Soaplovers

Watching some of these season 1 to 3 episodes, I can understand why Gary eventually cheated. Not that I condone it, but I understand why he did so. Val is a level 5 static clinger... I'm watching the show thinking 'girl.. give the man some space'. Gary outgrew Val in season 3... just like Abby outgrew Gary in season 8. I often play a game of sliding doors and I wonder how different the show would have been if Sid hadn't been killed off. Karen was a lot more tolerable when married to Sid then she was married to Mac.

My friend stumbled onto Dynasty and is almost through season 1. He's raving about how good it is....so I did caution that the rest of the show isn't like season 1...but he would enjoy season 2. My late mom told me that she stopped liking the show in season 3. She said one of the things she found interesting in season 2 was when Alexis was living in the gatehouse. She said it created organic conflict and she wanted to see Alexis gradually develop her power...and thought it happened too quickly.

Knots landing was one of the most requested shows people wanted to see streamed for years. I certainly have been watching some early episodes. I've been handpicking episodes from season 1 to 3 to watch again (Three sisters, Abby's arrival, China Dolls, Constant Companion, etc). Sometimes I'm in the mood for a self contained episode

Ironically, Sada Thompson was the original choice to play Bea.. but she turned down the part. My thinking is that she probably figured it was too much like her role in Family or she was focused on stage work at the time. Whatever the reason, it was a blessing in disguise because Elizabeth Hoffman played Bea to perfection. And also, Sela Ward was originally offered the role of Frankie.. but she opted for the role of Teddy after reading the script. While I can see why she was courted for Frankie, I think she made the right decision since Teddy was a role that needed someone likable with a dry sense of humor to play because Teddy in the early episodes could be unlikeable. And her decision did result in Frankie being played by Julianne Phillips.. and I couldn't imagine anyone else playing Frankie either.

I still love that the creator of the Waltons created this show.. and that his favorite scene/moment of Falcon Crest was when Melissa drops the bombshell on Lance after they exchange vows that she's carrying another man's baby. From what I could tell, Falcon Crest wasn't as out there/over the top as Dynasty... but was moreso then Dallas/Knots Landing. Melissa and Maggie were the backbone of the show and once both were gone.. so was the show.

Season 4 had a good balance between the more serious stories and the more whimsical moments of the earlier seasons. I watched the Georgie attempting suicide episode and it was a great episode where all 4 sisters turned in knockout performances. It's a shame that the right balance of season 4 was lost in season 5. Season 5 had a lot of things happen that hurt the show. 1) Julianne Phillips left the show 2) George Clooney's character was killed off, and we had Teddy trying to go undercover to catch his killer as well as falling off the wagon. 3) Georgie's therapy, affair with the therapist, and leaving her husband. 4) Mitch was no longer on the show 5) The Alex assisting suicide story. 6) Charley coming on.. and I liked how the actress played her character as guarded/reserved. Then in season 6 got a personality transplant. All of those elements packed into season 5 hurt the show because you had very little light and whimsy to balance out all of the trauma.

Donna Mills has an idea of where Abby would be if there was a reboot.... 'Abby is homeless' where the viewer would watch her try to claw her way out of that situation. I would watch it... to see how Abby copes. Also, when I was watching season 10... Abby came to Seaview Circle for a gathering after Michael/Paige were rescued.. and she still fit in seamlessly. She was comforting Val, had uneasy tension with Karen, and even had a nice scene with Julie Williams talking about Spelling Bees. Abby never forgot where she had been before making it to the top. It's why she was such staying power even in the 2020s.

Michele lee did one of those pioneer of tv interviews..and she did say because of the success of Dallas, and to a lesser extent Dynasty...the show had to go full on soap to keep up. She did give an interesting take in the interview where she said that Dynasty/Dallas involved people larger in life that people couldn't relate to..but loved to watch. She said Knots Landing involved people you could relate to..middle and upper middle class people. She also said the characters on KL would most likely be home watching Dynasty for escapism Also, Donna Mills did an interview as well for Pioneer of tv..and she did say the final season she was on where she hinted she knew all that Abby could do was done and it was harder to keep her human.

