Jump to content

Primetime Soaps


Recommended Posts

  • Members

KIng’s Crossing was not a bad concept - shades of Falcon Crest with the father bringing his family back to his hometown. It was just ultimately dull. I remember the pilot had this lightly classical-sounding theme song, and then from episode 2 on, it was replaced with a bombastic sounding theme from Jerrold Immel (of “Dallas” fame). ABC probably thought the show was dull, too, and wanted a more excited theme.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Replies 1.3k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

I would like to add the Soul Food series to this thread. I apologize if it was already mentioned, i haven't read through it. It's a very slept on and forgotten show, and did soap better than sister's did imho. #JUSTICE4SOULFOOD

Please register in order to view this content

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • Members

Dame Joan Collins has released a memoir of sorts in the UK titled My Unapologetic Diaries which start in 1989 right as Dynasty ends, til around 2006 when she does the theatre tour of Legends! with Linda Evans. 

By the mid 1990s Joan is back on the Hollywood social scene and she discusses how her contemporaries like Michele Lee and Donna Mills, who'd both done really well with TV Movies at the start of the 90s, no longer get their calls returned. From around 1994 - 2000 Joan is hustling for as many parts as she can get and a million things are pitched, she has a ton of meetings, the networks love her, and most of it materializes to absolutely nothing.

One of the juicier periods of time concerns when she's doing Pacific Palisades and all the crazy bullsh*t that goes on behind the scenes.

For one, Joan hates the scripts and it's generally accepted that the show is not going to be a hit, but when she appears midway through the season, ratings tick up, but later crater when Fox starts moving the show on and off the schedule after it starts having to compete with Ellen right as Ellen herself comes out.

What emerges is that Joan gets along well with Peter Dunne, a former producer on Dallas, Knots Landing, Savannah, and later Melrose Place, CSI, and JAG, and throughout the book you discover that Joan is friends with a lot of producers in different genres, probably much more so than most actors. 

She also notes how friendly the Pacific Palisades cast is to her, especially Lucky Vanous who ends up asking around if Joan is single (she's not and she suspects he wants to hook up for publicity). She knows and likes Finola Hughes from a movie they both made pre-Dynasty, and she likes Kimberly Davies who plays her daughter in the show. Joan dishes about how badly put together the production schedule is and how intrusive FOX is in running the production, demonstrating that Spelling's power has faded.  

Nolan Miller does Joan's costumes and they decide to dress the character in only black and white. There's a good story about Nolan designing a dress for Joan but she secretly thinks it makes her look fat, so she switches it for a Valentino from her own wardrobe at the last minute, and Nolan is momentarily pissed off with her. 

Then there's Aaron Spelling. To hear Joan tell it, Aaron Spelling was very inconsistent: sometimes he'd be warm: he says "My baby is back with me!" when she agrees to join the show, and then other times he's cold: Spelling tells her he'll pay her $45,000 an episode while at dinner at Spago with Candy, Joan, and Nolan Miller, then the next day tells her agent he's only paying $40,000 and denies he'd agreed to $45,000. 

All the while, Spelling's insisted that Joan sign with CAA, who had previously told her they weren't interested, and it turns out CAA is the agency packaging the show, so has an obvious conflict of interest in dealing with Joan and dealing with Spelling and the production company. This manifests when the production company tells Joan they'll only pay her half her salary for an episode where she's only got two scenes, and Aaron doesn't step in, and her agents tell her to take it because they want to protect her relationship with Aaron Spelling, which is also their relationship with Aaron Spelling. 

Joan observes that the Spellings can't hold onto a chef to save their lives, that Candy can't figure out how to work their VCR, and that Tori Spelling's breast implants look hard as a rock. I certainly got the impression that Joan was uneasy around Candy Spelling and felt sorry for Tori and Randy. 

When Pacific Palisades is cancelled, Joan is thrilled and she says it has cured her of wanting to be a permanent cast member in a Hollywood television series and she eventually decides to move back to England and only come to LA if jobs materialize or she wants some sun. I definitely developed the opinion that Joan doesn't actually like living in LA and really did it to make money so she could go back to Europe and live her life. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • Members

Amazon had the complete series of Hotel for around $25 so I had to buy it. Soap content on DVD isn’t what it should be so I decided to finally give the show a chance. 
 

I always assumed it was something light like Love Boat or a Hallmark movie. Simple romantic stories with big guest stars. That’s how the SOAPnet promos made it seem, but it’s actually very different from that. In fact, in the five episodes I’ve seen there’s been very little romance.
 

I’m surprised at how adult the subject matter is. I also think the regular cast is solid. It’s a very balanced show and the episodes breeze by. I expected to hate watch when I was bored, but I’m actually invested. 
 

