Primetime Soaps

[SFK]

No, that's 2000 Malibu Road (I love that title). I watched Malibu Shores a couple of times, it was very short-lived and what I seem to remember most about it was that Randy Spelling was on it and later popped up on his dad's OTHER show, Sunset Beach. Oh, and Michelle Phillps' character had a Japanese name, like Tuki or Suki or Zuki??

[quartermainefan]

Not primetime, but I remember the late night soaps. Prisoner: Cell Block H of course, and then I remember one with Lois Nettleton from the 1970s called "All That Glitters" about a world where the roles of the sexes were reversed (this was the 1970s) and the women were the men basically.

In primetime, Dallas will always stand atop the mountain I think. The first four or five years are just gold. I am rewatching this on DVD and it is interesting to see just how a successful soap begins, the baby steps they took toward serialization before it turned into a full fledged soap opera. Knots followed the same path, and I think that is one reason why those soaps lasted. They served up an accessible drama weekly with only hints of serialization-even less than latter seasons of FRIENDS or any season of LOST--and then after a year or two and an audience along for the ride, they inject a two-part episode or two. Then that works and suddenly every week is part of a 30 part episode.

Some of these others that debuted in the wake of Dallas didn't want to lay the groundwork and thought they had a hooked audience from day one. Emerald Point, CPW, Flamingo Road..they all wanted the full fledged soap from day one. Melrose Place got it right with their first season of episodic boring drama, but it was enough to keep it going til they decided it was time to soap it up. We see with the new MP that if you soap it up from day one nobody cares.

anyway, here is a great scene from Dallas with a sadly very sick Jim Davis, just for the hell of it because Barbara Bel Geddes and Jim Davis were great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX1XTGf833E

[Chris B]

I'd love to see some of the quickly canceled primetime soaps. I've nevcer seen Models Inc, CPW, Titans, Malibu Road 2000, Malibu Shores, etc.

This one has always interested me. I've read that it was #1 when it premiered and did well, but was considered too expensive so they didn't renew it. I'd love to see it as the cast sounds great. It's such a shame Lisa Hartman stopped acting. She was GREAT on Knots Landing and still to this day looks amazing.

My absolute favorite classic primetime soap is Knots Landing. From beginning to end it was fantastic. Great writing, great casts and most of their risks paid off. Dallas would be my next favorite. The first 7 or 8 seasons were near perfection and I do enjoy the later seasons which some fans strongly dislike. Some of the new characters were good and the stories remained interesting. I think some fans just can't let go of their favorites who left. Now in the later seasons I don't think they told the big umbrella stories that spanned entire seasons as well, but it was still good.

After that I'd say I loved The Colbys. Dynasty was pure brilliance the first two seasons and it's final seasons, otherwise it was a mess. I'd like to re-watch it and see how it holds up. Those middle years are just too ridiculous and poorly written for me to understand. The Colbys is a clone, but it had some strong actors and the story was basically Blake and Alexis still married with Krystal as the homewrecker. I liked that dynamic. Throw away the alien abduction and you have a good show.

Falcon Crest was entertaining popcorn TV, but very plot driven. So many great characters were introduced (always a long lost relative!!) then they'd be forgotten in no time and a new one would be introduced. Just ridiculous. But everyone looked great and they had a good cast.Melrose Place I'm finding much better than I remembered as I re-watch it.

[SFK]

Unfortunately for me, I didn't tune in to most of Central Park West, but we really got into the eight-part "mini-series" revamp, CPW that aired over the summer. I still have a couple of those on tape. Now that really was a glamour soap for the '90s, sure it aped Dynasty, but there was a modern edge and realism (as realistic as Raquel Welch can get ). Central Park West was a huge disappointment for CBS, it was very heavily hyped. I remember the simple, sexy black and white promos, dissolving from shot to shot of the characters preening for the camera as "Sleep Walk" played. I was really bummed when the commercials for CPW were encouraging us to tune in for the shocking "conclusion" as I hoped the show would continue as a series in the fall.

[SFK]

Models, Inc. was good, my mom watched that one regularly. Linda Gray played Heather Locklear's mother, and they brought on Emma Samms to play the bitch. I think this is where I first saw Kylie Travis who went on the bitch it up on CPW. This one was camp from the start. In the first episode, they're burying one of Linda Gray's models, and the pallbearers slip and drop the casket which flies open! Her hand falls out, and one of the other models says, "She always had great nails. (smirk)" Jesus Lord...

[quartermainefan]

One prime time soap I loved the first year was Twin Peaks. It got crazy year two, but it was really well done for a while. And a great piece of theme music I will add.

