1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

The idea alone sounds interesting and with the right talent both on-screen and behind the screen maybe one of them could have pulled it off.

Problem was all four of the big primetime soaps often didn’t develop a good secondary cast in addition to the core.

I agree.

What if, instead of taking off part or all of the summer, the primetime soaps had run year-round with just a 1-2 week break here and there?

8 hours ago, Khan said:

I wish I could have enjoyed it more, but the level of acting on that show has fallen so low. Cast members are literally reading their lines off the cue cards or teleprompters and not even looking at each other anymore, and that just annoys me.

That was even worse than usual, maybe due to the special effect for the stairs that they were using.

I did enjoy the sketch more than some of their soap parodies (I can't sit through Californians).

5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That was even worse than usual, maybe due to the special effect for the stairs that they were using.

Oh, that was some of the clumsiest special effects I'd seen on SNL in a long, long time. Elements like those make me miss Dave Wilson all the more.

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

That was even worse than usual, maybe due to the special effect for the stairs that they were using.

I did enjoy the sketch more than some of their soap parodies (I can't sit through Californians).

3 hours ago, Khan said:

Oh, that was some of the clumsiest special effects I'd seen on SNL in a long, long time. Elements like those make me miss Dave Wilson all the more.

I keep wondering if that sketch would have worked better as a pretape, or if they should have gone with an SCTV approach and had the joke be that it's obvious dummies going down the stairs. Still, kudos to Olivia for throwing in a somersault when it was her turn.

9 minutes ago, Franko said:

I keep wondering if that sketch would have worked better as a pretape, or if they should have gone with an SCTV approach and had the joke be that it's obvious dummies going down the stairs. Still, kudos to Olivia for throwing in a somersault when it was her turn.

I can see why they did it live as it's not as fun seeing people go down the stairs in a pre-tape. The show is just very rusty and Lorne Michaels is an old man who has said he's more interested in the UK version these days. Still I liked that they tried something different. I just hope eventually they can find competence again.

22 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I can see why they did it live as it's not as fun seeing people go down the stairs in a pre-tape. The show is just very rusty and Lorne Michaels is an old man who has said he's more interested in the UK version these days. Still I liked that they tried something different. I just hope eventually they can find competence again.

Yeah, at least there was some effort there, as opposed to other soap parodies.

5 hours ago, Khan said:

I agree.

What if, instead of taking off part or all of the summer, the primetime soaps had run year-round with just a 1-2 week break here and there?

Would that be economically feasible? It would cost a mint. Advertising rates over Summer would be much lower.

As Tartikoff stated the only way it would work would be to do it on tape and have a small cast.

Wonder how they made money from Peyton Place running all year back in the 60's? Maybe a different financial model back then?

Too bad we will probably never see complete episodes of the short lived series " The Survivors"

On 5/4/2026 at 4:25 AM, Chris B said:

This was a nice treat!

All I get here in Canada is that the video isn't available in my country--so I have no idea what it is... so, what is it??

So I binged the whole Pasadena series on Tubi (it's on there in the states), and it's a shame that it didn't last because it was a very well written prime time soap that could have revived the genre had it aired in a better time slot in a different year (not right after 9/11 happened).

Watching it, you could tell when TPTB realized that they weren't going to get an additional pick up beyond 13 episodes because by episode 11, it seemed like the show decided to drop/resolve new threads that were just introduced in episode 9. Two new characters were introduced in episode 9 that seemed to be kick-starting new threads (i.e. Nathan Fillion as a minister and Austin Nichols as a classmate with a crush on Lily). By episode 12, those two characters are no longer featured and whatever arcs they were going to have are quickly resolved.

The final episode revealed the details of the mystery that kick-started the series, but it didn't resolve anything. The ending was kind of sad, and I have a feeling that had the show gotten additional episodes that more would have been done with the mystery and the other characters.

Thanks @Soaplovers for the details! It’s been ages since I watched that show I do remember liking back in the day and catching a few eps.

You’re right about the bad timing and not so good timeslot at the time (Friday nights on Fox were always notoriously cursed outside of The X-Files). I actually remember Friday nights that fall being my “soap night” and living in New Mexico at the time it was Providence on NBC at 7, Pasadena on Fox at 8 along with the second season of That’s Life on CBS, and Once and Again on ABC at 9.

Sadly 3 of the 4 shows were treated badly and shafted. Providence actually ended up ranked and tied at #27 for that season, but it would end the following season. Primetime soaps after that took a break until The OC, One Tree Hill, and of course Desperate Housewives ramped it back up.

On 5/5/2026 at 9:56 PM, SoapDope78 said:

Too bad we will probably never see complete episodes of the short lived series " The Survivors"

I love the angle on Lana Turner from over Ralph Bellamy's shoulder. Reminds me of classic Y&R.

Thanks, @SoapDope78 !

Edited 7 hours ago7 hr by Khan

On 5/6/2026 at 8:52 PM, Soaplovers said:

The final episode revealed the details of the mystery that kick-started the series, but it didn't resolve anything. The ending was kind of sad, and I have a feeling that had the show gotten additional episodes that more would have been done with the mystery and the other characters.

It's obvious that it was meant to be a season long plot with what happened in the first episode meaning to happen in the season finale (or a year later) and everything was meant to come out in the open. Obviously, they only got half way there since the show bombed and didn't get the back-nine, so they gave the answers. You could envision Henry letting it all out in the open after leaving, leading to that first flashforward.

Unfortunately, Fox put it in the Friday night death slot so it was over before it began. A shame, but I think in the aftermath of 9/11 it might've never worked in any other time slot either way. It was just straight off the bat dark.

I remember Survivors aired late, probably 10pm. My older sisters watched it. I don't remember much plotwise, probably fell asleep, except for a scene with George Hamilton and a young and lovely Diana Muldaur in a car with no brakes and Hamilton's character aims the car to sideswipe a wall to slow it down. A similar scene showed up in a made for TV movie a week or two later.

But I remember the name Baylor Carlyle.

I can almost visualise the long opening credits where he describes his family and then it turns into a diagram of boxes, like a family tree. And I remember the music.

I was too young to understand what The Jet Set meant, but I remember Ralph Bellamy's voice describing his son played by George Hamilton with that description, as we saw Hamilton don a crash helmet.

As I recall, Lana Turner was the bigges draw.

I should watch that youtube clip.

That clip is great. Now I remember more. Ralph Bellamy is the dead narrator, much like whatshername from Desperate housewives.

What could have been...