Sunset Beach Discussion Thread

[Ben]

Toups: By '98 they had fixed those issues though. Ricardo got a family, and Meg's parents became main-stayers; even Bette was granted a daughter. The pace was definitely slowed down, and the film effect was shelved after 6 months. I'd say the low ratings during the latter half of '99, was down to NBC moving its timeslot to make way for Passions. Grrr. A lot of the affiliates were airing it in the early hours of the morning.

Thanks for the interesting article, Sylph. I read in an interview that Aaron Spelling did for SOD, and he said the bible was around 300 pages. That still seems a lot, but it must have been very detailed.

There'll never be another show like BEACH. Not one that garnered the cult status that it did here. I don't think I've ever come across a show that's been so popular that the network releases a helpline number after the final episode, to console grieving fans. What a money making plan, huh?

[Cat]

The mystery to me will always be why SuBe didn't catch on in the US. And why (sorry, Passions fans) they got rid of SuBe *and* AW and kept Passions. I'm thinking timeslots and behind-the-scenes politics played a part. But it is amazing to think that, 10 years later, people are still talking about it, watching it on YouTube and DVDs of its early episodes are being released in Europe. That show had amazing reach.

[Ben]

I always thought it had something to do with ownership. I'm pretty sure I remember reading something about NBC wanting a soap they owned (hence Passions); Something which they didn't have with AW, and only partly with BEACH (they co-owned it). Their creative control was limited.

[Sylph]

I'd have to check this, but I'm pretty sure Bill Bell's original Y&R bible had 75 pages or so. And it covered a two-year period. Which makes this one even more monstrous - but I do have a passion for meticulously crafted story documents, even if the stories suck more often than not.

[Cat]

Also SuBe was an hour-long soap from the get-go with a fairly large cast of characters. Not only that, but it had a number of back-stories when it first started... Ben's Mr. Rochester-esque "dead" wife and the whole mystery there. The legendary Armando Deschanel and his descendants and their impact on a host of characters. Del Douglas. Annie's Poor Little Rich Girl background. I could go on. But I won't!

In contrast, Bill Bell was starting up a half-hour, slow-paced soap with far fewer characters and not as much back story.

[Sylph]

Bill Bell's bible outlined what his characters were doing before the Y&R story began. Only 1/3 of it, or less, was about future storylines.

[Cat]

Oh, OK. I never hung out with the master himself and so never glimpsed the bible. And I've only seen snippets of the early episodes, so...

[Sylph]

Are you close to California?

[Cat]

Hardly! Try the opposite side of the country. LOL, and I was being facetious about hanging out with the Big B. I was but a gleam in my father's eye when Y&R first went on-air.

[Sylph]

A shame - I could have told you where to read certain things.

[Cat]

^^ Do tell.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't see how this show could've lasted, first of all, NBC affiliates barely gave the show any clearance. In some markets, it aired as early as 3:00 AM in the morning, who the hell was up to watch then? I also think it didn't even air in some markets.

Also, on the quality side, the show was overwhelmingly inconsistent. Some times it was campy goodness, and other times it was just bad and tried too hard to be "different."

In all seriousness, Santa Barbara did what SuBe tried to do a million times better, but that's a whole other thread.

Edited June 16, 2008 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Toups]

But those are small families. I meant big soap opera tyle families. GH is like that right now with small group of families - not surprising since Guza is writing!

I think Jim Reilly had a hand with those changes (more family members, slower pace).

They didn't do well in any of the 3 years. They couldn't even pass their premiere week ratings, where as Passions beat their premiere week ratings in 18 months.

[TC]

It aired here (or with the closest NBC affiliate) at 10 am and again at 3 am. By then AW was airing at 11 am (but still at 2pm on the Canadian station). Days was the only NBC afternoon fixture. All the confidence in that article didn't materialize in this region, and was apparently even more diminished in some others.

By then the big promotions for all soaps seemed to be winding down, on all 3 networks. Certainly not as minimal as now, but to give you an example, it was a big deal that AW was promoted during Saturday Night Live. The CompuServe AW boards were in shock.

[Laurie]

Awww Sunset Beach! My 1st soap love! LOVED it. The scene where the cast is all together, towards the end of the series finale *sob*

Edited June 18, 2008 by Laurie