j swift

Here's the thing, they despised each other for most of the original run of the series (except for that odd tangential story when Blake got amnesia and Alexis took care of him). So, it would be interesting to know what was the initial attraction. Did Blake admire her cunning ways until it bit him in the butt? Did Anders teach Alexis how to manage a large home (somebody taught her how to chill champagne and not to eat caviar with a silver spoon, even if she got it wrong when Dominique came for their first visit)? What brought Alexis to Denver in the first place and did she like there? What was Alexis like while pregnant (she popped out four kids in pretty quick succession so either the maternity wardrobe budget would have to be huge or they would need to fast forward the pregnancies between seasons)? The new show seems determined to tell Krystal/Cristal's story which I think is the least interesting backstory in the cannon of the series.

This is an excellent point that really made me reflect on that period of EON. I enjoyed the sophistication of Miles & Nicole, Sky & Raven, and Mike & Nancy Karr as married couples without the burden of young children during the Slesar period. There was no need to explain that the kids were upstairs with a nanny while Nancy was off investigating a plastic surgery clinic or Sky needed to ski in St. Moritz. Eventually Jody and Kelly became de-facto dependants, and of course Jamey returned and Raven had more kids. However, I think it was radical to have that many couples with no kids. It was as if the entire cast were the subjects of Roy Lichtenstein's "I can't believe I forgot to have children" painting. I also totally agree that April was a great heroine. She was never a shrinking violet. She held her own against Emily and she was vital in solving many of the mysteries. I enjoyed how bitchy April became at Raven during Draper's murder trial. For too long she had put up with Raven being inappropriately flirty with her step-brother Draper and dropping off Jamey at all hours so she could go to the disco. She knew Raven only wanted Jamey for the money and April was there when Raven gave him up to the Scott's because she felt ill-suited for motherhood. There's a great scene where Mike, April, Nancy and the others are convening at the penthouse for lunch during the trial, Raven tries to barge in to grab a sandwich (from Margo's comedic maid) while garnering some sympathy/guilt and April unloads on her in a very satisfying way. I am not as much of a fan of Draper's mostly because he was never able to have the gravitas in courtroom scenes like Mike. I cannot recall a single cross examination or closing argument from Draper that became as iconic as Mike's cross examination of Serena Faraday or his closing in Logan's murder trial. It may be unfair to compare the two because Draper wasn't given the same opportunities in the writing of the scripts at the time. However, I have doubts that Tony Craig could carry it off. In my mind he was always an Adam Drake/Logan Swift-substitute (without the charm or Geraldine connection) and the need for Mike to continually have a younger associate became null as there were fewer trials in the later years (a huge loss in storytelling in my opinion, I liked the pattern of the police working the mystery and the solution coming during the trial). That being said, how lucky was Miles to inherit Margo's penthouse after April moved to London? He was only tangentially related to the previous owners and he got a private elevator, tons of art, and a patio overlooking the entire skyline of Monticello. Raven is remembered as a gold-digging social climber, but Miles landed way above his previous station by the end.

If you've never seen the unaired pilot Falcon Crest - The Vintage Years with Jane Wyman in a grey wig, Michael Swan as Richard Channing, and Abby Dalton as her daughter Dorcas Cumson (the porniest name in primetime soaps), do yourself a favor and look it up on Youtube.

I'm confused/having trouble remembering several plot points regarding Flame. Was her real name Flame or Debra? If her name was Debra why did people persist in calling her Flame once they knew her real name? Also, didn't she have a twin as well as Robert/Quinn?

Bon Appetit's Perfect Thanksgiving was totally charming as usual. Claire and Brad entered a pie contest (no spoilers but it was very funny). The finale with whole staff getting together to cook was like every family trying to get a meal on the table on time. I continue to love this series.

It may be an anachronism of the 1980's but, upon a recent re-watch I was struck by the lack of socio-economic mobility of the minority characters. Santana was in a scene with Mason and Peter, when once again she was referenced as being the daughter of the Capwell maid. While in a B-story her brother was fighting off bad guys in the Perkins household. My immediate thought was - why were all of the Andrade's and Castillo's poor (with the minor exception of Cruz's brother Ric)? From Victoria to Jodie to Eden, why did Cruz only date (and spawn children with) white women? Why couldn't Danny Andrade return later as a wealthy movie director who fought with Ted over Laken? There was so much made in the soap press about the diversity of using Latinex cast members, but if none of them were allowed to be financially successful was the impact as intended? It is not my intention to say that writing stories about poverty for minority characters is not soapy, but that show in particular had a focus on wealth and glamour. It seems like an age-old problem of having a diverse cast without diversity in the writer's room or in the production staff. However, if hindsight is 20/20, it is a glaring omission by today's standards that the entire latin cast was relegated to service careers and low earning jobs. Santa Barbara premiered around the same time as Dominique Deveraux on Dynasty, and I would have hoped that every soap would have their own version of a wealthy minority who became a threat to the established families on the show (although to be fair that does seem to have been the plan for Santana, but she was no Gabi Hernandez).

I've read this headline 12 times and I still don't know what it means. Is it a performance art piece? A sculpture of the Capwell Villa? Miniature dioramas of the whole town? Does the Icelandic artist have a US publicist or does Daytime Confidential read Pravda on a daily basis to get soap scoops?

There was a SOD article (summarized in our classic SOD thread) that suggested it was Generations time slot, and not creative issues, that were to blame for its cancellation. It was on in the early non-contiguous slot, so it didn't get habitual soap watchers like a soap that would have been placed after AW. Also, Faith Daniels was an up and comer at NBC, and after the tumult surrounding Jane Pauley leaving Today in 1989, Daniels was given her own talk show in Generations time slot rather than further destabilizing the apple cart. It's neither the first time nor the last time that NBC overspent on a blond reporter who proved to be too stiff for daytime audiences.

The recent discussion of Kentucky Bluebird on the SFt thread reminded of Jill Coleridge's rock star beau who wound up being euthanized. Wasn't his name George? Can someone fill in the details?

I don't know, (or probably just can't recall) what the story was with Roscoe Born and the production. Can someone fill me in? Also, what was up with the two week recast of Flame? The only details that I am aware of are from the 90-91 SOD news recaps we covered from Tumblr in another thread. SOD reported that Roscoe was initially brought in for a short term story as a spanner for Cruz and Eden when the mob was trying to take over Capwell Industries. He later left to do pilot season. However, he proved to be so popular that the production brought him back, re-paired him with Kelly, and created the Quinn storyline. Then, the Dobson's returned and did not seem to understand Robert's appeal as a character as he lost some of his charm and became a full-time bad guy. However, all of the discussion of Born walking off the set has been completely forgotten and I would appreciate any details that one can recall. I've muted those who can't seem to stay on topic so, I look forward to responses from people who can remember the facts. One other thought - The Walkers are emblematic to me of a pendulum swing on soaps after the glitz of 1980's met the stock market crash of the 1990's. Except, (IMO), soap audiences don't want gritty realism. We want escape, ladies who wear hats to lunch, and shirtless stable boys. And we certainly don't want a middle class family fronted by the woman who made Reva Shayne into one of the most glitzy gals in daytime. Final/final thought (of the night), I wonder if Laura Asher, Micah DeAngelis, and Jodie Walker all suffered from the old soap disease of relying too often on hiring actors who had been hits on others shows? Each of those characters were a distinct shift from the actor's prior roles and the audience may have been more welcoming if they had been played by an actor who had not been so closely associated with a prior role on another soap. OK, final/final/final thought - What was the primary source of income for Capwell Industries? I thought they were primarily commercial real estate developers with restaurants, hotels, casinos, and country clubs. But at other times weren't they involved in tech and medicine?

My quibble with the notion of not ruining what works is that there is an argument to be made that focusing on Eden and Cruz for so long was part of the demise of the soap. Because subsequent writers and producers were unable to grow new families and find new arenas for story-telling, once Eden and Cruz broke up there was an enormous void. I am not discounting the evolution of Gina and Keith, Julia and Mason, and other couples that became popular, but the focus was always drawn back to Cruz and Eden. Look at AMC and the Chandlers, Y&R and the Newmans, and OLTL and the Buchanans. Each of those families were late entries into the story but they furthered the plot. If each producer only kept what had been from prior regimes then a soap devolves into repetition and a lack of creativity (e.g. B&B).

