Rituals

[dc11786]

Great find! Some of this material was up before. The previous upload included material from no earlier than May 1985 when the surrogate/tumor storyline was beginning to play out. This material appears to cover Mary Beth Evans’ entire run as Koty. but I did find the playlist and saw that there was also some unlisted material included. If this person was the one who uploaded it before, there may have been material I missed.

 

One of the most interesting things was seeing the station indent on some of the material. Is Channel 7 an Australian broadcaster? I recognize this from the “Generations” material that popped up a year or two ago. If this is the case, I’m curious if the original source material has complete episodes of the entire series. At one point, I had found someone on ioffer who claimed to have Kyle and Sam edits as well as complete episodes of “Generations.” If this is the same source, I wonder if they have the entire run of “Rituals” as well.

 

I’ve only watched a little bit, but the early stuff I believe is from November/December 1984 right when Mary Beth Evans first took over. TV Guide listed who would appear in the daily episodes. It’s around Thanksgiving that Mary Beth Evans name first appears. The surgery being successful and Brady proposing seems to be the end of the show from September 1985. I was hoping the person would have included/taped the ending narration where Christina said the fate of the different characters, including Koty.

 

In that material from the surgery, I see a resemblance between Mary Beth Evans and Allison Sweeney.

 

That 1984 material is a bit slow and creaky. I do think some of the material has the possibility to be interesting (Koty’s nude scenes and Jeff’s drug problem), but it isn’t really being delivered in the most exciting manner. I think this was when Gene Palumbo was still headwriter. This seems potential fresh in terms of content matter (Koty’s nude scenes and Jeff’s drug problem) but it’s still presented without much energy. I did really like Brady’s rationale for claiming the drugs were his. I wouldn’t matter a frank discussion about either issue. This all seems to be rehashing exposition rather than using the material to delve deeper into either character.

 

Koty’s ending is rather nice. She’s going to live, she’s keeping the baby, and she and Brady are going to live happily ever after. I believe all of this was originally filmed as a cliffhanger hoping for a reprieve and having something exciting to jump start a new season with (Sara's shooting). I would imagine had this happened, Koty and Brady’s relationship would eventually be threatened by a recast Mike Gallagher returning to town wanting to claim his child.

[DRW50]

Thanks @dc11786 as always for your detailed rundown. I didn't realize there were some new clips in here. I'll have to check those out. Hopefully someday the full Rituals run will appear.

[Soaplovers]

rituals seems well written..and it's a shame it only lasted a year 

[ApoluneEyes]

Glad to see that we're keeping RITUALS alive in 2020! I'm in touch with Philece Sampler who played Lacey on the series. Here's the deal:

 

Philece was one of the biggest names on daytime in 1983. She had a hugely successful run as the very bitchy, bitter, manipulative, troubled, angry, cunning, sexy Renee DuMonde DiMera Banning Marshall on Days Of Our Lives from 1981-1983. She was Stefano's first daughter and had a great love story with Tony, who at that time turned out not to be Stefano's son. She was killed off the series for ratings (and there was some backstage politics too - no one could be more popular than Deidre!). But in one of her final scenes on the series, "Renee" told off all of Salem at a party she threw at the DiMera mansion. It was riveting television!

 

Ken Corday, the producer of DAYS, loved Philece so when he was consulting and developing RITUALS he cast her and Barbara Crampton to play the female leads who were to have an adversarial relationship as they fought over the same man, a professor! She was to play Pris (Priscilla Lawson) and in the book, Pris discovers her lover is her biological father! Seems producers liked Philece playing bitches in incestuous relationships! 

 

The producers felt the pilot and story, true to Charlene's book, were too daytime. They wanted a more Dynasty-type series and shelved the pilot and re-wrote the series which is what we watched in syndication. 

 

The show was sold to syndicators with the promise of "big daytime names" which is why they kept Philece. Problem is, the character or Lacey was boring and whiny and shrill. Philece doesn't play sweet well, she plays bitchy and conniving to the hilt. That's what her fans (like me) knew of her and what we wanted. We wanted a reincarnated version of Renee DiMera. Instead, we got Lacey. Big mistake.

 

AW messed up with Philece when she was took over the role of Donna Love. Another bitchy snooty character she would have nailed, but instead they wrote her a victim and way too soft and she ended up alienating viewers and they brought back Anna Stuart. 

 

Sadly, Philece never worked again in daytime, but has a very successful career as voice-over artist. 

Here's a clip of Philece on the red carpet at the DAYS 50th event (2015) quoting her character's last line, "Renee DiMera is a survivor!" And then she gets murdered a short while later, haha. 

 

 

[Paul Raven]

Broadcasting Jan 84

It started 18 months ago as a 'radical idea which nobody in this country has ever tried." That idea -a first -run prime time serial drama, or soap opera -now appears to have come to fruition. Richard Robertson, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Telepictures Corp., announced that Rituals, its joint venture with Metromedia to produce a new serial drama for prime time and prime access, was now a firm go. Metromedia's decision to put Rituals in its prime time lineup for next fall has also "triggered commitments" from other stations, Robertson said, including stations in the Outlet, Gannett, Multimedia and Chronicle groups. Robertson said the station lineup at present represents 50% coverage of NTI households. Production costs are substantial: Start-up, development and first -year production expenses will exceed $14 million. Rituals will probably debut either Sept. 10 or Sopt. 17 "to get a jump on the networks," Robertson said. Dick Block, executive vice president of Metromedia, said that group's independent stations will probably air Rituals between 8 and 9 p.m. Metromedia's ABC affiliate in Boston, wcvB -N will air it at 4 p.m. following General Hospital. Historically, nightly serial dramas have not been successful on American television, but Robertson pointed out that Latin America, Australia and the U.K. all have nightly serials that dominate their time periods. And if Rituals proves successful, Robertson added, the program "could expand to an hour."

