Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[soapfan770]

He was definitely sexy on Knots and enjoyed him on Loving, it’s a shame him as Ben Warren on GL just didn’t work out for at all.

[Khan]

 

Agree.

 

Who knows?  Perhaps, one of the remaining soaps could use him now?  Hell, he could even be another one of Brooke Logan's many, many, MANY conquests on B&B!

Edited April 15, 2020 by Khan

[OzFrog]

 

Oh wow, I had seen this clip before but it had never clicked that it was him. He looks like he hadn’t aged a bit between 1984 and 1995. Thanks heaps for reminding me of this!

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He played Ben Warren? When did this happen?

[Vee]

Since we've all done pretty well not mentioning the identity of the killer for first time viewers' sake, I suggest we consider spoiler-tagging it for awhile.

 

I will ask: Were there any interviews indicating when during taping the performer was told they were the culprit? I am watching them closely.

 

 

IIRC Brown came in and did a few days taping as Ben, but couldn't handle GL's schedule and quit. Hunt Block redid it all. James dePaiva (Max, OLTL) was Paul Rauch's first choice, who said no.

 

When were Brown's drug issues? I know he and the also-DILF Randolph Mantooth (Alex) were up for the Clint recast at OLTL in 2005-2006. Both would've been closer in attitude and manner to Clint Ritchie than Jerry verDorn, but I think JVD was the best choice for reworking and reinvigorating the character.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Vee

[OzFrog]

So there have been so many more vids uploaded today (part 41 is being uploaded as we speak). This is the kind of binge watching I love.

 

 

I’m curious myself actually...

 

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[John]

There was an article speculating that the person who was the killer could be the killer. Maybe SOW or ABC SID but the Mag was released after the Killer was revealed on LOVING

Edited April 15, 2020 by John

[Vee]

No, the killer never won an Emmy AFAIK.

 

Can someone remind me who Danny was and how he came to town? I was surprised to discover in #1 that Tony was introduced via Tess.

[dc11786]

Danny Roberts shows up late in 1994. He was Casey's drug dealer. This is why everyone has an issue with Danny. After Casey and Ally married, they bought a home that Casey was trying to support on just his income as a photographer. At this stage, Ally had made the decision to be a full time mom. In the fall, Casey started becoming fearful that he was going to end up like his father Giff, who I believe they diagnosed as bipolar. Casey saw a therapist for a hot minute, but flipped out when the individual tried to diagnose him. As the pressure mounted, the bills, the fear of being his father, not being able to spend time with his family, Casey started using drugs to cope (cocaine, I think). At this point, Danny Roberts arrives. 

 

My last episodes are from January 1995. Danny is pushing Casey to purchase more of his product. At this point, Ally and Coop are aware of the issue. Casey left a bag of coke in his camera bag and Tyler found it. Nothing serious happened, but Coop wanted Tyler out of the household. At the same time, Steffi and Coop are together and her eating disorder has reemerged. She also may have resorted to using drugs with Casey. I'd have to look over them again. 

 

Anyway, between the winter and the spring, Casey was caught purchasing drugs or something that led him to become involved with the police department. The Corinth PD was looking to take down a drug ring. Lisa Brown was brought in to play a federal agent as a part of the story. I think they were trying to take down Danny's supplier, who turned out to be Graham, a member of the police department. I believe he was commissioner. During the climax of the drug storyline, Casey was shot and killed. Paul Anthony Stewart's contract was up. I believe he, like Michael Weatherly several months before, chose not to renew his contract. 

 

Graham's capture is some of the shading to the Corinth murders investigation. Because the chief of police was a drug dealer, Charles is being very by the book. 

[Vee]

Thanks. How did they 'redeem' Danny or mitigate the story?

[DRW50]

 

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[victoria foxton]

I'm only up to episode 21. JJ's mourning his mom is heartbreaking.  Lorraine was a great character. Richard was so pushy and annoying. I forgot he liked Steffi. This murder mystery reminds me of the awesome mysteries Henry Slesar did on EON. It's all so suspenseful and well planned out.

[dc11786]

 

Marland penned an incest story for "A New Day in Eden" around the same time. Emmett Clayborne was an attorney or the Lewises, the central rich family in the story. He had a daughter, Cynthia, who was a nursing student played by Britt Hefler, who would incidentally later play Lilly Slater during her late 1980s return. I don't know how long they played the Cynthia / Emmett relationship, but right before Emmett left town it was implied he had taken Cynthia, who was in her bathrobe, into a room and raped her. Around the same time, Logan Clayborne, Emmett's son, arrived in Eden looking to find out why Emmett had run their mother out of Eden years ago. Logan was also curious about what had led to Emmett keeping Cynthia and his mother taking Logan. Logan's investigation led him to his father's study in the final episode. Before Logan could determine anything there was a gun shot. The storyline was never resolved. Never specifically shown, it would appear that Emmett had returned to town and shot his son. As the show wasn't renewed, the storyline wasn't resolved as far as I know. 

