Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[SFK]

I know! I thought to myself, Maybe this would be funny if I spoke Italian... or maybe not. What is most impressive to me is the love LOVING obviously got over there to even inspire such a parody.

That is too bad about Elizabeth, and I didn't know she had a chat show. Hadn't laid eyes on her since the original run. She is as feline as I remember and I'm thinking she would have made for one helluva vixenish Melinda opposite Robin Strasser in the 1990s, all that flaming red hair between them.

[DRW50]

The name of the show was The Image Workshop.

Her full quote was "It couldn't come at a better time. Nothing personal, ABC, but I'll be making three times as much doing my new show for three months than I made doing a year of LOVING."

She would have been great as Melinda! If only OLTL had actually cared about Melinda beyond bringing in ugh Kelly.

[SFK]

Ohhh, I think I have read about that show, didn't a lot of soap stars make appearances? When I read about it I was confused because I wasn't sure if it was an infomercial.

[DRW50]

I forgot to say that in re-reading the original interview I realized she did NOT say ABC resented her for having a talk show. I'm very sorry about that. I was just reading into the article.

I think the spin from ABC or spec on it anyway, was that they wanted Tudor back because they were taking Gwyn in a direction Tudor would be better at playing.

Edited July 11, 2011 by CarlD2

[SFK]

Do we know why Christine left to begin with?

[DRW50]

Quick Loving promo. Is that Tony with Stacey?

Perry Stephens was so gorgeous.

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[dc11786]

I believe the Italian clip at top is from the first daytime episode of Loving. The NYT review of ‘Loving’ mentions the Jack / Lily scene and the Roger / Merrill / Lorna scene.

Regarding the bizarre Italian clip, I initially thought it was a bloopers reel for some reason, but translating some of the titles it seems to be done as a joke. In the Soap Opera Encyclopedia, Waggett claimed Loving was very popular in Italy.

Yes, that is Tony with Stacey. That looks like Roya Megnot’s Ava with Jack at the beginning of the clip. Patty Lotz must have been out by early October.

[Paul Raven]

[DRW50]

That's a nice photo. Did they ever pair up on the show?

[shadow]

Thats Doug and Merril, they were a couple when the show premiered!

[DRW50]

Oh that's right. I always just associate her with Roger.

[DRW50]

1988 Loving ad at a few seconds after :27.

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[Paul Raven]

From SOD March 14th 1995

Loving scribes share their secrets

Loving's new headwriters,James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten, have journeyed to Corinth on a mission:"We're going to paint the barn and put on a show,"declare the ex Guiding Light scribes.

Brown and Esensten took control of Loving at a tough time. Robert Tyler (Trucker) recently exited, and Michael Weatherly (Cooper) will leave in March.Still, these writers are not discouraged."We are very optimistic,particularly about Darnell (Williams-Jacob)",confides Brown.

Do the new writers have any tricks up their sleeves? They reveal that Dinah Lee will be very involved in the lives of Buck and Stacey, and that Cooper's exit will be heroic. The writers,however,will keep the door open for Weatherly's return."We are hoping that he gets homesick and misses (real life girlfriend) Amelia Heinle",cracks Esensten.

The writers also plan to introduce a new,younger leading man. "He'll be unlike any other character you've seen on daytime",hints Brown.

It's hard not to feel optimistic when you hear the excitement in the voices of Brown and Esensten.They promise viewers that the new Loving will be a lot less plot driven,with more humor,surprises and romance."After all the show is called Loving",Brown adds."Let's not forget that".

[DRW50]

I wonder who the younger leading man was. Please tell me it wasn't Tony or Richard. Not exactly groundbreaking.

Did they do the story with Dinah Lee and Buck or was that curtailed by the revamp?

[dc11786]

I don't think much of this panned out.

Trucker learned Trisha was alive and went to see her. Offscreen, Trisha told Trucker she was enjoying her life as Crystal Hartman and didn't want to return. I believe Trucker left Christopher in Dinahlee's care and then he left town. Eventually, Dinahlee learned she was pregnant by Trucker, for the second time within in a year, and told Ava and Stacey. Stacey convinced Dinahlee to return to Trucker and tell him the truth. Dinahlee left town and Ava chewed Stacey out for convincing Dinahlee to leave. Dinahlee / Ava had been friends and Ava didn't like losing Dinahlee. Ava and Stacey actually made amends after years of fighting because all of their other friends had left town.

I can only speculate, but I wonder if Buck was going to help Dinahlee raise Stacey's baby. Buck had been the product of broken home, I believe his dad had maintained two families: one with his mother and another with Trucker/Rocky's mother. Gwyn had lost his baby in October 1993, then he learned he had a daughter in June 1994 only to lose her in September 1994. Most of Buck's story revolved around his father / his being a father so I could see where Buck might agree to raise Trucker's baby. I wonder if E & B planned to bring Trucker back into the story eventually. In the show's dying days (literally), Stacey and Curtis had a brief flirtation. I wonder if E & B had planned to use Curtis in the Buck / Stacey / Dinahlee story?

However, Amelia Heinle also got pregnant around this time. Maybe they scrapped the Dinahlee plot because they were going to have Steffi pregnant in pretty much a similar situation?

Why did Cooper leave? I thought he just went to Paris to run the European branch of AE? I didn't think it was heroic, but that he was looking to advance his career.

If the show hadn't been revamped, 1996 would have been a rought year. Neither Paul Anthony Stewart nor Ameila Heinle renewed their contract so all of the show's strong twenty something set was gone barring Ally. Wesley Addy would pass away. It would have been a very different show even if it hadn't moved to New York.