soapfan770

Nobody told me the Stapler made a return presence this week 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I recently watched that LA Law episode for fun too a few months ago😅 Beginning Dec 4, the CBS schedule on Thursdays was (times Eastern/Pacific) 8:00 The Twilight Zone 8:30 Simon & Simon 9:30 Designing Women 10:00 Knots Landing

@DRW50 Thanks for sharing! The NY Times Review of the show wasn’t kind lol: PROBABLY the last thing prime-time television needs right now is another hospital-doctors show. Just about every emergency and heartwarming angle to be found on that particular scene is being exploited each week in NBC's ''St. Elsewhere,'' the kind of middlebrow soap opera that wins Emmy Awards (while virtually acing out ABC's ''Moonlighting,'' a far more original and offbeat romp). Nevertheless, CBS is bringing on, tonight at 10, ''Kay O'Brien,'' a series set in a New York hospital where everybody seems to speak in exclamations: ''We need more blood!'' ''C'mon, let's go!'' ''Do it!'' It is the practice of medicine seen as a football game. But while the surgeon, Dr. Kay O'Brien, called Kayo and played by Patricia Kalember, labors over a hot operating table (''All right, that takes care of the small intestine, but I still don't know what to do about this colon''), she is intended to embody some of the more pressing feminist issues of the day. The key points are constantly being spelled out. Perhaps Dr. Moffitt (Lane Smith), one of the good guys, puts it best: ''There are 75 surgeons here. You gotta be better than any of them. It ain't right. It ain't fair. But that's the way it is.'' And, by golly, she is better than anybody else, even when sabotaged by the nasty Dr. Doyle (Brian Benben), who is determined to ruin Kayo's professional reputation and to keep all women out of surgery's top ranks. Fortunately, Dr. Doyle is so despicable that the rest of the hospital keeps rooting for Kayo. Meanwhile, however, after returning home from one of her 36-hour shifts, Dr. O'Brien discovers that her live-in boyfriend, Sam (Franc Luz), has taken the Mister Coffee and left her a note complaining that she simply didn't have any time for ''a relationship.'' Dr. O'Brien is upset. As she confides to her friend Rosa Villanueva (Priscilla Lopez), the head nurse in surgery, Kayo is 28 years old and not beyond feeling lonely. But, she adds, in another one of those getting-the-point lines: ''A man can have a career and a relationship - is it too much to ask for a woman?'' Back at the hospital, before the end of this first hour - directed by Richard Michaels, written by Bryce Zable and Brad Markowitz - Kayo turns the tables on Dr. Doyle, charms a young boy patient with magic tricks and gets a visit from her boyfriend, who has now decided that he would like to move back in. But by this point, our hero - quoting her father to the effect that the only thing worse than fighting is being afraid to fight - is ready to walk off into the future proud and independent. The only thing that can stop her now are the ratings and scripts that aren't considerably more inspired than this one. Ouch. Obviously the initial lineup was an exercise in counter programming and it backfiring/tank jobs. The December 86 correction was even stranger but at least Knots was back in its usual timeslot. I wonder where else on the schedule this show could have aired on the schedule. It feels much more fitting like it could have been paired with something like Cagney & Lacey but that would’ve messed up the Monday night schedule. Perhaps just aired on Saturday nights? Couldn’t have hurt CBS already tumultuous Sat night lineup during the mid-late 80’s.

44 years ago today:

@DRW50 @Lujack4Ever Thanks both I actually came here immediately after seeing someone’s post ranting about Lujack’s death on Facebook in the GL history group I’m in. I think this was probably the most obvious sign for sure the Kobe/Long was going off the rails, and also Jeff Ryder wasn’t up to HW of GL. Many, many years ago there was a member who was a online friend of mine named Angel here at SON and WOST who was taken back by seeing similar criticism of Ryder because while she was at the now defunct University of the Arts she took a class by Ryder and according to her he actually spoke openly and warmly about his writing stint at GL. Obviously Lujack’s death was short sighted by all parties involved when perhaps a simple recast was in order. Instead the show had Simon Hall hoisted on it, Beth died herself while Judi found even more super stardom on Days, and eventually of course GL ended up with Nick. @Khan @DRW50 I still always wonder how Gail Kobe always felt about ending up at B&B being forced to do her job without drama/question after all was said and done with her time at GL and Texas. Actually I wonder why Bell even hired her. No one ever talks about her tenure at B&B lol. BTW regarding Meta @Mitch64 guess I have always thought that Joey was Meta’s legit son with Joe and never understood why he was ignored; similarly I vividly remember seeing a Bauer Family tree in I think either SOU or SOD around the 60th anniversary that not only indicated Joey was Meta’s son, but also Paul Kincaid was Bill’s son along with the existence of some other Bauer sibling (Douglas Bauer I think?).