Bette Davis was terrible in the pilot. The idea of her on a soap is a good one, but she needed a role she could dig her teeth in. Flamingo Road or Falcon Crest would’ve been a better fit for her. Anne Baxter fits in much better and has great chemistry with James Brolin. I’ve heard her name and see her face endless times, but this is my first time seeing Connie Selleca act. She’s very good. I also love what I’ve seen of Shari Belafonte. The married couple, I don’t know their names, but they’re cute fluff to pad out the episodes. I also enjoy Nathan Cook as head of security. 
 

Any other Hotel fans here?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

*Raises hand*

Of the three, Spelling-produced "anthology" series -- "Fantasy Island," "Hotel" and "The Love Boat" -- I would agree that "Hotel" is the most substantial, for lack of a better word.  Their stories tended to be weightier, whereas the stories on "Fantasy Island" and "Love Boat" were so light, they literally floated away in mid-scene.

Plus, you didn't have some annoying comic relief character like Tatu ("Fantasy") or Gopher ("Love Boat") gumming up the works.

IIRC, too, when Anne Baxter's character is written out of the show due to her real-life passing, the show becomes an all-out soap opera for a minute, with various characters, including one played by Michelle Phillips (later Anne on KNOTS LANDING), vying for control of the hotel.

Oh, [!@#$%^&*].  Now I want Dame Joan to put in a guest appearance on GH as Anna Devane's mom.  (Yeah, I know she was played by Samantha Eggar.  So what?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

All About Eve is one of my all time favorite movies, so I appreciated the irony of Anne Baxter taking over the role from Bette Davis.  It is a shame that they made Anne so benevolent, because one her strengths in All About Eve was being able to switch on and off between kind and evil.

However,  the setting was ill-suited for plots.  By its nature people don't stay in a hotel for long periods of time, and by the 80s, most tourists would dine and explore outside of the confines of the hotel.  So, they had to contrive reasons for the action to take place in the lobby or at the cafe.  There were only so many jewel thieves and con artists that could visit a hotel before it would get a bad rep amongst travelers. 

I mean what would tripadvisor say about these two episodes?

Ep 08 - A convention of racial supremacists try to practice their policy at the St. Gregory

Ep15 - A bar mitzvah celebration at the hotel nearly turns to tragedy when the father of the boy spies a concentration camp survivor who was responsible for the death of thousands of Jews and wants to take vengeance into his own hands.

And they had to repeat plots even in the first season

Ep9 - Hillary (Pat Klous) is shattered when a vacation romance at Puerto Vallarta turns into sexual blackmail,

Ep 22 - A former Queen of racy films (Sally Kellerman) who is now a successful business executive is threatened with extortion by a man from her past

And there was a lot of drug/alcohol stories

Ep 14 - a law student (Timothy Patrick Murphy) discovers his mother (Adrienne Barbeau) has become dependent upon drugs.

Ep 19 - a former singer (Engelbert Humperdinck) with a drug dependency makes a comeback at the St. Gregory

Edited by j swift
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

No disrespect to Mr Humperdink, just to the lack of creativity in the writer's room

