soapfan770

Forty years ago this week the two hour premiere aired on 9/18/86 trying to jump ahead of follow week’s season premieres on NBC:

Thank you!!! Praise the Lord!! I do have to wonder if they were somehow involved in the transition or if JG’s last month is just him getting credit in name only like it been ghost rewritten. Correct me if I’m wrong but I do recall something like that happened when Reilly left Days in 2006 the transition to Hogan took forever (and was actually better material than either JER or Hogan ever wrote IMO lol). Same with GL’s transition from Weston to Kriezman. Actually to give JG some credit back in 2012 he did quickly put an end to most of MAB & CO’s madness with the exception of having Sharon go bonkers again. Probably the strangest transition I have ever read/seen was the transition from Pratt to Sussman back in 2016. Like Pratt abruptly stopped and Sussman had to figure out things on the fly. I think something happened like that after Latham fled to Central America or something too.

@kalbir @Paul Raven @DRW50 @Soapsuds @YRfan23 @Khan @Vee @slick jones @titan1978 I thought this would be fun and interesting, and I had no idea where else to post this but this thread, but here are ratings for various soaps and how they ranked for the week. Actually it’s also interesting to The Daytime Emmys end being being #1 for the week and/or how the SOD Awards fared in primetime. Please let me know if I missed any primetime eps, I have AW, Days, GL, GH, Y&R, OLTL, and the Port Charles premiere. I swear AMC and I think even Sunset Beach did one but couldn’t find the dates or get clarification. I don’t think ATWT or B&B ever did primetime eps. I’ll start with 1992- March 1994 first Jan 6-12 1992 (Days on Fri 1/10 followed by SOD Awards) June 8-14 1992 (GL on Fri 6/12) June 22-28 1992 (AW on 6/23 followed by Daytime Emmy’s) January 31-February 6 1994 (Days on 2/4/94 followed by SOD Awards) February 22-28 1993 (Days on 2/26/93 followed by SOD Awards February 28-March 6 1994 (Y&R on 3/3/94)

There’s a lot of things that should have been tweaked for FC IMO: #1, Angela being exceptionally fond of Cole and Vickie to the point where Vickie comes off as a young Angela if portrayed by a stronger actress #2 on the inverse, Lance finding a strong paternal influence from Chase #3 The Agretti’s are a major competitor in the wine industry against Falcon Crest. Not just some hand wringing over “the Agretti harvest” but a pure bona fide renowned vineyard. Melissa has at least 2-3 siblings but At least one brother. Carlo was Angela’s lover til she cheated on him with his superior brother Frank; Carlo’s daughter Melissa secretly arranges her dates with Lance and/or Cole to avoid scandal and reigniting the family feud. #4 add in one more additional son of Douglas and Angela but have him be more influenced by Douglas as a newspaper reporter yet have him elope with the heiress of Falcon Crest’s biggest rival in Tucscany Valley as well as adopt her young son

From Matt P Smith: Secrets of Midland Heights (CBS, 1980–81) Secrets of Midland Heights was an extremely short-lived primetime soap produced by Lorimar in the wake of Dallas. Set in a seemingly respectable Midwestern college town, it followed the wealthy Millington family and the interconnected Welsh, Wheeler, Carroll and Dexter households. Beneath the town’s peaceful surface lurked adultery, family secrets, class conflict, mental illness, unwanted pregnancies and struggles over the Millington fortune—a younger, darker variation on Peyton Place. The principal villain was the ruthless Guy Millington, who schemed to inherit his formidable mother Margaret’s fortune while trying to discredit his niece Ann. Guy was also secretly the father of diner owner Lucy Dexter’s deaf son. Other stories included married student Dorothy Wheeler’s affair with her professor, Nathan Welsh; their teenagers discovering the relationship; Ann’s romance with working-class John Grey; and the tempestuous triangle involving Lisa Rogers, Burt Carroll and Mark Hudson. The ensemble included Martha Scott, Jordan Christopher, Bibi Besch, Robert Hogan and Jenny O’Hara, alongside several young actors who later became much better known—notably Linda Hamilton as provocative teenager Lisa and Lorenzo Lamas as Burt, shortly before Lamas joined Falcon Crest. A very young Melora Hardin also appeared as Micki Carroll. CBS scheduled the series at 10 p.m. on Saturdays, beginning December 6, 1980. Only eight episodes aired before it was pulled on January 24, 1981, leaving three produced installments unseen. The difficult time slot, sprawling cast and unusually heavy emphasis on teenage characters prevented it from finding a stable audience. Although critics frequently dismissed it as another Dallas imitation, Time later observed that the attractive, updated-Peyton Place series appeared to be finding its storytelling rhythm just as CBS canceled it for low ratings. Its proposed retooling eventually evolved into King’s Crossing, another Lorimar family soap that aired briefly on ABC in 1982 and reused several cast members in entirely different roles

