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[Paul Raven]

I think Danfling means Andie  MacNeill played by Stacey Glick.

She was one of the revolving door of characters that came and went in the 80's.Each new producer/writer brought in new people.It was pretty much only Jo/Stu/Liza and Sunny that provided any continuity.

If only one of them had focused on the core maybe things would have been different.

You had Stu's family 

Daughter Janet (maybe recurring-recast if Millee Taggart didn't want to stay)

Janet's children Liza,Gary and Danny

Jo,her daughter Patti,Patti's kids Chris and Tracy could have been SORASED,Suzi her niece.

Ted Adamson and his daughters Sunny and Laine.

Various members of the Tourneur/Sentell clan.

That's agood core for a half  hour show with various other characters interacting with these.

[NothinButAttitude]

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[NothinButAttitude]

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[victoria foxton]

I've really been enjoying SFT. Even with the massive turnovers SFT was still enjoyable. When did SFT reach the point of no return?

[NothinButAttitude]

That's what I am wondering too. While the McClearly and Kendalls ate up the show the last 4 years, it's still good. From watching and reading recaps on the show around this time, I think the only thing wrong was Jo, Stephanie, & Stu being pushed to supporting characters instead of driving story.

[NothinButAttitude]

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[Khan]

"Is it good, because it's good?  Or is it good, because today's stuff is just so bad?"  That's what I keep asking myself, as I watch these SFT clips.

[DRW50]

 

The general idea I've seen is that the show had no real chance after the timeslot changes and nosedive in quality in 1981. It did last longer than I think most expected on NBC (wasn't it almost canceled in 1983?). From what I've heard here the first few years on NBC were a lot worse than the last few - I'm not sure though. I do wonder if it might have had a chance still if Frons hadn't been around. 

[dc11786]

 

As much as I enjoy the 1985 material, I can admit several things. (1) There is very little in terms of longterm storylines that impact the canvas for more than a few weeks in a meaningful way. (2) The tone changes drastically from very dark and ominious under Jeanne Glynn and Madeline David, to more light romance and family oriented under Mayer Avila and Braxton, to a slightly polished NBC cookie cutter NBC serial (couples, foreign locales, MTV-inspired montages, and our very Jo Tourneur doing her best Jessica Fletcher impersonation) under Tomlin. (3) Not having been presented these episodes in their proper manner (30-minutes, 5-days a week) I'm not sure if I would have been able to watch in that manner.

 

Other random comments...

 

- The material popping from early in Cagney and Suzi's marriage is probably the strongest work from Teri Eoff I've seen. I think the domestic conflict between Suzi and her new mother-in-law, Kate McCleary, is brilliantly done and Jo Henderson does a great job delivering some, at times, heavy handed material. I'm a particular fan of Suzi's attempts to hold her own with Kate. It's something I would expect to see on "Ryan's Hope," but not as polished. It works very well though given where Cagney and Suzi are in their story. Similarly, there's a great scene, newly uploaded, of a McCleary family dinner where Quinn has brought Sarah Whiting home for the first time. Sarah dreams of the day she, too, might be a McCleary bride. While the show is obviously heavy on the drama of Iarge Irish family, which isn't SEARCH's bread and butter, the scenes are too strong to criticize. There's a lot of beautiful character moments between the McClearys when Paul Avila Mayer is penning the show.

 

- I was glad the montage featuring "Every Breath You Take" popped up. It is a particularly inspired piece. Clearly influenced by the era, I think the most effective element is that it allows the characters to speak for themselves. There's something particularly haunting about Marcia McCabe's shots that embody the near tragic turns that Sunny's life has dealt with in the past few years. Mary Stuart and the boa shows Jo's vivaciousness in spite of the fact that she is no longer young and restless. My favorite shots though have to be Lisa Peluso as Wendy just loving the camera's attention. Isn't that what we would expect Wendy to do? Michelle Joyner manages to continue to maintain Sarah's awkwardness while also playing Sarah's attempt to put up this façade of a strong, confidant woman. Colleen DIon is lost among these women.

 

- The episode featuring said montage also featured some heavy dramatic moments between Chase and Estelle, which, unfortunately, are not included. Chase practically begs Estelle to the States with him, but she cannot. Robert Wilson was particularly strong in those episodes; both actors playing Chase Kendall were effective. Anyway, the San Marcos sequence was clearly inspired by MIAMI VICE with Chase as our own Don Johnson.

 

- Lisa Peluso has a rollercoaster of a year with some very interesting starts and stops. The end of the Warren storyline really set the stage for a powerful battle between Wendy and Suzi over Jonah. I would have liked to have seen that play out especially since the show was playing Wendy and Alec (which I never knew) and hinting at reuniting Stephanie and Lloyd. This could have lead to some very interesting dynamics. Who would Stephanie side with: her own daughter or the girl she has come to love as a daughter? And what about Lloyd? How would he feel about Wendy's attempts to keep Suzi from Jonah after what had happened between him and TR/Rebecca. The Alec / Wendy pairing was surprisingly refreshing, but I'm not sure how far that could have gone. Alec did want to be a doctor, correct? Wendy might have worked better in that circle rather than the television station. Later, Lisa does some much subtler work as Wendy under Mayer Avila/Braxton when Wendy admits to Suzi that she knows how deceptive Sarah has become, but that she doesn't know what to do because she fears losing Quinn. Some very nice, powerful scenes.

 

- I think the setup for Patti's return is effective even if Jacquie Schultz is way too young for the part. At least in those opening scenes, there is an attempt to dress Patti older, but it's a hard sell. Patti's reaction to the death is well done, and the break up with Len is downplayed, but establishes Patti's purpose. If they had a stronger medical core in place, I wonder if the show would have used Patti in that capacity. I really liked Geoff Pierson as Liza's OBGYN. Maybe they could have done something with that. I don't know. The Jo / Patti talk about Sarah though is well done and closes a chapter on an unfortunate run for a character with a lot of promise and some serious flaws. In the end, the show would be dead itself soon so Sarah's impact never really had the chance to resonate other than having Quinn linger most of 1986 outside of his relationship with super interesting Miss Evie Stone.

[NothinButAttitude]

 

Have you come to a conclusion yet, buddy?

 

From what I've seen, I've enjoyed. Yeah, it's excessive McClearly but it's still good. I'm just glad to see a family that was force fed on a show that weren't horrible or too righteous. All the McClearly boys have this boyish charm that I am drawn too. I like Adair and Kate too. 

 

As I've said in the past though, I do wonder if this family was supposed to be SFT's answer to Ryan's Hope. 

[NothinButAttitude]

Episodes/clips from 1986 are now being posted: 

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[SoapDope]

I appreciate all of the SFT material being uploaded, but get sick of seeing Matt Ashford eating up the show......LOL I noticed in the 86 opening credits most of the clips are of Matt and David Forsyth. 

[DRW50]

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[NothinButAttitude]

Wow. CBS wouldn't allow for them to announce their new network? It's the least they could do. No wonder why the show lost a fraction of its audience in the move. 

[DRW50]

 

To be honest I was surprised they even let fans know it was moving anywhere at all.