Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[Forever8]

As soon as I started watching it, I remember having seen the part with Dinah Lee getting the necklace from Curtis. 

[te.]

Found this summary of the December 29th, 1993 episode in rec.arts.alt.tv.soaps:

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.tv.soaps/c/2Gvsv4M8oSU/m/Je4S9WUeIpoJ

 

Fast-forwarded to the end and it seems like it's the Wednesday December 29th episode.

Edited August 10, 2024 by te.

[DRW50]

Thanks @te.

[DRW50]

For anyone who wasn't able to get the Archive version working, the same uploader put the episode on Youtube days ago. 

@Manny

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And a promo I had never seen.

 

[Manny]

Thank you so much! Nice to have a Youtube link!

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EDIT: While I forgot some characters completely, like Carrie and Dan, Ava (Roya M.) is exactly how I remember her! I remember her face like it was yesterday and seeing the video now confirms it

Edited August 11, 2024 by Manny

[DRW50]

It's hard to ever forget Roya.

[SoapDope]

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[DRW50]

Thanks so much @SoapDope ! I believe this is still one of the few sightings we have of Patty Lotz as Ava. 

@slick jones that seems to be Dan Frazer as Wayne. Is it? I don't see it listed in any of his credits.

Very good use of Jack - just stripping Perry Stephens down.

Normally Dane bores me a bit but his scene here with Shana had some fire for once. 

[slick jones]

I hadn't either, but I did have Wayne ???? on the cast list.  Another one found!

Wayne   (Edy's friend, an investigator)  Dan Frazer    9/1984

Edited August 16, 2024 by slick jones

[Forever8]

Thanks @SoapDope for scouting out the clip. I'm loving (no pun intended) the small uprising of clips/episodes from this era are making their way online. 

[DRW50]

If only ABC would have known we'd thrilled over a 4-minute clip 40 years after the episode aired. 

Edited August 16, 2024 by DRW50

[DRW50]

Another episode is up!

@Kane @dc11786 @Soapsuds @SFK @slick jones @Sapounopera @Manny @FrenchFan @Matt @Vee @SoapDope @Forever8 @te.  @NothinButAttitude @Contessa Donatella @Paul Raven @Maxim @Joseph @John @j swift

 

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[Sapounopera]

Thank you so much, I haven't seen these episodes since the time they were shown in Greece 35 years ago. 

Some thoughts:

- Roya is as dynamic as I remembered her. She was always great with Nada Rowland as Kate.

- I always liked Pamela Blar as Rita Mae.

- I found the Aldens rather... boring. They felt like a poor man's Carrington. Christine Tudor was great, Susan Keith was interesting and that is it. Way too many rich people. Dane seemed like a cartoon villain, always plotting.

- Steve and Trisha, a generic teen couple of that era.

- Tony and Stacey in the college setting, far more interesting. 

BTW was Loving was always a well produced show.

[DRW50]

It was a well-produced show. I notice the little details like Stacey's trashed house. 

(I also couldn't help noticing how many day players or short-term people had lines in this episode, along with real music playing at the party - oh those bigger budgeted days).

I do generally like Cabot and Isabelle, but I agree most of the Aldens, at least in the '80s, weren't that compelling. I don't think it helped that Ann and Jack were somewhat blah characters. (Trisha is too but she still works as an ingenue and a contrast to Gwyneth) Lorna and Curtis had more of a spark but they weren't as prominent. Gwyneth is carrying most of the load (and Christine Tudor is great in this episode wrestling with her desire for Dane and power vs her guilt and fondness for Cabot). It seems like the Aldens shifted into a more interesting place with the arrival of Clay/Alex.

I agree that there's something compelling seeing Stacey with the college crew - they aged her up too much after this. I haven't seen a lot of Rita Mae but she was one of the best parts of this episode. I liked seeing her struggle with her age and clothes compared to the rest of the girls. In later years when they would have Corinth characters who were meant to be, frankly, white trash, they tended to be more comedic (like Egypt or Norma).

Were the other girls with Stacey, Tony and Rita Mae around very often?

Roya is always fascinating to watch.

I love this dialogue between Ava and Kate because it boils down decades of the character outlines Agnes Nixon put on her soaps.

"No, Mama. I want it all."

"Baby, nobody gets it all." 

"I will."

 

[Sapounopera]

I don't remember these girls at all. I also didn't remember the people with Mike, at first I thought that the woman was a recast Noreen, or a love interest I had forgotten. 

Roya's Ava and Kate were everything for me. I watch soaps for characters like this.

Clay/Alex's arrival made things worse for me. I didn't care for the casting and Ava should have had years of story with Curtis, Jack and Stacey. They abandonded that group way too soon.