Paul Raven

Never saw Year in the Life,but it sounds quality.

Colbys Season 2 started to come together.Much as I worship the woman,Barbara Stanwyck's character was not missed.Stanwyck herself complained about not being given anything meaty to do.

The original love intersts for Bliss(!) and Monica were Wayne a blind C&W singer,Neil-played by Phillip Brown and Sean played by Charles Van Eman.

They were boring and jettisoned for Season 2.

Instead we got Cash(played by James Houghton-Y&R,KL)for Monica and Kolya for Bliss.Adrian Paul played Kolya and he was hot!(He should have become a bigger star.I thought he would have made a good James Bond.

But Charlton Heston was a drag.

Falcon Crest was another show that was slow off the starting blocks and fairly stodgy in Season 1.The arrival of Richard Channing and the move to full on serialization really lifted the show.

I found Season 1 of The Colbys pretty flat but Season 2 really took off.

Does anybody recall 'A Year in the Life' on NBC in 87-88?

It reads a little like Family.

It began as a mini series exploring the death of the mother,which brought back 4 grown children to the family fold.

The series explored the lives of the 3 generations of the Gardner family.

Cast included Richard Kiley,Wendy Phillips,Adam Arkin,David Oliver(Perry AW),Diana Maldaur and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Yes,FHTE was subtitled 'The War Years'

It took place in Honolulu during 1942,with the city under martial law following the Japanese attack.

Sgt Warden was still having the affair with Karen,but now had to deal with Robert Prewitt's brother Jefferson(Don Johnson)The AWOL Robert had been killed while trying to return to base under Warden's advice.Jefferson became involved with Lorene,the prostitute who had been Robert's girlfriend,and eventually married her.Warden(Devane)and Holmes(Thinnes)had a showdown over Holmes treatment of Karen,after which Holmes suffered a heart attack.Karen then left Honolulu to spend the duration of the war on US mainland.

Re the movie-apparently Joan Crawford was set for the Deborah Kerr role but backed out at the last minute.

Fresno was a ratings disaster,and this was at a time when mini series were pretty much surefire ratings grabbers.Of course,being a satire,viewers probably didn't know how to handle it.

There is so much good stuff in this thread,I'm finding it hard to keep up!

re Emerald Point-was Jill St John brought on mid season to spice things up(in an Alexis type move?)

Another show to add to the mix

From Here to Eternity on NBC.They had great success with the mini series starring William Devane and Natalie Wood that this series was commissioned.Barbara Hershey took on Wood's role and I remember reading that Devane became one of the highest paid TV stars by agreeing to do it.Roy Thinnes,Don Johnson,Kim Basinger and Claire Malis(ex Dorian OLTL)were part of the cast.

The show was a ratings flop,beaten by Vegas on ABC and a movie on CBS.

Eric,I don't know how much you've read on Behind The Screen(only Schemering?)The Wikepedia page basically regurgitates his work,although there is a photo.

The Jacobs interview features a pic of Debbi Morgan,Catherine Parks,Mike Sabatino and Janine Turner,all looking suitably sexy and soulful.

I have read that one of the inspirations for KL was the 57 movie No Down Payment starring Joanne Woodward,Jeffrey Hunter,Barbara Rush etc.It is well worth checking out.

I think he is talking Season 3.It did have more self contained episodes where one story was introduced and resolved egLilimae meets Jackson and falls for him,only to discover he is interested in her only because of her connections to the Ewings.

Or the one where the women accompany Laura to see a 'haunted house' and stay the night,resulting in Val nearly jumping off the roof.

Karen's college roommate Victoria(Jessica Walter)arrives and tempts her to go to New York.

Some quotes from a Jacobs interview in 81

Re Behind The Screen

"It's hard to keep an audience on a serial when it's only on once a week.It was originally designed for three times a week,but the network became conservative and decided to go for once a week"

If the ratings continue to stay high during the first six weeks,however,it's expected BTS will begin airing twice a week.

How do you hook an audience?

"With Dallas,we did it with sex and no pilot has ever been more detested,but the character of JR began blowing up.As I see the history of this kind of genre,it goes back a long time.It goes back to Peyton Place,I guess,as the first primetime soap,or One Man's Family,which is where Eva Marie saint started."

"Even though The Waltons had each story separate,you can't really show those shows out of order. First of all,the kids were growing up,and it had the umbrella of the depression and of events,so even though the episodes are different you have an arc. In Family,we couldn't really play the shows out of order because we had what we call arcs,or as ABC used to call them emotional journeys of each chracter,where we find the character and where we left him at the end of the year".

