Broadcasting  June  1989

In 1985, a quarter of the top 20 prime time network programs were episodic melodramas, better known as prime time soaps. CBS had capitalized on the tremendous suc- cess of Dallas with a spin -off, Knots Landing, and another offering, Falcon Crest. ABC had countered with Dynasty and Hotel, then later the Dynasty spin -off, Dynasty II: The Colbys. Today, Hotel and The Colbys are history, and with the departure of Dynasty from ABC this year after nine seasons, CBS - with Dallas (entering its 13th season), Falcon Crest and Knots Landing -claims the only remaining prime time soap operas on commercial network television. Once the owner of a reserved seat in the Nielsen Rating's Top 10, Dallas has been finding its numbers slipping. At the same time, prime time dramas such as L.A. Law and thirtysomething are using variations of the continuing storyline in their reality - based scripts. Does the remaining prime time soap producer see the borrowing of reality -based elements as the solution to further erosion of the soap genre?

"Dallas has done well by moving closer to a reality -based format," said Lorimar Telepictures President David Salzman, who oversees the production of Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. "When we took Dallas to Russia, it reflected what Ameri- can businessmen may be facing in dealing with the new openness of glasnost. But we must never forget what makes a show suc- cessful. People are naturally attracted to stories of wealth and power." "The wealth of Dynasty, The Colbys and Hotel brought in the glitzy settings and cos- tumes- that's past its peak," suggested Knots Landing executive producer David Jacobs. "I think for a while during the Reagan years it was O.K. to be ostentatiously wealthy and glitzy. All of a sudden it has been distasteful in the post- Boesky era," he said, referring to Ivan Boesky, who was indicted for insider trading. For the classic prime time soaps that remain, however, the ratings peak may have passed as well. Dallas finished the 1988 -89 season with an average 15.4 rat - ing/26 share, down from two years ago's potent 21.3/34 average. In the 1986 -87 season, Falcon Crest scored a 17.4/25 average; this year it recorded a 12.5/22. Knots Landing was the only one to show improvement, scoring a 16.1/28 average for the 1988 -89 season, following a 15.8/27 average the year before. Although the soap genre may be slipping somewhat, other serial dramas have picked up on the continuing story lines, or "arcs," pioneered in prime time by the likes of Dallas.

"L.A. Law has an advantage of using less than five episode arcs," said Dallas executive producer Leonard Katzman. "They have adapted the soap formula into their program, except in a smaller arc. We find that most of the story that we try to tell usually goes over a five- or six -week period. It may be that viewers don't necessarily want to have to stay involved episode after episode with what is transpiring throughout the arc. That's why we introduced story summaries at the beginning of each new episode, so viewers can catch up on the storyline if they missed the previous epi- sode." "Look at thirtysomething [which employs continuing story lines]. It finished 47th in the ratings," Jacobs said. "It's not that the genre is changing, it's the varied stories and characters that are changing. At some time, thirtysomething is going to find itself reaching for the more sensational melodramatic stories because you run out of the other stories. Knots Landing had smaller, everyday stories, that's what separated it from the pack. Finally, we had to make it a little more sensational to keep it exciting. The reason Knots Landing survived, and is going to survive all the others, is the fact we have kept those characters reality - based." "I would say the television drama has gone through some evolutionary changes," Salzman said. "Where prime time drama had been fairly homogenized in the past, Hill Street Blues and Dallas came along and introduced whole new forms to television. They showed the audience that television can come in a 31 -flavor variety. With remote control and multichannel viewers, they tired of the vanilla flavored, predictable programing of the past."

"Cable television has made it tough to compete" Jacobs said. You can't do an action adventure on network television against a Stallone or Mel Gibson movie on cable. You can do a sexy show, but you can't compete with a Kim Basinger on the Playboy Channel. Whatever the erosion,how many shows last that long? Dallas has had an incredibly long run, as have Knot's Landing and Falcon Crest. I don't think of it as an erosion of a genre. A show sometimes just gets old and tired."

