EricMontreal22

No big surprise, but yeah good for him. The full interview is here (has some Hollyoaks spoilers and clips) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9CRUReMOkg

Carl, as is often true, we are in 100% agreement. (Well Phyllis, from what I've seen, never really worked... And every few months I'll have a laugh at Laverne and Shirley...)

Well I looked the place I got the complete Peyton Place for such a great deal--no Knots. Then there's some Asian bootleg company that has all of Dynasty too but their credit rating and quality rating when I looked into it is HORRIFIC.

Didn't All That Glitters flop too? I do tend to agree, though I admit even if I wasn't a fan many of his best 70s creations did get fans because they loved the characters as well. But yeah the messages were I think pretty important for their time, and groundbreaking in a way, and they seemed to make their point--but dated is exactly the right word. Many of them read as badly as those "very special episodes" of Blossom and early 90s sitcoms, even if they were better written. And his style certainly did NOT work in his later attempts (granted maybe he wasn't as strong a writer in general by then).

I was 15 when I wactched it so probably enjoyed it becoming more about sex But I do think the social commentary especially about sexual matters became more pronounced/obvious and maybe the simple silliness that drew many fans in, less so.

It was during the OJ mess--It's hard to say I guess. Right, that's the snake story I meant. Interesting if they copied One Life and went to the Old West (Ava's quick trip to Heaven felt like a hommage to Vicki's much more elaborate one)

Meaning soap being more melodramatic? Certainly from clips I've seen the later years *look* more soap opera (in an 80s primetime way--glammed up). Hopefully it'll get a DVD release. Season 3 has the haunted house ep we'vementioned, etc, right?

I don't remember the Wild West trip But I am pretty sure the Universal Studios stuff was the leary before actually (and not when Agnes was writing). The Dante/Curtis stuff was I suppose wacky though that wouldn't have been the word I'd use. Definitely 94-95 Loving (yep so counting Brown Esenstein's first daytime HW stint lol) was very strong I thinkand the show did feel like it had momentum and direction that I don't remember it having earlier (I guess I watched from very late 91 fairly regularly)--like I said it was a fave of mine. I wish I had saved more of it--I did save the last 8 months of the City but... The Faust story (if you mean the snake one) was Agnes' earlier run though lol

I have an old MOD movie, ummm I'm blanking on the title--some melodrama from the 50s. It's fine, I'm just super anal and trust printed discs more than burned ones especially if spending a fair amount of money. I'll be getting this--soon I hope--anyway, and really for soaps it may be the only way to go that makes sense for the companies. Carl, thanks--I took a bit of a break after that drama (well and vacation), but I'm happy to be back--and yes I'm salivating already for the interview! Have never read it or any old 70s SOD stuff really (except what you've been posting)

:yes: Brideshead is prob my all time fave piece of television and something I rewatch every few years (don't even get me started about how wrong minded the recent movie was in nearly every which way). It's a miniseries with a definite closing, so I won't compare it to open ended soap opera whihc has very different--and probably harder--rules to play by, but I'm definitely behind you. What is absolutely amazing is how it shoulda been a disaster, by everything you read--much of it began filming with no official script and they had to write it as they did it going directly from Waugh's novel, the change in director, etc, etc. Carl I get what you mean about that string of 80s Brit miniseries that are so praised and beloved and I think Brideshead in many ways really started that--even though of course there had been previous literary adaptations that had made similar impact--The Forsythe Saga that was such a hit for PBS in the late 60s, I Claudius in the 70s, and while not based on a novel, of course Upstairs Downstairs around then too (I'm very mixed about the upcoming sequel they're doing for that--another fave of mine--though not as much as Brideshead) I wouldn't call it depressing (though I know what one finds depressing is relative) although much of the final episodes have devestating moments and sorta an inevitable feeling of loss. OK maybe that is depressing lol, but I love it. (I tend to like depressing things my friends tell me). (I didn't even realize Keating was in it LOL, but I've never seen too much AW with him...! Of course here he is--playing the questionable Canadian ) As for Knots, reading all this just makes me want to track down Season 3 all the more. Grrr.

Carl that piece is excellent--we've discussed that era a lot but it was when Agnes Nixon was briefly writing again (well she did the Dante story and Steffi and Cooper who Iloved, anyway. I do find it funny how they bring up how whacky the stories are which really isn't what people associate with Agnes usually) and I *loved* the show personally--it was prob my fave (AMC was starting to get a bit out there at the time). Anyway I think they raise good points, though I always hated that theme song. And of course Trisha only had the briefest of returns (shame as I never really liked Trucker with Dinah Lee or anyone but Trisha--he was I think one of the most handsome soap actors ever but not exactly a great actor--though not as bad as some I can now name--so he really needed the chemistry they had with each other--it's prob telling he left acting it seems afterwards...)

Did Marland create the original Ava? I know she wasn't there from the start and he left after a year or so--but that's interesting.