Knots Landing was the first idea Jacobs and partner Michael Filerman presented to CBS,but when the network felt it was too middle class and wanted something more sensational Dallas was created. After Dallas became ahit,the network suggested they work KL into a Dallas spin-off,which Jacobs said was easy since Lucy's father was "the prodigal son".Knots Landing is still the apple of Jacob's eye.

"It's going to be the best show on television this year",he smiles."It's just wonderful and we're not very serialized at all.I thought it was a mistake to serialize so much and I don't think we were as effective. Towards the end of the season,we stopped serializing and the ratings went up.Especially this year,KL has a reality to it that's very touching and it's insightful when it's at it's best.'

"I was talking to someone recently and what I said was that if anybody put a gun to my head,i would admit that we were not doing War and Peace every week,but while we're doing it,we think we're doing War and Peace and Knots demands that of you. With Dallas you can be outrageous and crazy,but not with Knots.It's about passion,it's not about power,and it's very challenging. I guess I'm using the word challenging as a euphemism for 'very difficult',bit it's exciting.If I have my way,though,Behind The Screen would be the most fun of the three.'

"BTS isn't sexy though. There is a lot more innuendo than there is endo.I think CBS would have actually let me make the pilot sexier than it was,but I did a show last year called 'Secrets of Midland Heights',which I also loved,and it was supposed to be a show for a young audience.development people were saying,'Make it sexier,make it sexier'. Program people were saying,'Not so sexy'.Then development people were saying,'We'll take care of them',but they didn't. So what they got was a 10.00 timeslot and sexy or not,the show was not designed for 10.00.It was designed for young adults".

It seems CBS wanted to replicate the Friday combo of Dukes of Hazzard/Dallas on Saturday by pairing 'Freebie and the Bean'with SOMH.

Midland debuted in the Dallas timeslot and got a 41 share-terrific for a new show,but Dallas at that point was scoring shares in the high 50's.

The following night up against Fantasy Island the ratings fell to 22 share and continued to tumble.

Maybe it was 'Jackie Collins Sunset West'?

Jackie Collins did have a deal with CBS for a nightime soap,but I don't think it ever went to a pilot.

I can't recall the exact title but it wasn something like 'Jackie Collins 5th Avenue'or some such locale.

Stu and jo were actually step siblings.Jo's father married Stu's mother in the 50's.

Stu and Jo worked as close friends.it was very unique relationship.

Robin Eisenmann(sp?)was the first Jennifer but it was probably a short stint.She later vplayed Nurse Stacry on GH and subbed as Nikki on Y&R.

SFT had a strong family set up with Stu but it was not utilised.Janet was written off, as was Gary and the SORASING of Danny and constant recasts of Tom destroyed that part.

As for Jo,Patti should have been brought back earlier,divorced from Len with two kids(Chris & Tracey).Much as I hate rapid SORASING,they could have been teens in the early 80's and kept Jo in the forefront as mother/grandmother(as well as aunt to Suzi).

If Bunim was such a bitch,maybe this accounted for the constant writer turnover throughout the 70's.

Caroline McWilliams,who played Janet Mason for 6 years(69-75)has died at age 64.

Best known from prime time as one of the cast of Benson.

There was a tv movie that preceded Paper Dolls by a couple of years with Joan Collins as Racine and Daryl Hannah as Taryn.I don't think it was intended as anything but a one off,but maybe it was reworked into a series a couple of years later,

The 81 ABC movie was primetime.

In 83,NBC developed the daytime version with Pat Falken Smith as writer,Doris Quinlan,producer and starring Susan Flannery,

The 1981 TV movie was on ABC and a pilot for a possible spinoff.

Shelley Smith,who briefly was a semi hot TV name due to a short lived comedy 'The Associates'took on the Lindsay Wagner role.Smith guest starred on RH as one of the celebrity guests at the opening of Delia's Crystal Palace restaurant,along with Van Johnson and Otto Preminger.

Others in the Scruples pilot included Priscilla Barnes,Dirk Benedict,Roy Thinnes,Jessica Walter,Kale Brown and James Darren.

Ron Harper also was on LOL,AW and Loving

Thanks so much for posting these,very enjoyable!

Rita Lakin,who today is a mystery novelist wrote for Peyton Place and later Flamingo Road wrote The Doctors in the mid 60's.I think she was responsible for the show's ratings jump at that time.

ABC was the perennial third place network until the mid 70's and from time to time a show would come along eg Peyton Place,Batman etc that would get a lot of buzz and the talk would be that they would finally climb out of 3rd place.

They were obviously hoping The Survivors would be the next show to do that.

It was placed Monday @9 up against Mayberry RFD and Doris Day on CBS and the NBC Movie.Like so many ABC shows it inherited a timeslot where the network was 3rd placed.Mayberry and Doris finished 4th and 10th that season.

It had weak lead-ins -Music Scenes and New People which each ran 45 mins to try and block the opposition(similar to what ABC did with GH and OLTL later in the 70's).

It lasted 3 and 1/2 months and was rerun in Summer 1970.

Some plot details:

Lana played Tracy Carlyle Hastings,struggling to protect her teenage son Jeffrey(Jan Micheal Vincent)from "forces that could destroy him". Among the major protagonists were Tracy's philandering husband Philip(Kevin McCarthy);her father,banking czar Baylor(Ralph Bellamy) and her playboy half brother Duncan(George Hamilton)

The Carlyles tangled with South American revolutionary Miguel Santerra(Robert Viharo),Tracy's old flame Riakos- Jeffrey's real father (Rossano Brazzi),Baylor's lingering death and everybody's attempt to get their hands on his millions.

Would love to see it on DVD!

Yes,having MJ as a hooker was all kinds of wrong-it would have better suited Nicole at that time.

When DePriest and Whitesall arrived in 86,they talked about focusing on the Loves,Corys and McKinnons and their friends.The storylines didn't live up to the hype.

100 per cent agree on Ben.he had a past relationship with marley,and the posibility to get involved with Vicky and others.

There were so many characters who should have been brought back at some point.

Ben McKinnon

Pam & Gerald Davis

MJ McKinnon

Nicole Love

Peter Love

Jenna

Lorna

Nancy McGowan etc etc

I do know that Malone planned to bring in Alex's daughter Zoe,so he had long term plans in mind.

It would be fascinating to find out all the plans the various writers had over the years.

Peyton Place Ratings/Competition

Peyton Place ranked in the top 25 shows only in it's first season.

The Thursday edition ranked 9th,the competition being Baileys of Balboa on CBS and Hazel on NBC

The lead in was Bewitched which ranked 2nd and lead out was Jimmy Dean Show which did not make the top 25.

The Tuesday edition ranked 20th.The competition was Petticoat Junction on CBS which ranked 15th and That Was The Week That Was on NBC,which did not place in the top 25.

The lead in was The Tycoon and lead out was The Fugitive which ranked 5th.

For the 2nd season,which added the Friday night episode the competition was

Tues Petticoat Junction(21st) and 2nd 1/2 hour of NBC movie.Lead in was F Troop and lead out The Fugitive.

Thurs CBS Thursday Movie and Mona McKlusky(NBC). Lead in Bewitched(7th) and lead out Long Hot Summer

Fri Smothers Brothers Show(CBS) Mr Roberts (NBC). Lead in Honey West and lead out Jimmy Dean Show.

3rd season

Tues Family Affair (15th) on CBS and 2nd half of Road West on NBC Lead in Felony Squad and lead out Big Valley

Thurs CBS Thursday Movie and Dragnet(NBC) Lead in That Girl and lead out Good Company

4th season

Mon now 8.30 Here's Lucy(9th) and Laugh In (Ist) on NBC Lead in The Avengers Lead out The Outcasts

Wed 8.30 Good Guys on CBS The Virginian NBC (17th) Lead In Here Comes The Brides Lead out Wednesday Movie

An article about the behind the scenes strife of The Survivors.It only makes me want to see it more!

Lana Turner knew only too well that she was the model for the lurid 1962 novel Where Love Has Gone, and stopped talking to its author, Harold Robbins (The Carpetbaggers). But by two years ago, she had made peace and signed to star in Robbins' The Survivors, an ABC television series about the jet set he concocted for the forth coming season. That, it turns out, may be grounds to break off relations permanently with Robbins — and just possibly is the worst decision of Lana's 45-movie, seven-husband career. The Survivors has so far proved to be the most overpriced and troubled TV series ever. In the ten months since shooting began, the show has run through three producers.

Also down the chute went one director, the costume designer, the executive story editor — and the original Robbins story line itself.

Says Lana, one of the few charter members of the company left on the set last week: "If we were to film what really has happened behind the cameras, no one would believe it."

The narrative is, so to speak, pure Robbins. He conceived The Survivors for a couple of reasons. Though he has sold more than 40 million books, Robbins has long lusted for a larger audience: he figures that "even if the show is a failure, more people will view it in one night than all the people who have ever read or seen The Carpetbaggers." Secondly, he has always felt that two-hour movie adaptations of his novels were too truncated and that 100 hours were really needed.

