althea Davis and Nick Bellini.

A small town soap. Either PEYTON PLACE or GUIDING LIGHT with Reva owning Company, young Father John Ruthledge dealing with a scandalous young wife (a modern day Karen Wolleck?), Rick dealing dealing with his children and Phillip being married to Beth and dealing with Lizzy, James and their other kids. GL would mostly focus on the younger characters.

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