Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

 

Thanks. I always forget about Staab. I guess this was just after she'd left GL (or did GL fire her). 

[Soaplovers]

All 3 actresses that played Cecelia are so different from one another..how did that affect the character and what role she played on the show?

[victoria foxton]

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 More Loving guys - November 10,1987 (partial) 

Edited January 31, 2020 by victoria foxton

[DRW50]

So glad to get to see that episode. Never thought I would. Great to see some of the larger family dynamics for Ava and also for the Aldens - that nice little "Clay" and Ann scene, for instance. That's the sister Ava tried to use when she was faking a pregnancy a few years before this, right? 

 

Quite a bachelor pad for Harry. I wonder if anybody got that set when he was written out. 

[victoria foxton]

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Loving Jan 5, 1990. Picture quality isn't great. Sound quality is good.

Edited February 3, 2020 by victoria foxton

[DRW50]

Thank you for finding this. Good episode. Love all the focus on such complex female characters like Ava, Gwyn and Egypt. The more poignant moment with Ava and Kate was a good balance. I could have done without the baby talking though...

 

Richard Steinmetz was a looker back then. 

 

@SFK you might enjoy this one as it has Minnie. 

 

@slick jones if it helps with your lists I think that's Ami Brabson as the nurse. 

Edited February 5, 2020 by DRW50

[Soaplovers]

Egypt in her first run seems like a good grey character,  unlike her second return when she was written as a bad guy with no motivation 

[DRW50]

I had downloaded these Loving episodes (some partial) from Youtube a few years ago. As I haven't seen them uploaded since (the channels were terminated) I decided to reupload them before I lose them. Can anyone help me with a more specific date? @dc11786 ?

 

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[slick jones]

 

 

Thanks @DRW50.   I'm updating the Loving cast/ adding some character info.

[DRW50]

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[dc11786]

@DRW50

 

The clips you've posted are from November 1992, September 1993, and October 1993. The clip from the September 1993 episode is a few episodes before the storm episode a few pages back. That episode is credited to Agnes Nixon so the Taggart & Guza / Nixon switch happened in September 1993. Interesting, years ago, I read an SOD article stating Taggart alone had left because of illness. I thought this meant she had a brief solo period as she did in 1991. I guess not. 

 

It's interesting seeing those November 1987 episodes when the show still took itself mostly serious. In recent years, I see why Ralph Ellis continued to get work as a headwriter. I think there are some interesting things going on in these episodes. I wish the Cece / Rick relationship lasted longer. The Alden family reacting to the wedding is nice. Harry seems much more interesting than I ever gave him credit for. 

 

I've started watching some fall 1993 episodes and its a little hard to get into. I know the later part of Nixon's run is very good, but this early material is a mixed bag. I've been watching stuff from when Thom Christopher first appears as Dante masquerading as Joe Young, a man living above the bowling ally. Part of the issue is I know what's going on so a lot of the mystery isn't as appealing as it must have been when it first aired. With that said, I appreciate that the clues make it pretty obvious what's going on. We see flashbacks of Tess and Dante's wedding so we know its Dante. We know that Dante's prisoner is Dinahlee's husband, which means that Curtis is coming back even if we only see his hands. I didn't really like Faison, and I don't really like Dante. They are both these sort of over the top villains which I don't really think work in Corinth.

 

With that said, the impact of Dante is powerful. Because he has been menacing the Aldens, Alex has been heading the police investigation which allows Ava to call him out for becoming too involved in the Alden clan, again. It's nice seeing Peluso playing the straight, emotionally restrained character to Randolph Mantooth's more emotional Alex. When Curtis does appear, in the form of original Christopher Marcantel, the story is a bit more interesting. Marcantel is the third actor in under a year to play Curtis, but it seems pretty clear he is the strongest of the three. With very little dialogue, he is able to tell a lot of Curtis' story. I don't think Johnson or Lord would have been able to do that. 

