Primetime Soaps

[DRW50]

What a trashy ad this is. Silverman at his most Silverman.

 

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[DRW50]

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[SFK]

That number choice certainly isn't coincidental?

[DRW50]

 

Probably not. It was based on a very popular Australian show.

[All My Shadows]

IIRC, the original Australian series was developed as Number 69, but the network was like "Yeah...no."

[DRW50]

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[Paul Raven]

Kings Crossing debuted with a 17.1 /27 share on ABC .Following that a 90 min Fantasy Island score 16.3/27.

 

NBC had a disaster with the lowest rated shows for the season 'Alice at the Palace' 5.0/8 and 'Caruso Remembered 3.3/5

 

CBS took the night with Disney 'Tales of the Apple Dumpling Gang' 23.6/37 and TV movie 'Help Wanted:Male' 28.8/47

[Soaplovers]

The mini series Bare Essence just got uploaded to youtube the other day.  The success of that mini series led to a short lived prime time soap on NBC in early 1983.  

 

As we know, like all attempts at a prime time soap at NBC, the show tanked either due to bad time slot, recasting of key parts, or how the show proceeded from the mini series to series.

 

From what Genie Francis said, she didnt think the show handled her character well in the tv show since her character had gotten everything she worked for including her love interest by the end of the mini series.

 

Based on reading episode guides, even watching old episodes years ago that someone had uploaded on youtube.  It appears that the show picks up after the mini series concludes..and promptly has the lead character Tyger become a widow in the 1st episode thus having her fight for her place in the company while her late husbands family bands against her.

 

In a way, the show opts to go with the premise that Dallas originally was planning for Pam (losing her husband at the start of the series/marriage and having to battle his family).  Based on what i recall....Dallas changed their mind because it didnt make sense for Pam to stay around to fight the family so early in her marriage to Bobby without any ties like a child.  As we see with Bare Essence, we see that the showrunners at Dallas were right to not pursue that premise

 

It makes me wonder if perhaps It would have been better to make the tv series start with Tyger coming into the lives of the Marshalls....a reboot of sorts of the mini series.

[te.]

Just as a side note, the entire series of Paper Dolls is on YouTube for those who are interested. Just search "Paper dolls episode 1" and it should pop up.

 

It has exactly the issues that I thought of it initially - too many characters and an initial lack of focus. How on earth they could continually have failed to do a prime time soap about models is beyond me as it seems like it should write itself, especially in the 80s/90s - beautiful women in a cramped enviroment that act catty. Why this and Models, Inc failed to grasp that basic concept is beyond me. Well, not really in Models Inc part since Charles Pratt Jr wrote it...

[te.]

I've just gotten a whole bunch of VHS tapes from my parents (FINALLY) and I'm impress myself a bit with how much god-damn crap I recorded during the late-90s/early-00s. I'm currently trying to find stuff that's worthy to attempt to transfer from VHS to my 'puter once I get the technology to do so.

 

I'm currently watching the Frank Southified Hyperion Bay and it's really lame. Carmen Electra is trying her best to La Locklear it up, but the Go-Go Dancer doesn't work at all in the role. She's absolutely laughable! Add that the show itself is so zzzz. And Cassidy Rae, despite her special billing, is still as interesting as cardboard as she was on Models, Inc.  Oh, a guy fell from a building now and I. Don't. Care. Screw you Nelson (Bart Johnson), football star. I guess he was a casualty of the "retooling".

I also found the CPW episodes 13/14 - apparently the European version of these episodes are different than the ones aired in the US (even as they eventually aired on a small station in New York in the early 00s) as they cut out the Nicki storyline (they were phasing the character out) and added some scenes from episode 13 to episode 14 in an attempt to make the transition smoother from "Central Park West" to the last 8 episodes as "CPW".

[te.]

I just watched the series finale of Hyperion Bay and it pretty much wrapped up the show. There's some plot threads that could've been picked up in a potential season 2. I also notice that Bart Johnson (who died in episode 14) is listed as being in all episodes on every episode guide despite not appearing since then but I guess that shows how popular this show actually was when it first aired.

 

The thing that struck me when I watched episodes 14 through 17 it's how weak the casting was. Even Mark-Paul Gosselaar is weak on this show.

[te.]

Pacific Palisades have been uploaded on YouTube and "hot mess" doesn't even begin to desribe it. I feel like me and I feel like me and @Melroser would rant about this good because... yeah. Hot ass mess.

 

Fiona Hughes character is literally just flower arranging. Cuz that's important. What are dem flowers gonna do else? I'm rolling my eyes and this is episode six!

Edited March 21, 2017 by te.

[Melroser]

I remember watching Pacific Palisades when it originally aired and finding it not very good. It had potential (with Finola Hughes and Michelle Stafford) but it just didn't go anywhere for me. Maybe I'll refresh my memory with some eps but I wasn't surprised when it ended quickly. 

 

I did like Central Park West though. Madchen Amick was everything for that show! The retooling into CPW I enjoyed because Raquel Welch was far more entertaining than Muriel Hemingway's character ever was.I wish that show had gone on. 

[Chris B]

I LOVED Central Park West in its original form. If it were on another network it would've been huge, but the retool felt very dated and I didn't like the casting changes or new writing. Pacific Palisades I remember enjoying. Was it Melrose? No, but it had an interesting cast and is fun to watch. Nothing more and nothing less.

[DaytimeFan]

 

 

Pacific Palisades was easy to watch. What's interesting about it and Models Inc. is that the finale episodes do serve as actual finales. I think it helped both get sold really easily overseas because they were basically miniseries. I particularly enjoy the Pacific Palisades ending as Joan Collins and her gold digging daughter accidentally encounter a gullible billionaire and his son at a charity lunch, call a truce and work on landing the two of them. Joan gets the last line in the finale: "Oooooh, I just loooooove happy endings!" as 1990s prime time soap opera jazz music blares. 

Edited March 21, 2017 by DaytimeFan