Jump to content

The Catlins


Recommended Posts

  • Members

The Catlins was an American prime-time soap opera on Superstation TBS that ran from April 1, 1983 to May 31, 1985. Created by Chris McIntyre, it focused on the lives of two wealthy and feuding families. The Catlin family, a wealthy family who had their hands in diverse businesses, headed by matriarch, Catherine Catlin (Mary Nell Santacroce) and the Quinn family, a somewhat evil banking family. The Quinn's daughter, Eleanor, was married into the Catlin family, which also led to some conflict. Her murder sparked off another mystery. The show was set in Atlanta, Georgia.

555 half hour episodes were produced.

Anyone ever watch this show? I have never even heard of it.

Youtube Videos- http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D01A4213DCFFE357

we love soaps has an article-

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2008/12/flashba...om-has-not.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 79
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

I've spent years looking for information on "The Catlins" with little to no success. There have been bits and pieces I've heard about, but nothing to really give a sense of the series.

The big thing that few entries really pick up on is the fact it was supported by Proctor and Gamble. Considered a conservative producer by most of the online audience, involving itself in a cable venture in the 1980s seems rather pioneering. I suspect P&G was hoping to recapture the audience who followed "Texas". When "Texas" was cancelled, NBC received the most letters it ever had over the cancellation of a program. P&G was probably hoping another Souther serial would grab the same audience.

Initially, the show was a local venture with Atlanta based actors playing most of the roles and the storylines being rather old fashioned. By the fall of 1983, P&G must have intervened as there were a number of soap actors brought in to play major roles. Charles Hill arrived in the fall to play Woody Thorpe while Julie Ridley (who was initially working on the production team) replaced an Atlanta actress as lawyer Maggie Catlin. Early storylines seem romantic in nature. Robert Goode was engaged to marry Jennifer Catlin, the heroine of the show, only to be murdered at the end of the first week. Jennifer was accused of the crime and stood trial for his murder. Someone mentioned once that Memphis Morgan, a waitress at a dive, had been involved with Robert and was also a suspect, but I don't believe she was the killer. Anyway, while Jennifer stood trial, her brothers Matt and Beau fought for the affections of newsreporter Lauren Woodward. While I never seen any resolution listed for this storyline, I know Beau became involved in a storyline with Jacki McCormack and Woody Thorpe so I suspect Lauren and Matt ended up together. Plus, neither character was listed in the July 17 1984 cast list for the episode on YouTube.

The Catlin/Quinn feud was downplayed as the series went on. The initial love story between Eleanor and Jonathan did result in a wedding and a pregnancy, but later on Eleanor was killed as a result of a fight between Jonathan and her brother. Jonathan stood trial, but was found innocent. Medger Quinn didn't let up and later entered a custody war over little Quinn Catlin when Jonahtan began seeing Fayrene Bishop, a single mom who had been abused by a man in her life. The Christmas episode on youtube shows Medger calling a truce with the Catlins by dropping the suit. Also, most of the members of the two families were written off by the fall of 1984. Eleanor was dead, Seth and Beau were in Argentina, Maggie in Washington, D.C., and Matt was long gone. I'm not even sure how long Cullen was going to stick around as his father seemed to have a mission for him in November 1984 which I suspected may have set him abroad.

Also, the show definitely became more youth focused as time went on. McIntyre was excited to write for older characters, but I read once that Pamela Burrell and Michael Forrest were a decade younger than the actors they replaced. I liked T.J. and Annabelle's story from the few episodes I've caught. Annabelle easily could have been waifish in comparison to thunderous matriarch Catherine (played by prominent Atlanta theatre actress M.N. Santacroce), but Burrell held her own and gave Annabelle a quiet confidence that I admired in her standoffs with her mother-in-law and her husband. At some point, it was revealed T.J. had slept with Valerie Kostapolis (or something along those lines) and later, when T.J. was spending time with Mrs. Crowe, Annabelle feared he was cheating again. They fought through Thanksgiving and Christmas. I thought the duo had enough to carry the storyline.

Towards the end, the show introduced another family: the Mahoneys. Jack was running for Congress and had ended a hostage situation which had involved several of the show's major characters (I suspect it was a sweeps storyline as everyone was talking about it at Thanksgiving). Stacy Manning, Cullen's reporter girlfriend, was moving into the Mahoney house and staying with them. Jack's daughter was Vanessa Crane, played by Lisby Larson. Vanessa was psychopath who had tried to kill her husband Peter Crane (Victor Bevine) with a knife. Peter was the doctor who was treating a blinded Jennifer Catlin when she got her sight back. Anyway, Vanessa arrived home freshly escaped from the mental hospital just in time for Peter and Jennifer (now played by Terri Vanderboesch, who died within the last few weeks) to become cozy. I suspect Vanessa was the main antagonist in this love story. Also, there seemed to be the suggestion that Jack was in fact Stacy Manning's father. There is one scene on youtube of the two alone in Vanessa's room looking at Stacy's locket and Stacy making some ominious comments once Jack has exited.

