GLATWT88

21 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

People knew already. It was all over the news near the end of the season. All fans knew is he was returning in the season finale. That's why the show got a huge jump in the ratings and their highest of the season.

The previous week Dallas had an 18.6 rating placing 15th for the week. The season finale jumped to a 24.9 rating and placed 3rd.

Btw did we ever find out who was behind Pam's wild goose chase of Mark? Was it Mark or JR? In the dream season Mark mentions being in that clinic Pam went to in Hong Kong.

Also in the dream season it's revealed that Katherine was responsible for Naldo death.

The season before there was no mention of Katherine being responsible.

As for Jamie she was killed three times on the show...lol

I am curious what would've happen to Sue Ellen after the explosion.

Season 8,  JR calls in a favor and gets someone to convince Pam that Mark is in the Caribbean. He flies her out to some clinic where a doctor or fraud was paid off to lie to Pam that Mark was originally at the clinic, but the facility/doctors couldn't help him so he went elsewhere. She ends up going to another clinic in the Caribbean and speaks with another doctor. I believe the person hired by JR eventult tells Pam the truth when she returns to Dallas. Meanwhile, this second legit doctor she met in the Caribbean while in a conference with doctors in Texas shared Pam's story with a doctor who believes he knows someone fitting Mark's description checked into a clinic in Hong Kong. My understanding is that Mark caught wind that Pam was on his trail and he wasn't ready for her to find him so he paid off some guy to scam Pam into thinking he could sneak her into the hospital to see  Mark but it turns out to be someone else. My understanding was that this was meant to dissuade Pam from continuing her search.

Yeh, Naldo's death is interesting. I'm trying to recall what the motive would have been to kill Naldo and not Jenna. 

1 minute ago, te. said:

It was by all accounts going to be a is-he-or-isn't-he-Jock story, so they basically rescued it from the dream season.

And yes, Jamie was always meant to be dead, Sue Ellen was going to end up in a wheelchair due to the explosion. There were claims that Mark was going to be found dead in the shower, but by all accounts by the actors no such scene was filmed and the scene where Victoria wakes up and finds Bobby there was of course just filmed with Victoria on the set (not knowing why she did it apparently as Patrick shot his scene separately).

Fascinating. Do you know if a Patrick Duffy return was teased for the finale? Or was it a compete surprise to audiences? 

Sorry to sidetrack a bit, although it was fascinating to read about this novelization and all the background and plots that didn't make it onto the series. Also, @Khan that was amazing...I legit gasped at the Bobby revelation. 

Can anyone help me understand the loose ends of season 9. We had the finale with Pam waking up and Bobby in the shower. Clearly, this meant a lot of what was building in season 9 was dropped. Were we supposed to have some sort of resolution with this Ben Stivers character? What was his connection to the Ewings going to be? Punk and Ellie thought he looked familiar and he had that scar on his throat. They brought the actor back in a different role the next season which was odd IMO.

Donna and Ray were in a good space and adopted a son. I actually enjoyed Sue Ellen and JR coming together. It would have been nice to see more of that in season 10 before of course another spat would inevitably arise. 

Was the intent to kill Jamie all along? Had season 9 not been a dream, would we have Jamie back for season 10 surviving the explosion? Or did they have to bring Jamie back because of the dream and thus needed to find a new way to off her. I'm going to assume they were done with the character and therefore opted to kill her again the next season and ultimately the character was always supposed to die season 9. I do feel there was so many things they could have done with Jamie.

Pretty sure Sue Ellen was always going to survive that explosion if storylines had continued onto season 10. It would have been fascinating to see the outcomes of Jamie and Sue Ellen instead of going back a year. 

Where would Jenna have gone from there? Maybe a love triangle with Jack and another woman. 

19 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

Jessica was unbalanced. She had a breakdown and had been in a sanitarium. It was discovered she was Dusty mother and not his aunt. Clayton was actually his uncle not Dusty dad. Later in the season everyone finds out that Jessica killed Clayton first wife Amy. Jessica didn't Amy to replace her as Dusty mother.

Yeh, I remember it turning out that she was Dusty's mother and had killed Amy. 

21 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

I'm almost done with season 7.  I'm on Jessica first appearance as Clayton sister.

The dream season had

Jenna having a complete breakdown

Sue Ellen hitting rock bottom

Ray and Donna losing their baby

Pam kidnapped

JR being duped by Angelica which was silly.

