Primetime Soaps

[SFK]

Eric, I feel like you mentioned it at one point but I'm not sure and too lazy to sift through this entire thread, but did you watch Riverdale? Or Liberty Street (aka X-Rated) from Degrassi's Kit Hood?

[EricMontreal22]

I watched like two Liberty Streets (it had the actor who played Joey right?) I remember it sorta having potential, but not much else about it (and can't find clips) I was only 14 or so at the time and always seemed to miss it. It did have Joel Bissonnette who i'm a fan of. I remember they all lived in a "quirky" apartment building--kinda a wannabe mix of Degrassi and Reality Bites/Singles.

Riverdale was launched with tons of fanfare, because CBC has always had such success with Coronation Street. I remember they went on about how it was created by one of the Corrie execs. It had a few great older Canadian theatre actors but was pretty awful from what I remember--I was excited and tried getting into it from the start--kinda just a lame wannabe Corrie with lame writing and bad younger actors. Looking at Wiki I had no idea it ran three years and nearly 100 episodes! I wish I could remember some of the stories. I can't even find a youtube clip, which is odd.

Edited March 5, 2010 by EricMontreal22

[SFK]

Cool. Yeah, I haven't been able to find any clips. We found out about Liberty Street (yes, with "Joey" but in a different role) through our obsession with Degrassi which pretty much started as a joke. We enjoyed making fun of TNG over breakfast on Sunday mornings and to our surprise, we found ourselves totally getting into it and have since seen the original series (junior high and high) and even The Kids of Degrassi Street all on dvd.

I've read mixed reviews about Riverdale, some saying it's the best drama CBC has ever produced. Would love to check it out. Full disclosure, Degrassi has birthed this interest in Toronto. I'm fascinated by what's going on up there in America Jr. (I kid, I kid!).

[EricMontreal22]

Who's "we"? LOL Yeah I grew up with Kids of Degrassi (which I remember being awful) and the show of ocurse--thye even showed key eps in our sex ed classes.

(Toronto is kinda America Jr, and an often ugly city though it has some great areas--but it definitely models itself more on the US than Van or Montreal ever would--though not as much as Little Dallas--Calgary. I'm not a big fan at all but it has some great parts and is very diverse)

[Chris B]

I wish I were finished watching Emerald Point. It's such a dull show, but has a few interesting characters. I'm taking it slow, but I'm almost done with Pacific Palisades so I'll soon be able to pick up another show. I can't decent between Models Inc, CPW and Savannah though. Leaning towards Models Inc since i'm watching the Melrose season that coincides with it.

PP continues to be a riot. Finola Hughes is a lovely actress and I'm surprised another soap hasn't picked her up in a big role. She should've just taken the Y&R role in hopes something would develop. GH will never use her. Maybe she can go back to AMC. That's the only place I knew her from before. Love David and Anna, especially when Leora died.

[SFK]

I've been TRYING to watch Emerald Point on YouTube and I'm having a similar problem. zzzzzz

I'd say that CPW will fly by rather quickly. At least the eight episodes of the revamp did for me.

[JamesF]

I gave up on Emerald Point after the pilot. Incredibly dull. Out of curiosity though I watched the finale last night and it was a much improved show. More emphasis was put on the female characters, plenty of bitching etc. Still lacking anything remotely memorable.

[Chris B]

Yeah Jill St. John gave the show a jolt, then the writer from Peyton Place comes in midseason and I'm sure that improved it somewhat, but I'm not seeing much so far. I don't believe the Shapiro's had much to do with this show beyond the pilot. At their best and worst, Dynasty was never this dull.

[DRW50]

The Y&R role would have been a big fat nothing. She played mother to Sabrina, who was killed a few months later anyway.

Besides, I was so happy to see Cynthia Sikes on TV again.

