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A bible for a soap?


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Does anyone here remember when one of the members quite a while ago posted a link towards a site dedictaed to one soap opera where you could read the original show's bible? It wasn't one of the remaining soaps today on air, but I can't remember which one it was... Perhaps Capitol or something like that.

And I think that that original bible wasn't entirely produced.

A name would suffice, a link would be fantastic!

Let me know if any of this sounds familiar.

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Yeah, I read this a few years ago when Claudio put it up. It was SO different from what the show would become. Have you all read the updated bible?

I was very taken by the character Merle, who I envisioned as a younger Halle Berry, or now, the girl who plays Randi on AMC (looks wise, at least). That would have been a great story, and it would have helped to satisfy something that many Washingtonians took issue with... the lack of chocolate characters in Chocolate City.

It was also interesting to see how the Cleggs seemed to play a much more peripheral role. They weren't front and center with the McCandlesses. The girls in the townhouse were the stars here.

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Well I just DEVOURED that site. Never saw Capitol a day in my life. But it was fascinating to read the original bible and then go to see that several key players (Merle, and her entire storyline, the gay character whose name escapes me now) were just wiped out. It's kind of sad, because the original bible sounded VERY amazing, innovative, and psychological, for the genre and for its time. It could have definitely worked as a primetime show as well, I thought.

The characters were extremely well developed in that bible (and reading through they do give an overview of the challenges each character will face throughout the first year, or maybe several, as it was unclear, as well as how each character felt about the key people in their lives, from family members to love interests to friends.) You could definitely see that the McCandlesses were the center of this show, and the Cleggs were peripheral. They only really established Sam Sr. and Sam Jr. in the original bible! Not even a Myrna at all! The professor's last name changed to something a little more americanized, it seems like a few of the McCandless brothers' names were changed before the debut. It seemed like the bible was broken down for the worse because they eliminated anything to do with race relations, and homosexuality. So sad! It sounded like a GREAT political soap, and I'm very against politics as entertainment, but the original bible MADE me want to watch this so bad.

Besides, I'm a HUGE Constance Towers fan, Marj Dusay fan, and wasn't Carolyn Jones a guest star on the old 1960s Batman show?! LOVED her!

Thanks for posting this link, it was extremely educational.

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Yes, Carolyn played Marsha,Queen of Diamonds on Batman.

It is a fascinating read.

Wouldn't it be great to see the bibles/story projections of other soaps?

So much stuff is probably out there - apparently P&G have an archive and some other writers have donated to libraries.

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Yes, a former WoSTer talked about reading the Somerset bible at P&G in Cincinnati.

Reading that original bible, it's obvious that the whole daytime glamour soap a la Dallas/Dynasty spin was something that came later, probably out of the boardroom. But can you imagine a Conboy soap without the glam?? The Cleggs were certainly our Ewings/Carringtons.

Carolyn Jones was really interesting on Capitol. Her Myrna was a real broad, I mean, she had the wardrobe, the wealth, all of the trappings of an Alexis Colby, but unlike a Brit like Joan Collins or even her replacement Marj Dusay, Carolyn had a staccato energy, she was gritty and rough. She wasn't legato, smooth and polished like the other ladies I mentioned. She was like Jane Elliot's Tracy Quartermaine. You know what I mean? There's a rough and tough male energy below the feminine exterior, the kind of ladies who couldn't just ruin you socially, but could actually kick your ass too. I really enjoy watching that kind of contrast. And those wigs and furs!

I love the pic on Claudio's site where she looks like Madam, swimming in turquoise marabou with martini in hand, topped off with a turban. I should mention that Carolyn was going through chemo, so the turbans and wigs, though fabulous, sadly served a very real purpose. :(

scroll down for the pic: http://anzwers.org/free/capitol2002/Pages/story2.htm

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