Jack only being appealing when wearing a blue Speedo

Mark returns zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Why was it that Clayton didn't speak to her or want her at the wedding? 

I haven't watched the later seasons so I may have to take this back as I work my way through the series, but I am glad Season 9 is a dream. Although, not planned from the beginning, it just makes sense that it would be. There's just too many outlandish plots happening at once.

- Mark actually being alive. Let's say he did plot his own death to spare others, but then there's too many other things happening this season that just are too much. 

- A whole convoluted story with Marinos Shipping involving Jack and Dimitri and Angelica Nero tied in with J.R. that just has too many random twists and asks viewers to take too many leaps. 

- Everyone thinking Jenna's mourning of Bobby to be extreme, yet it's only been a short time since Bobby's passing and none of her actions besides wanting to go see Bobby (his gravesite) in the middle of the night (which was in a stressful moment for her and I don't feel was too irrational) are abnormal. This ties in well with this being Pamela's dream imo

- Pamela being kidnapped in a jungle- plausible. Pamela acting like nothing's happened and being okay with Mark's suggestion that they go visit the potential emerald site the very next day after being held hostage and in a very traumatic situation - insane. Again, ties in well with this being Pamela's dream.

3 hours ago, Chris B said:

This is incredible to see a “Knots” scene remastered. With Dallas it was at least available in decent quality but we have those grainy copies of Knots circulating and just in this clip I was stunned at how much better the show looks. I hope they push through and include Knots as part of the DVDs they’re releasing for the 100th anniversary of WB. 
 

 

I wanna say Mark Graison was always returning and Dack Rambo was meant to replace the Bobby character. Similarly, Jamie was replacing Lucy. I do know that has the dream not happened, when Pam goes to the shower she was going to find Mark murdered in the shower. 
 

As for when the dream was decided, I think that all happened in the off season. 
 

With Jenna, she hung in for far too long and was so dull I thought. I do agree that Jamie and Jack had potential and I didn’t understand why they didn’t last. Jamie I feel was a big loss. I loved how she came on as more of a Tom boy but who was smart when it came to the oil business. She was like a better written Lucy and had great chemistry with JR. She would’ve been more believable than say Michelle running Ewing Oil towards the end. I also thought she had good chemistry with Cliff.
 

Looking at where the show went in later years, losing Jamie was one of their biggest mistakes imo. For one, she was a Ewing and as they brought all those young characters in, she could’ve anchored it. By that point the viewers would’ve been used to her as well. 
 

Another random comment about the later seasons is that I don’t understand why they brought back Lucy. Charlene Tilton looked amazing and her acting was much better. She came back with a maturity and edge but they didn’t even attempt a lead story for her. It was such a waste. I wish that instead she had gone to Knots for a few years. I get David Jacob’s didn’t want her there initially due to her acting but she was fine at that point. 

I feel that Jamie and Jack were introduced at the right moment with show popularity still high and they came with ties to the Ewings. Jack even secured himself 10 percent of Ewing Oil. As you said, Jamie's introduction was quite strong building a connection with lonely Sue Ellen and having a rivalry with J.R. over the dispute of Ewing shares. Plus, her story with Cliff could have gone many ways. Jamie and Jack could have served as anchors as you said, considering we would see major exits in a few years from Victoria Principal and Linda Gray, they could have been a smoother transition for later seasons on the show. 

I hated Afton's sudden exit as well because I really grew to like the character. I feel the character was wasted toward the end and given little to do even though there was so much potential. 

Charlene's acting early on was rough, but I do feel she could have added some value to Knots. 

Season 8 and 9 feel different than previous seasons. There's a bit more humor or light moments infused into scenes. Sue Ellen's drunk on the streets of Dallas felt camp. I know with Dallas we were seeing the genre evolve through its seasons.

22 hours ago, Vee said:

The remastered show really is beautiful on Amazon. Yet it's hard to watch it and know Knots remains languishing in raw VHS rips for now (especially when I felt KL made much better use of its budget, production design and location shoots). I'm wrapping the seventh season, as is my custom with Dallas I skipped way ahead to watching the Jessica arc with the always delightful Alexis Smith who is completely, hilariously batshít. I will then skip even further to watch the end of season eight just in time for the dream season, where I can hopefully sync up Dallas and KL viewing in tandem to examine the Lorimar creative team swap.

