Paul Raven
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Posts posted by Paul Raven
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Adding my thanks @Franko You are providing alot of detail that the summaries at the time ignore, particularly those subplots for the secondary charcters.
When Wes Kenney arrived there was a major housecleaning.
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It would have been good if both Rick Lohman and Megan Bagot returned to the roles. Search had so many new characters that some familiar faces would be appreciated. They could use some flashbacks if former actors returned.
Lohman was doing guest spots at that point so might have been amenable to a return to SFT.
Second thoughts I think it was Steven Burleigh that played Gary at the time Laine was on the show. He didn't seem to be as popular as Rick in the role. That's when Gary was dropped. But he might have been acceptable if Gary returned.
Megan Bagot seemed to vanish. Maybe she was doing theater. Might have returned. Would Rebecca Hollen make a good Laine?
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After over 3 years something new for Moment of Truth!
IN DECEMBER 1964 a new television soap opera called "Moment of Truth" made its debut with á big splash. The NBC television network in the United States proclaimed a firm 26 -week purchase of the Canadian made series, and almost immediately announced the program was sold right out to network affiliate stations. The sale was hailed as a quarter -million dollar Christmas gift to Canadian talent. It was applauded by Canadian commercial producers and advertisers as the icebreaker for future Canadian independent production efforts. An agency TV buyer was quoted as saying, "The day has arrived when our obligation to sponsor Canadian content programming can be considered positively rather than negatively." That was the story up till Christmas 1964.
Then on December 28 the CBC network started airing Moment half -an -hour daily five days a week. Before long the daytime serial was doing well as a network spot carrier. In fact there was only one thing wrong with Moment's success story - Robert Lawrence Productions (Canada) Limited, the show's Toronto -based producer, apparently wasn't making a dime on it. And to be more exact about it, John Ross, RLP president, claimed all indications pointed to a highly measurable loss. Why? With all those sales shouldn't Moment have been strutting like a fat -cat? It seems not.
And one of the reasons for the grotesque situation wasn't complicated at all - it's just that the CBC wasn't paying for the show. The Corporation apparently intends to, starting April 1, and will pay up in terms Ross calls satisfactory and generous. But Ross says, "Even if the CBC had bought it from the beginning, we couldn't produce it for that." Evidently the only hope for a reasonable profit on Moment lies in renewal of the existing 26 -week NBC contract and an extended CBC run. The amortization of pilot costs and heavy initial production expenses takes that long, in Ross' view.
FOCUS ON PROBLEMS
One of the vital jobs Moment of Truth has done is to focus a glaring light on problems facing independent television producers in Canada. RLP'S "success" has dragged the question of any independent's ability to go it alone on major TV productions and make money, out of the area of speculation. It has plunked the issue on firm ground, for once. Ross says an independent can't make it independently, period. He considers subsidization "absolutely essential". (If the CBC buys a show at a price higher than potential commercial revenues, that's a form of subsidization. The Corporation regularly aids Canadian talent by producing shows at costs of $50,000 an hour and up, selling them to commercial sponsors at a fraction of true cost.)
It was back in May 1964 that RLP "put it on the line, crossed its fingers" and gambled $30,000 to produce a pilot for Moment. After selling the show to NBC Ross noted, "It's amusing in a way, because the odds are so greatly stacked against you." Before long RLP moved toward what it felt to be the next logical step for a Canadian -made, Canadian talent show - airing on the CBC. As it happened, the only way RLP could get the program on the national network was "under an arrangement whereby we participated in the network's portion of ad revenue," says Ross. (He believes the Corporation takes half the network spot dollars. Local stations get the other half.) RLP's sales representative, All -Canada Radio & Television Ltd., pressed the CBC to buy the program. But it was no dice. Ross feels authority in the Corporation was spread too thin (before the CBC's recent executive realignment), so no one was in position to make a decision. "They all liked Moment of Truth," he says. But they figured I suppose that with the total number of dollars they had to spend, they didn't want to spend it on daytime television." RLP contended daytime shouldn't be discounted. "The CBC's final comment when I was there (at a meeting in Ottawa) was 'We have no money'. I didn't believe them at the time, but now they've made it public I guess it must be true," Ross adds.
