EricMontreal22

No spoilers... yet. After taking a 2 and a bit week break from Peyton Place (I was starting to hum the theme song in the shower, and have dreams with that dramatic cliffhanger music), I got into it massively this weekand went through the last 15 eps in the Shout! second DVD box set in three days. WOW. The way nearly every fragment of all the storylines has come together in surprisingly but perfect ways, hitting theclimax of so many long held secrets has been phenomenal. Seriously some of the best soap I've ever seen--and also surprisingly moving. Terrific, terrific stuff. (So I'm now at Ep 65, but my bootleg copies of the full series just arrived--I couldn't wait after hearing Shout is having trouble getting anymore--and I'm debating diving right back in or taking another small break... The only problem with the show, if this is a problem, is they're so good at laying out their stories, in true classic soap fashion, that just when you think you've reached the end of a chapter, there's already another story or mystery nearly in full gear! With some 450 episodes left, that could take up a lot more of my time than I should allow it It's hard for me to just watch one episode a night...) One thought I had though... It's funny, so many of the daily writers of Peyton Place went on to write daytime soaps, but usually with very little success (many of them are known to be some of the worse headwriters). Robert J Shaw, Peggy Sloane, Theo and Mathilde Fero, etc... Nina Laemmle is listed as story editor on all of these first 65 episodes, and I believe she wrote a notoriously lame period on LOfL or SFT or Doctors or something... Yet the writing on PP is SO great, sophisticated and moving in terms of dialogue (loved the use of Melville's Billy Budd in a recent episode), but also expert in the way it's plotted and in the way new characters are seamlessly woven in (I just was introduced to Rita Jacks, and to realize she's the daughter of the Tavern owner was a mini revelation)--maybe they just couldn't cut it headwriting solo for a daily soap...

Yep I recently looked it up for nostalgia sake--it's available online in the US on some DIC owned website but not here. But it was a DIC France/Canada co production. Me and my sis and friends LOVED it after school--prob grade 4 or 5? lol I remember it being more soapy than most cartoons of the time.

Your niece is lucky! Yeah, it's funny, I was looking her up a month or two ago and totally flash backed to Sister Kate--couldn't even find a youtube clip though. I remember it VERY well which is odd as we were allowed to watch next to no tv in the 80s (before I was ten )--maybe only 30 mins a night--like the Cosby Show, etc.

The 70s in general were a bad time to be a woman in Hollywood--as great as the American cinema explosion was at the time, it didn't do much for women characters/actresses (unless you count infamous misogynistic examples like Faye D in Network). Why am I not surprised Troop Beverly Hills is one of your fave comedies

Well the show was all about Samms anyway--from what I've seen I have to agree about Stanwyck--and I love her too.

I said (or from an article I typed out 3 pages back): "NBC is proceeding cautiously with one show that Miss Brustin called "Semi-serialized." The pilot for the show, "The Covenant," is being shot now, and Miss Brustin described it only as "the story of a family in a very unusual, surprising arena." NBC plans to present theshow as a standard episodic series in the first year, and only if it catcheson will it change to a serialized format in the second year." to which Carl asked: I mentioned that the show about cops did, and Dark Mansions we were told aired the pilot as a TV movie... Well now it sounds like this mysterious soap, The Covenant, aired as a primetime movie too (the pilot). I was on an *ahem* gay torrents site, and someone into campy old tv shows posted this request--this MUST be the same program (it's the right year): I'll let you know if someone manages to upload it as a torrent. Sounds intriguing anyway.

PR was it any good? Sounds intriguing anyway... I need to track down the Colbys--just cuz I do

Bollocks LOL well I think their formula for the show--take all the soap cliches they had used on GH, etc when they wrote there and amp them up--basically burned themselves out by season 3. I was just going by Schemering's book which lists other writers coming in after them. I can agree with your comments about season 1

I should add to what I said--when I first saw Dynasty it was maybe 6 years ago--someone had the first season online and actually, I really loved it. So count me among those I mentioned being upset or surprised to see so many of the elements dropped. I just thought the common wisdom was seasons 2 and 3, under the Pollocks (who I think then left to do The Colbys?) were the best. (And I've seen season 2 on DVD but not 3 or 4 yet...)

Well the show was meant to be a contrast between the have nots and the haves (have a TON)--and dealt with issues, etc. It stopped all of that nonsense suddenly with season 2

But so much of that was dropped with Season 2... it's like a different show lol

Was From Here kept in period? (I only know the Monty Clift etc etc awesome 50s movie). I could understand most miniseries fans really not getting Fresno--the humour is such that some people could watch it and prob not realize it was meant to be humorous.

Nope, never heard of it. Yeah--I'm tempted to get the DVD now... I worship Burnett (and oddly she can get awya, with me, with humour that without her I'd often find too cornball). Mary Hartman is brilliant--we had it rerun here in Canada when I was 16 or so (when Canadian Bravo premiered it had a time slot "TV too good for TV" which aired it, Twin Peaks, and others--that's how I saw Soap too), and we got nealry through the entire run as well as the spin off Fernwood 2Night--it's too bad no more DVDs are set to be released, though I understand why.