[EricMontreal22]

Except storywise didn't the Shapiros basically stay out of the kitchen from season 2 on? Which writer from PeytonP joined the show? I'm still amazed at the awesome level of quality behind the writing of Peyton, and yet how nearly every writer involved flopped when they went on to HW various soaps, etc... (The DeFero's, Robert J Shaw, Peggy Sloane, Nina Laemmle, Peyton's longtime story editor, etc...)

"Finola Hughes is a lovely actress and I'm surprised another soap hasn't picked her up in a big role. She should've just taken the Y&R role in hopes something would develop. GH will never use her. Maybe she can go back to AMC. That's the only place I knew her from before. Love David and Anna, especially when Leora died."

Word to all of that. I only knew her from Staying Alive (LOL) and I think Blossom (?) before she joined AMC but I loved her so much on the show, especially as Anna, it's such a waste not to have her doing steady acting. I'd love to see PP (Pacific P not Peyton:P ) again

[SFK]

Wait, you knew her as Blossom's stepmom before you knew her as Anna Devane? J/K, but do you also remember that her daughter on Blossom was the little brunette girl who played Sarah on OLTL, I wanna say her name is Courtney Chase but too tired to look it up. She did an abysmal British accent her first episode, and by her second episode they completely dropped it, hahaha...

PP is also where I first remember Natalie Cigiluti (sp?), the last Anita Santos.

I'm forgettng character names, but there was also the smarmy plastic surgeon who I immediately thought of the first time I watched Nip/Tuck.

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah, wasn't she on another ear,lier Spelling show too? Malibu Shores? Or am I confused cuz Christian Campbell was on that...

And yes--well I NEVER watched GH at all, but was 10 or so by the time she joined Blossom, so Embarassing, I know

[SFK]

Yes, I remember, you were solely an AMC (then Loving) viewer for a long time. Does Finola still host those Style shows? It's sad, but casting opportunities for ALL soap actors are dwindling. Can you imagine that the day will soon come when many soap actors are literally unemployable as they've already done all of the soaps still on the air? Crazy.

[EricMontreal22]

There's a really long article I found on the New York Times archive from the university I work for (sadly it's not one of their free ones)--it's too long for me to type out, though I may in chunks as it's fascinating--mainly about As The World Turns' anniversary (3200 episodes) from 1968. Anyway there's a tiny bit that's of interest in this thread.

Here, or maybe in the Peyton Place or another thread, we discussed how disappointing Our Private World was--the CBS primetime spin off of As The World Turns that was apparently created to be a direct competitor with Peyton Place. Considering how sophisticaed Peyton Place looks een by today's standards, it was surprising for me to see how cheap World was--it looked not one drop more expensive than the average mid 60s episode of the daytime version. (Our Private World was created by Irna Phillips and Bill Bell, but head written by Robert J Shaw who had written many of the early PP scripts).

Anyway, I guess even at the time they realized this. Here's the quote:

In May of 1965, CBS instroduced a nighttime soap, "Our Private World," which flopped ringingly and resoundingly. "Which doesn't mean serials can't work at night," says head of CBS Daytime, Fred Silverman. "It lacked any quality. Lousy writing, lousy acting, it was a lousy show. It was a dog and you can quote me on that." But the fact remains that only "Peyton Place," riding high into its fifth season fo "telling the earthy, frank, frequently shocking story of the lives and loves of the men, the women, the teen-agers in a quiet Newe England village," has been successful in prime time.

LOL I know Silverman has always been frank, but wow

Yeah, though I think I saw Blossom before I got into AMC, or around the same time (then Loving, then OLTL ).

It is scary--they need to start doing more theatre again. not that a lot of today's soap actors would be any good at theatre...

[SFK]

No, they most certainly would not, and frankly, that's a whole 'nother clique all unto itself. At least Broadway for that matter. I think a lot of soap stars could find theatre work regionally however. But I bet that a lot of the younger less experienced ones wouldn't even be interested in that, I'm sure they are more focused on landing that big TV/film gig out in L.A. But someone like Tom Pelphrey would actually appreciate and jump at the chance to work at the Guthrie or Steppenwolf, as theatre-trained soap stars twice his age would.