Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[chrisml]

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[DRW50]

Thanks. 

Tyler definitely got some good material out of her exit, even if the stuff with Dinah Lee and Curtis was annoying due to how Curtis was treated.

You could argue that Beck's departure was the departure that most affected and reshaped a soap. If not the most, then she's high up on the list. 

[Soaplovers]

I would agree with that.

I have a feeling that had Beck not opted to leave the soap.. she and Trucker would have settled down as a newly married couple with her having a problem with Curtis dating Dinah Lee.. the woman that Trucker cheated on her with.

So Trucker/Trisha would have been married and having conflict because of Dinah Lee still having a place in the Alden family due to her dating Curtis.  Once Trisha was gone.. and Curtis was written out, the show focused on pairing Trucker/Dinah Lee as an end game couple.

I also think once Jessica Collins leaves in mid 1994, that also reshaped the show.. especially when her replacement didn't fare well and was written out within a few months.

[EricMontreal22]

I think this is a great observation.  I do wonder if some of that was down to how Nixon had started writing story and plot outlines.  By this point (maybe even by the mid 70s) many have discussed how she *didn't* write detailed story outlines anymore--the focus more was on a mood or theme and ABC simply allowed that because they trusted her at this stage (in her "memoir" I think even Megan McTavish talks about Nixon's writing in this way in the 90s and she basically seems to admit that it worked for Nixon.  But if Nixon wasn't in charge of the daily execution of these ideas...)

What was with the ABC soaps around that time bringing in Aussie "hunks" from Heartbreak High?  Richard (Corey Paige?) Tanner on AMC (Vince Poletto) OK not from Heartbreak High but didn't Ingo Rademacher start on GH around this same time?

[Franko]

And then to break the trend, Thorsten Kaye (German-British) on OLTL.

[DRW50]

Corey was the first. Then Ingo 5-6 months later. And then Vince was the last gasp. 

[EricMontreal22]

Right--I did think of that, as it was around the same few years.  Accents I guess...

[SoapCurios]

Hello to everybody!

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I'm writing a series of essays about the first time of a LGBT character in US soaps. I already have datas about Sharon Duvall in DAYS (1977) as first Bisex, Lynn Carson in AMC (1983) as first Lesbian, Hank Elliott on ATWT (1989) as first Gay (someone have or can find the episode in which Paul Ryan finds out about Hank and does not take it very well? I have seen Hank's coming out to Iva and when Hank gets a bullet to save Paul's life from the latter evil father and when he gets tested for HIV after finding out Charlie's diagnosis, but Soap Opera Digest recaps are too much concises...) and Billy Douglas on OLTL (1992) as first LGBT teen in both daytime and primetime TV (I have seen all the episodes on You Tube. BTW, what a great storyline, why it was ignored by the Emmys? Andrew Carpenter and Billy's father players are both really great in their roles! Oh, well, if OLTL was not nominated for Best Drama in 1994 with Marty's gang rape story which won four major awards and was spectacular, no surprise at all - sadly) and I have read something about Azure in The City (1996) as first Trans, but I'd like to see the episode where Bernado finds out and Azure confirms what is said in that newspaper to have something to quote. I like quoting, it gives the essays more depth. I already read the biweekly recaps from Soap Opera Digest on Tumblr and single episodes recaps on IMDB, but I'd like to have more to write about. And something more about critics and public opinions - I only knows that the storyline was rapidly axed because of bad writing and bad performance by Carlotta Chung, but I have nothing to quote.

 

PS Thank you @JAS0N47 for your incredible and rich site (and work on it). In particular for the Nielsen ratings on weekly basis lists since 1974 and for everything about Sharon Duval - specially for the script of the confession episode dated 23 May 1977! I'm not a DAYS viewers (I'm Italian, I live in Italy and on You Tube there is almost nothing if not short videos), but I've seen some clips of Marlena's first possession (Deidre Hall is terrific in it! Storyline is garbage, but it has its chilling moments and it is funny - I laugh everytime I remember Kristen say to Marlena "according to the book of demonology"! Was she an espert of demons or what!? ) and read on Soap Opera Central daily recaps about infamous Melaswen (brainwashed Marlena has a particular sense of humor - killing ex alcoholic Maggie with a bottle of wine and Alice with her donuts...), so I know something about the soap. Little, but better than nothing.