Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Definitely.

I knew they had some interaction, what with Trisha being Stacey's best friend, but I'd never seen them have a faceoff like this. 

James Horan is probably my favorite Clay, even if I'm not entirely sure why.

It's lovely and timeless. I don't think they ever should have changed it.

[Franko]

He's the one I always want to see more of.

[Khan]

I agree.  They shouldn't have changed it.  They could've spruced it up over the years, like how DAYS has spruced up theirs, but it should've remained just a hand opening the photo album to the title page.  When I tuned in one day to see that that was gone, my heart sank, because I knew that AMC never would be the same.

[DRW50]

At around 7 minutes there's a promo with some footage I've never seen (as we have so little of 1985). Is that Stacey getting into a fight with Ava?

Please register in order to view this content

 

[VelekaCarruthers]

The worst change was Edge of Night in the last 18 months when Nicholson approved the splash of computer generated pickup sticks and dropped the skyline and the "THE" from the title.  The worst choice of any soap for opening credits.   There was no reason to change the opening and closing other than dropping THE.  Horrid. 

[DRW50]

So, in South Africa at the time of the video (December 1991), Loving ran between Amen and The Wonder Years. What a lineup...

Please register in order to view this content

 

[DRW50]

Jim Muneco has put up three more episodes of The City.

Please register in order to view this content

This is the episode where Steffi and Tony have sex. Marlena de la Croix's comments at the time about how the whole thing was a turnoff made me remember the scenes as much more explicit than they were. 

It's still something I can't remember soaps doing very often from this point on (a man having sex with a woman who is heavily pregnant by another man). I'm not sure I ever have, actually.

Edited January 15 by DRW50

[DRW50]

Someone put up these very early Loving episodes in Italian. Not sure if they're already up elsewhere but posting anyway just in case they aren't. There's some nice location footage here.

Please register in order to view this content

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Personally I really liked the idea of their all living in the same building in Soho. But, a part of that reason was that it was different from most all of the rest of soapdom being in fictional locales. I also liked it that Ryan's Hope, basically, was in a real neighborhood in "the city". This is likely a Minority Rapport, which is fine as I already have a bunch of them. 

Oh, I feel like I should say, "Welcome back!" but I don't know you from Adam, so more authentically, "Hey, nice t' meet ya."

And, I think The City's 2 biggest problems were

1. that it was a half hour soap at or near lunchtime as the lead-off to the afternoon rather than being tucked between an hour soap lead show & the second hour soap 

2. Morgan Fairchild should've had a 2 year contract.

 

[chrisml]

Morgan Fairchild's character should have had a purpose from the beginning. They relied on her name alone, and as much as I do like her, I doubt many soap fans were tuning in just for her. They should have integrated her into the last months of Loving to get potential viewers to care. There should have been a mystery that started on Loving that went over to The City. Instead, they went the misogynistic let's rape her route which was so unnecessary. 

[EricMontreal22]

Ha thanks for the welcome, Contessa.  Funny to see that old post of mine (there are a lot of them if you dig far enough back...)

I think that really was the issue with Fairchild--she largely seemed to be there to be there.  That's why I took so much more to Tracy taking over--as soon as her character came on she had drive and moved up the momentum of all of the other stories.

I am sure I said this in one of my old posts, but for its last year or maybe 8 months, my ABC affiliate (I was living in Vancouver so watched on the Seattle one) was airing The City at 11:35 at night, and I felt like it played SOO much better as a late night soap (certainly it never worked as a *morning* soap which is where Loving/The City aired earlier.)  That was around the time that Fox still had plans for their Malone/Griffith/Gottlieb 13 Bourbon St late night soap, so I had high hopes for that project (before it was briefly retooled as a primetime series--which never happened anyway, but I digress.)

I was a high school junior at the time, and really looked forward to checking in with The City before going to bed.

[Contessa Donatella]

Please register in order to view this content

Fairchild has played so many pretty interesting characters, although the best part of many of them is their character name, but Sydney Chase was JUST set up as a sterotypical rich bit*ch except maybe for her position as a mother.

 

And, how many soaps have failed as morning soaps?!!! And how many half hour soaps have failed at or near lunch as the lead soap? And, we know how much better PC did when it ran for an hour one day tucked in instead of sticking out as the lead!

You haven't by any wild chance seen that pilot, have you?

Of course so much of it sorta showed up on AW when Malone was there for 6 months near the end. 

[EricMontreal22]

In the early 80s ABC owed Agnes Nixon a LOT--I believe she was still overall consultant for ABC daytime, but either way daytime, largely due to her work (of course not discounting GH.)  And yes, much to the understandable frustration of Ryan's Hope fans, they gave Loving its slot.  But regardless, I have no idea why they didn't just agree to her request to have Loving sandwiched between AMC and OLTL.  It just seemed like such a no brainer.

RIGHT the fertility statue or whatever on Another World.  I'm convinced too that when Malone and Griffith returned to OLTL they were cribbing from ideas for Bourbon Street--which is why unlike most of their first run, suddenly they took an extremely Gothic approach (the Baghara Diamond or whatever it was, Heart of Lion, the Lord secret mansion in the fog, etc, etc)  All that stuff felt kinda WTF and not what we were wanting from their return at the time, but in hindsight I kinda liked that they were trying different things and of course it was MUCH more interesting than what we then got from Dena Higley (which was either drawn out and boring or actually offensive.)

And no, I have never seen the infamous pilot that those who've seen love so much...  It's like the one piece of lost media I'd most like to see.

[Vee]

It was "Heart of a Lord"! And Lion's Heart Manor, Victor's evidently-secret pleasuredome, out in the Lenape forest with the omnipresent mystical fog that made Antonio hallucinate Arthurian-tinged visions of Keri and Jessica! I'll never let go. I think someone moved into or used Lion's Heart after the Santis but I can't recall who, I always wanted that ridiculous location brought back (much like I was convinced Gary Tomlin's beloved Llantano Mountain rock quarry was the ruins of Eterna).

Ironically it was only Ron Carlivati and his own completionist instinct that finally gave some sort of point to the aborted "Heart of a Lord" stuff with Todd and "Victor Sr." in early '03 - in 2011 he brought back the Lord signet ring "Victor" had given Howarth's Todd and left him obsessing over, and very belatedly revealed it had microfilm or something in it related to Irene's secret covert agency. Listen, whatever works.

Malone II was often insane and ridiculous but I agree it was never boring, which is why I remain so clear about the details even if it was often like watching a poet with a brain tumor live everyday. But I'll disagree with you about the gothic or fantasy elements being new - with so much of Malone and Griffith's first run going up online recently (including the key transition period in '91 finally being available, and all of '92) there is so much more mystic-themed stuff and fantasy eps than I realized, many of them I enjoy. (Even the diamond heist, etc. stuff on AW and Bourbon Street IIRC began with Alex Olanov vs. Tina and Cain in 1992, over some Egyptian jewels.) It's just that the production, tone, scripts and overall scripts were frankly much better in Malone's first run. Lord, we're so off-topic.

Edited January 31 by Vee

[Contessa Donatella]

She was the perfect person to be overall for Writing for ABCD!!!

I will never understand WHY neither ABC nor NBC ever did what CBS did with B&B!! And, yes, totally a no brainer. 

And, Bobby Reno became Shane Roberts & Lila Roberts was terrified of storms!!! From race car driver to doctor who used to fly planes. And, Lila could not push the Southern belle any harder.

 

I really want to see that pilot.