 

 

Broadcasting magazine Dec 1980

The Great American Villain Contest is about to begin. Challenging J.R. Ewing for the prime -time championship are Sheriff Titus Semples on NBC's Flamingo Road and Guy Millington on CBS's Secrets of Midland Heights. In the Flamingo Road pilot, broadcast last May, Semples arrested a waitress on false prostitution charges in order to break up her romance with his deputy. Then he tried to entice Claude Weldon into having one of his paper -mill buildings torched for the insurance. When Weldon resisted, Semples went ahead and had the fire set anyway. The flames accidentally killed the only citizen of Truro, Fla., who was ever nice to the sheriff. Howard Duff, who plays Semples, is eager to take on J.R. in the miscreant sweepstakes: "I could be as mean as Larry (Hagman] any day." He acknowledges Hagman's head start, "but I'm older, so I've had more experience" - such as his self- described role as "a whore master" in ABC's upcoming East of Eden miniseries. He also has a juicy role model to draw on in Sydney Greenstreet, the original scoundrel in the 1949 film of "Flamingo Road." But Duff has a soft spot: he doesn't believe people really think of themselves as bad. This could mean that his performance will lack the lip - smacking gusto that's so evi dent in Hagman's portrayal of J.R. "Look at Richard Ill," begins Duff. "Even he didn't think he was a deep -dyed ... oh, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about."

Meanwhile, in Midland Heights, Guy Millington (played by Jordan Christopher) will this month be heard dropping hints that his niece, his only rival for the family fortune, should be institutionalized. In order to drive her over the brink, he pokes into her diary and dispatches thugs to beat up her boy friend. It's not as awesome a display of bad deeds as Sheriff Semples' -but it is done in a mere 60 minutes, compared with the sheriff's two hours. Guy's villainy is "completely opposite to the good-ole' boy style," says Christopher. "He's a more Northern, colder character" than J.R. or Semples. But Christopher sounds even more excited about playing the bad guy than Duff does: "I'd love to have people love to hate me. I love the old -fashioned booing and hissing." Assuming their shows survive, we may spend next summer wondering who shot the sheriff or who shot Guy. "God, I hope so," says Christopher. "That would be terrific."  

I believe TERRACES was on Netflix a few years ago, and I watched it. It was pretty enjoyable. Basically Number 96.

Someone uploaded episode 1x14 Valentine's Bay of Hyperion Bay. This is an episode after Frank South was brought in to run the show and Carmen Electra had been brought on as the Joan Collins/Heather Locklear of the show to try and save it:

 

 

Those opening credits are a joke, especially that lame country-pop theme.

 

Oh, and why did Cassidy Rae receive special billing? "And Cassidy Rae as Trudy". The only major role she had previously played was on "Models Inc.", and that could have hardly qualified as something noteworthy. 

 

Oh, wow. That's something!

1 minute ago, YRBB said:

Oh, wow. That's something!

 

Those are always fun. I wish more were around. 

 

Speaking of Dallas and Dynasty, I was reading production notes on the Doctor Who story Silver Nemesis (made in 1988). They wanted Larry Hagman to cameo as a rich American. Kate O'Mara, who had worked on the show several times, gave him the show's contact info. Needless to say, he didn't appear. Dolores Gray was booked instead. 

 

Linda Gray is on Hollyoaks at the moment, although I haven't really watched any of it. 

2 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

 

Those are always fun. I wish more were around. 

 

I found it hilarious when he said at least it's not DYNASTY. So true.

 

I had no idea there was ever a possibility for Hagman to be on DW. That would have been interesting.

Hyperion Bay....I remember that show.  If someone asked me to name a show that wouod rebel against becoming a soap....that would be one of the shows Id name.  

 

I think its funny that primetime soaps of the 90s thought that in order to be rescued...they would hire a name actress and/or actor to come in....not even thinking that the acting/writing needed to be fixed.  

 

It worked for Melrose Place with Heather Locklear...but the writing on the show was decent at that time..it just needed a kickstart.

 

Models inc- Emma samms....which i admit a lot of people did watch and would talk about her...too little..too late.

 

Hyperion Bay - Carmen Electra...didnt help...not a good actress..though her and the older brother did have some chemistry.

 

Titans: Jack Wagner

 

Pacific Palisades: Joan collins

 

Central Park West- Raquel Welch

 

Party of Five: jennifer love hewitt...which actually helped...but the show was well written..just needed a name actor..and she was a decent name back in the 90s.