 

I imagine that Logan's shooting, possible death, would have played out as Garth's murder trial would have with the revelation. Someone would have been accused of shooting Logan with Emmett being the actual shooter and Cynthia being forced to testify in court what her father had been doing to her. I wouldn't be surprised if Marland left projections with something similar for Phillip. 

 

Nixon replayed some of the Donovan story elements from 1983 in 1994 return. Angie is exposed to HIV which is an obstacle in her relationship with Charles. I wonder if there was something similar planned with Noreen and Mike. Curtis suffered from post traumatic stress like Mike did. 

 

I think the show eventually turned Trisha into the heart of the show. Of course, she doesn't arrive until December 1984. When Trisha leaves, the show doesn't really have that sort of central couple from what I gather. Had Michael Weatherly stayed, I imagine it would have been Coop and Steffy. The Casey / Ally / Cooper / Steffy quad had potential to play out for a long time if the show had continued and people hadn't left. 

 

Kate Rescott was positioned into the moral compass position down the line. After Louie dies, Dinahlee asks her to come work at Pins, which gives her a location to spout advice to everyone. She definitely becomes a go-to for Dinahlee and Curtis for a bit and is always advising Ava, Ally, and the men in their lives. 

 

I haven't seen much of Roya Megnot as Ava. She seems really competent and fun. Her Ava also seems very different from Peluso's Ava, who seems to change with whoever is writing her at the moment. Peluso seems to play whatever she is given. Nixon seems to position Ava as a more mature romantic lead than she had been in the last few years. Nixon's Egypt is much more over the top until the last few episodes of Linda Cook's 1994 run. 

[DRW50]

 

dc will have more detail, but I think Danny saved Tyler when he was stuck somewhere. Ally then set Danny up on false rape charges, but changed her mind. 

 

I feel like B&E wanted to pair Ally and Danny as a couple, as this was teased on both shows, and if The City had run longer there was a clear Tony/Ally/Carla/Danny quad in full swing, but they likely faced negative audience reaction. 

 

If memory serves Danny was supposed to be a short term sleaze, but Ted King was so charismatic that the show decided to keep him around. 

 

This is one of the main stories going on when I started watching Loving. Laura Wright had a real edge to her work that made what could have been a very generic long-suffering heroine role seem more real. It's the same she'd end up doing on GL for years, successfully, until she started to become a little too cold in her last years there. 

Seeing these again reminds me of how I first got into Loving in the midst of the murder mystery story, after reading about it in my first soap magazines. Pretty much everything interested me, but more than anything I was hooked on Ava - Lisa Peluso was just fabulous and had so much screen presence. She was the type of character I was not getting on my old CBS soaps by this point. The soap magazines at the time panned Ava's writing and exit - they said she never would have been so weak or afraid - but I think Peluso plays it believably. 

[Vee]

I've loved Lisa Lo Cicero since first watching in this era, when she had the bright red hair and I think she still has a lot of charm including with Randy Mantooth. But Peluso is very, very good, esp with Mantooth, so it's hard for even LLC to compete. I was not overly fond of what little I saw of her popular AW role (Lila), in which Michael Malone partly refurbished Luna Moody from OLTL. I'd forgotten they allegedly tried to woo her to GL to play Amanda Spaulding.

 

LLC has always kept a sense of humor about her career - I remember her cracking up about her terrible Santi storyline on OLTL (also Michael Malone) early and often since.

 

IIRC, Laura Wright got her start before soaps pumping gas back in my home state, Maryland. It's always shown, even now. She's got grit.

[DRW50]

 

I think Bree just leaves with Charles and Lorraine. I can't remember. Maggie Rush is someone else who was far more luminous than the show likely had in mind. I really thought she and Charles were wonderful together so a part of me was slightly sad to know they broke up, but hearing she was on The City is one of the reasons I tuned in to their final months. 

 

I think they must have hoped Heinle would re-sign or come back after maternity leave but it was probably just a hook to try to keep the young and sexy 20somethings moving to the big city element going.

 

My main memory of her on there was that they filmed a sex scene with Tony and a heavily pregnant Steffi, likely intended to be hip and edgy. Marlena de la Croix wrote in one of her columns that the whole thing was a big grossout, which made me laugh.