Primetime Soaps

[Khan]

That was one of the worst theme songs I've ever heard.  If I had heard that back in 1977, no way would I have stay tuned to watch the rest of the show.

[Franko]

That All That Glitters episode was interesting to watch. I'm assuming/hoping it was relatively early in the run, since they sure seemed to be hitting us hard with the gimmick of the role reversals.

That theme song is the pits. Is that Gary Sandy singing?

Since he had the most to do, I'd declare Chuck McCann as the episode's MVP. On the other hand, my favorite scene was David Haskell & Greg Evigan's confrontation. 

You also get a sense of how the play on TV style isn't as compatible with soaps as one would assume. I found myself missing the undercoring that would come with scenes like David and Greg's, or Chuck and Lois Nettleton's.

And look, Meg Wylie and Jessica Walter in the ending teaser!

[Contessa Donatella]

I have to say I like knowing about it more than watching it. 

[Franko]

You've kind of hit the nail on the head there, Donna. Until I see more of the show to get a better appraisal, I'm inclined to think the concept was interesting, the execution not so much.

[Contessa Donatella]

And the opening theme, what would we call it hokey rap? I don't think you're allowed to do something hokey. Pretty sure there's a rule. If there's not we are going to make one! 

[Soaplovers]

I think an instrumental opening would have worked much better.

It seemed too focused on the gimmick and hardly anytime focused on developing characters the audience would care about.  

[Chris B]

I thought that episode was a lot of fun! Of course we need to see more  to truly judge since it’s just a random episode of a show that I believe aired 5 episodes a week. 
 

I was surprised that they played it completely straight. I would love to see at least a full week to see how the story progresses. It’s a shame this hasn’t made if to DVD as they were releasing so many Lear shows. Seems like it would be easy to do. I didn’t notice any pop music in the show. 

[te.]

I mean, they've not released Fernwood Forever (the follow-up to MH, MH) so I'd think that would take precedence than a little known syndicated flop.

[Paul Raven]

`All That Glitters' falters in ratings. Lear show's numbers are off in three top markets after fast start, but there is not total unhappiness,

Norman Lear's controversial soap opera satire, All That Glitters, after solid first week sampling in the Nielsen overnights in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, has dropped off in all three markets, tumbling particularly severely in New York.

Glitters, according to researchers at WPIX(TV) New York, which plays the series each weekday evening from 11:30 to midnight, started off its first week (April 18 -22) with a 5.1 average rating and a 16 share. From April 25 to 29, it fell to a 4.1 rating and a 12 share. And for the week of May 2, Glitters managed only a 3.3 rating and 9 share. That's only a shade higher than the numbers WPIX was getting for the umpteenth reruns of The Honeymooners, the old Jackie Gleason half hour.

If Glitters doesn't rebound, WPIX sources say the station will be forced to cancel it, on the theory that anything below a 5 average rating would drop the rate -card price (now a reported $1,000 a minute) too low for WPIX to make a profit on it

KCOP(TV) Los Angeles' statisticians say that Glitters, which KCOP strips at 8 p.m., went from an 8 rating and 11 share for the premiere week of April 18 to a 6 rating and.9 share the next week to a 4 rating and 6 share the third (and most recent) week. But, in mitigation, Pete Schlesinger, the KCOP program director, says that the networks have frontloaded specials in the last two weeks to take advantage of the May sweeps and that he expects Glitters' audience to grow in June.

"The networks orient their programming to children at 8 o'clock," Mr. Schlesinger says. "We've got the adult show that's perfect counterprograming, so we'll get a higher concentration of the 18 -to -49 year olds."

On WFLD -TV Chicago, Glitters, at 10:30 every weeknight, kicked off with an 8 rating and 16 share average for April 18 to 22. It fell to a 5 rating and 11 share from April 25 to 29. But the show appears to have at least temporarily stabilized, hanging on to a 5 rating and 10 share for the week of May 2. "We're delighted with the numbers," says Dave Kenin, the program director of WFLD -TV, despite the fact that Glitters runs fifth in the time period, with WMAQTV Chicago's Johnny Carson network talk show (which averages about a 13 rating and 27 share) and WLS -TV Chicago's combination of off- network cop shows, made for TV movie reruns and specials (which average 11 ratings and 23 shares) number one and two at 10:30.

 

[Khan]

Originally, their opening theme song was "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," but for reasons I'm not aware of, they changed their minds and went with that mess instead.

[Broderick]

"You Don't Bring Me Flowers" sung by a male (Neil Diamond) would've probably worked better 

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I vaguely remember this show from when I was a little kid.  From an urban, corporate standpoint, where very few women held upper-level positions, it was a clever idea, perhaps for a 90-minute movie, but it didn't seem terribly sustainable as a nightly show.  Once you'd learned the "gimmick", you'd learned it, and that was that.  

For the rest of us, out in agrarian America, it seemed like a rather silly concept from the get-go.   In a farming family, the husband was usually the farmer (breadwinner), but the wife was his partner in the venture and had equal input.  She also ran the house.  And invariably, there was an old widow woman down the road who knew more about agriculture and family life than either the husband OR the wife, and she was ultimately the person everyone listened to.  ("Marsha, tell Jeff he'd better not plant his corn next week.  There's going to be another hard freeze; I saw it in the Farmer's Almanac.  And honey, you'd better re-think your kitchen design.  You're putting too many steps between the refrigerator and stove, and you're going to wear yourself out walking back and forth.  And there's no sense in taking Jeff Junior to the doctor.  His leg ain't broken, it's just sprained -- put some ice on it, and it'll be better in the morning.")  Everybody just said "yes ma'am" and did what the old lady said, because she was always right.  Never was a question who the real "boss" was! 

That was probably a strange concept in New York, LA, and Chicago, but it was everyday life for most rural folks in the 1970s. 

All That Glitters was clearly designed for an urban audience, and once they'd seen it for the first week, the point had been made, and there wasn't much sense in continuing to watch.  

[Khan]

For some reason, @Broderick, you're reminding me of this play, "Trifles," that I read either in junior high or high school, lol.

I agree: ATG's premise was great for a 90-minute movie, but I can't see how it could sustain itself as a nightly or weekly series.

[Bright Eyes]

I was reading THR's obituary on the recently passed actor David McKnight and in it a show called Bird of an Iron Feather is mentioned as the first all black soap opera that aired on a Chicago station for the first few months of 1970. I know there was a similarly sounding show that has been previously discussed here before but I can't remember if they are one and the same.

Edited December 9, 2023 by Bright Eyes

[SFK]

The other show is called The Awakening. A friend from Chicago and I were talking about it a few years ago, I was so jealous that I didn't have a similar local viewing pleasure growing up. It's a hoot.

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[Chris B]

This is something else that made no sense to me. I’ve mentioned before, but I never bought MH, MH because I hate knowing the continuation wasn’t released and I’d like to see the full story.