As someone who is totally confused by the re-boot, I really like this idea. A series about early Alexis, meeting Blake, hiring the staff, etc would be fun.

I vaguely recall that Gina had a "thing" with Lauren's father Neil Fenmore which part of the source of their animosity.

I never enjoyed the long lost relatives of Blake (with the exception Dominique). However, between Caress and Sable, the writers could write in as many of the Morells as possible. I was always amused that none of Alexis's relatives liked her from an early age.

Not to repeat myself but, when I re-watched season 1 & 2 of Dallas, I loved the original version of Miss Ellie when she was a bit more of a Lady Mcbeth. Early in the series there are multiple scenes with Ellie and Sue-Ellen where she is telling her daughter-in-law to hurry up and get pregnant or Pam was going to have the first born heir to Southfork. Later in the series Sue Ellen's mother played a similar role, but I was amused that Miss Ellie was not always as sweet as she appeared in later seasons. I like a bitchier Miss Ellie because it explains more of JR's motivations and sets the stage for the Bobby/JR feud that was later heightened by Jock's will. Also, Jock's will was one of the best dramatic devices in response to the death of an actor that has ever been played out on a soap. One has to wonder if Jim Davis had lived would the series have lasted as long?

I remember from the E! bts show on Dynasty that the Amanda issue was three-fold. First, Joan Collins had just tried to have a sick-out in order to get more money, so when Catherine Oxenberg asked for more they didn't want to start a presidence. Second, the follow-up season to the Moldavian massacre was when Dynasty started to slip in the ratings. Third, once they recast Amanda, The Colby's was cancelled, so the return of Fallon to Denver made Amanda redundant.

I agree that Gina and Brandon's relationship was refreshing for a soap mom and son duo. It was certainly less oedipally creepy than Warren and Augusta's and more attentive than Sophia and Ted's relationship. Gina's love for Brandon also made Santana untenable, because there was no way to sympathize with her when she essentially sold her baby and her maternal instinct mostly involved kidnapping attempts. That being said, I would have been there front and center for a SORASed Brandon who had many of Channing Jr's a-hole-Capwell-centric qualities which were conflicted by his relationship with Gina once she became a Lockridge. For me the unanswered question of the Dobson's return is - What was the outcome of their case against NBC and New World? How much was their settlement? It seemed to be enough that they never had to work again. How did they win in the negotiation? Did NBC or New World have to pay them off when they left the second time? It couldn't have all really hinged on the casting of Pamela? There had to be more in their initial contract that allowed them to regain their position. BTW, these questions are rhetorical and I don't really expect anyone to know the answer (that means you DB). Just to go back for a moment, imagine that NBC build a soundstage and set of offices just for them and then to be locked out of that very facility had to be heartbreaking. I agree with the critiques of their second tenure, but I have a hard time getting my mind off of that detail.

I would rewatch a cut of the George Rawlins murder mystery. At the time I found it to be rambling and unfocused. However, I would imagine that cut together as a single story it would hold together and the twists and turns would seem more intriguing. However, there is the character of George's niece (a beautiful brunette with a voice that sounded like she had a constant stuffy nose) who also seemed to just disappear. I remember thinking when Brad inherited the Rawlins estate, after his brief marriage to Cassandra, that the niece really got screwed in the will.

I completely agree but reading this I also felt compassion for them - imagine having the biggest creative achievement of your career snatched away from you and being literally locked out of the studio. It must have been really painful and I can sympathize with their reaction of trying to go back to the way it was rather than start over. However, progress is inevitable and their inability to work well with others was their undoing.

At the risk of having replies from one of the most annoying members of these boards ever - Kelly Ripa told a funny AMC-related Chris Goutman story on Live this morning.

I stand corrected, but the point remains that they weren't really in each other's orbit.

