Primetime Soaps

[DRW50]

I watched The Powers That Be every week when it first aired. I also have some vague memories of Grand. Back then I watched a lot of sitcoms that didn't last. Today they wouldn't even last a month, much less a season

I loved Valerie Mohaffey's performance. She was what really kept me hooked on Powers That Be.

[EricMontreal22]

Soapopera, sometimes referred to as "daytime drama," has finally snared evening prime time's ultimate status symbol-- a spin-off. The primary source is "dallas," a weekly saga about Texas millionaires that has attracted a generous parcel of ratings for CBS-TV. Now, beginning at 10 tonight, also on CBS, there is "Knots Landing," a kind of middle class off-shoot set in a small but comfortable California hosueing development.

There are clear differences between these two series and ordinary soap operas. The prime-time budgets are considerably higher, enabling

the production to leave the studio for occasional on-location shooting. And the plotting is tighter as each episoee must contain at least one story with a beginning, middle and end. Otherwise, though, this is soap territory. the characters run to easily identifiable

[Paul Raven]

All is Forgiven aired on NBC as a spring tryout series.It scored good ratings after Golden Girls,but was not picked up for fall.At that time NBC had so many hit comedies that there was really no room in the schedule(how times have changed).

Maybe it wasn't that good and they decided to go with other shows.Anyway,Carol Kane played Nicolette,the head writer of the soap All is Forgiven and star Bess Armstrong was the producer.

Another show that possibly qualifies as primetime soap was 'For Love and Honor 'on NBC.It aired Fall 83.It was inspired by 'An Officer and a Gentleman' and was set on an army base.

Cliff Potts was Eugene Allard,whose adulterous wife Phyllis(Shanna Reed ex Terry Texas)was an alcoholic.He was having an affair with Carolyn,the base medical officer(Shelley Smith,who has been previosly mentioned in this thread). China Bell(Yaphet Kotto)was an embitteredformer boxer and Viet vet.

Other familiar names in the cast included Rachel Ticotin,Keenan Ivory Wayans,Kelly Preston and Amy Steel(ex GL)

The competition was Falcon Crest and Matt Houston and the lead-in was the notorious bomb 'Manimal'. You would have to question the wisdom of putting this show up against Falcon Crest,seemingly appealing to the same audience.

[Chris B]

I think this is new information, forgive me if it's not. Okay well during the pilot I didn't pay attention to the writing credits, but for the second episode I did. This is Emerald Point NAS btw. Well of course the EPs are The Shapiros and Michael Filerman. Filerman was probably more of the showrunner. Then it says Story By: Bridget and Jerome Dobson Teleplay By: Charles and Patricia Dizenzo.

I wonder what kind of role the Dobons played on this show. Were they more like the headwriters? I never knew they had anything to do with any primetime series.

[Sylph]

Story By means that the writer or writers (not more than 2 by WGA rules) wrote an outline for an episode. Or, more likely today, that their script got re-written substantially so all there's left was to credit them for was the "story".

Teleplay By means the actual script (construction [which scene goes where etc.], original and/or new scenes, characters, dialogue...) was written by a person or two (never more than 2, again).

So it has nothing to do with head writing.

[Chris B]

Oh I understand now. I'm not used to seeing the Story and Teleplay credit in these old soaps. I'm going to guess in this case their script was re-written since the show isn't that great. I'm sure there will be lots of kinks they attempt to work out. There is something dead about this show. Like Marissa on AMC. Still some nice elements that could come together. I still wonder if Maud Adams will ever do anything. She looks like the perfect soap bitch, but she had one scene in the two hour pilot and halfway into the second episode she's MIA. Sela Ward is doing all the heavy lifting in the bitch department.

[Sylph]

More on credits here:

http://www.imdb.com/partners/wga

[Chris B]

The Dobsons got one more episode with Story By credit. For later episodes with Jill St. John, Rita Lakin is credited as Story Consultant and Creative Consultant towards the end. She created Flamingo Road and did Peyton Place (plus the 1985 reunion), The Doctors and Dynasty. I also noticed that the show looked much better in the glimpses of the later episodes I saw. Susan Dey had her hair situation sorted and the clothes looked better.

[Chris B]

I've watched the first five episodes (which includes a two hour pilot) for Emerald Point and the show is definitely getting better. Jill St. John joined the cast in the fourth episode. Unfortunately, the opening credits seem to be missing from every episode except the pilot (I checked all the other DVDs) so I don't know if she was added. I also won't be able to see if the title card on the Wikipedia page is real or fanmade. Hopefully I missed it and one of the later episodes has the opening credits. Anyway, Jill St. John is very strange. I always thought she was a weird choice for Bond Girl and I see why they picked her as the mega bitch, but it's not a total success. She looks old and tired and maybe would've been a better choice for the heroine on this show. Maud Adams style of acting is all wrong for her good girl role. It's unconvincing and it's like they're trying to tone down her sex appeal which isn't possible.

I'm currently watching the first episode of Pacific Palisades and it's as trashy as it gets. It's like Melrose Place on acid, which is bad because Melrose is already on acid. Just ridiculous in terms of the sexiness and the cast is such an odd group. A couple look straight out of porn and Michelle Stafford as a heroine? Surprisingly effective. Finola Hughes is the one person who really stands out in a weird way. I can't wait to see Joan Collins as her mom.

Right now I'm still sitting on CPW, Savannah and Models Inc until I finish either PP or NAS. I've also slowed down on my Dallas/Melrose Place viewings, but only because I need to buy more of those series.

[SFK]

Jill did get added to the credits, it used to be on YouTube, and I rather loved the shot of her. I'm not sure what episode it's from but she does a little thing with her fingers like she's saying, "Isn't he delicious?" re: Harlan.

[SFK]

I don't want to spoil, but Joan Collins

[SFK]

Trivia: Back when PP debuted, they reported in the soap mags that the original title was Brentwood, but with all of the O.J. mess going on, they went for another L.A. locale.

[JackPeyton]

Can i ask where you got these? Ive been searching for Savannah but have been unable to find it.

[EricMontreal22]

Glad you're keeping us au courant with your viewing, Chris You mentioned the Dobsons earlier--I wondered what involvement they had in the show from Schemering's brief comment--they'd be pretty busy with Santa Barbara, wouldn't they?

Funny, I remember PP being kinda like Melrose meets Knots Landing--I thought it was Spelling's attempt at a Knots. But you're right, what I remember of it was pretty--well crazy. (and Lucky V proved that his lack of any acting ability as Varla Grubbs/Carol Burnett's fiance on AMC was no fluke...)

[Chris B]

I definitely see the Knots Landing mixed with Melrose mixed with crack. James Stanley and his wife created it and wrote for KL during the LML years. What is really killing me is the ridiculous music and odd cast. It's not written as ridiculous as the final product made it. It's a very fun show.