RLP's target in the CBC talks was hung on a figure of approximately $7500 for each episode of Moment. (Ross believed $7500 was about the lowest figure the CBC could spend producing a half hour of its own.) Scaled down to allow for Moment being daytime TV, and not high -Canadian -culture ("I've never said our show was like the Second Coming, or fabulous or wonderful," Ross insists), $7500 became a take-off point in RLP's thinking.' Ross felt, and still believes that the CBC shouldn't be called on to back every program idea dreamed up by independent producers - "The program has to be something more than self-indulgence."
COMMERCIAL WITH A BIG C "I'm in the commercial business with a big C", he says. "Everything has to be considered ing the ground of quality -level suitable for national broadcast, he explains. "You can apply this test to Moment of Truth because it's stood the test of a foreign sale," he continues. "And you should be able to ask the CBC to support you if the program has stood the test elsewhere." He thinks RLP took on its fair share of risk by getting the program produced, sold and on the air, making it possible for RLP to turn to the CBC with a proved -out product. "At no time did we ask the Corporation to gamble with us. At no time did the taxpayer have to gamble. "The CBC could at least have indicated interest in supporting us," he states. (The Corporation has pledged support, from April 1 as noted above.) But what happened to the prediction that the Canadian obligation to sponsor Canadian content programming could now be considered positively?
RLP's lengthy struggle for support of its Canadian talent opus leaves John Ross in some doubt. In fact he admits expressing his misgivings to a US producer who wondered if there was any future for an independent producer wanting to develop something up here. What have they done for you on this show, except criticize?" is the way the American put it.
AGONY OF UNCERTAINTY
Asked if his negotiations with the CBC have been satisfactory Ross replies, "Of course not," although the dickering seems to have led at last to an acceptable financial arrangement. Ross believes if others are to escape RLP's agony of uncertainty, "the first thing the CBC has to clarify, not only for Robert Lawrence Productions but for everybody, is its attitude, They've got to define it." The question in Ross' mind is, "Do they want independent Canadian production or not?" As an afterthought he adds, "The NBC, CBS and ABC networks have made a great success of their businesses by producing as little as possible themselves." Stuart MacKay, principal figure in All -Canada's negotiations on behalf of RLP, says, "We've been trying to see it half -way," and get the CBC to do the same. "In the beginning they told us - 'Look here, we don't have any money. Are you prepared to gamble with the Corporation?" MacKay concludes, "That's not a solid base for a production house."
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2 hours ago, DRW50 said: A year or so before ABC had had several GH cast members playing other roles in a TV-movie with Suzanne Pleshette, but playing their soap characters I don't think was ever done.
That was 'Fantasies'
That movie's awful. It would be interesting to see the ratings on it--if that was an experiment, then I assume it failed, because I can't recall any other movies tie ins being made.
Ben appeared in a few episodes prior to The Cradle Will Fall airing to cross promote.
The problem was trying to shoehorn the GL characters into the plot of a successful novel.
Had they used a script tailored to include GL characters or adapted a book that leant itself better to incorporating the soap characters things might have been different.
However The Cradle Will fall was a ratings success airing in the final week of May sweeps and finishing at #15 for the week with a 15.5/25 rating considering it was up against a repeat of The Enforcer which ranked #8 17.6/29 and Three's Company #10 17.3/28.
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Thank you.
Martin was only in 4 times, the lowest for any contract player. I wonder if Brandon had some other project going or they just didn't have much for the character to do this month.
I like Mona but one appearance kinda makes you wonder the point of the character. She's supposed to be Nicole's assistant but we never see her in that capacity.
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Looking back on the Dallas premiere Sun April 2 1978
It replaced The Carol Burnett Show Sun @10.
CBS 60 Minutes @7 Rhoda @8 On Our Own @8.30 All in the Family @9 Alice @9.30 Dallas @10
ABC Young Pioneers 2hr Debut @7 Movie High Plains Drifter @9 (Clint Eastwood)
NBC Disney Barefoot Executive @ 7 Project UFO @8 Movie Love's Dark Ride @9 (Cliff Potts, Carrie Snodgrass)
Dallas S1 E1 Diggers Daughter ranked 18th of 65 shows with a 21.5/37 .
That was the best rated new CBS series debuting at that time beating Incredible Hulk, Sam, Husbands, Wives and Lovers.
Tina Louise was there in the first couple of episodes and had they decided to keep Julie in the mix might have finally shed the Ginger from Gilligan's Island tag, becoming one of the stars of Dallas when it became a smash hit.
