Primetime Soaps

[DRW50]

The song is pretty (although the closing theme is nicer), but I can't believe that's not Luther. I know this was early in his more mainstream career, but that soundalike is still jarring. 

Deborah Adair left Y&R for this?

The credits are rough. It's like if the Love Boat cast starred in a Bond film made by the producers of the Days of the Week.

 

Edited May 13, 2023 by DRW50

[Soaplovers]

I think Glitter was supposed to be like a Hotel or Love Boat....but you have to like the characters that will be there week to week.

I did see 2 of the episodes...but I think maybe had the main cast been trimmed in half...the concept might have worked.

 

[Khan]

Aaron Spelling could've pitched ABC videotaped footage of his colonoscopies and they would've put it on Wednesday nights opposite "Magnum, P.I."  He had made so much money for the network over the years that they would've bought just about anything and everything from him, regardless of any similarities between shows.

[kalbir]

ABC was known for a long time as Aaron's Broadcasting Corporation. 1985 Brandon Stoddard became became president of ABC and that same year ABC was sold to Capital Cities. Fall 1985 was when Aaron Spelling started losing his clout with ABC as he was down to only four shows on the network (The Love Boat, Dynasty, Hotel, The Colbys). I have a feeling Brandon Stoddard was not a fan of Aaron Spelling and wanted the Spelling shows gone from ABC. 1989 Robert Iger became president of ABC and he got the Spelling shows off ABC with the Spring 1989 cancellations of Dynasty and HeartBeat. 

[j swift]

The New York Times review of Finder of Lost Loves is predictably harsh (but amusing)

Also working in the office are Rita (Anne Jeffries), the trusted manager, and Brian (Richard Kantor), the young assistant who is always reminding people that he is simply gaga about girls. For some reason, Miss Jeffries, a handsome actress who is, let's say, over 55, has been given a young, pre-teen son to contend with. She describes him breezily but pointedly as ''the last of the litter.'' Meanwhile, Daisy keeps interviewing potential clients, picking up her work calendar and warning that ''we're really swamped.''

Mr. Maxwell has started his rather odd business because he wants to help people experience the kind of joy he once shared with his wife. How much are his services? ''Don't worry about it,'' smiles motherly Rita.

Somehow, the episode managed to end with a wedding ceremony featuring lots of flowers and a private orchestra but no noticeable guests. As the wedding vows were being solemnly exchanged, Daisy, the maid of honor, gazed longingly at Mr. Maxwell, the best man, but he just went on looking blithely sincere and debonair.

[Paul Raven]

Aaron Spelling had along term exclusive contract with ABC in which I think he was guaranteed a series a year placed on the network

It was terminated in 87.

NY Times Aug 15 87

The ABC television network and Aaron Spelling, the producer of such hit shows as ''Dynasty'' and ''Loveboat,'' have ended an exclusive programming agreement that has lasted 17 years.

ABC, a unit of Capital Cities/ABC, and Aaron Spelling Productions Inc., announced late Wednesday that they had agreed to extend Mr. Spelling's contract for three years. But the extension covers only the fulfillment of existing obligations, and Mr. Spelling will be free to sell his productions to other networks - CBS, NBC and Fox.

[Khan]

I think ABC later made a similar agreement with Steven Bochco.

[j swift]

And, of course, that's why 90210 and Melrose Place were on Fox

 

[soapfan770]

Lord lol. I remember watching that corny show with my grandparents and thinking “I hope that creep never finds me!”. 

Edited May 14, 2023 by soapfan770

[kalbir]

Deborah Adair left Y&R in 1983 and was cast on Dynasty that year in a one season and done role. Finder of Lost Loves began Fall 1984 and it was one season and done. Aaron Spelling clearly liked her as she also appeared on The Love Boat, Hotel, Melrose Place before returning to daytime w/ Days. 

[Paul Raven]

Edited August 13, 2023 by Paul Raven

[slick jones]

Found this article about the Kenley players in the course of my research.  It includes such primetime soap  names as Howard Keel, Rock Hudson, Barbara Eden and Donna Mills along with Joe Namath, Pam Dawber, Pia Zadora, Rich Little and Ann Miller and appearances in various productions.

