Primetime Soaps

[Chris B]

They also had Behind the Screen with Debbi Morgan, Janine Turner and Michael Sabatino. That reminds me, there are three short lived David Jacobs series I'd LOVE to see. Behind the Screen, Married: The First Year (with a pre-Knots Landing Constance McCashin) and his 90s extremely short lived soap Four Corners with Ann Margaret.

[Khan]

Frankly, @Chris B, I don't think you missed much.  From what I remember, it was a'ight.  I think if it had premiered about ten years earlier, it might've had a chance.  By 1998, however, it probably felt "old hat."

[Jagger1966]

I remember watching Four Corners but I couldn't tell you a thing about it.  All I remember is thinking it was very boring.  I'd love to see Behind The Screen again.  I was 14 when it was on so I probably thought it was very provocative at the time.  All I remember of it is Janine Turner because she joined General Hospital shortly after its cancellation and I remembered her from Behind The Screen.

[Contessa Donatella]

We're approaching the Endiversary of my favorite short-lived primetime soap, PAPER DOLLS, with Morgan Fairchlld, Roscoe Born, Brenda Vaccaro (sp?) & introducing Terri (sp?) Ferrell & Nicolette Sheridan. Amazingly it has 4 different opening themes. One for the TV movie, one for the show pilot, one for the show itself & then a variation on that one that they changed to midway through. I have them all & all episodes on my usual video hosting site.

[te.]

Four Corners pops up now and again on YouTube. It was also re-edited into a mini series and aired as Homestead in Europe, though I'm not sure if they bothered to wrap up the series. I think if it's ever going to get an official release, I'd assume the re-cut version is the one that might pop up. 

[soapfan770]

I remember both SOD and SPW blasting CBS in their editorials for not giving it a chance to develop and cancelling it so quick. 

I think one of the original concepts of a soap being set in Santa Fe could have been unique and interesting. That said the finished product wasn’t worth some of the initial hype. It definitely didn’t deserve the horrifically competitive time slot for its big 2 hour premiere though. 

[Soaplovers]

The premise was promising about two matiarch's that were friends..and sometimes on the same side and sometimes on the opposite side.

Both women had a son and daughter.  Ann Margaret's daughter had a thing for Sonia Braga's son..a priest... while Sonia Braga's sweet daughter was sort of dating Ann Margaret's scheming son..yet yearned for another man that had been paroled and was the son of the man trying to take Ann Margaret's ranch.

Sounds more interesting on paper then it did playing out.

[Khan]

There was one great moment when Ann-Margret's character tells someone (forget who), "My son is not for sale."  That line has stuck with me all these years later.

Like you said, @Soaplovers, "Four Corners" sounds really good "on paper," but I think David Jacobs was just done with television by that point, and especially done with sudsy dramas.

Edited December 24, 2024 by Khan

[Chris B]

I came across an interesting failed primetime soap pilot. It's produced by Paul Rauch and Steve Kent and written by Dominic Dunne. Looks like a mix of a crime series and a soap.

Please register in order to view this content

Michelle Phillips, Noelle Beck and Denise Richards are all in the cast.

[DRW50]

Thanks @Chris B 

And the beautiful Reed Diamond too.

[DRW50]

The Patrick Clohessy channel on Youtube is uploading Savannah's run. 

Savannah has a thread on here if any fans want to try to PM the mods to unlock it. Last used in 2014.

Homefront is also seemingly up in full, on the YonatanDoron channel.

[DRW50]

All of the Pacific Palisades episodes are already online, but these two have commercials.

Please register in order to view this content

 

[DRW50]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZauiR9xIQM

Not sure if this is a primetime soap or not but close enough - it's the American pilot of the UK prison campfest Bad Girls.

[Paul Raven]

Does anybody know more about this?

It was on tape and there was no location footage. So a good cast, but a lower budget.

Was it for late night perhaps?

[DRW50]

Reed Diamond has some social media accounts - not sure if he's ever discussed it.