BTW isn't odd that Michelle Phillips of the groovy 60's peace band The Mamma's and The Papa's and the shiska goddess in The California Kid kept getting cast as bitchy vixens on Hotel, 90210, and Knots Landing?  I wonder what casting agents saw in her performance of California Dreamin' or Up Up and Away that inspired them to hire her for those parts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • BLQ is having second thoughts regarding putting her baby up for adoption. Chase is upset he can't tell Dante. So both are putting this on at lulus feet. Saying she is holding it over them. Lulu is doing none of this. 
    • Yes she absolutely was involved in that story which seems to have gone nowhere.  She didn't start to remove herself from the writing until 1973.
    • Y'all are bringing back great memories of AMC 2.0 for me.  I haven't thought about it and the new characters in so long, well since it aired, and I plan to go re-watch it now. When AMC ended, I finally came to peace with it and accepted that I will never watch an hour of a TV show daily in my life again... something that I had been doing since I was 6-7 years old. I was starting a new career, relationship, and chapter in life when AMC 2.0 came out.  I found a way to watch it, but things felt differently for me at the time and when it was so short-lived and gone, it became such a distant memory, sadly.
    • That's a great point. I wish the writing could find those nuances.
    • After all Lulu's been through with her coma and missing years I can get her being on the sensitive side especially when talking to her mother.  I was thinking it was more a culmination of everything than just this one particular problem. 
    • I see her moral dilemma, too, and I don't think Lulu was out of line. I just felt it was overboard for her to break down in tears over her dilemma.
    • I also think the fact Lulu chose abortion and Brook Lynn chose to give a baby up for adoption instead when they were in similar situations adds another layer to this.  The writing doesn't really state this, but I can see Lulu slightly spiraling about thinking she could have an adult child out there if she made a different choice.  Both woman made the right choices for themselves at the time, but I can see both making parallels to their decisions.
    • SO good!  I agree. Classic soap opera and it was a cliffhanger I've been craving for weeks now.  First time in a while that I can't wait for tomorrow's episode!
    • -- I was OK with the music. I think the first 5 minutes of the first episode spoiled us -- we really thought we were going to get "real music" a lot more often. Instead, we got some budget money for the opening scene, and that was it. -- I'd like music to be used more often, but I'll put that on production and not on the musicc supervisor. I think they've intentionally dialed down the music on this show. -- Editing? I still have major problems with it. This episode was SO good, but almost every fade to commercial was off or bad. I just don't get it. That, too, is intentional, but I have no idea what they're going for. It isn't working.
    • I’m up to Jan. 8, 1996 and into a new year! This NYE masquerade ball has been outstanding soap opera! The jig is up with Marian. Brent stages a dummy in a wig at his apartment, making Cleary think Marian is alone at home all night, but Brent is really dressed up at the ball and stalking Lucy and AM. Meanwhile, Frank is at the docks and finds a wrapped floating body (Nadine) and calls it in.  At the same time, unlucky for Brent, Susan just woke up from her coma and remembers Marian attacking her and tells Nick everything! Nick immediately calls Frank to tell him the news. Back at the party, Brent calls AM, pretending to be Marian, and lures him to her apartment just as Frank and Clearly storm in and they all find the dummy in a wig. Brent, now dressed as Zoro like AM was at the party, grabs Lucy, kisses her, she realizes it isn’t AM, and Brent attacks and drugs her unconscious!  I can’t wait to see how this turns out… except for… In this moment, in the middle of the ball, a new actor takes over for Brent. So the episode starts with Brent attacking Lucy, but you have the voiceover man say “Today, the role of Brent Lawrence will be played by…” - taking you out of the scene, wondering what in the world happened. I know what happened, but I’m sure if I were watching live in the 90s without internet, I would be gasping. I had no idea the switchover happened mid-ball where you have the entire cast dressed up, working long hours. I have to imagine the stress of it all made Frank Beaty have his mental break, but I wonder how the rest of the cast/crew dealt with it given it happened right in the middle of this ball that everyone was at for multiple episodes. Did they have to delay the filming schedule to find a new actor? The actor must have had zero time to prep for the role, although I’m assuming we won’t see Marian anymore now that she’s been known to be a fake. I want to know all the juicy BTS details haha. But now, Rick caught wind that the police are trying to find Marian at the party and he starts to put the pieces together, given that he’s the only one that knows Marian is really a man. He walks outside and tells AM, Buzz, Frank and the police that Marian is a man and chaos ensues. Also, Nick finally proposes to Susan in the hospital in a very sweet scene. I didn’t enjoy Susan or this pairing in the beginning, but they’ve really grown on me and I really like how tough Susan is. She was the only one who really caught onto Marian and stood up to her. Meanwhile, Amanda locks Blake in a bathroom and ends up pulling Roger into a kiss after midnight, which Blake sees after she finally escapes. The girls fight, slap each other, throw food and pies… what a fun time haha. Reva the diva is in full force and her sweet milkmaid Goshen personality went out the door for good. She makes Alan go to the ball with her, dressed in a sexy red dress, and makes quite a scene. She kisses Josh, they fight in front of the whole party, she breaks down, they scream at each other, poor Annie runs off crying and Reva leaves the party and tries to seduce Alan to make herself feel better. Reva’s performance in front of everyone was pure Reva and honestly the Reva I prefer.  I was so tired of Amish Reva for 7 months, so this is a breath of fresh air. I don’t think it all came together perfectly, and I don’t think Reva nor Josh have made good decisions, but at least the story is now moving forward and I have the old Reva back, for better or worse haha. I’m a little disappointed in Bridget. She’s very quick to crush on Hart again and she’s almost pining after him at this ball. Vanessa of course isn’t that happy with what she’s seeing. Matt tries to reassure her. Speaking of, Matt is looking really good at this ball - the mustache and hat really works for him (sorry, PJ haha).  Another point about Bridget that bothers me, which is the writers’ fault, but she’s been totally dropped from the Lucy/Brent storyline. They were basically best friends and she was involved in the beginning, but they completely replaced her friend role with Susan/Nick, which I get because she has HIV/AIDs and Bridget may not have worked as well when the story continued along that path.  But still, I wish we could see Bridget checking in on her or be worried for her (same with David). Finally, a little story is brewing with Griffin and Gilly’s mom, Vivian. She just confronted him and asks if he’s planning to do to her daughter what he did to her long ago.  Interesting…
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy