Bless her heart but Marj never remembered her lines. She wasn't the Alex that Long/McKinsey created but Marj had a few years of strong writing and Zazlow and others made it work.

Montreal all the way 

The first few years of Capitol dubbed in Italian are available on YT, as I'm sure many of you know. Thank God for technology, if you're so inclined to watch, add the auto English captions to follo along

On 3/17/2025 at 8:02 PM, dc11786 said:

Mike Poirer's article on Marlena Delacroix's site about Capitol's history

This jumped out at me in that article:

Quote

CBS executive Laurence Caso, recently admitted in an April 2024 interview with Alan Locher that he and fellow execs began soliciting a replacement for Capitol by mid-1985. It was during this same timeframe he was trying to bring Douglas Marland to As the World Turns to become head writer. Michael Brockman, the head of CBS daytime during this period, had previously greenlit Ryan’s Hope at ABC. Also, when he was at NBC, Brockman was one of the execs who oversaw Another World’s failed expansion to 90 minutes, He now had a chance to add another new soap to his resume. According to Claire Labine, in a December 21, 2009 q&a, with We Love Soaps, she had a proposal the network was interested in. “Michael Brockman was head of daytime at CBS.  He asked me to develop Celebration. Bill Bell had been reluctant to do another show at the time.  I was kind of used in a way, but it was alright because it was legitimate use.  Michael was very upfront about it.  He said, “I have to tell you, I’ve asked Bill to do a series and he has declined.  He may accept if we get down to the wall and I have something from you that I’m going to put on the air…  And indeed, Bill Bell decided, “Yes, maybe I will do another one,” and went ahead and did The Bold and The Beautiful.”

From the 1980s Ratings thread, One Life to Live rebounded in 1985 with Andrea Evans return, so that impacted Capitol. Remember Capitol was head-to-head with the second half of One Life to Live.

It's new to me that CBS used Claire Labine proposed soap as leverage for Bill Bell to create a second show.

I still believe that CBS wanted a second Bill Bell show to replace Search for Tomorrow in 1982 but with Y&R being in its post-expansion slump during the first half of 1982, Bill Bell had to fix Y&R first before he could even think about a second show.

Capitol purpose was to be a placeholder/time filler until Bill Bell was ready for a second show.

hey hey! The Pilot is On YouTube! 

 

3 hours ago, kalbir said:

It's new to me that CBS used Claire Labine proposed soap as leverage for Bill Bell to create a second show.

I still believe that CBS wanted a second Bill Bell show to replace Search for Tomorrow in 1982 but with Y&R being in its post-expansion slump during the first half of 1982, Bill Bell had to fix Y&R first before he could even think about a second show.

Capitol purpose was to be a placeholder/time filler until Bill Bell was ready for a second show.

IIRC, Michael Brockman also asked Paul Rauch to develop a new soap ("Grosse Pointe"?) with the same purpose: to get Bill Bell to create another show for the network.

I definitely agree that CBSD viewed CAPITOL as a placeholder for what eventually became B&B.  (Although, what would have happened had CAPITOL become a breakout hit is anybody's guess, lol).  But I also think there came a point when CBSD recognized that CAPITOL was finished and that they needed to light a fire under Bill Bell's ass immediately or else risk losing that half-hour to the affiliates.  Hence, Brockman's decision to reach out to Labine and Rauch (and maybe others). 

I give Brockman credit, though, for at least being honest with Labine about her chances of launching "Celebration" on the network.  Too often, you read about networks virtually promising the moon to creators, only for the creators to realize the networks never had any intention of getting their shows on the air.

Wonderful to see the pilot and first few episodes of this show. 

@Toups I never knew that James E. Reilly co-wrote the first two (and possibly more) daytime episodes!

Another note: Katharine Clarke (another listed writer) is KC Ligon, wife of Tom Ligon (Lucas Prentiss on Y&R)

 

Edited March 22Mar 22 by VelekaCarruthers

29 minutes ago, VelekaCarruthers said:

Wonderful to see the pilot and first few episodes of this show. 