[SFK]

I'm forgetting the name of it, and I never tuned in, but does anyone remember the VERY short-lived primetime soap set in Hawaii that starred Bo Derek? I remember the promos were somthing like, "Imagine your life in Hawaii... the sun, the sand, the girls... and Bo Derek is your mom!" as they show her in a bikini emerging from the water in slo-mo. This was the show that Ashton Kutcher turned down to do That 70's Show.

Edited January 25, 2010 by SFK

[EricMontreal22]

Twin Peaks is fantastic--I'm one of the few who almost prefers season 2... Am I the only one following Peyton Place?

Edited January 25, 2010 by EricMontreal22

[EricMontreal22]

The pilot of Dangerous Women (the American loose remake of the popular Aussie Prisoner soap) is on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS2HR_OtiD4

[Chris B]

Eric, I'm actually watching Peyton Place right now. I'm around episode 280. We're now in beautiful color, Alison is missing, characters like Rita, Norman and Connie finally have story. The mysterious Rachel Welles has arrived and Lee's murder trial continues. The show shows no sign of decline at this point. It's an absolute classic.

Because of when it was made I always forget it when discussing primetime soaps, but it's one of the best. I'd also love o see The Survivors, a 70s primetime soap starring Lana Turner. They were so rare in the 60s and 70s so it was interesting to find out about that one. I hear there is a Peyton Place pilot from the late 70s starring Elaine Princi as Betty and Adam West as someone or another. I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to find that or an episode of Return To Peyton Place.

[Sylph]

Do you have the writing credits?

[EricMontreal22]

HAHA Thanks forbeing vague enough in your synopsis that nothing felt liek a spoiler. I thought it was you, but wasn't sure, who was watching it. Are both tv movies available? Anyway, yes it is spectacularly good.

(I know the World Turns spin off, Our Private World was meant to compete with it but the episode of that i've seen felt basically like a dayti9me soap--very low budget, compared to Peyton. Interesting as they got one of Peyton's writers to write it--Robert J Shaw I think)

[DRW50]

Wind on Water. That was also one of Shawn Christian's first major roles after leaving ATWT. And it had William Gregory Lee, who has since been toiling on the bad soap Dante's Cove.

Soapnet ran the very short-lived Monroes about 3-4 years ago, including several episodes that never aired on FOX. One had a "cute" scene where a man had to hide in his office building so he wouldn't be caught in the middle of sex, so he ran around naked, with only his crotch covered (good luck getting that on TV today).

Second Chances/Hotel Malibu is on DVD. I did watch Second Chances, which I generally enjoyed, thanks to Megan Follows (she's a designer, so she wears kooky hats, of course!) who plays sister to the somewhat dry Connie Selleca. Jennifer Lopez plays a poor but proud waitress with the very talented Pepe Serna as her father. The first episode is her wedding, but she calls it off because she finds photos of her fiance with a stripper. The fiance went on to be on CPW. He also had a brief triangle with Megan and with the guy who played Paris on Next Generation/Voyager, and who was a Charlie Brent on AMC.

The concluding stories to the first season were that triangle/the various evil schemes of crooked judge Ray Wise (there is a hilarious scene where he is about to get his aunt to sign away all her money to him just as Megan, Paris, the cops, and the old woman's dog run up to him, and he acts like he was just trying to help her out)/the drama between Connie, sexist but studly business associate John Schneider, and her ex-con sweetheart from high school, Matt Salinger, who had been painted as a decent misunderstood guy for most of the show but at the end suddenly became a psycho. There are also random appearances from a former beauty queen who is now homeless and hooked on drugs and has some sort of potential ties to Schneider's character.

The last stories of the season were a bit of a mess, but I think it would have continued if not for the bad earthquake in early 1994. The sets were destroyed and they decided to junk everyone but Jennifer Lopez, wrap up the stories in a fairly ludicrous manner (Megan and Schneider married offcamera even though they had exchanged one or two casual words at most), and show Jennifer moving out to Malibu to work in a hotel.

Michelle Phillips also had some episodes as the secretary Connie's husband was having an affair with. She and Connie got into an argument in the elevator, and Michelle said something like, "Is this where we have a catfight, like Alexis and...what was her name?"

Edited January 25, 2010 by CarlD2

[Sylph]

I was just about to ask about that one (if anyone has any articles, interviews...)!

Bill Bell's only journey into primetime...

Irna co-created and she was a consultant on Peyton.

[Chris B]

I have that one episode of Our Private World and it was the most disappointing piece of television I've ever seen. So cheap and it moved far too slow to be a primetime serial. The characters seemed dull and the writing was flat. It's hard to believe Irna had anything to do with it considering she did many many of the changes they got Peyton Place on the air. She also did great work on ATWT in the half hour format. Not sure how they could've expected such a show to compete with Peyton Place.