Breaking up couples is common, but that particular writer (Henry Slesar) had a habit of breaking up couples and NOT allowing them to eventually re-unite.  I think that some viewers become disinterested in their favorite couples and tune the soap opera out.  This may be good for the present storyline, but I don't think that it is good for the eventual outcome.

I think it depends on the couple and how well they are working. Slesar always brought "star couples", with great chemistry, back together, like Adam and Nicole Drake on EDGE. I was surprised that he broke up Laurie and Vic Lamont completely on that same show, however; a move which, if done often enough with couples the audience roots for, can indeed be frustrating for the audience,.

Yes, Cenedella was very lucky, both to have had Nixon as his boss originally, and then to have her longterm storyline to work with after she left. Who would not benefit from learning and working with one of the masters of the genre? Sadly, as time went on, Cenedella's own material, like Pat's being poisoned by her housekeeper and the tiresome winding down of the Wayne Addison murder mystery, were not as effective as Nixon's great stories. Cenedella may have impressed Nixon as a script writer, working off her ideas, however. Pat Falken Smith praised Margaret DePriest, upon turning over the reigns of DAYS to her, claiming DePriest was a fine writer with a solid background who would "do a very good job". She was proven wrong, too, alas.

Oh God, how mortifiyingly absurd...for the record, during HIS tenure as head writer, the show won TWO awards for its writing...AND Cenedella has at least one highly acclaimed novel to his credit.

So tell me, where is your evidence that Cendella wrote soley off of her ideas? LOL. Opinions are WORTHLESS when the person presenting them has no repect for the FACTS.

I have to say that I am constanly amazed at how often your opinions are NOT rooted in anything factual. You appear not to have the slightest knowledge of how these things work. Nixon RARELY wrote the scripts - she PLOTTED them. Cenedella was one among who wrote the scripts, dialogue and the subplots. Others included Kiki McCabe, Don Wallace, Ralph Ellis, Elspeth Eric, Frances Rickett, Kathy Callaway and Robert Newman

On top of which, when faced with facts (such as the one which PROVES the character Steve Frame on AW left the show on the SAME day that Mary Matthews died) you ignore them! Again, absurd.

Edited June 10, 201214 yr by toml1962

Oh God, how stupid...

Yet again, when faced with an opinion you disagree with, you degrade yourself by hurling personal insults. I cannot fathom what...issues drive you to such petulance, but acting out like this is simply not appropriate in these forums. I would respectfully ask you to calm down, and try to reign in your gratuitous aggression in the future. Thank you.

Oh God, how mortifiyingly absurd...for the record, during HIS tenure as head writer, the show won TWO awards for its writing...AND Cenedella has at least one highly acclaimed novel to his credit.

So tell me, where is your evidence that Cendella wrote soley off of her ideas? LOL.

I have to say that I am constanly amazed at how often your opinions are NOT rooted in anything factual. Despite all evidence to the contrary, you are ALWAYS right. LOL. Oh well, on with more important things...like paper chasing...

Of course, I never said Cenedella wrote solely off Nixon's ideas. In regards to the Mary Matthews death timeline, I have already and repeatedly corrected the problem. You just cannot let it go, for whatever reason. So in your rush to flame, again, you've gotten yourself confused...again. I cannot spend all my time reminding you that contrasting opinions or reviews are not "wrong" just because they contradict yours. This is a public forum where everyone's views are valid. I am sorry that you cannot control yourself enough to post and act like a rational adult, but for the sake of the board, I hope you make more of an attempt to do so in the future. Remember what I've explained to you multiple times before: this is not a battlefield where one has to "win" the war of opinions. If you disagree with someone, try saying so respectfully. If that is beyond you, simply move on. But your outbursts will not help your case or your credibility, I'm afraid.

Edited June 10, 201214 yr by vetsoapfan

Breaking up couples is common, but that particular writer (Henry Slesar) had a habit of breaking up couples and NOT allowing them to eventually re-unite.

But isn't that more-or-less reflective of real life? Frankly, I find it admirable that Slesar had the courage to split up couples without the emphatic promise of an eventual reunion. Otherwise, it lends itself to fostering a supercouple mentality and mystique on the part of certain viewers that, IMO, has hurt this genre immensely and irrevocably.

Cenedella was not "lucky," he happens to have been already on the show as one of her two assistant writers BEFORE the Steve-Rachel-Alice story began.

I would argue that Cenedella was fortunate to have inherited the show from AN since Nixon apparently left AW in good shape. He didn't have to resuscitate the show the way some HW's do when taking on a new show.

I would argue that Cenedella was fortunate to have inherited the show from AN since Nixon apparently left AW in good shape.  He didn't have to resuscitate the show the way some HW's do when taking on a new show.

Exactly. You get it. Working with a legend like Nixon, and taking over a stable show that she left in great shape, makes a writer's job much easier, and not everyone is as lucky as Cenedella to be in such a position. When Douglas Marland took over GH in the late 1970s, he inherited a total mess, but he was able to work miracles with the series, and turned it around. When Pat Falken Smith succeeded him, she commented in the press how lucky she was because Marland had worked his butt off for two years and left her a great, well-structured show. It's only logical to accept the fact that inheriting a stable show makes a writer's life easier than inheriting a mess.

