Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[NothinButAttitude]

 

[victoria foxton]

 

[NothinButAttitude]

I don't remember Leo. When did he pop up and marry Shana? Also, doesn't Shana leave the show soon too? Is there something wrong with their baby also? 

 

I didn't know that Thom Christopher was on Loving too. I am assuming that this is after his stint as Carlo on OLTL. 

 

I hope more clips of Loving keep popping up as it is one soap I'd like to watch from start to finish.

[DRW50]

 

@dc11786 posted a lot of detailed recaps about Christopher's character (Dante), but essentially he kidnapped one of the Curtises, held him in a dog cage, etc. 

 

Leo was only on from about 1993-1994. He was at Burnell's, the department store. I think Ava and Shana fought over him. He and Shana were written out in early 1994.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Yes! Now I remember people talking about Curtis being held in a dog cage. Didn't this lead to Curtis have a psychotic break later on? 

 

So was Leo a Burnell? Was there something wrong with his and Shana's baby? Did Susan Keith leave on her own or did the show just write her out?

[Vee]

I wish Susan Keith had done more stuff after Loving - I think she's still acting in local stage stuff and happily married to James Kiberd, who's had a big theater hit recently. Her performances that I've seen on the show are often very classically melodramatic (at least in the earlier eps, where the writing was regularly all over the place; here she seems very modern to '93 and this is the latest I've seen of Shana) but there's something so winning about her, that could easily turn on a dime from sweetness to something spooky. She would've made a good scheming Irene Manning on OLTL.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Vee

[DRW50]

 

Yes, Curtis had a breakdown, sped on by Jeremy's evil twin Gilbert. 

 

There was something wrong with the baby, yes. 

 

The show fired Susan Keith and the guy who played Leo. 

 

@Vee I agree I wish that Susan had done more. I don't know if you've ever seen any of her work as Cecile on AW but she really is terrific - she and Laura Malone and some of the vets pretty much carry the show by the end of 1980. If Ron C had ever seen any of that then I think he would have snapped her up for OLTL (I know she was on there briefly in the late '70s anyway).

 

As people have said, Loving really does seem very different from episode to episode.

Edited August 4, 2017 by DRW50

[John]

That was OG Curtis, Christopher Marcantel

[dc11786]

 

Leo Burnell was introduced under Haidee Granger in the summer of 1992. Addie Walsh had Ava working for a mysterious boss at Burnell's, which had (historically) been owned by the Alden clan. My personal speculation was the plan was to bring back Curtis Alden as the boss as Curtis had been Ava's ex-husband, which would have produced a lot of natural tension. Instead, the show went with Leo Burnell. Leo and Ava were involved for the second half of 1992, and, I believe, it was revealed that Leo was involved in some international drug dealing. The drug dealers were involved in the death of Ceara Hunter, Jeremy's wife. In early 1993, Shana Vochek, feeling lonely after the death of her husband and son several years earlier, decided she was going to have a baby via artificial insemination. Shana went looking for a donor and chose Leo. Before she was inseminated, Shana began communicating with Leo and there was a connection there, which infuriated Ava. Ava claimed she was pregnant by Leo so Leo stayed with her even though Shana was really pregnant with the child. The baby was born in August and was named after Trisha who had died several months earlier. At the time of birth, it was determined (I believe by the newly arrived Angie Hubbard) that Patti may have developmental delays. This is what is being discussed in the scenes in the clip above. Shana and Leo eventually married in June 1994 in Rome. It was in Rome that the duo ran into Jeff Hartman, who was hiding Trisha Alden from the rest of the world. Leo and Shana left shortly after the wedding. Shana and Leo were mentioned as being unable to attend Cabot and Isabelle's funeral in the final year.

 

Thom Christopher played Dante Partou, the presumed dead husband of Tess Wilder. Offscreen, Tess had been involved with Curtis Alden and Buck Huston, if not romantically, at least platonically. When Tess escaped the Middle East (I believe Kuwait specifically), it was with Curtis on Buck's plane. This is why Dante was targeting the Aldens and held Curtis hostage. There was push back because Dante was the only Middle Eastern character in daytime television and he was a villain. He was quickly written out in March 1994, but not before Dante paired up with Egypt Masters, who returned in January 1994. He did pop up to haunt Curtis later on.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Oh OK. I remember seeing episodes being post of Curtis having a breakdown and Dinah Lee sneaking to see Trucker during that time. I think you and I have had a convo where I told you that I remember bits and pieces of the show from watching with my paternal grandmother, who I sparingly saw, and she enjoying ABC soaps. I grew up strictly CBS as that's what my maternal side of the family watched, and I picked up on AW on my own about later '94early/'95-ish. 

 

Sucks that they wrote Shana off as she seemed like the tragic heroine on the show from what clips I've seen of her. But then again, it was better than having her be a victim of Gwen's 2 years later as Gwen killed off all the Alden then. 

 

But in all seriousness, I really hope more Loving episodes pop up. They are typically clips that I rush to watch as the show was the only one of the AMC soaps that had that homey feel to it like the P&G soaps. Is that just me? 

 

Thank you for this detailed backstory! Much appreciated. God I hope more Loving clips pop up!

[dc11786]

 

Curtis did suffer PTSD afterwards. This is what we saw in the May 1994 episodes at Burnell's department store. Curtis wasn't committed to the mental hospital until much later after he pretended Trisha was still alive in order to split Dinahlee and Trucker and fixed Buck's plane which crashed and killed Janie Sinclaire (Buck's long lost daughter).

 

There wasn't really a Burnell family. It was a rewrite. The Aldens owned Burnell's department store, but Haidee Granger created Leo Burnell as the mysterious owner.

 

Agnes Nixon wrote "Loving" with a very large cast. I think Leo and Shana were written out to trim down the canvas even though Cabot returned from the dead several weeks later. Shana's reaction to that would have been interesting. Also, Ava took control of Alden Enterprises shortly after Cabot's return so they could have played the Ava - Shana rivalry a bit more there as well.

[rlj]

I loved Shana/Leo, Burnells was going under and Shana offered Leo $$ help for his sperm and they fell in love

[NothinButAttitude]

 

[victoria foxton]

 

[Soaplovers]

I did like that evem though ava and Stacey stopped interacting fully in the last few years...there were occasional nods of history to their previous rivalry.  Once when Ava was faking being pregnant with Leo's baby...and Stacey mentioning that Ava hadn't changed a bit over the years...and after Stacey's murder where Ava expressed sadness at her death admitting to Angie that her and Stacey were never close and feeling guilt over the stunts she pulled.

 

Shane was an interesting character... she wad neither a heroine or a true villianess...she and Leo had a fun relationship...and boy did they have great couple spats.  It was a shame the show wrote them off..but at least she had her happy ending given what had happened to her late hubby and child years before.