Dependent on how Jane thought about Gale and Lucy of course!

@Khan @kalbir I still cling to my idea that Lucille Ball and Gale Gordon would’ve been better doing a short arc as villains (Angela’s goofy but wicked sister in law Lucinda Channing) under Jeff Feilich’s era ons Falcon Crest in 1986 than doing Life with Lucy 🤣🤣🤣 Also @Khan to follow up on the Orleans show, like New York News I was probably the only person in America or one of the very, very few people to watch at least 2 or 3 episodes. It wasn’t bad, typical judicial drama mixed with some family drama. There was an ongoing plot about Hagman’s character’s daughter being long since kidnapped and missing (it was very Samantha Mulder on X-Files minus aliens). CBS probably didn’t give it a chance, and the half primetime soap/half episodic format the show seemed to be angling for would work a lot better for shows like Providence and Judging Amy a couple years later.

BTG: A- Days: C+ Y&R: F B&B: Z-

I assume he was but I wonder what is name was lol.

@YRfan23 Who played Jumbo Man? 😆

Wow lol how did I miss this thread and how quick it blew up? 😅 Some additional stars I hadn’t seen mentioned yet.… @Khan Don’t forget about Larry Hagman. Of course I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas was his hits, but it seemed between the two shows he was just a working actor from guest role to guest role for much of the 70’s. After Dallas In 1997 CBS and Hagman tried to arrange a comeback with a show called Orleans, a blend of legal and family drama set in New Orleans. It premiered decently but immediately lost steam, and CBS actually promoted the fact that they were moving the show to 9PM/8PM on Fridays to the old Dallas timeslot. Obviously that failed even worse and the show was cancelled. Hagman had that brief recurring guest stint on Desperate Housewives but it didn’t go anywhere and that was right before the Dallas revival was announced. Speaking of Desperate Housewives have any of the actresses starred in anything major since? I know Cross and Huffman (before her arrest) starred in a couple of dismally failed ABC series. I know for a while there like around 2000 or so between Lois & Clark and DH Hatcher was actually best known for her Radio Shack commercials lol. Finally for now we’ve mentioned other stars like Robert Ulrich and Morgan Fairchild but what of other recurring stars like Valerie Mahaffey (may she RIP)? Some more modern primetime stars I can think of that had their hits and misses are definitely Peter Krause, Emily Van Camp, Noah Galvin (what a disaster lol), Marcia Gay Harden, and Zachary Quinto.

That’s what I thought too, so I’m glad he sounds like he’s doing much better. And thanks @janea4old! Most of the young Chance actors including Dekker, Courtland Mead, Alex D Linz and obviously Penn Badgely did other significant work. Oddly the kid who played the role the longest, Nicholas Pappaone did nothing else I don’t think. @DRW50 meant to tag you on this because it was no surprise to me to learn that Bryan Fuller was the one to out Dekker.

Came across a 3-year old interview from variety with Thomas Dekker (who’s first big acting gig was playing a young Phillip IV/Chance on Y&R) I hadn’t ever read before. Not sure what’s he’s doing these days and haven’t seen him since his Star Trek Picard episode a few years ago but I am glad he found sobriety and comfortable with his sexuality after years of public denial. I seem to recall him hitting a cyclist while drunk was the end of his career for a long time there: https://variety.com/2022/tv/columns/swimming-with-sharks-thomas-dekker-gay-outed-1235225805/

I feel very bad for BF that Giggly Heffa is being forced onto him. At least BF looked yummy in a scene that otherwise was very icky to watch. I still can’t believe Flynn took this role. He also seems a tad bored/underwhelmed sometimes I almost see the regret in his face.

LOL!!! 😂 He looks like he is reacting as if Luna just passed bad gas or something.

