Shortlived Soaps you WIsh you had Seen

[stenbeck212]

I have vague memories of hearing about Rituals when I was a kid. I don't even recall the actual show. It would be nice to see it, if only for the actors who came from other shows.

[TC]

Secrets of Midland Heights - wasn't Mark Pinter in that?

As for Rituals , I wanted to like it but it wasn't that good is all I remember. Seems to me Tina Louise (Ginger from Gilligan's Island) and Joanne Pflug were somehow recasts of each other. Must have been during my heavy pot days.

[Paul Raven]

The Best of Everything aired on ABC from March to Setember 1970. I have seen a couple of cast photos and they look great.In one ,the four young pretty leads are posed on a sofa,each staring in different directions.into the distance Very 'Valley of the Dolls.'

The cast was very interesting.Gale Sondergaard and Geraldine Fitzgerald were 40's movie stars playing the older characters.

Patty McCormack, star of the 50's cult classic The Bad Seed was in the cast along with Susan Sullivan (Another World, Falcon Crest, Dharma&Greg) Kathy Glass (One Life to Life,The Doctors)

It was loosely based on the 1959 movie that starred Hope Lange and Joan Crawford.How much was retained I don't know but some character names were used as was the setting of a publshing company in New York.

James Lipton was the writer.The show aired in the death time slot of midday and the ratings were terrible.ABC cancelled it after 6 months.I don't know what they expected .Perhaps a better time slot would have helped.

It seems strange that ABC would have commisioned a show with promotable stars and themes and let it die.Maybe there was an exec shake up and the new management were not interested.

Another show ABC premered on the same day was "A World Apart" written by Irna Phillips daughter Katherine.Irna was also involved.It dealt with a soap writer and her adopted children,mrroring Irna's own life.Susan Sarandon played the daughter.It would have been interesting to see Irna's behind the scenes take on soaps.

Hidden Faces on NBC in 68 sounds interesting.It was a crime serial like Edge of Night and created by Irving Vendig who had created Edge.NBC put it up against World Turns and it bombed.

[EricMontreal22]

Found it http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069298/ Something Evil

Apparntly Hidden Faces was very good. There's an episode of A WOrld Apart out there on the net--was kinda interesting

[TC]

thank you.

The 70's was somewhat of a creative burst, in movies, primetime, and daytime. No surprise that a few now long gone daytime dramas (that was the 70's euphemism for soaps) were creative successes even though they did not catch on.

Eric, I believe you mentioned "Return to PeytonPlace"

I have no memory of it. My sister tells me it centered mostly on Rita Jacks (Pat Morrow)

[LoyaltoAMC]

Never Too Young is another I'd like to see. It definitely ahead of its time in that it centered around the problems of teenagers and was aimed toward teens, several years before youth-oriented Y&R and AMC began. WOST had the opening up a while back and it was pretty cool.

Daytime in the 70s was pretty much a creative bust. I remember reading that at one point in the early 70s, all of the CBS soaps had murder trials going on concurrently. The only shows that found a lot of success and critical acclaim in the 70s were the ones that were innovative and took risks in their storytelling, primarily AW, AMC, Y&R, RH and Days. ATWT's success during this era, as the rest of the CBS lineup was either falling apart (Secret Storm, Love of Life) or in decline (Search, Edge of Night, GL) stemmed primarily from the fact that it was the most well known soap and probably coasted on its earlier success.

[Khan]

I don't know if this counts, but I've always wanted to see LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING, particularly during the years when Donna Mills, Leslie Charleson and David Birney were the show's biggest stars.

[Max]

Stating that The Best of Everything had horrible ratings is an understatement, as that soap received an average rating of 1.8 during the few months that it aired. Prior to the late-90's, a rating of less than 2.0 was virtually unheard of. (The only other soap prior to the late-90's to rate lower than a 2.0 was The Doctors, which got a 1.6 during its last couple of months on the air.)

[EricMontreal22]

Two or three eps from Never Too Young showed up on Wost.org back when it was free--I have them saved. To be honest they're not too good--kinda like a more soapy version fo the Anette beach movies. Just VERY light weight with a lot of bad acting. Still kinda fun to watch.

I actually think the mid to late 70s was perhaps Daytimes finest hour! Oh well lol...

Quite a few weps from various eras of Love is a Many Spelndoured Thing are out there--some on youtube. it always seems pretty solid--I know for a while it got VERY good ratings for a new soap.

E

[RuAsRuAnAu]

I wish I had seen Faraway Hill, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, Bright Promise, Dark Shadows, The Brighter Day and A World Apart.

It is a good thing that other shows can be seen online like Santa Barbara, Loving etc. Will PGP be showcasing more of their daytime shows online like they did for AW & The Edge of Night?

[Vanguardian]

I would like to have seen a syndicated soap called "Valley Of The Dolls". I heard it was very good during its run. Does anyone know specifically what it was about? Main storylines, affairs, murders, etc.

[YRBB]

NEVER TOO YOUNG: June 24, 1966

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS_DtQ8N8Zc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZuA11Bc9Pc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fxuXkCSdlQ

[RuAsRuAnAu]

Valley of The Dolls (TV Series): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128898/ (It aired at 11:30pm in Boston, MA)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_the_Dolls

[JackPeyton]

i know it wasnt really short lived, and in primetime, but Peyton Place. I love the movie, it is by far one of the best ever. also, Return to Peyton Place.

Other primetime soaps i wanted to see, and have only seen parts of are Titans and Savanah.

Our Private World would be great to watch as well.

The City is the only daytime one i can think of id actually sit down and watch.

[Cat]

WashesWhiter has posted two old kinoscope episodes of LIAMST on YouTube. Both feature Donna Mills and Leslie Charleson.

They are amzing. I saw them about a month ago and, for some reason, I still haven't been able to get them out of my head. The relationships... the setting. I can't explain it, but it really had me intrigued.

Another one I am interested in seeing: 1970s Love of Life. YouTube has an episode of that, too. LOVE Meg and Tudi Wiggums. And Arlene!