 

Charles and Angie's story isn't very interesting. Neither is Stacey and Buck's. While I like how Ava has evolved under Nixon, I don't like what she has done with Buck. Guza/Taggart wrote Buck as brooding and detached where as Nixon is playing him more of a yokel type who Trucker has to look after. Honestly, Buck could leave town and I wouldn't be upset, but, if he's staying, I'd rather have the original characterization. Nixon must like Catherine Hickland because she really has tried to integrate Tess into the plot more by pairing her up with Steffi in the modeling story. I cannot remember if Nixon paired Tess / Jeremy. I could see where that could be a story. Steffi has continued to be very strong under Nixon. It seems like this is the early stages of her eating disorder. Tess comments how skinny she is and Steffi devours a cupcake after learning Casey is going to go to Vermont for Thanksgiving. We are also back to Dinahlee the victim again as she falls for Dante's Joe Young shtick. 

 

Taggert / Guza started the story with baby Patti having developmental issues, but it was part of the bigger story (Leo agreeing to provide Shana with a child in exchange for Shana to loan Leo the money to bail out Burnell's). From what I've seen, Nixon has shifted the story to mostly Leo's fear of baby Patti and his inability to truly embrace who she (might) be. This is an interesting characterization, but it has narrowed the story. There is a rather intense moment at Thanksgiving when Leo and Shana arrive at Stacey's for Thanksgiving where Heather comments on baby Patti's eyes leading to Leo freaking out. I feel like this story would work better if it still was broader with Shana and Leo trying to balance their work/family life with Leo using work as an excuse not to deal with his feelings about Patti. 

 

There are a lot of little moments I enjoy. Steffi making cupcakes for Casey while talking to her mother on the phone. Curtis in the cage thinking of Dinahlee while Dinahlee is listening to their wedding song below in the bowling alley. Steffi and Tess visiting Jeremy about Steffi's modeling career and Jeremy reaction alluding to his break up with Ava. Ally and Cooper worrying about Tyler when he is kidnapped by Dante. Stacey talking to the kids and Buck about Jack's Christmas traditions. Clay blaming himself for Tyler's kidnapping. Dinahlee telling Trucker that he was "the one that got away." I just think the bigger storylines need some work.  

[DRW50]

Thanks! As always I appreciate your insights and info. I hope you enjoyed the '87/'88 episodes that popped up recently.

[Paul Raven]

Broadcast Week May 30th 1983

NEW YORK—Loving, ABC's first new daytime television drama in eight years, debuts as a two-hour Sunday Night Movie June 26. The weekday series enters its 11:30 a.m.-noon EDT slot the following day. This is the first time that ABC has launched a daytime serial in prime time. CBS took a similar route with Capitol, which debuted with a one-hour special following top-rated Dallas on Friday night last year.

 

Unlike its standard made-fors, however, ABC has shot the two-hour special on videotape instead of film. "The decision to shoot the pilot on tape was made in terms of utilizing the same sets for the future series," said Joe Stuart, producer. "But with the amount of lighting and special angles we wanted, we ended up shooting it like a film, and never really cut it the way a serial is cut." Emmy-winning veteran soap writer Agnes Nixon (All My Children, One Life to Live and others) and Douglas Marland are the show's head writers. Key characters are a television anchorwoman and a politically ambitious university president. Lloyd Bridges and Geraldine Page appear in the pilot. Future appearances in, the regular series are not ruled out.

 

"The show has a broad scope, dealing with all generations," Stuart said. "Loving is more of a philosophical description, including sexual and sensual loving but also the love of people for one another—father, mother, children, brother to brother and sister to sister."

 

The show has been on a tight schedule. Production began in January, and the special began taping in April. The movie was shot in 22 days, half in the studio and half on location in and around New York. It was then edited from 9 a.m. to midnight for 13 days straight. Shooting for the regular series begins this week. "It was a crash program to have the sets ready for April," Stuart said. "God at times was kind to us and at other times tested our mettle. Joe Stuart "During the last scene shot for the special, it was supposed to be summer. The two characters were dressed for summer, but it was 40 degrees. During one of the night scenes shot at 2 a.m., it started to snow. As much as you can do with electronic cameras, you cannot make it not snow." ABC rented a photographer's studio in Manhattan for a mass photo session for the show's cha racte rs.

[DRW50]

Thanks for the article.

 

These clips must be from summer 1988?

 

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[DRW50]

Another partial Loving episode has appeared. @safe this one has a bit of Ilene Kristen. 

 

Lisa Peluso does so much with that scene where Ava is getting ready for Alex to arrive. She truly was born for this role.

 

I miss Linda Cook.

 

I guess this is the recast Rick. I can't remember if I saw him before.

 

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