What they're doing with the Primetime Soap channel sounds like what the Hit Sitcoms channel is doing with their three entries (Perfect Strangers, Growing Pains, and Drew Carey). That channel will air the first three or four seasons of Growing Pains then switch to the first three or four seasons of Perfect Strangers.. then to Drew Carey. Once that rotation is complete, it will start over with airing the remaining parts of Growing Pains, Perfect Strangers, etc.

Last night, I watched their Halloween episode that aired 'Lost Souls' and I loved that there was such a supernatural presence in all three of the main stories. Usually a show will do a Halloween episode as a gimmick, but this episode used those elements to continue developing the characters. 1st main story: Alex feeling guilt over the death of the homeless person and being literally haunted by him. I liked that this also served as an excellent showcase for how different Alex/Reed were as mother and daughter. Even the ending when Alex does provide the tombstone with his name, Reed was such a realist that she kind of dismissed it. 2nd main story: Frankie/Mitch spending the night in the haunted house. This served to continue developing Frankie's character with her constantly fearing not being perfect stemming from childhood. She was afraid that she would fail as a mom, wife, housekeeper, etc.. and it did show that of the four of them.. she was the one that thought the family was too enmeshed in her life (and it does foreshadow her eventually moving to Japan and then later coming back as an 'outsider'). I loved the warmth between her and the ghost.. plus the ghost of her former teacher. 3rd main story: The least supernatural.. but served to develop Simon's character. I think that the show always was a bit offbeat and whimsical, but there were some real intense scenes and situations that balanced out the offbeat and whimsical. I would say this was a family primetime soap opera, but done in a very 90s offbeat sort of way.

Season 8 were the Lathams trying to do what the previous show runners did with less success. Season 9 were the Lathan realizing they needed to be themselves and starting changes with some success. Season 10 up till the last third was pretty good because the Jill story was in high gear, plus Abby's brief turn at being nice before her last scheme comes into play. Season 11 was a rebuilding year with Season 12 having a strong momentum

There were rumors during the final season of a couple of spin off ideas.. 1 involving Natalie.. and 2 involving Blair. The one Blair spin off idea that didn't actually become a backdoor pilot was the one where she was working at the law office with her former professor. She was Elle Woods before there was an Elle Woods and that would been the spin off to work. I don't think Blair as headmistress/owener of Eastland would have worked unless you had Jo on as a teacher. That would have been hilarious.

A few things gave it away that season 13 had new showrunners. - When Val comes back to her house after being forced to move back there after the ranch is taken from Gary/Val.. we got the flashback to when Val first came to Seaview Circle with Richard.. and then in the present day, Alex comes in and the scene is almost recreated. - Alex deciding to unveil the portrait of Claudia/Greg's mom (I assume the pic was of a young Ava Gardner).. with the whole cul da sec there for a gathering at Claudia's house. It harkened back to the early seasons of the show. Seeing the final scenes of the final episode, a memory unlocked where I remember a pre-teen me sitting with my late mom and her saying 'The show has come full circle' when she saw Abby pulling up and saying Claudia's house was on the market.. with Val welcoming Abby home then taking Gary away..while Karen has a befuddled look on her face before resuming what she was doing. The show started with new arrivals on Seaview CIrcle (Gary/Val).. and ended with new arrivals on the Seaview Circle (the newlywed couple moving into Laura/the Williams old house).

I would agree today's single/child-free 30/40-somethings don't socialize with their suburban neighbors, but if you live on a street and/or cul de sac with families that have kids around the same age... they all still socialize. And I know several peers of mine that live in the Chicago burbs with kids.. that talk all about their bar beques, neighborhood block parties, etc. So it would have to be families with school age children around the same age for it to sort of work.

