Primetime Soaps

[DRW50]

I'd love to talk about Knots. I have been watching some of the early second season again (saw "Kristen" tonight -- who decided her entire story should be with fine ass but not all that exciting Kenny??). I was hoping we might be able to start individual threads for Knots, Dallas, and Dynasty, Falcon Crest, since those were such big shows.

I agree with you about Paper Dolls. Mimi Rogers bored me to tears, and some of the storyline she had was awful. Wasn't there some awful and badly telegraphed miscarriage scene? I seem to remember her acting like an idiot and then she had a miscarriage.

Terry didn't do a lot for me on that show, although that was partially down to her stories, like a stalking story that was telegraphed in episode after episode but never went anywhere.

I remember having a bit of crush on Mimi's husband or someone else...perhaps Matthew Perry's father. He was married to boring Nancy Olson. Was it him or Mimi's husband who was a designer?

What did you think of Lauren Hutton? To me she would have been too low-key for a primetime soap.

It was on Soapnet for a few months, when they bothered to run old soaps.

Thanks for the info on the cop show.

[EricMontreal22]

There's an old thread in canceled soaps for Dynasty and Knots but they have zero to no posts in them, LOL. I'm sure it's fine to discuss them here

[DRW50]

I meant I wasn't sure if we should keep this for the lesser known soaps, but you're probably right.

[EricMontreal22]

The people at Falcon's Crest, Central Park West and Nip/Tuck didn't seem to think so

LOL I'm easy either way I created that Peyton Place thread for instance, simply cuz I didn't think all fans wouldnecesarily see this thread.

[DRW50]

I've never seen her CPW or FC work, although I guess nothing would have helped CPW. Nip/Tuck, boy that show went down the toilet.

[Paul Raven]

There was a tv movie that preceded Paper Dolls by a couple of years with Joan Collins as Racine and Daryl Hannah as Taryn.I don't think it was intended as anything but a one off,but maybe it was reworked into a series a couple of years later,

[EricMontreal22]

It sure did...

(But I loved her on CPW)

[Chris B]

I actually don't remember her soap stints on Paper Dolls or Falcon Crest, lol. I guess that says it all.

[DRW50]

She was at the very, very end of Paper Dolls. Like in two episodes. That was also when they killed off boring Lloyd Bridges character.

[SFK]

Carl, if you register (free) at IMDb, you can watch about 10 episodes of the UK QAF. I ALSO saw that *Shocking!* TV special. I was on a message board for The Wire and they were talking about Aidan Gillan and when I went to read up on him I had one of those Aha! moments putting two and two together realizing he was rim guy.

Lauren Hutton was good on CPW, her style is very low-key and never was that more apparent than when Raquel Welch showed up. I was really bummed when CPW ended, with a cliffhanger at that. CPW and Morgan Fairchild's stint on The City ended about the same time and I remember SOW criticizing Morgan for wanting to "get away from that stereotypical '80s soap bitch" [/Morgan in TV Guide] in her portrayal of Sydney saying things would have been a lot more fun (and perhaps successful) had she played the character more like Raquel's Dianna. At least they both looked GREAT on their respective shows, they lived up to the '80s in that regard.

And thanks in advance Chris if you upload Emerald!

[SFK]

I've often read online that Lauren Hutton did the v.o. of the mysterious woman in the limo in the Dynasty finale.

[EricMontreal22]

10 episodes of UK QAF is all it ran (the first series was 8, 35 minute episodes--dunno why the odd time length--Series two was one movie, or two 50 minute episodes) I belong to imdb,but I don't pay, but I didn't know there was some content you could view--is this new? *confused*

I dunno, I thought Sydney was still in many ways a throwback to those 80s primetime bitch/goddess characters. Played even bigger might have not worked--that said I liked Tracey/Jane Eliot in the role much more I almost hate to say--but part of that is by the time she essentially replaced Sydney, The City had finally found its rhythm and was better as a whole.

[EricMontreal22]

Since lately I've been especially interested in the David Jacobs/Lorimar soaps, I have to ask, just how involved was he? I know he worked at Family (which led to a few primetime soap writers, but also led to the Herskovitz/Zwick domestic dramas like thirtysomething. As I've said on here ad nauseum I wouldn't quite classify them as primetime soaps--though they're some of my all time fave shows, so it's interesting that in a way Family, a show I'malways tempted tobuy on DVD but have not seen yet, seemed to kinda mix these genres--though I know it wasn't truly a serial). And then he submitted a story based around the concept of Scenes from a Marriage, the network said they wanted a drama set in the south, he did Dallas, left after overseeing 8 episodes and repitched his original idea as a spin off and stayed at Knots Landing at least for a little while in some capacity--it seems Knots was his true baby, not Dallas. Yet, I don't think anyone ever classifies him as a headwriter/show runner?

He also was an exec producer on MidlandHeights, and Berrenger's as has been mentioned as well as some other non soaps(the Dr Quinn forerunner, Paradise). Anyway, in the late 90s Ann Margaret stared in a show by him that has been called both Homestead and Four Corners. It ran as a tv movie and for four episodes--does anyone remember this? Was it a primetime soap or something diff? For a show that ran so recently, it seems odd so little exists on it.

The other show he helped create in the early 80s was a late night soap--I think CBS aired it Friday nights at 11:35 (premiering with an hour episode, followed by 35 minute episodes). Behind the Screen, it took place backstage of a soap opera, and Michele Lee made an appearance as herself. This is the only LATE night network soap I can think of (RIP 13 Bourbon St), and ran from late 1981 through to 1982. Does anyone have ANY memory of this? I can't find any clips or photographs and it fascinates me.

[All My Shadows]

You've never seen Family? It's a great show, IMO. Three complete episodes of it have made it to YouTube, and I was lucky enough to see them all before they were taken off. There's a chopped up episode from later on in the show's run that I won't even waste my time with.

Sada Thompson was wonderful and definitely deserving of her Emmy. I actually didn't realize it until I looked into the show some more that Thompson, Gary Frank (the son), and Kristy McNichol all won Emmys for their work, which is incredible for an Aaron Spelling show.

In regards to Falcon Crest...I can't even stress how eager I am to get my hands on the DVDs. I have two episodes on tape from when TVLand aired it (and Dallas, Sisters, Knots Landing, and Eight is Enough) a couple years ago for a special weekend marathon. I fell in love with everything about it.

Edited February 19, 2010 by All My Shadows

[Chris B]

I do wonder what hand David Jacobs had in his soaps. On Knots and Dallas, I know he wrote scripts and in interviews has credited himself with major story points like killing off Ciji Dunne. Maybe he was like the lead headwriter or more of an executive producer with a hands on approach with the writing? I know he was heavily involved in Knots. When John Romano destroyed the show (not totally his fault), it was Jacobs who (after creating a midseason cliffhanger) shut down production, brought in Ann Marcus and got the show back on track. It was a remarkable turnaround that you don't often see midseason on a primetime series.