Agreed 100%. Emma certainly could be naive, and while she had fell for bad/shady guys before, having her be so naive and defenseless here was extreme. For something like Emma and Charley to work, they needed to have some fun and wacky stuff, not the very dark and depressing stuff we were given. Pilar feels like a completely different character in Season 9 than she was in Season 8. Also yeah, Pilar being semi-forced to sleeping with the obese Ned just to get a business deal done and Ned taping it was 🤢Also I wondered if Angela had planned that thing since she sent Lance and Pilar to deal with him but it was never brought up again. At the very least at least watch the final 3 episodes of the season. The show feels like itself all over again and ends on a higher note.

Wild I came here because of Parade’s rather misleading headline LOL https://parade.com/news/47-years-after-its-finale-love-of-life-is-getting-a-digital-reboot I did give Hutchinson’s and Thom Racina’s Forever and a Day a chance back in 2020 and 21, it was okay for what it was. I agree I wish they could be a bit more polished like Big Finish (my gosh I’ve enjoyed some of their Dr Who audios over the years) but hey I’ll give it a chance. I’m not mad at Hutchinson doing his thing.

Thanks again as always @DRW50 !! Glynnis never stood a chance as Margo. I remember trying to invest myself in the Tom and Margo 1993 storylines because of the heavy psychological drama involved especially after Margo’s rape but it just didn’t work. I think she was a competent actress just miscast in a wrong role and had no chemistry with Scott Holmes. And I legit laughed at the demonic facial hair comment haha. I actually remember it thinking it looked good on Wiggin. Kirk and Sam’s literal disappearance was quite odd for any soap, never getting resolved is still bothersome. The hints that James had them possibly killed were worse. They really should have resolved it when Georgia exited the show i.e. Georgia and Lucinda get a phone call from Sam and Georgia seeking them out along with Eddie. Bianca was a waste of a character and was pointless. I don’t remember the show ever mentioning her again after 1997 when James mentioned her in a throwaway line while taunting Lucinda. I would have been more interested in Lucinda had a son from start whether he was Lily’s older brother via Martin Guest or a son with James Walsh tying him to fighting with Evan and Connor later on. @P.J. Yeah I remember CD subbing for EF in I think October 2004? It’s funny because it happened right around the same time SoapNet was rerunning 1988 AW episodes featuring her introduction as Iris so there was some minor hype about her subbing in the soap press. But I really remember much outside of that of Lisa interacting with “Juliall” as you say lol. Actually I never understood the point of that character as it was soooo clearly obvious she was supposed to be Julia but I feel like something happened BTS. Idk I remember ATWT having a decent entertaining first half of 2004 but it all literally went out with the window with Barbara 😂

The sad thing is that was really the last time both John and Lisa even would get any significant story and/or airtime was in 1998 and early ‘99, aside from John being a supporting player in the Andy faking his paralysis story and of course John’s return for the show’s finale. Both became glorified extras, and the whole story of John wanting to make Lisa his by the end of ‘99 was dropped somewhere in the change of writers from Broderick to Laiman. Was that when Carmen Duncan subbed for Eileen as Lisa? That was annoying as heck. I remember wayyy back earlier in 2004 Hogan championing how Lisa would be heavily involved in new teenage Casey’s story (when Ian Boyd briefly played the role) and gave some half-baked apology for keeping her on the back burner. Well we like a month’s worth of consistent appearances from Eileen before poof! Lisa faded to the background again after the Casey/Sarah thing fizzled out.

Thanks as always @DRW50 , and thanks again for also recently sharing that early Janice ep from ‘93 as well. Hated by this point ATWT had let Dan Region go. It’s funny I also don’t remember what CBS aired for ATWT’s “Christmas Classic” in 1998 either. I remember Y&R’s was 1988, B&B was either 1992 or 1995 (I get what aired in 1997 mixed up), and I swear GL just reran the year before from the previous Christmas. Anyone else remember?

Great….please don’t tell me Thudley thinks it’s 1998 (or even 2013) again, have Steffy pregnant with what Finn thinks is his child only for it to come out black…

He didn’t earn the nickname “Thudley” from me for a reason—every ends in a Thud!

I wonder if JG has any regrets about wasting Lucas Adams’ Noah on Braun’s throwaway Sienna? Seriously, if JG wanted Newman/Abbott conflict as well as Noah having “mommy” issues, why not an Ashley/Noah/Traci triangle…?🤣😂 Throw in BF’s Cane just to make it a quad. 😅

Do we have an official first day for them yet? Asking because JG’s farewell tour for Y&R is unwatchable trash.