@Toups I never knew that James E. Reilly co-wrote the first two (and possibly more) daytime episodes!

Another note: Katharine Clarke (another listed writer) is KC Ligon, wife of Tom Ligon (Lucas Prentiss on Y&R)

 

I have March 26, 1982 as the first episode.  But wikipedia lists March 29, 1982. 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Toups said:

 

I have March 26, 1982 as the first episode.  But wikipedia lists March 29, 1982. 

 

 

He wasn't listed in the pilot episode credits that aired on 3/26 but is listed under the Karpfs on 3/29 and 3/30 first two daytime episodes! Just realized when I looked at his IMDB page that he spent several months as a consultant to the Bell soaps before P&G installed him at GL. I wonder if CBS was grooming him for GL all along to replace Pam and had him tutor with the Bells?

7 minutes ago, VelekaCarruthers said:

He wasn't listed in the pilot episode credits that aired on 3/26 but is listed under the Karpfs on 3/29 and 3/30 first two daytime episodes! Just realized when I looked at his IMDB page that he spent several months as a consultant to the Bell soaps before P&G installed him at GL. I wonder if CBS was grooming him for GL all along to replace Pam and had him tutor with the Bells?

Yeah, I think that's a good speculation.  It's been so long since I looked at my Reilly archives, so there's a lot I'm forgetting.  LOL

On a television Interviews site

"I did CAPITOL as a favor to John Conboy." - James Lipton

On 2/24/2012 at 8:55 AM, DRW50 said:

More Brenda and Wally

 

 

Wonder why did Dawn Parrish was never picked up by another soap ?  She has a resemblance to Marj Dusay...and could easily have played Marj's daughter.

I'm enjoying all of the recent Capitol uploads. I watched the series as a kid when school was out on break, but kind of tuned out during the last year or so before B&B replaced it. It was sad Leslie Graves had her demons and was replaced as Brenda. Most of the original actors had been recast by that point.

 Marj was awesome as Myrna. I also loved Julie Adams as crazy Paula. 

Just some random thoughts.

The revolving door of writers and recasts really hurt the show. If Conboy hadn't pissed in Bill Bell's Cheerios early on, he may have lent a hand to Conboy. I wonder if Conboy ever tried to lure Bell writers over to the show like Kay Alden by offering them more money etc...? The show never really evolved in 5 years. 

The political storylines took a back seat after the first couple of years. Why set a soap in Washington D.C. and not play up that angle more ? Viewers were left to assume the McCandless were Democrat and the Clegg's Republican. 

The sets were beautiful. The Clegg mansion was probably one of the grandest sets on daytime at the time. with his shortcomings Conboy did know how to stage a show to look attractive. 

Catherine Hickland was a better Julie. Beck was too weepy in the role. David Mason Daniels was a wooden actor (like Kent McCord of Adam-12), but it somehow worked for the character of Tyler. I felt Witherspoon was all wrong as a recast.

Leslie Graves was great as the feisty little Brenda. The recasts were bad. I wonder if Teri Hatcher should have been cast as Brenda instead of Angelica?

I loved Marj as Myrna. She was an awesome recast after the death of Carolyn Jones. 

All of the back from the dead/missing storylines were too much. Baxter is back from the dead. Sam's first wife/Trey's mother is back blah blah blah. They also did the paternity switcheroo too much. Sam turned out to be the father of Kelly's son, Sam had an out of wedlock daughter, Matt is not really a McCandless blah blah blah.

They character assassinated Mark by making him a traitor/spy out of the blue. Ed Nelson quit in disgust, and they killed him off. What was the point of that?

If the show had went on into the 90's, they could have used some of the political scandals of the day in Capitol storylines. Trey denies an affair with an intern, but she saves a dress as evidence. Or to be less obvious they could have it be a bedspread she refuses to take to the cleaners. Maybe Myrna tries to break in to steal and dispose of it.