Although knowing Tina she might have refused to be a part of any reunions claiming the show had been pitched to her as 'Julie in Dallas' with her as the lead!
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Edited by Paul Raven
43 minutes ago, ranger1rg said: If I walked into Crimson Lights and heard Daniel and Tessa singing and playing guitar, I'd walk right out.
Maybe that's why the place is always empty.
Does Sharon still have her business? Was it Cassidy One or something? What was the point of it?
Sorry, not here for Nick the addict. I'm sure there will be DRAMA but what actual fall out will there be? Nick will just add ex addict to his resume.
A lot of stuff just seems to exist to fill up airtime and keep vets onscreen.
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Welcome @Allan00 It would be better for you to post in the Search for Tomorrow thread rather than a separate thread.
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And one more thing. Mariah and the mystery man that she may or may not have killed. Has that been explained or just swept under the rug?
It looks like Mariah will be offscreen again why she has treatment out of town. She and her mom can now swap stories of their mental breakdowns. Has that hereditary aspect been acknowledged or addressed?
Same with Nick-he can chat to his mom and former stepdad about their common addiction issues.
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As for 'Victor has gone too far this time' and 'He will pay for this'-why not go to the non existent GC police and actually report all these crimes?
It's totally ridiculous, even in soap opera terms. Let alone "Summers Conglomerates' . Within weeks an entire world wide corporation can be taken over singlehandedly by a psychotic redhead.
And BTW Faith has an internship in NY. Who?
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26 minutes ago, DeeVee said: While I agree with everything you're saying here, the problem is likely money. More sets would be needed, more extras and day players and recurring characters. That's why we don't see a lot of this stuff, and it's a problem. Naomi is an attorney who seems to work exclusively from Orphey Gene's. It's weird. Eva and Derek, same thing. All the clinic stuff seems to be happening there, too.
All true. But what is puzzling is that they write the stories like those sets and actors would be available.
I was concerned at the outset when they announced realtor, fireman, politician, journalist etc as occupations but figured there would be a way to showcase it somehow. Instead it's all tell don't show which gets wearing after awhile.
Write the show to the budget. There was no point to Derek being a fireman, Vanessa being in real estate, Martin a politician when it is not explored or has much bearing on the characters.
They would have been better off having more characters work at the hospital, police station or Bill's office as these are pretty much the only workplaces shown.
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Charlene, bless her, was so tiny that I'm surprised she was cast in the first place.
And the show seemed to go out of their way to make that obvious instead of shooting scenes in such a way to cover it up.
Maybe even casting someone a little shorter as her love interest.
It makes me think of Joan Crawford who was only 5'3" but came across much taller onscreen due to clever staging.
And yes, Mitch was a dud. Lucy should have married a young businessman with ties to Ewing Oil to keep them in the mix.
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9 minutes ago, Spoon said: They should've brought back Morgan as a spoiler for Josh and Reva. Maybe instead of Josh/Olivia because Josh had history with Morgan. Kelly Nelson could return to town as new chief of staff at cedars, have a fling with Reva while Josh is with Morgan.
That would require being familiar with the history of the show and using it strategically to propel new stories. Something that seemed to be anathema to TIIC.
I wonder how many actors would have been more than happy to return to the show?
There was so much history to be mined.
Ratings from the 1990s
in Primetime & Streaming
Sun May 12 1991
7-8pm
ABC Disney #70 6.9/16
CBS 60 Minutes #19 13.4/31
NBC Black Jack Savage #80 4.8/11
FOX True Colors #83 4.3/10 Parker Lewis #83 4.8/11
8-9pm
ABC Funniest Home Videos #23 12.9/25 Funniest People #13 13.7/25
CBS Murder She Wrote #21 13.2/25 (12.8/25 1st half hour ,13.7/25 2nd half hour)
NBC Expose #82 4.5/9 Real w Jane Pauley #74 5.7/11
FOX In Living Color #52 9.6/19 Get A Life #68 7.2/13
9-11 pm
ABC An Inconvenient woman Pt 1#35 11.7/21
CBS Mrs Lambert Remembers Love #51 9.9/17
NBC In The Line of Duty #8 14.7/26
FOX Married W Children #45 10.9/19 Top of the Heap #63 8.1/14 Sunday Comics #75 5.4/10
MSW was just pipped by ABC but the demos for Videos/People would have been way younger.