Thanks for sharing!! I haven’t really watched a full season of AHS since the 1984 season. I don’t even remember the Double Feature season, I gave up on NYC after 2 eps, and what I saw of Delicate Condition bored me. I’m interested to see how this plays out. Coven was always my favorite season and I enjoyed their return in Apocalypse. I question the Hotel connection again lol.

To make Season 9 work, Maggie and Emma still would have been needed to last the whole duration of the season. Season 8 was so agonizing to get through. The show definitely needed a shake-up. We definitely got a shake-up and it's not what we wanted but perhaps it's what the original Falcon Crest characters (what was left of it) needed. It became darker, yes, but not the right kind of darker -- more like a slick, soulless '90s type of thing (even though the '90s were barely there by Season 9). Even though there's something to enjoy in every season, the soap itself was petering out. Regardless of how we feel about season 9, it made you sit up and notice. Having said that, I'll never truly love it as one of the best parts of prime time soap history. It's just very....interesting. I actually am okay with the second half of the season around Episode 13 as the show refocuses on Falcon Crest itself again. Of course the final 3 episodes feel like FC all over again. My guilty pleasure of the season will always be Andrea Thompson as Genele, although her initial story with Frank is definitely WTF. Change is inevitable -- and necessary -- as a television series rolls along. But getting the balance right is the trick, and few new producers can do so -- or may even know (or care) to do so. That was the executive producers' responsibility, Filerman, but he failed at it (but he was no David Jacobs). Unlike others I actually I do like the Season 9 theme, but I was always a bit of a fan of Patrick O’Hearn’s music. He wasn’t Mark Snow, but I enjoyed his score alright. @Khan @DRW50 @Chris B Do we have any thoughts on “What if Lorimar transferred the Lechowicks and Stanleys to FC for Season 9 to salvage the show?” 🤣🤣🤣

Interestingly enough NBC reran their attempted family soap The Family Tree they had ran on Saturday nights earlier that year @DRW50 in the summer to bolster some interest in a possible comeback and I see it did a lot better than any of the established shows at #27. Ultimately nothing happened as those would have been pretty unspectacular ratings during the regular season, and of course the talented cast moved onto bigger things. Meanwhile @Khan I see The Hamptons flailing in the wind after we just recently talked about poor Bibi Besch… PS thanks @Soapsuds !! Saw this earlier too. I know it’s all reruns but interesting to see Knots and FC ahead of Dallas & Dynasty

I remember this lol but hey us Y&R fans had to endure the Silver Chipmunk 🤣

Once again late to the party lol but wow. I think all I can do is just keep an open mind especially when it comes to Giddens. But hey at least it wasn’t RC himself?

Thanks! A decent show that was probably cancelled too soon. In in a Reddit group I’m in someone not long ago dredged up this old thread about Ned & Stacey from 2006, I had to cringe at The War at Home being referenced (although the show later oddly had redeeming quality when they did an uber serious coming out story when the family took in the gay teen who’d been kicked out of his house)https://moviechat.org/tt0112093/Ned-and-Stacey/58c76f9193cef4080d77ef14/Why-was-the-show-cancelled On the flipside, Wings really did a nose dive in both quality and ratings after Church left the show. The hole was too large to fill.

Let me go ahead and circle my calendar then!! 🤣 I know we’ve made facetious remarks in the past and I thought this was one of them. I think this is why Days has always suffered so much from highs and lows especially under RC.

She had a minor recurring role for a couple of seasons as a lawyer on Falcon Crest I wonder why the show never offered up more for her but I suppose someone at Lorimar remembered her. Oddly this happened to her co-star Doran Clark as well. Clark was on Kings Crossing, the ill fated Emerald Point, and later the semi-soap Nightingales Just over a decade later something similar occurred with Second Chances and Hotel Malibu. But the SOMH/KC connection is odd. To go from “‘80’s Peyton Place”to Falcon Crest-lite for younger audience is wild. I wonder how SOMH would have fared had perhaps it had been paired up with Knots or if CBS went ahead and moved Dallas up an hour in December 1980 and let SOMH air afterwards. Same thing is CBS had just let SOMH possibly build an audience overtime despite the timeslot.

From July 1998 I so remember being pleasantly surprised to see Brad was coming back as I figured we’d never see him again while also doing the happy dance about Danny leaving because that final storyline of Danny being obsessed with Christine was so painful to watch

Susan Sullivan appears in here in a Tylenol commercial starting right about 8:21:

I wasn’t sure where to post this, but seeing both KRQE (I watched that station all the time for the 15 years I lived in New Mexico!) and WSPA on this list makes me feel sad, even if both Nexstar and CBS are very sorry affairs these days https://deadline.com/2026/07/cbs-switches-nexstar-station-affiliation-1237001956/ @janea4old @DRW50 @kalbir @Khan @Vee @Errol @Franko @Paul Raven @slick jones