[NadineC]

I've bought it on eBay.

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This is an original vintage TV Network photo that was sent to network TV affiliate stations to promote "Rituals", and includes network press information either on the back of the photo or on a separate press information sheet.

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by NadineC

[NadineC]

Hello 

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My name's Nadine and I'm from France. I created a Facebook page about Tim Maier (Jeff Robertson Chapin) : https://www.facebook.com/TimMaierActor1962

Instagram page : https://www.instagram.com/tim.maier_actor/

His biography : https://en.everybodywiki.com/Tim_Maier?fbclid=IwAR338uwQSpZ7NB1DK7aSGUDVEaxvM-dGrFKoLUHMP8OvJBec2VE8XNSMLZM

Do you have any informations, photos, videos about him, please ? Do you know what happened to him ? I find nothing since his last movie in 1994.
Thank you for your help ! 

At the time of Rituals, I only have a video (Mary Beth Evans appearances on Youtube).

 

[

Edited December 1, 2021 by NadineC

[DRW50]

Welcome, @NadineC. If I find anything I'll let you know.

[NadineC]

Thank you very much.

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[NadineC]

I contacted TF1 two months ago. This French channel broadcasted "Rituals" from the February 13th 1989. I've received a response to my email that it was'nt possible to access on the 260 episodes (copyright). So, I've contacted Telepictures Productions (Warner Bros) but not reply yet.
 

Edited February 27, 2021 by NadineC

[NadineC]

I've bought online an old TV magazine edition 25-31 March 1989 (Télé Star n°651). There is a French article and a quiz about Rituals. 
Excluding weekends and public holidays, TF1 broadcasted two episodes per day of "Rituals" from February 13, 1989 to July or August 1989.
 

The ruthless stars of Rituals : 

 

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Every day, earn $1,500 or more by answering a question on "Rituals"

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2021 by NadineC

[DRW50]

Great stuff!

[j swift]

If Carter Robertson was the illegitimate son of Patrick Chapin, and Michelle Davenport was the illegitimate daughter of Patrick Chapin, then did they unknowingly have an incestuous affair and nobody mentioned it? 

 

I spent a very enjoyable afternoon reading the SOD synopsis on Tumblr.  https://classicritualssod.tumblr.com/

 

The experience reminded me why I originally loved SOD.  The synopses covered most of the story and I was able to get an adequate overview of the whole series.  I admired how many plots got told within one year in a 30 minute format.  Also, experiencing it by reading the cannon, I wasn't distracted by the multiple recasts and other production issues that plagued the legacy of the show. 

 

There were some dropped plots that were obviously due to changes in the head writers. Logan never had to judge Taylor's performance at the University (in fact, she barely worked at the Hadden Hall).  Diandra's motives shift from selfish covetous bitch to caring wife throughout her pregnancy and I falsely predicted that her baby's daddy was her prior Latin boyfriend because they kept saying she was further along than she thought.  The football team living in mansion never gets resolved. There was no follow up on Marissa's attempt to murder Carter by gas.  How did the Chapin's recover financially after being bailed out by CJ Field's marriage to Taylor?  Also, why did Mr. and Mrs. Chapin have such disparate wills without leaving any property to their surviving spouses? 

 

Tom Gallagher was like the Job of the show, from his girlfriend who committed suicide because she was raped by his father, to paralysis, radiation poisoning, and being mislead into raising his brother's son, that guy rarely experienced a moment of peace.   The male parts are so stereotypical for an 80's soap, any younger guy can go undercover as either a white supremacist or a latin revolutionary, and every older guy has inexplicable sex appeal.

 

I will never understand adult characters, like Carter, who change their last name when they find out that they are illegitimate; it takes a lot of work to change your name and it doesn't seem worth it (also, it was confusing when SOD suddenly calls him "Chapin" in the summaries).  Did his wife and son also change their last name?  Finally, SOD intermittently refers to Christina as "Chris" and Dakota as "Koty" which left me wondering if they went by both names on the show?

 

I recommend a reading, each week is two-pages, and it was a great distraction from world events. 10 out of 10

Edited January 14, 2021 by j swift

[gimmetoo]

IMO, casting was Rituals' biggest strength.  The vets were stellar - Monte Markham, Christine Jones, Kin Shriner, Philece Sampler, Andrea Moar, Peter Haskell, Dennis Patrick.  We owe Rituals for introducing us to so many new young actors who went on to great roles:  Mary Beth Evans, Kevin Blair (Spirtas), Jon Lindstrom, etc. And of course the stunt casting of George Lazenby, Patti Davis and Tina Louise certainly got press.  Sadly it didn't help ratings.

Edited January 18, 2021 by gimmetoo

[j swift]

Can anyone explain the final line?  "Each person's life is unique, but the rituals remain the same."  That makes no sense and it is demonstrably untrue. My rituals include a morning ice coffee and a banana. Was Christina suggesting that it somehow universal?  Why is a connection being made between individualism and rituals?  I get that they were referencing the title, but that is a clunky line. 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2021 by j swift