I remember this. It was well laid out.

On 5/27/2023 at 10:19 PM, Jermsie said:

I had read once before that Harding Lemay was hired as a consultant for the 4 ABC serials.  His main gripe about The City was the fact that it didn't have families, like the general mother/children/father.  But I believe it did have families, but it was more of a "we are family" kinda creation.

Lemay's gripe was that all the characters were living in the same situation and that there was no real diversity in the living situation. Without a multigenerational element, he argued that an array of conflicts were being overlooked. I wouldn't say he was wrong. I don't get any sense of generational feel in terms of story or type of story. I acquired quite a bit of "The City" recently. Even in stuff where there are clear generations (the dueling paternity reveals of Zoe and Richard / the Roberts family secret) there is just something that is off. In the case of story number one, a lot of the adult story with Nick / Sydney / Lorraine / Jared feels secondary to Zoe and Richard's romance. It doesn't help that Joel Fabiani is so campy in the role that Jared is a non-entity. I also don't get any sense that the adults are experiencing stories differently from the younger characters. In the case of story number two, the parents are paper thin which is ashame because there is definitely mileage in that story if it wasn't being presented as if it was scripted for a mid-1990s talk show. 

The idea of a created family is interesting, but I don't think the show really invested in that concept enough.

On 5/31/2023 at 10:24 PM, Kane said:

I have mixed feelings about Brown & Esensten, but one of the positive things about their regime is that they actually wrote for and prioritized the black cast members. I won't be at all surprised if it turns out that Alimi Ballard had more episodes in 1995 than in 1993 and 1994 combined. Ewing, too, actually.

I will say, rewatching the reveal of Gwyn as the killer, the confrontation between Angie and Lorraine holds my interest as much as Gwyn's confession and certainly more than the cop shop scenes. 

@DRW50 Thanks for the foreshadowing video. My thoughts on the serial killer plot are pretty well known so I won't rehash that too much. I will say I am curious when the writing team knew they were going to go that route. Some of the material, in my opinion, is a stretch on foreshadowing. The Stacey/Buck/Tess material was so thin after Nixon left because she had made that story so plot heavy that Laurie McCarthy and Addie Walsh fumbled it because they had no clue where to take that group next especially when they dropped Janie. I don't think Tess worked with any writer other than Nixon. Her dealing tarot seems to be about as interesting as anything Tess had in the final half of 1994. Buck and Stacey talking about Deborah of all people shows how little material they have. I also think that Gwyn as a psychologist is odd, but her "I've been taking courses for a while" is even more so. 

Having watched a bit of "The City" recently I've noticed that Brown and Essensten are decent at pulling random threads together to build cohesion when it shouldn't be there. In early May 1996, Buck dates some random art gallery owner who is later revealed to be an FBI agent in the mob story with the Soleitos. I don;t think that was the intention when she was introduced. 

3 hours ago, dc11786 said:

 

@DRW50 Thanks for the foreshadowing video. My thoughts on the serial killer plot are pretty well known so I won't rehash that too much. I will say I am curious when the writing team knew they were going to go that route. Some of the material, in my opinion, is a stretch on foreshadowing. The Stacey/Buck/Tess material was so thin after Nixon left because she had made that story so plot heavy that Laurie McCarthy and Addie Walsh fumbled it because they had no clue where to take that group next especially when they dropped Janie. I don't think Tess worked with any writer other than Nixon. Her dealing tarot seems to be about as interesting as anything Tess had in the final half of 1994. Buck and Stacey talking about Deborah of all people shows how little material they have. I also think that Gwyn as a psychologist is odd, but her "I've been taking courses for a while" is even more so. 

For what its worth, the Loving Murders was announced as an upcoming storyline on Monday, June 12, 1995.

 

A short reel of some early Trisha and Trucker material that isn't in any of the available episodes.

 

Edited July 15, 20232 yr by DRW50

For PRIDE in my forum I did a rather good (if I do say so myself) write-up of the Azure C storyline on THE CITY, which was the first transgender storyline in a daytime soap. 

As early as 1976 Linda Gray played a trans woman in ALL THAT GLITTERS but that's a primetime satirical soap so we don't count that. 

Anyway, because of PRIDE both were fresh in my mind. 

Last week Jeffrey Carlson's death was announced. Awful that he was so young, just 48. But the headline touted his playing the first transgender character in a daytime soap, Zoe/Zarf on AMC. 

Good grief. 