I would love to stream Knots Landing anywhere at any quality, but it's nowhere. 

I'm currently watching season 9 of Dallas and have some questions/comments: 

1. Was it always intended to bring the character Mark Graison back for season 9, or did Patrick Duffy's exit push this storyline? Pam's search for Mark seemed to end a bit abruptly in season 8 IMO and then Bobby and Pam rekindle before he's killed.

2. Pam has a photo of Bobby at her desk when she returns to work after Bobby's death. I thought this was odd considering she had Mark's photo in her office last season and was searching for him. Bobby and Pam only got together briefly at the end of last season and she hadn't even into work since. I guess it can easily be explained away by saying it was all a dream and nothing necessarily needed to make sense. 

3. How far into the season before it was realized that it would all be Pam's dream? 

4. I'm really early into the season so this can be a poor assumption, but I'm not sure why Priscilla Presley is being kept around beyond a few episodes and in the opening credits as a lead because she has been quite secondary thus far. I feel like Jamie and Jack have more going on than Jenna and they're only listed after the opening credits. I love Priscilla Presley tho. She's done such a great job with the character. 

Thank you! I was curious to see ratings for the soap premieres for the 1985/6 season considering their strong overall performance the previous season. Dallas, Dynasty, Hotel and Knots premiered week ending September 29 and Falcon Crest the following week. Wonder if Falcon Crest's later premiere hurt it.

Not surprised that MacGyver's series premiere didn't do well up against the season premiere of Murder, She Wrote. 

@Soapsuds Would you happen to have the ratings for the weeks ending September 29 and October 6, 1985?

Thanks. 

7 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

I'm about to watch the oils baron ball from that season next. I hope you're watching them in HD.

Yes! It looks so good.

I currently finished season 7 of Dallas and started season 8. Season 8 is when Dallas gets overtaken by Dynasty in the year end ratings due to its audience steadily growing with each season. I wonder how much this may have impacted the direction of Dallas. I noticed the fashion in season 7 of Dallas to have become a bit more dramatic for lack of a better word, and more so in season 8. Everyone is wearing a hat, shoulder pads on everything, turbans, etc. I wonder if this was just merely a reflection of the time or if Dallas was "inspired" by its competitor. Similarly, season 8 feels a bit different as far as pacing compared to previous seasons (at least so far) and season 7 did bring about this cattyness between Pam and Katharine and Pam and Jenna, that usually was written in a more subtle way. Giving Donna to step in for Bobby was a good way to give her this power woman feel, which she seemed to have at first but faded with more recent seasons. 

9 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Found a report from Jan 86 which sums things up re primetime soaps off network

In off -network nighttime soap operas which some stations paid dearly for, high prime time ratings did not spell success it syndication. In it second season, Dallas, sold by Lorimar in 92 markets covering 51.7% of the country, and Dynasty, in its first season, sold by Metromedia Producers Corp. in 47 markets covering 48.7% of the country, came out tied with five other shows for 93d, with a 3.4/10. Lorimar's Knot's Landing, seen in 20 markets covering 12.5% of the country, had a 3.3/10.

Look at Knots getting those Live+7 day ratings before that was a thing  

Interestingly, I remember Melrose and BH getting quite of bit of play post run. I wonder what may have played into 90s soaps fairing better in syndication. I do feel that 90s soaps tend to have a faster pace and are a big more theatrical so can feel more exciting in isolation. You can get swept into the action without the context. Also, cable was notorious for marathons so being able to binge several episodes at once could have helped to engage viewers. 

26 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Those extended episode orders for the soaps came about because the continuing format did not allow for repeats during the season.

Unlike sitcoms and action shows viewers did not respond to a repeat episode popping up in the mix and interrupting the story.

With Cosby, for example, NBC slotted in a repeat in Jan 85 and it scored one of the highest ratings to date, even though it had only aired a few months earlier.

CBS found themselves in the bad books with affiliates earlier on when there were no new episodes available for May sweeps and ratings suffered. So CBS ordered more and selectively pre-empted the soaps with TV movies and other special programming so the season finales would play during May.

That's why the soaps were not repeated during Summer-the ratings were abysmal. So soaps were expensive programming for the networks as there was no money to recoup from repeats.