When Bravo, a cable station started here in the mid 90s (it's completely unrelated to the US Bravo lol) they had a 2 hour block called "TV too good for TV" that had cult shows like Twin Peaks (which is how I first saw that)--that would end every night with Mary Hartman. I think I saw nearly every episode--brilliant, and oddly addicting stuff, though I'm not sure I'd buy and watch the whole set on DVD if they released it (maybe when I'm done with Peyton Place and Dark Shadows in 10 years time...). And they also showed the full Fernwood2night and the next Summer's America2Night. Brilliant stuff. I admit, I find a lot of Norman Lear's tv work heavy handed and not appealing--if I'm gonna watch a 70s sitcom give me the more urbane MTM Productions stuff like Mary Tyle Moore, Rhoda, etc than All in the Family or Jeffersons--although I do get how groundbreaking they were for their time. But I loved Mary Hartman. (Oh and Maude, though that's probably largely due to Bea...) (And I have always wanted to see All That Glitters, though it sounds like people felt the gender role satire *was* too heavy handed there) Louise is brilliant here.

I admit Lovers and Friends is the top soap I've never seen a moment of that I'd love to. That SOD editorial is very scathing (did she like ANYTHING about it?) but I've actually found the synopsises to have a lot of promise and interest--of course that doesn't always translate. It does seem like NBC shoulda given the show, maybe the original version at least a year--surely by then someone at the network knew Lemay's style and that his stories were slow builds? It does seem that maybe he focused on a bit too much backstory to really get people interested though. I've alwyas found it kinda funny the ways they retooled it into Richer for Poorer and sorta made it more soap opera by the numbers (even changing Rhett to Bill!)--though it sounds like FRFP tried to get more of a youth audience and then to put it up against AMC just when AMC was really on the rise to its peak positions is absolutely bewildering. (I also wonder--wasn't AW an hour by then? So Lemay and Rauch both were doing a LOT of work... And the move to not have it on following, or even leading into AW where audiences used to that style of soap might take to it and see the crossovers is also bizarre--it reminds me a bit of how ABC didn't take Agnes advice to snadwich Loving between AMC and OLTL where it seems it coulda had a chance)

I've taken a couple months break from PP but I think it's time for me to start up with it again. BTW in the past month a number of full episodes, from different eras, have been put on youtube. I didn't even know Gena Rowlands, who i love, was on it--what season? I suppose I still have at least several discs to go...

Season 2 is where it really picks up steam, Selby joined the cast, etc, and it became a full on campy soap. So apparently this release is only a MOD release--made on demand (and hence will be burned DVDs, not pressed?) I'd prefer pressed but seriously, MOD releases probably make the most sense with these long running soaps--the first seasons will always sell much better than later ones. If there are no plans, as I hope there are, to release more Knots after Dallas is done, maybe they could take up the MOD format. (I wish though they'd do MOD with Amazon as some others have just as that would be easier for me to deal with--well and I have a lot of Amazon gift cards and none for Warner Bros )

This pretty much defines you as either a fan of Xenomania's copy/pasted way of writing/producing music or not. I think it's the last great thing Brian Higgins produced (and an example of Miranda Cooper's borderline brilliant/inane lyrics).

A ballet dancer's--Mapplethorpe classic For some reason this song always makes me tear at the end--gorgeous Price production (and when did Charlize become such a Godess??)

This is my fave track at the moment on the current Scissor Sisters CD, Night Work, produced by Stuart Price (he's been busy between this, Kylie and Brandon Flowers' solo disc). The CD itself is a happy surprise--no fake Elton John ballads or honky tonk joke songs like on their crap last album, just full on electro 80s and disco stuff with an often dirty sound and lyric, like their original club hits and demos. No big shock to anyone who knows my music tastes, they did this track as a hommage to Moroder's 1979-1981 style, even including that kinda creepy synth line. Fabulous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIZGMWyCMDM

Wilder was kinda a one hit wonder, but he did later on, I believe write or co-write the songs for Mulan, among other things. I knew the song first from this cheezy dance cover which was MASSIVE when I was a teenager here in Canada. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6j659PwANA

Lost in Music is my fave from their two Chic produced/written abums though You Fooled Around (which doesn't seem to be on youtube) from the followup is kinda sublime...

If I Can't Have You is my fave BeeGees penned song (I like a lot of their stuff but have a hard time with the falsetto, so prefer it when they write for others...). I just wish it were longer (there's a 12" mix but it's just looped, nothing new). Love Dionne though Heartbreaker is prob the last thing of hers I like--I love all of her 60s Bacharach produced stuff and most of her 70s, but lose interest by much of the 80s.

Two of my fave Midney classics (again my only concern is some of the vocals--but I can get past that with the swirling melodies and production): And from 1979 (wish this had better sound--I have all his albums remastered on CD.)

That whole Festival Evita album is a masterpiece--I have a book on disco music, mainly obscure stuff, and theypicked it as their fave Eurodisco album. It was done by Russian/American (though classified as Eurodisco) maestro Bob Midney, who many think was thebest of the best. He was commisioned to do the Evita adaptation by Stigwood, Evita's producer, and it was released 6 months before the premier. Festival was his made up name for the band for that album--he used a bunch of names (Caress, Beautiful Bend, Masquerade, USA/European Connection). That actually might be his most mainstream work, but his other stuff was often, by disco standards, very avant garde full of discordant patches, melodies that came out of nowhere, random vocals, sudden jabbing strings. He was the first to use a 48 part studio recording technique too. (I actually think his one weakness was the vocalists he used). It's the kinda stuff thehardcore disco DJs would play but you'd never hear at a mainstream disco like 54 The bside medley: And

Yeah I found the vinyl single randomly at a thrift shop as a teen--like it a lot too. I only knew him from American Werewolf.