Loving/The City Discussion Thread

[TheyStartedOnSoaps]

But you have to remember NBC was raiding talent from ABC - they got Brian Frons, they got Pat Falken Smith and her ENTIRE writing staff from General Hospital, they got Thaao Penghlis, they got Marcy Walker. That is what made ABC Executives nervous that Agnes Nixon would be next to be poached by NBC, if she didn't get what she wanted.  

Edited Sunday at 11:32 PM by TheyStartedOnSoaps

[DRW50]

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[dc11786]

I think shifting "Ryan's Hope" and "Loving" was foolsih, in the long run. There was no major bump for "Loving." RH had been stronger than it was when it moved in 1984, but it creatively rebounds in the mid-to-late 1980s in a way that "Loving" doesn't in the same period of time. 

I think all the daytime personalities behind the scenes are much more complex characters themselves than we often given them credit for with their insecurities and eccentricities. Patrick Mulcahey's "school marm" comment about Nixon seems to shed some light on that, as does the film Labine's grandchildren made about stealing the ashes of a late family pet. Could Nixon and Labine have been enemies? Possibly. 

In trying to add something new to the old why "Loving" failed debate, I will add network interference in the creative process. Nixon's soaps launched with a layer of provocative realism set in the very modern worlds. The "Loving" bible hints at that sort of edge with Merrill's romantic outlook, Mike's PTSD, Billy's impotency, the incest, and Lorna's social issue-less interracial marriage to Ron Turner's son. Most of this was either openly scuttled by the network (Merrill, the incest), most likely overruled (the impotency and interracial marriage), or watered down (the PTSD story). Mike's story was suppose to be relatively dark with Patrick's death during a campus drug raid that resulted in his heart attack with Mike blaming himself followed by a twisted sexual relationship with Rita Mae that led him to beating Rita Mae's younger lover Curtis, who Mike suspected was involved in the drug ring. If ABC Daytime was truly afraid of losing Nixon, maybe they should have given her a little more leeway. I'm curious if the rumored Ava is biracial story was more than just a myth. 

The only real provocative long story Nixon is able to get through is Shana's involvement with Jim, the priest. I don't think that was enough because Jim's family ties were so stripped down that the impact of him leaving the church is diluted. Maybe if they played up the Donovan family ties to Jim, it could have had a bit more meat. I don't think the Jonathan is demonic story worked as well as others did. 

@DRW50 I watched a bit of that episode before you mentioned the Ava / Sheri scenes. Those scenes did stand out, but I'm never 100% sure that Taggart understood that Ava was pregnant, miscarried, and then bought the baby. In 1993, Stacey brings up the baby story when Ava pretends she's pregnant to keep Leo from runnning off to Shana, and Stacey thinking Ava lied the whole time made sense given that Stacey hated Dinahlee for years for ALMOST sleeping with her husband. But Sheri knew the truth. I didn't watch it all, but I will probably go back at some point.