Similarly, when Douglas Marland inherited GUIDING LIGHT (after leaving GH) from the Dobsons in 1980, he commented as well that his predecessors had left the show in terrific shape.

Similarly, when Douglas Marland inherited GUIDING LIGHT (after leaving GH) from the Dobsons in 1980, he commented as well that his predecessors had left the show in terrific shape.

Yes, I remember him saying that, and it was certainly true. Later, when Pat Falken Smith assumed the reigns of TGL from Marland, albeit for a very short time, HE had left the show in great shape for her, just like he had GH.

RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE EPISODE 96 AUGUST 14, 1972

CAST

CONSTANCE MACKENZIE CARSON

BETTY ANDERSON HARRINGTON

RODNEY HARRINGTON

STEVEN CORD

HANNAH CORD

MARTIN PEYTON

ELLIOT CARSON

CONSTANCE TELLS ELLIOT ABOUT HER VISIT WITH BENNY TATE. STEVEN AND HANNAH TALK AND PLAY CARDS AND STEVEN TELLS HER HE MIGHT RUN FOR D.A. BETTY AND ROD ARGUE OVER THE PEYTON INDUSTRIES AND BETTY PACKS HER SUITASE AND TELLS HIM WHEN HE COMES TO HIS SENSES SHE WILL LET HIM KNOW WHERE SHE IS AND LEAVES. WHEN STEVEN LEAVES THE MANSION HANNAH TURNS OUT THE LIGHTS AND GOES INTO THE DEN AND LOOKS AT THE PAINTING OF MARTIN PEYTON AND SAYS ' MARTIN WHAT WILL EVER HAPPEN TO THAT BOY" MARTIN PEYTON APPEARS BEHIND HER AND SAYS" I ALWAYS SAID HANNAH LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY".

Yes, Henry Slesar eventually reconciled Adam Drake and Nicole. However, a more interesting couple (Steve Gutherie and Deborah Saxon) were never reunited. Also, I believe (althought this could have been done by Lou Schofied and Margaret DePriest) that Slesar began the show when Adam was in a relationship with Roxanne Carey (played by actress Martha Gilphen). Someone told me that there was a hasty scene which ended that relationship, but I had missed it.

I think that everyone on earth would have been happy had Laurie Karr and her husband Vic Hastings reconcilled. I think that Liz Hillyer and Steve Prentiss should have returned to one another (again, that couple could have been seperated by Schofield and DePriest). I think that most pople waited for Tony Cooper and Jill Farmer on Somerset reunion.

Was Slesar responsible for breaking up Sam and Lahoma Lucas?

I have a question about the sets on Return to Peyton Place. Although I remember being impressed by the sets, I always wondered how they compared to the prime-time version of PP. For example -- Were the sets on the daytime show exacty the same set-designs used on the prime-time show? If not, were they at least similar? Or totally different set-designs? I'm thinking particularly of locations that were used heavily on both shows, such as Connie's house, Connie's bookstore, Ada's bar, and the Peyton mansion.

Yes, Henry Slesar eventually reconciled Adam Drake and Nicole. However, a more interesting couple (Steve Gutherie and Deborah Saxon) were never reunited. Also, I believe (althought this could have been done by Lou Schofied and Margaret DePriest) that Slesar began the show when Adam was in a relationship with Roxanne Carey (played by actress Martha Gilphen). Someone told me that there was a hasty scene which ended that relationship, but I had missed it.

I think that everyone on earth would have been happy had Laurie Karr and her husband Vic Hastings reconcilled. I think that Liz Hillyer and Steve Prentiss should have returned to one another (again, that couple could have been seperated by Schofield and DePriest). I think that most pople waited for Tony Cooper and Jill Farmer on Somerset reunion.

Was Slesar responsible for breaking up Sam and Lahoma Lucas?

I believe you mean Vic Lamont, danfling. Vic Hastings was a character on Another World. And, no,not everyone on earth wanted Laurie and Vic reunited. I did not. I never bought the Vic/Laurie relationship. It was very unusual in that their marriage was the very last thing that Emily Prager played. She left in December 1972. Laurie was not shown on camera again until Jeanne Ruskin took over in March 1973. The first thing her Laurie did was express discontent with her three month old marriage, Four months later she had an affair with Johnny Dallas. I never had time to even contemplate Vic and Laurie as a real married couple.

I have a question about the sets on Return to Peyton Place. Although I remember being impressed by the sets, I always wondered how they compared to the prime-time version of PP. For example -- Were the sets on the daytime show exacty the same set-designs used on the prime-time show? If not, were they at least similar? Or totally different set-designs? I'm thinking particularly of locations that were used heavily on both shows, such as Connie's house, Connie's bookstore, Ada's bar, and the Peyton mansion.

I've read that the Peyton mansion was the same set as the primetime series, but I'm not sure if the others were modeled after any of the original sets. Good question though! I also wonder if anybody knows if this show did much on location shooting?

BFORE02, I was wondering where you got that episode synopsis? Is there a chance you have that episode? I still dream daily about one day seeing this show lol. I'd settle for one full clip even.

According to newspaper reports at the time, the 20th Century Fox studios were not equipped to handle tape,so the sets have been copied,scaled to smaller dimensions and established in NBC's tape studios in Burbank.