I especially agree with this from the perspective of Eden and Cruz's pairing. Santana was never a viable threat to their romance. On paper she should have been amazing. She bedded Channing, CC, and Mason. She had Channing's baby, then was sent off to Europe, and returned to be a glamorous interior decorator. She should have been foe to Eden not only for Cruz but also to her relationship with her father. The underlying Electra complex of the Eden/CC relationship should have been threatened by the fact that Santana, a woman of a similar age to Eden was a romantic interest of her father. Instead, the character lost her glamour, and became a pathetic pill-popper (no offense to pill-poppers). In the pilot she was clearly trying to distance herself from her identity as the maid's daughter. However, later iterations tried to play Santana as a humble gal in contrast to Eden's glamour. She should have been the catalyst for Sophia and Eden to unite against her and maintain their family structure. However, she seems to have become redundant by Gina, who had grown so close to Brandon that it would have seemed cruel to break them up.

As I recall it was very slow start from a plotline perspective. Of course, Geraldine Page and Lloyd Bridges' characters were never seen or heard from again after the pilot. So the fun and promise of the melodrama from the first episode didn't translate into the first weeks/months. And Lily and Jack storyline with her abusive father didn't start until closer to the summer months. So, there was a lot of introductions and exposition to get through in the first few weeks.

I think the Dobson's return was hampered by a loss of continuity, as well as the exit of Marcy Walker. They made a point of saying in SOD upon their return that they had not watched the show because it was too painful. As a result, the progress that characters had made in their absence was lost and it seemed like the story was going backward rather than forward. For example, much has been made over the Capwell dinner party scenes. It is a very well written and acted episode, but the plot comes out of left field. Mason decides to put CC on trial for his "crimes" against the family, and in turn brings back Pamela and eviscerates Sophia. However, CC and Mason had resolved their differences in a scene the prior year. In fact, for most of Terry Lester's Mason, (in the year prior to the Dobson's return), he and CC did not have a lot of interactions because he was being plagued by Gina and his alternate Sonny personality. Gordon Thompson's Mason arrived two months before the Dobson's and did not have the history with CC to carry those dinner party scenes. Mason also knew that Pamela was a mortal threat to Kelly, but still brought her out of the asylum. So, it seemed like Mason had lost his memories of recent events, rather than plotting to have a family coup against CC. I've always thought that by 1991 Gina deserved much more of Mason's wrath than CC. Also, the month before their return at Christmas, Eden received a necklace/jewel from Robert Barr which began her memories of being a jewel thief and her eventual exit storyline. However, none of this is referenced in the dinner party scenes, where Eden appears to revert back to her bratty/father's girl issues of before her wedding to Cruz. There is a blink-and-you-missed it closeup of Eden with crazy eyes when Mason is going after Sophia, but it doesn't amount to much. They also never explained why Robert Barr would want to revert Eden back to her jewel thief persona or why he would give her the necklace. Even the dinner party table was new and had never been in that place on the set, before or after that episode. And Kelly is inexplicably living in the Capwell mansion which she had moved out of months prior. Finally, it defies logic that Mason would still be angry at CC after a year when both he and Eden had near-death experiences resulting in a Christmas episode about how happy they were to be reunited as a family. So, their return, for me, seemed like a chance to produce the types of stories that they wanted to do before they were locked out, but ignored everything that had happened in the interim, which seemed to please them but was not necessarily in the service of the audience. I think it is especially true of the time period, when fans were less informed of the behind the scenes changes and it probably came across as jarring, rather than a re-set.

Looking back, there were other issues with Laura's story that would be offensive by today's standards. After the rape, she wrote a letter to Luke expressing her longing for him. Scotty found the letter, slut shamed Laura, and threatened to leave town. When Luke and Laura returned from their summer adventure, Lee Baldwin confronted Laura about the letter and also tried to make her feel guilty and ashamed. None of the Baldwins ever considered Laura's lack of compliance with the initial contact with Luke, including Gail, a psychologist who should have known better. Hopefully, by today's standards, the plot would include references to Laura's complicated relationship with Lesley's lovers from the rejection of Cameron Foster to the illicit affair with David Hamilton.