Those summer nights   Kenley Players

 

[Forever8]

Some unaired pilots I came across which starred Regina King, Paige Turco, Kelli WIlliams, Garcelle Beauvais, Reba McEntire, Eric Roberts, Debbie Allen, Lucy Lawless, Gabrielle Union, etc., 

 

[Paul Raven]

June 1989

The continuing drama of continuing dramas

Once mighty prime time soap has slipped in ratings and is, for now, exclusive province of CBS

In 1985, a quarter of the top 20 prime time network programs were episodic melodramas, better known as prime time soaps. CBS had capitalized on the tremendous success of Dallas with a spin-off, Knots Landing, and another offering, Falcon Crest. ABC had countered with Dynasty and Hotel, then later the Dynasty spin -off, Dynasty II: The Colbys. Today, Hotel and The Colbys are history, and with the departure of Dynasty from ABC this year after nine seasons, CBS, with Dallas (entering its 13th season), Falcon Crest and Knots Landing,claims the only remaining prime time soap operas on commercial network television.

Once the owner of a reserved seat in the Nielsen Rating's Top 10, Dallas has been finding its numbers slipping. At the same time, prime time dramas such as L.A. Law and thirtysomething are using variations of the continuing storyline in their reality  based scripts. Does the remaining prime time soap producer see the borrowing of reality based elements as the solution to further erosion of the soap genre?

"Dallas has done well by moving closer to a reality based format," said Lorimar Telepictures President David Salzman, who oversees the production of Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. "When we took Dallas to Russia, it reflected what Ameri- can businessmen may be facing in dealing with the new openness of glasnost. But we must never forget what makes a show successful. People are naturally attracted to stories of wealth and power." "The wealth of Dynasty, The Colbys and Hotel brought in the glitzy settings and costumes- that's past its peak," suggested Knots Landing executive producer David Jacobs. "I think for a while during the Reagan years it was O.K. to be ostentatiously wealthy and glitzy. All of a sudden it has been distasteful in the post- Boesky era," he said, referring to Ivan Boesky, who was indicted for insider trading.

For the classic prime time soaps that remain, however, the ratings peak may have passed as well. Dallas finished the first run 1988 -89 season with an average 15.4 rat - ing/26 share, down from two years ago's potent 21.3/34 average. In the 1986 -87 sea- son, Falcon Crest scored a 17.4/25 average; this year it recorded a 12.5/22. Knots Landing was the only one to show improvement, scoring a 16.1/28 average for the 1988 -89 season, following a 15.8/27 average the year before.

Although the soap genre may be slipping somewhat, other serial dramas have pickedup on the continuing story lines, or "arcs," pioneered in prime time by the likes of Dallas. "L.A. Law has an advantage of using less than five episode arcs," said Dallas executive producer Leonard Katzman. "They have adapted the soap formula into their program, except in a smaller arc. We find that most of the story that we try to tell usually goes over a five- or six -week period. It may be that viewers don't necessarily want to have to stay involved episode after episode with what is transpiring throughout the arc. That's why we introduced story summaries at the beginning of each new episode, so viewers can catch up on the storyline if they missed the previous episode."

"Look at thirtysomething [which employs continuing story lines]. It finished 47th in the ratings," Jacobs said. "It's not that the genre is changing, it's the varied stories and characters that are changing. At some time, thirtysomething is going to find itself reaching for the more sensational melodramatic stories because you run out of the other stories. Knots Landing had smaller, everyday stories, that's what separated it from the pack. Finally, we had to make it a little more sensational to keep it exciting. The reason Knots Landing survived, and is going to survive all the others, is the fact we have kept those characters reality - based."

"I would say the television drama has gone through some evolutionary changes," Salzman said. "Where prime time drama had been fairly homogenized in the past, Hill Street Blues and Dallas came along and introduced whole new forms to television. They showed the audience that television can come in a 31 -flavor variety. With remote control and multichannel viewers, they tired of the vanilla flavored, predictable programing of the past." "Cable television has made it tough to compete," Jacobs said. "You can't do an action -adventure on network television, against a [Sylvester] Stallone or Mel Gibson movie on cable. You can do a sexy show, but you can't compete against a Kim Basinger on the Playboy Channel. Whatever the erosion, how many shows last that long? Dallas has had an incredibly long run, as have Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. I don't think of it as an erosion of a genre. A show sometimes just gets old and tired."

Edited August 29, 2023 by Paul Raven

[All My Shadows]

I missed the discussion about Finder of Lost Loves, but I enjoyed the several episodes I was able to see approx. 20 years ago on...maybe the Goodlife TV Network? Same cable net that showed Flamingo Road and Homefront reruns. Their schedule was built almost exclusively on rare short-lived series, including The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Down to Earth, Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, etc.

Re: Hotel. Why oh why oh why oh whyyyyy was it lumped in as a primetime soap *and* compared to Love Boat *but* Love Boat wasn't lumped in as a primetime soap? Hotel wasn't serialized.