Most likely. The Family Man was also a Miller-Boyett sitcom, although why have a new untested sitcom lead off the night instead of at least giving the Hogan Family the lead seems puzzling. And again on a Saturday night…maybe CBS was hoping for those younger demos? Or contractual obligations to avoid any interference with other Miller-Boyett shows? Both shows were cancelled by seasons end. CBS’ other later attempts with Miller-Boyett of course were catastrophic failures as discussed previously. The CBS season of the Hogan Family was of course particularly dark-killing off a main character after contracting AIDS was definitely not your typical “tonight on a very special…” plot line so many other sitcoms of the era used. Once shows like Dynasty and Moonlighting fell off dramas on ABC had a hard time, even if they were critically acclaimed. It’s striking to see ABC so devoid of dramas for the bulk of the 90’s and early 00’s outside of fare like NYPD Blue, Lois & Clark, and I guess The Commish? Even well praised shows like Murder One and Once and Again ultimately failed after a couple seasons. It wasn’t until the 2004-05 season once Desperate Housewives, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Boston Legal got going that ABC leaned hard into dramas again.

I think Major Dad and Designing Women were fine where they were, and helped contribute to the even stronger Monday night schedule the following season. By the time CBS moved the shows in 1992 to build that Friday night block, it flopped hard as we’ve mentioned before. I’ve read WIOU was a solid show cancelled too soon, perhaps it should have aired on Monday @10 instead? At some point CBS would move Dallas back to 9 I believe in another desperate attempt to do something with that Fri night schedule. Sitcom heavy is right, and there’s some oddball things going on as well. CBS picked up The Hogan Family from NBC only to air it in a DOA Sat night timeslot at 8:30. Night Court still hanging on Friday nights with middling ratings. Dear John, once a hit on Thursdays at 9:30, became the poster child for the troubled NBC Thursday night 8:30/9:30 sitcoms as it failed to thrive once out of the slot. And as you mentioned there’s a lot of well low quality to garbage across all four network line-ups lol. Cop Rock, anything on CBS Thursday schedule not named Knots Landing, the glut of pointless sitcoms etc.

Thanks @DRW50 much appreciated as always!! The original premise of a primetime soap set in Santa Fe New Mexico itself unique and interesting could added some flair, but retooling it to be set on a ranch in small town in the Four Corners region and adding in Western elements doomed it, especially with the timeslot the show was given. Someone at CBS should have already been aware of this, given the previous dismal failures of the soapy Knots replacement Angel Falls and then Harts of the West flopping despite a supposed cushy spot between Dr. Quinn and Walker a few years earlier. Perhaps had they stuck with the Santa Fe premise and aired it on something like a Friday night it might have at least built an decent audience for a few years. But I suppose that would have also required more investment from someone like Moonves too, yikes.

I was trying to pinpoint when Mack as a character went downhill for myself. I think it was in Season 10 when Mack decided to be a do-gooder lawyer and also with the whole Meg adoption thing. After that I soured on Mack and Karen, but Mack a lot more because the character had become an extremely self-righteous zealot, while PollyKaren became borderline parody (Seasons 11-13 were definitely the nadir of the MacKenzies lol) DIRTY COP!!! was bad, but I actually warmed up to the Tom Ryan character overtime especially as I forgot he ended up being on and off the show through the end. Greg and Paige were okay for me. Entertaining in Season 10 for sure but i wish the show had decided what to do with them one way or another instead of the constant back and forth that occurred. The Paige/Linda rivalry was definitely interesting, and I do wish Greg had been given a son at some point or all along, maybe that could have spiced up stuff for Paige and Linda down the line as well. The whining over Linda’s brutal murder isn’t obligatory, it is required.

44 years ago today on 11/12/81:

TV Ratings from 35 years ago for the week of October 29-November 4 1990. #3 Cosby facing some tough competition from #19 The Simpsons. Dallas started its final season its season premiere opening up at #41 while Knots was at #33. Poor Twin Peaks just didn’t stand a chance in that miserable timeslot. Grand really was odd man out with the rest of NBC’s Thursday night schedule wasn’t it?

Off for Veterans Day and and watched today’s episode live for the first time in months….what the heck is this show even about anymore??? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

And Primetime ones, with two different ones for Falcon Crest:

CBS really should have taken advantage of developing an actual Tuesday night schedule during the 83-84 season. Obviously counter programming the A-Team and Riptide would’ve be a bit tough but it would’ve had to been better that ABC’s dismal Tuesday schedule and whatever TV movies CBS was airing on Tuesday nights. CBS also coasted way on too much of its past successes obviously instead of going original shows and new talent. A show like AfterMASH shouldn’t have existed. Why did Dukes of Hazards ratings collapse after the original Duke boys returned lol?