Man I need to see this! LOL Dunno why I never heard of it before (the only soap parody I knew from Carol was her classic As the Stomach Turns segment on her old show)

While looking at an auction of someone selling bootlegs of some of those 80s soaps, I saw he had a complete set of one called "Fresno". Looking it up, it was a 1986 Emmy nominated parody show of the primetime soaps (set on a raisin farm). Probably not all that amusing, but has anyone heard of it/seen it? (The problem with parodying soaps, particularly TT primetime ones is they're so ridiculous anyway--there's only so much you can do without just becoming silly and slapstick (like that awful Young Doctors in Love movie, though I do love Soapdish of course). (I'm also a big fan of Soap and Mary Hartman Mary Hartman but both those, particularly Mary Hartman, used the parody format to parody more than just soap operas--consumerism, American culture in general, etc) *edit* DOH! It was a miniseries. And Carol Burnett was the star! Now I need to see it! "Fresno is a 1986 television miniseries which parodied popular prime time soap operas of the day such as Falcon Crest, Dallas and Dynasty. Set in Fresno, California, the storyline featured a family matriarch (played by Carol Burnett) and her battles with an evil raisin magnate (Dabney Coleman). Unlike the skits in the Carol Burnett Show (e.g., "As the Stomach Turns"), the comedy was based more on the plot, rather than on one liners or slapstick, such as the revelation that Charlotte's son Cane was actually her rival Tyler's son, and not her husband's."

Oh and a heads up--season 1 of Knots on DVD is being sold off at $6.00 at many stores (I can't help thinking this isn't a good sign about getting seasons 3+ lol). Amazon marketplace even has it new for as little as $3 (plus S&H)

To be fair the "meagmix" of tracks may have been done too because those cues are so very short they thought it would be a weird listening experience (on the show they probably loop them). When I was most into anime I collectd the tv soundtracks for my fave series (in Japan they release soundtracks to EVERYTHING) and often they'd do this with the shorter tracks--when it's more a mood track or something than something with an actual full melody.

I mentioned how in one of the 1987 Paley Seminar clips with Agnes Nixon someone mentions how much he loves that they're using movie themes on AMC--he mentions a track from the Somewhere in Time score being used for Erica, etc. Of course around this time when Erica tries to get Jeremy out of prison they used the Halloween theme (! it works actually). Then recently I was watching Bianca's birth episode and noticed I knew the background music--it was an instrumental of I Saw Him Once from Les Miserables! LOL So does anyone know for how long AMC made a habit of this?

Really? I was just going by Amazon reviewers, etc but nearly everyone seems to say Dynasty was not worth much till Alexis (and the Pollocks) came on--ratings would agree too (but what do ratings say). Season 1 was very Dallas though (in fact, I prefer it to early Dallas myself, but I'm still kinda iffy about Dallas--I should just buy some of the DVDs and get into it).

SOOOOO pleased David Anders has joined! (Sark!!)

I'm starting to think (OK not starting to...) that the Shapiro's weren't the best. I know they worked on some daytime soap (one that shortly after, ironically the Pollocks came in to write, much like Dynasty). Season 1 of Dynasty isn't as bad as some say--there's some quality stuff there but it's fairly routine until the Pollocks amped up season 2--and 3 I guess).

You saw Emerald Point when it first ran?? I'm a bit surprised--I guess I always assume you're more my age. Did you see Midland Heights or Berrenger's? You only replied in the negative--there were no primetime soaps you did like? I kinda get what you're saying (I will point out you're a Hidden Palms fan here ) --to be fair to Chris though the only way to see full episodes of many of these shows that aren't on youtube--to sample them as it were is to get bootleg complete sets from ioffer and other sites. I didn't really grow up with any, except I guess Melrose and Models Inc and much of CPW (I'd like to see CPW again actually but could do with never seeing a minute of Models Inc again. They recently reaired 4 seasons of Melrose here in Canada before pulling it, late night, and I got back into it for a while but then sorta overdosed on it--the show is so trashy and disposable and fast paced that what's fun, becomes kinda draining especially five nights a week.)

Season 3 of Knots had the infamous haunted house ep right? *wants to see that*

And which are YOUR faves or ones you wish you'd see or least faves? You love to poll the community about stuff like this Sylph, but I so rarely get to read your own replies

As I mentioned before, Behind the Screen fascinates me--Jacobs teamed up with a good EP do a late night soap? Cool, in concept anyway (and I love when soaps do the "soap within a soap" thing) Thanks so much for that interview! This would be during Knots... third year right? It speaks to Jacobs' talent I think that he kept with Knots and it was his fave (nearly any true soap fan I know picks it as their fave primetime serial hands down--well it or Peyton). I wonder though about what he says about it being non serialized--I've only seen what's on DVD, the first two seasons which are, what I'd call "lightly serialized". When did it go full on soap--cuz here it sounds like he wants to make it even less so. Fascinating what he says about Midland Heights (I wanna see it all the more now) which from the description by Schemering seemed to have about 7 sex scenes in the pilot--no wonder it got the 10pm slot. I wonder if it had been given another time slot it coulda ran half as long as Dallas or Knots. (It's fascinating to me how much the success of a tv show is dependant on time slot--I think this was even more true back then, of course).