@Donna L. Bridges

Because I was interested in your comments on Azure C., I went looking for your blog post. Are you also Matthew Turcotte? 

http://popcultureaddictlifeguide.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-city-secret-life-of-azure-c.html

https://shallotpeelblog.org/2023/06/29/blog-255-the-citys-transgender-story/

 

1 hour ago, dc11786 said:

@Donna L. Bridges

Because I was interested in your comments on Azure C., I went looking for your blog post. Are you also Matthew Turcotte? 

http://popcultureaddictlifeguide.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-city-secret-life-of-azure-c.html

https://shallotpeelblog.org/2023/06/29/blog-255-the-citys-transgender-story/

 

No. I have no idea who that is. Now I'm worried. Guess I'd better go see what he had to say about it. WOW. I think I'd better pull that. My story sounds too much like his story. YIKES. I've never read his story before. Thnks for the heads up. I'll just do a total rewrite of Azure C. Suddenly I feel sorry for people who've been accused of plagiarizing who say they are innocent!! 

Edited July 15, 20232 yr by Donna L. Bridges

You copied and pasted the blog. You reworded a few things, but you didn't take out the caption in your second paragraph referencing the picture included in the original blog about Tess wearing the tiara. 

I read a lot about it before I wrote it. I watched it live but I wanted to refresh my memory. Somebody else must have gone by his piece & I picked it up from them. 

No matter how many times I see it, the cliffhanger of Buck finding Stacey unresponsive on her bed is a nail-biter.

On 6/12/2023 at 5:44 PM, dc11786 said:

Lemay's gripe was that all the characters were living in the same situation and that there was no real diversity in the living situation. Without a multigenerational element, he argued that an array of conflicts were being overlooked. I wouldn't say he was wrong. I don't get any sense of generational feel in terms of story or type of story. I acquired quite a bit of "The City" recently. Even in stuff where there are clear generations (the dueling paternity reveals of Zoe and Richard / the Roberts family secret) there is just something that is off. In the case of story number one, a lot of the adult story with Nick / Sydney / Lorraine / Jared feels secondary to Zoe and Richard's romance. It doesn't help that Joel Fabiani is so campy in the role that Jared is a non-entity. I also don't get any sense that the adults are experiencing stories differently from the younger characters. In the case of story number two, the parents are paper thin which is ashame because there is definitely mileage in that story if it wasn't being presented as if it was scripted for a mid-1990s talk show. 

The idea of a created family is interesting, but I don't think the show really invested in that concept enough.

I will say, rewatching the reveal of Gwyn as the killer, the confrontation between Angie and Lorraine holds my interest as much as Gwyn's confession and certainly more than the cop shop scenes. 

@DRW50 Thanks for the foreshadowing video. My thoughts on the serial killer plot are pretty well known so I won't rehash that too much. I will say I am curious when the writing team knew they were going to go that route. Some of the material, in my opinion, is a stretch on foreshadowing. The Stacey/Buck/Tess material was so thin after Nixon left because she had made that story so plot heavy that Laurie McCarthy and Addie Walsh fumbled it because they had no clue where to take that group next especially when they dropped Janie. I don't think Tess worked with any writer other than Nixon. Her dealing tarot seems to be about as interesting as anything Tess had in the final half of 1994. Buck and Stacey talking about Deborah of all people shows how little material they have. I also think that Gwyn as a psychologist is odd, but her "I've been taking courses for a while" is even more so. 

Having watched a bit of "The City" recently I've noticed that Brown and Essensten are decent at pulling random threads together to build cohesion when it shouldn't be there. In early May 1996, Buck dates some random art gallery owner who is later revealed to be an FBI agent in the mob story with the Soleitos. I don;t think that was the intention when she was introduced. 

I'm curious as to what some of you think of this idea. Since the serial killer storyline was so successful and boosted the ratings, do you think Brown and Essensten may have been better off staying in Corinth and repopulating the show with new characters in addition to the ones they kept versus spinning them off into The City. I'm just wondering if they lost some momentum by starting a "new" show.

1 hour ago, 1974mdp said:

'm curious as to what some of you think of this idea. Since the serial killer storyline was so successful and boosted the ratings, do you think Brown and Essensten may have been better off staying in Corinth and repopulating the show with new characters in addition to the ones they kept versus spinning them off into The City. I'm just wondering if they lost some momentum by starting a "new" show.

I think you're onto something there. Of course it wasn't as if B&E had that option. Other people had made the decision to end LOVING & begin THE CITY. But there is such a history of network's being more afraid to start a new show than just about anything else. There is reason, though. US Daytime has produced 84 TV soaps. A whole lot of them failed with less than 6 yrs on the air. 

3 minutes ago, Donna L. Bridges said:

I think you're onto something there. Of course it wasn't as if B&E had that option. Other people had made the decision to end LOVING & begin THE CITY. But there is such a history of network's being more afraid to start a new show than just about anything else. There is reason, though. US Daytime has produced 84 TV soaps. A whole lot of them failed with less than 6 yrs on the air. 

I think it would have worked even bringing Morgan Fairchild's character to Corinth. She could have bought the Alden mansion!

1 hour ago, 1974mdp said:

I think it would have worked even bringing Morgan Fairchild's character to Corinth. She could have bought the Alden mansion!

They really screwed up in my opinion when they signed her only to a one-year contract. It was like they had to start all over for the second year.