Sophisticated Saga.

So Robbins went to the production brass of ABC, and spieled out a scenario. There is this banking family, he winged — Morgan or Rothschild types, with the second generation vying among themselves for command after the death of the patriarch. The saga would unfold in novel form, not with self-contained weekly story segments but chapter by chapter. The Survivors would also be more sophisticated than conventional television — "A story," as Robbins put it, "of today's morals.

If people go to bed together, they'll go to bed together on the show. We are not bowing down to TV in any way."

ABC was sold, with nary a script or a pilot, and commissioned Universal to produce it. Robbins would get a percentage of any profits, plus $10,000 a show. Furthermore, he says, he was guaranteed a full 26 weeks the first year instead of the customary 15 or 17, and payment for a second season of 26 shows "whether it bombs or not." For that unprecedented, sweet contract, Robbins gave ABC only a nine-page "treatment," conferred a few times with Universal, and then took off for his Riviera home.

Journeymen Hollywood scriptwriters would hack out the weekly chapters from the Robbins outline and flesh out such supporting characters as Louis Armond St. Verre, described in the scenario only as "the debauched scion of an old French family whose main claim to fame is that he has made love to 3,000 women and has had gonorrhea 26 times.

The first producer, William Frye, was allocated the highest series budget in the history of TV—nearly $8,000,000 for the 1969-70 season. That bought not only Lana but also George Hamilton, who seemingly has given up his escort service for serious acting ("Commitment," he proclaimed last week, "is 90% of life"). Some $200,000 was spent on the set—four times the TV average —and another $100,000 on wardrobes, $50,000 of it for Lana. But that didn't stop her from quarreling with Producer Frye over the jewelry provided. Frye couldn't be bothered, he said, and got a slap across the face. He slapped back —on both cheeks—and she told the producer he was through.

Thus, after two months of shooting (most of it on location on the Riviera) and $1,000,000 of expenses, Universal still had to get its first usable episode.

After another producer passed briefly through the chaos, old TV Hand Walter Doniger (Maverick) was called in and wrote a 40-page, single-spaced critique of what was wrong with Robbins' nine-page outline and the scripts to date. He became the third producer.

Harmonious Sex Life.

In Doniger's view, a fight over a banking empire run by a family patriarch (Ralph Bellamy) would not keep TV viewers tuned in for very long. So he decided instead "to deal not with the abstracts of wealth but rather with the emotional problems of rich people. Our stories will be about human beings faced with all kinds of swirling emotional forces, told against an enormous backdrop, but with the same kind of problems as you and I." Translation: kink it up.

Out went eight different story outlines, three finished scripts and five more in the works. In the original, for example, Lana and her husband (Kevin McCarthy) hymned their harmonious sex life with lines like "It's only good with you." Now it's bad, bad, bad, and in fact their 19-year-old son turns out to have been sired by a Greek named Krakos, who was at the time a poverty-stricken tourist guide but has since become richer than Onassis. Naturally, the son has some S.D.S.-type campus friends. Also hastily written in is a South American revolutionary conservatively patterned not after Guevara or Castro but Simon Bolivar.

Despite all the frantic script doctoring and transplants, Universal claims that shooting is about on schedule. Lana and the old sweater-girl figure are holding up pretty well for her years (49). She is getting along swimmingly with Producer du jour Doniger, who himself professes to be having "desperate fun" with the cast and show. "It is like having a cocktail party on the wing of an airplane." Lana does make her daily 5:45 a.m. calls, and has difficulty only in getting a fix on her unraveling character. "There have been so many story versions that I am still trying to figure out what kind of woman I am," she complains. Last week, for instance, Lana had to shoot the sixth chapter, though the third chapter still lacks a final script.

Treat or a Treatment.

One of the principals of the cast—who signed on in hopes that the show "might convey the real emptiness of our life and become an American L'Avventura"—now fears that it is degenerating into high-priced prime-time soap opera. Producer Doniger vehemently disputes the charge, though he just as determinedly denies that his last show was soap. It was Peyton Place.

That series, at least, made ABC a lot of money, and the real cliffhanging question in The Survivors melodrama is whether Robbins has given the network a treat or a treatment. With his two-year guarantee, he has less to lose than the network if the show doesn't survive the second season. No matter what happens, Robbins will continue to be as rich as Krakos.

I wonder why they didn't go to 1 hour weekly.maybe that would have saved the show from the axe.It certainly worked in the 80's.