Makes a lot of sense. Thank you for the thorough response. Must be why 90s soaps like Melrose and 90210 also had large episode orders. I also recall reading that Desperate Housewives would have significant drops in audience figures on repeat episodes compared to other programs. 

Thanks everyone. This was insightful. I also noticed that primetime soaps had more episodes per season than other programming on primetime at the time. I thought it was due to popularity, but The Cosby Show or Murder, She Wrote never had a 28+ episode season. Meanwhile, Dallas, Dynasty, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, Hotel did...was this for storytelling purposes on primetime soaps? 

I noticed that the 1984/5 season was the peak for primetime soaps in the 80s. All the soaps seem to experience a significant drop the next season. Do we have any theories or solid reasons for why this happened? 

Yes, the red carpet was cringe, but it was mostly due to the awkward interactions and bad dialogue. Even if these interviews were on a local access channel, as mentioned before, are any of these people noteworthy in town. I feel like they could do with the red carpet since it's a big event and to show off the fashions (even though half the town was wearing a different variation of the same dress). Then, interview the mayor and a few notable townspeople, but randomly interviewing nurses was just weird. Unless it served some greater purpose, like wanting to interview and highlight important people at the hospital, but they were being asked questions as if they were celebs on a red carpet.

The performances are fine. I see it as hospital staff putting on a talent show in an effort to raise money. I feel like they come across a little too serious sometimes. And maybe they don't have to highlight the performances as much...just one or two and have storyline evolve during the event. I mean has the nurses ball ever been used to do a large scale surprise engagement or  for example for this 60th honor a GH vet and include flashbacks etc. Sometime that is positive especially surrounding such an important event. 

14 minutes ago, janea4old said:

From reading twitter, I saw additional descriptions of the episode that was repeated in parts of the USA on Tues. April 4.

It was episode #14909 from Tuesday, February 8, 2022:
https://soaps.sheknows.com/general-hospital/recaps/622667/general-hospital-peter-kidnaps-charlotte-force-victor-hand/

 

I wonder if that's the "encore" that will air in Canada today April 5?
Or will they simply rebroadcast in Canada what the US is seeing for the first time today? 

Thanks, I was curious how old the episode was. 

18 hours ago, janea4old said:

GH preempted in USA Tuesday April 4th due to news coverage of Tr*mp.
(This means that all episodes would be shifted to the next airdate.)

Nathan Varni tweeted that it already aired in Canada.
Varni said the full episode will air Wed. April 5th in USA,
and Canada will get an "encore" Wednesday.
(He didn't specify if Canada will get a repeat of the same episode or something else.)

I don't really follow GH much these days and have picked up due to the anniversary. The affiliate in SF yesterday aired an episode with Mac in the hospital and Laura Wright's husband's character with a baby in the car (seems like he was on the run, could be wrong). 

It would have been cute if they just used the ambulance opening to commemorate the anniversary and segue into the current opening if they had to. It wouldn't need to be edited much since there are no faces. 

There were so many awkward and cringey moments and I'm not sure why. I tuned in hoping for something fun and it was a let down. 

I see a lot of viewers calling for a double shantay in the Marcia 3x and Anetra lip sync. I agree that it could have easily been a double shantay as their performances were incredible making it a really close call. However, many people called Ru out for her reluctance to eliminate last season, so if there are no double shantays this season then Marcia going home was the right choice IMO. While both were phenomenal, I think Anetra had a slight edge. 

I always hoped that GL and ATWT had a proper crossover storyline. The Springfield PD and Oakdale PD working together on some murder mystery. 

Starr Manning crossover to AMC as an intern at Fusion Cosmetics. Although, I don't know if Fusion was a thing in 2010 (around which time Starr would be college aged) as I was no longer watching then. It would be a great opportunity for writers to take the character in many directions. 

Firstly, sorry if this has been posted about already. I know that GL had a novel produced around the character of Jonathan. I was a bit surprised since around 2007 GL was on its last legs. Are there any other instances of this with other soaps or characters? 

Thank you @Soapsuds and @Paul Raven. I figured that it might have been a mix of timeslot competition and general viewer fatigue. 8 seasons is a great run for a comedy show. I also wondered if the height of the AIDS epidemic may have made an impact that final year, as more awareness was being drawn to this "gay illness" and maybe viewers didn't want to be reminded or see that representation even if it was a straight character playing pretend.