I caught most of the episodes during that time period.
Subsequently Bell or Alden (I forget which) revealed that Peggy's rape story was done for strategic ratings purposes. Chris's rape had occurred earlier, before the show really caught on & was near the middle or the lower end of the ratings. Bell had been pleased with the concept and wanted the rape story to play-out for a much larger audience. By the 1975-1976 season, the show was near the top of the ratings and was extremely popular among high school & college kids. He felt the time was right to re-tell the story.
When I was watching in 1976, I didn't find it especially "cruel" that lightning had struck twice in the Brooks family. I felt it was more of a continuation of Chris's storyline, giving her a chance to continue dealing with the trauma of her own rape.
Really enjoyed today's episode the whole way through. Having Drew and Nina as red carpet hosts was a brilliant move. You could really see Cameron Mathison channeling his own experiences as a TV host for shows like Entertainment Tonight, but putting a more sinister spin on the host's glib patter. And Cynthia Watros gave some amazing reaction shots during Drew's interactions with people like Carly, Joss, and Willow.
I also really liked the Alexis/Kristina scenes. I know a lot of us find Kristina exasperating, and she is, but Kate Mansi and Nancy Lee Grahn do a great job of portraying a very real dysfunctional mother/daughter dynamic.
The episode she got killed off in - which made Wendy a prime suspect in her murder (her car was spotted outside the house) and then Wendy mysteriously disappeared from town.
What Dan Curtis never seemed to understand -- and what Art Wallace knew from the get-go -- is that a slow, suspenseful build-up creates a far more satisfying episode than the constant "cliffhangers" that never amounted to much. ("I'm going to kiillll you, Julia!" before every commercial break, lol.)
The show is excellent in my opinion. There are a couple of less-than-stellar actors and a couple of bad storylines, but otherwise it's awesome and I watch many of the episodes twice. However, episode #55 from May 19 was really bad, which is where you popped into the thread, but it was the *first* really bad episode. So 54 great episodes out of a total of 55 episodes is pretty good, in my opinion! I haven't seen today (#56) yet, but I hear it's good. Will watch in a couple of hours.
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