te.

Vanessa Williams was on Still The Place: https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/1754955354/still-the-place/vanessa-estelle-williams

I think it was a mistake to set it in modern day tbh. I think the whole thing would've worked better when the novel was originally set in the 1920s - it would certainly make more sense that during the prohibition that powerful men would keep meetings in the local brothel / Speakeasy. It also explains why someone like Lane would have such a limited worldview that Flamingo Road would be a goal; in the 80s you'd think a talented singer would be off to Los Angeles or New York pretty quickly.

They're actually interviewing Vanessa Williams in the next episode of the podcast.

The issue for Another World is that it's tied to Procter and Gamble. I know they're dipping their toes lightly back into the game with Beyond the Gates, but so far they've shown zero interest in mining their vast soap library. This is the Mouse trying to do something with their old IPs - if anything I'd view the AMC movies as a test balloon like Beyond Salem was. Is there still any interest? Will AMC's audience stream it on platforms? Doing two Lifetime movies is a pretty safe way for them to test it out without having to invest too much. I wouldn't be surprised if this does well, it'll get some sort of series order on some Disney owned platform.

Ironically, Married the First Year seems more in line of Family and perhaps the original vision of Knots Landing. It really seems like David Jacobs wanted to do these twee kitchen sink dramas, but was just steered towards night time soaps since that's what the audience actually wanted. I'm surprised he didn't do more of these shows in the late 80s/early 90s when thirtysomething, China Beach and similar shows took off on ABC. He did do Paradise I guess, and produced Homefront. Still, I'd think a drama similar to thirtysomething would've been right up his alley.

S9E07 "Say Uncle" according to IMDB.

I started re-watching it last month as it approached it's 60th anniversary (September 15th, 1964) and it really is an excellent show that's both fairly fast-paced without really feeling rushed either. I'm at the winter of 1964/65 now and I think the way they transformed that backlot with the fake snow is amazing. It's a shame of seldom we see this sort of thing even in prime time these days.

I started re-watching Peyton Place last month as it approached its 60th anniversary and it has really excellent production value, especially with the entire backlot that they turned into the town square. ABC clearly didn't spare any expense, as opposed to Our Private World which seemed like a cheap way to cash in on ATWT's daytime success. Tying it into a daytime soap probably also meant the pace was closer to the daytime counterpart rather than the more quicker paced Peyton Place.

I think the issue is also seeing the Weldons it kind of breaks the fantasy, especially as the show doesn't really do a good job with separating the "bad" part of Truro with the good part. I've said it before, but what's wrong with living like Lute-Mae? I never really got why Lane would aspire to live on Flamingo Road with I guess the Weldons and Titus?

😬sorry, dumbass joke. But if we're being serious, the investment in THE GATES is very obviously based on the African-American audience and their potential to be monetized, if we're putting it in very blunt terms. "STAR" on Fox had a high viewership but couldn't be monetized for prime time because it came largely from "low-earning households" (aka the pay disparity between AA households and non-AA households became an issue). In daytime, this doesn't matter. It would be interesting to see how this disparity figures into FAST models on streaming. I suspect for FAST shows, minorities might come into importance with how their shows are developed.

Black people will reject THE GATES due to not being able to snark about white people. Mark my words, cancelled within six months on air!

It's funny, because I was watching an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 the other day and was like "that's Robin Strasser", but it turned out to be Elaine Princi. How random.

Plex is a small streamer without any impact, so I imagine that something that's serialized with a famous name would get curiosity streams. I hope Falcon Crest and Sisters can just climb up there to show that there's interest for these shows, lol.

It's funny that people try to point to streaming as an issue for soaps - if anything I think it's helped, especially with the advent of the FAST model. You have a format that makes people check in your platform regularly and on top of that is cheap to produce compared to those expensive 8 episode seasons that drop every two years. There's a reason why DAYS have somehow managed to survive for three years on Peacock, Neighbours got picked up by FreeVee and The Gates got picked up.

Odd topic to start given we're about to see the launch of the first daytime soap in the quarter of a century.

This is just very common. I think it's because they're obviously afraid of retribution from the ones in charge, but also because they're promoting that product at that point in time so speaking out against it would be seen as unprofessional. Once they're gone, obviously airing out the issues you had and how they've been "fixed" will be seen as promoting the "new" and "improved" show.

I think it's worth to remember that ABC's Thursday night slate was a mess - Dynasty was actually the highest rated show for them on the night! Season 9 also started out with a 13 episode order that got extended into a 22 episode season and ABC had John Forsythe and Emma Samms go present People's Choice Awards in March, so they might've been cautiously optimistic. Shows like thirtysomething also wasn't exactly setting the ratings on fire either - it reached the "height" of #41 in the overall rankings that season and was clearly seen as a "hit" by ABC (possibly because of demographics + critical acclaim).

To be honest, once Laura got with Greg she pretty much became second fiddle to him. I thought the direction they seemed to take her in season 5, where she was poised to be a more morally ambigious character and not quite have the killer instinct that Abby had, but at the same wanting to get hers was interesting. Unfortunately, it just feels like they dropped the ball on her once she wasn't in the manic cliffhanger and taking her away from the cul de sac lessened her relationship with Val and Karen.

I'm catching up on DAYS and is like at Thanksgiving last year, but it just dawned on me how much "Teresa" is sounding like Lauren Koslow. I wonder if she decided to base her "American" accent on her lol.

Lindsay is the woman in the limo from the series finale, horrifically scarred and looking for revenge!

Well, most of the pilot (bar John Forsythe's parts since they had to reshoot those because Peppard dropped out) were shot at Fioli. I also think they overall shot a bit more there perhaps in the first season.

https://deadline.com/2024/08/one-tree-hill-sequel-series-sophia-bush-hilarie-burton-netflix-1236073973/ Ooop. Chad Murray isn't interested, Dannell Ackles is involved as its produced via hers and Jensen's production company. I hope they won't go too far in trying to "fix" it and keeps the insane soap opera tone, while also cutting down on the creepiness on certain things.

I'm not really sure I'd define season 5 as the start of the Miami Vice hybrid - the main memory of season 5 is that they kind of start doing lame soap opera tropes but not really that well (see Maggie's amnesia). The issue with season 7 is that nothing seems to last more than three episodes. At least season 6 had an overall plot, but there's so many guest stars and the whole thing ends up feeling like they were throwing crap at the wall to see what stuck.

Such a shame so little exists of a soap opera that was on air for 20 years! It's funny to think that people would set up tape recorders next to the tv as to not miss their favourite soap, but I guess people were more used to radio as a medium back then lol.

Donna would've never stayed with Gary. Ultimately, Abby was pragmatic enough to stay with Gary because she needed him to be able to make it. I don't see Donna sticking around once Gary starts boozin' and sleeping with Ciji. She had her own money and career, so why bother? I'd also see Abby being bored with Ray being such a push-over quickly. She loves a challenge.