When rewatching the first half of season 13...I saw so much potential and wished that Ann Marcus had come on to help the new team. Tidal Energy vs Sumner Group could have been a good umbrella story. I liked that this move allowed Paige to interact with Gary, and to a lesser extent Val. But execution was off and it needed someone with soap writing experience to help flesh out these ideas. Gary/Val disagreeing about Tidel energy harkened back to the Methanel enngine era in season 3. Their conflict was organic and in character for both. Seeing Val being maternal with Kate was in character...and Kate/Gary having a nice rapport in their scenes are building blocks to the final season.

In this day and age, kids are moving back in with their parents along with their kids. It would be interesting to see Val as a grandmother and in the Lillimae position. And perhaps Betsy is somewhat well adjusted..but maybe one of her kids reminds Val of their grandpa Gary. And instead of alcohol, maybe the addiction would be perscription pills.

I think the Paula/Anne scene just before Paula's departure was foreshadowing in a weird way. If I recall, the final season with Anne involved her in an unhappy marriage to Greg.. and going to a plastic surgeon because she felt she needed to look younger. From what I recall, wasn't Teri Austin playing Gary's mystery woman during the end of season 10? If so, that could be why she was better off screen LOL I saw Peyser in other roles, and I thought she did a good job.. so I think it was a combination of an underwritten role and perhaps the primetime soap format wasn't a fit for Peyser.

I do think Abby's final season story was out of character for her. I noticed that Donna Mills really leaned into her facial expressions in order to give Abby some depth and humanity. During the Ted/Abby scenes in the final few episodes, I took note of Abby's facial expressions.. and you could see there was fear on her face as Ted was confessing. I think Donna Mills did that to show that even though Abby was expressing that a line had been crossed, she still wanted to show that Abby knew lines were being crossed by her facial expressions. Same with the final scene between Abby/Olivia where you saw Abby's expression after leaving Olivia's apartment.. where she felt sorrow/sadness after cutting her daughter off. I think she did the right thing cutting Olivia off, and I also like that her early working class life was mentioned. It showed that Abby didn't want her daughter to struggle like she had, but realized deep down that Olivia needed to struggle in order to understand what she was saying. I did like the final exchange between Greg/Abby where they both realized that their 'marriage' lacked communication. Even though he and Paige were good together.. his true love was Laura.

Agree, but I feel she is only revealing all of this in an attempt to take away from her and her nasty-ness.

I would have either Val or Karen still living on the Cul da sec.. and one of their children and/or grandchildren decide to move in with them due to the economic situation going. As Val or Karen sit back, they see how their kids/grandkids fare with the neighbors that are in various states of life stages (gay couple, newlyweds given the house by a wealthy family member, an immigrant couple that has obtained enough wealth to live on Seaview Circle, etc). And it would be interesting to see how Karen, a liberal feminist of the 70s/80s, would react to a younger more progressive feminist.

I do agree that Latham didn't understand really what made Abby, Val, nor Laura tick. Val wasn't a village idiot, nor a victim, in the way that Latham wrote her. If anything.. Val was a survivor and truly the little engine that could... and she was perceptive and could read people. Abby would have figured out a way to do the right thing without implicating herself nor revealing her part in the event happening. Laura.. she was too layered of a character for someone basic like Latham to tackle. Although her character has a large impact on the canvas all the way through the reunion movie.

If we're talking Brandi Glanville, then why doesn't that predator go away?

I kind of like the early season version of the theme.. where it has a light disco beat I have to say season 4 is probably my favorite because it combines the best elements of season 1 to 3 and the best elements of the soap opera format. Lathams seemed more into surface instead of substance.. which seemed to fit with the late 80s/early 90s vibe going on in the world.

Sorry... Gary was just a sperm donor. He hadn't proven he was mature enough at that time to be a dad.

You would think he worked his way up to success.. that he would use his platform to help other up and coming writers/producers. Shonda Rhimes and Aaron Spelling used their production companies to showcase up and coming talent. With that said, like you said, the key will be execution of the ideas and who MVJ hires as her breakdown and script writers will be make or break