In the show's final months, I suspect the main storylines featured Vanessa trying to ruin Peter and Jennifer's blooming romance, T.J.'s attempts to salvage Catlin Enterprises (a shipping company) with Dirk's help, Dirk and Babe's growing attraction, Stacy's secret, T.J. and Annabelle's separation, Fayrene and Jonathan's romance, and any other plots the writers cooked up before the show went off the air.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • Members

Here is a pic of Dan Albright who played Dr. Matt Catlin. I also had the wonderful opportunity to meet him in person at "Festival In The Park" in Freedom Park in Charlotte, NC where I am from. We had a wonderful time reminiscing about the show. The funniest thing he said to his wife, "Hey I found our only viewer!" :lol: :lol: :lol: Hope you enjoy it. Hope all are well and as always, Take care!

Myles

5554815077_407a698759.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • Members

Did anyone watch the episode from 1983 which has ended up on youtube?

I know it plays like run of the mill soap opera, but I really enjoy the episode. When watching, I thought Dan Albright was a rather untraditional lead given his age and his looks. I know C.T. McIntyre said he wanted to focus on older characters in interviews and I didn't mind Albright. I though his ex-wife Crissy Catlin was delightful. Her snark with Lauren Woodland was delightful and I'm sort of disappointed the character was disposed of so quickly into the show's run. The whole set up there could have been played out for some time with Lauren / Crissy / Matt / Beau.

I was surprised that Jonathan and Eleanor weren't young lovers, but a comfortable married couple. I had assumed based on the family animosity that theirs was a new love, not an established relationship. I guess that allows some different dynamics to play out. Anyway, I hope more episodes manage to find their way online.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I finally watched the 1983 episode. Thanks again for letting us know, dc.

I enjoyed it. I wasn't too fond of the mustache-twirler (don't know his name) and his leaden "bad guy" lines at the hospital, but I liked Cissy bitching Eleanor out and poking her nose in. I'm surprised they got rid of her early on. What was her exit? She wasn't the best actress but played bitchy with gusto ("Ooh, pretty kitty has claws!").

Matt seemed a bit dull but he was OK.

I liked Jonathan and Eleanor. He was very flaming and he smiled through too many scenes but he was cute. I guess he didn't have any other major roles after this show. Why did they kill off Eleanor? I thought she was great, and they were a believable couple.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
  • Members

Thanks, saynotoursoap.

Several years back, another poster had the Christmas Eve episode. I think I enjoyed that one a bit more. Medger's Christmas Eve truce with the Catlin clan was rather poignant and Jenny and Peter seemed genuinely happy despite the looming threat of Vanessa. There was also some T.J. / Annabelle angst which I enjoyed.

I waver on "The Catlins." While I don't think it was ever the best that soap had to offer, I do find parts of it enjoyable especially in the era of action and adventure. Some of the family and domestic conflicts are well done, but I do find the segues into adventure a bit dull.

Some of the relationship stuff is sweet. While the Babe / Dirk stuff did nothing for me in this episode, I remember enjoying them together in the previous episode. Both were lonely for their own reasons and decided to spend the holiday together. I did like the T.J. / Dirk scene and Dirk's comments about being old maids. While I understood T.J.'s reaction to Dirk / Babe, I thought he was blowing things out of line since Maggie and Dirk had not only split, but Maggie had moved to Washington, D.C. T.J.'s line about Dirk being more of a son than some of his own was also rather depressing. With that said, I enjoyed Michael Forrest dealing with his broken marriage to Pamela Burrell's Annabelle than this shipping nonsense.

It's nice to know Stacey Manning is Senator Mahoney's daughter. I suspected as much, but I didn't get confirmaton. I get such a creepy

vibe from James Condon, who played Mahoney. Maybe it's because I remember him as the married doctor pal of Seneca's who flirted with Kim on "Ryan's Hope." Incidentally, the first time I saw Pamela Burrell was on "Ryan's Hope" as Seneca's doctor pal who helped him with baby Arley. Anyway, the Mahoneys seem to usurp the Quinn family in a sense by tying Stacey to Cullen, who comes off as b#tchy at times.

This was a lovely holiday treat. I do enjoy seeing episodes from this obscure soap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Looking at the credits for the show- the senior producer was Joe Rothenberger who was a producer of Another World in its heyday of the 70s, then was promoted by P&G to be executive producer of As the World Turns. There is a big gap between his tenure at ATWT and The Catlins. I wonder why P&G never hired him at another show during the gap?

Also, I wonder if The Catlins theme song was in the running to be a theme for another P&G soap as they had all received new themes within a year to 18 months of The Catlins debut. Did the other soaps go with another song, and P&G decided to use this theme for The Catlins? The theme is similar to the themes that AW and Texas were using at that time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy