Paul Raven

I agree but something happened along the way.

Capitol Jon Cypher was originally to play Sen Mark Denning but Ed Nelson was chosen at some point.

BTW Richard Lawson is now married to Tina Knowles ,Beyonce's mom.

Fri March 15 1985 9pm Dallas #5 22.7/36 Benson #44 14.2/22 Off the Rack # 51 12.9/20 V #62 10.0/17

@dc11786 Thanks for the link to a fascinating article.

@DRW50 Thank you. I only watched a few minutes but it seemed pretty basic. Pamela Brull was on DOOL a few years later.

The only returning character Billy could play is Scott but that might be a poisoned chalice. And Y&R desperately needs new characters with no connections to freshen the show. But he needs to be used wisely and not stuck on a merry go round with Sharon, Phyllis and Victoria. Maybe Sharon's half brother?

The taping schedule is insane. Pretty hard for them to deliver any kind of quality. Might be quite stressful for some actors. Is there some kind of union ruling on how much actors can be asked to do?

I'm putting Andre, Jacob,Martin and Bill ahead of Smitty.

@j swift Thanks for your insights and observations. I think Texas fans would be au fait with story and want more bts stuff as would those readers who are not neccessarily soap fans, but interested in the workings of tv in general . Of course some context needs to be provided. But overall Texas stands as a testament of how not to launch a soap. Kind of parallel to Silverman's primetime bomb Supertrain.

OK

For 77 and not dolled up Deidre is fine. Does look more like Andrea in those shots.

I think the only show that had any impact on Dallas in it's mega years was Knight Rider. It was the first show to achieve some sort of decent rating and hype so NBC moved it to Sunday. I always wonder what might have happened if NBC had kept it Fri @9 for it's second season.

Now thanks to Eric Montreal we have Megan McTavish's crazy memoir.

Never saw Off the Rack so can't speak to the quality but if it was any good ABC would have been better off leaving it there and hope it grew in the ratings. Throwing one show after another at Dallas only helped CBS really.

Yes by that time they'll have clearer ideas of how things are looking on-screen,what actors are still struggling and viewer feedback.

Of course Megan comes out like the heroine. Aligning with Frons speaks volumes. I think the mindset is they would do anything short of a live execution for ratings gains under their watch. If a character is decimated or the show damaged down the line, they know they won't be around anyway to deal with it. But a great read nonetheless. A refresh from the likes of MTS etc where everything is peaches and cream, with a little dose of 'I lost my temper one day on set, but my cat had just died...'

I think JHC role at BTG is just to have an experienced EP there to get the show done efficiently and mentor/ instruct others on producing a 60 min daily soap. Maybe she is only going to br around a year at the most, before younger(cheaper) staff take over.

@VelekaCarruthers Thank you for sharing. 2025 is shaping up to be a bumper year for soap historians.

I want to know what drove Bill to make the break from Dani after all those years? What was so different about Hayley? Was it they were working together whereas his other flings had been more casual? Hayley is a blank slate ATM and I want to learn more of her motivations. I think we all have our interpretations but the show needs to dig deeper. Yes it's only 3 weeks so we'll see. They have a done a poor job re Ashley/Derek. It feels like MVJ had the bible developed for the Duprees and then had to belatedly insert the white characters.

OK The Flame is Love was the movie in question. Love how because a period TV movie bombs they decide nobody wants to see the genre. Typical network thinking. I really don't think Reunion ever had a chance of making it to air. NBC daytime had so many issues that taking a risk like that wouldn't be on their radar.

Jan 79 Universal announced some mini series in the works CBS Mayer and Thalberg based on a 1975 book by Samuel Marx 6hrs did not go ahead ABC The Antagonists based on a 1971 novel by Enest Mann- that was retitled Masada. NBC Ivanhoe 4 hrs did not go ahead

That NBC movie was most likely 'Charleston' starring Delta Burke which aired Jan 79 and ran 3rd in its Monday timeslot. It gained some attention from being trashed by the Today show critic who recommended watching WKRP on CBS instead of his own network. Had it succeeded (it was a pilot) would NBC have wanted a primetime and daytime series on the air with the same theme? Probably not. Just speculation but the Corringtons may have adapted parts of Reunion stories/characters when developing Texas.

Intentionally awful, I hope. No way does that pokey foyer and ugly living room connect with the exterior. Fail. Santa Barbara made the same mistake of giving us high powered front burner stories, then inserting wacky high school hijinks with Jade, Danny and Ted. And look what happened to that story. Beware Ashley/Derek!

Re Dani. It was stated she was a successful model and gave up her career to marry Bill. So she must have been a teen model b/c she married Bill at 19, right?