Return To Peyton Place Discussion Thread

[Joseph]

Does anyone have videos of it???? I would love to see anything of it, as I loved a considerable part of the cast in other things

[vetsoapfan]

The show is not even circulating among private collectors, as far as I know (I started trading and collecting soap stuff in the late 1970s). If anyone, anywhere, has any videos of it, they are not sharing. 

[Joseph]

Now that's a shame what a pity imagine that an entire soap lost, I hope videos of it appear soon maybe it's a matter of searching do you believe I found an episode of A Flame in The Wind yesterday by coincidence???

[vetsoapfan]

Yes, episodes of A Flame in the Wind have been around and available for many years. Return to Peyton Place, not so much. Fans/collectors have hunted for RTPP for more than 40 years, to no avail so far. (A promo commercial for it was available on youtube a while ago, but I don't know if that is still uploaded. It was less than 30 seconds, anyway.)

Unfortunately, the entire collections of many past, favorite soaps have never been preserved or made available to the public, and are lost to us forever. We are actually lucky to have access to so many miscellaneous episodes of various shows on the internet. Before the advent of the web, we had to collect Betamax or VHS copies of vintage soaps through the mail, by trading with other fans. That could be quite expensive and disappointing. Sharing  stuff on-line is a godsend.

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[Joseph]

Dear lord I never saw this promo what a pity I searched for anything of this soap so many times and never found one single scene God I wish I found anything of it

[te.]

It's a bit odd that nothing has surfaced from it considering the popularity of Peyton Place - hell, you'd think the prime time special at least would've survived somewhere.

[Chris B]

Because of the connection to Peyton Place I do wonder if the show is buried in a vault somewhere. The problem is, nobody would take the time to look for it so it doesn’t matter if it is. 
 

I know UCLA has around 5 episodes of the show, but still nothing has popped up  I do find it wild not one episode of this show has ever popped up  

 

[vetsoapfan]

The promo for RTPP was inside a longer video with other material on it. A soap fan just stumbled across the RTPP clip by accident, as I recall.

 

If anything survived from the show, it would make sense that the primetime special they did would be it.

At least among private collectors, you hear about a few rare episodes of, say, Where the Heart Is, but even after 40+ years, nothing has ever turned up from RTPP. It's a pity. The show was weak at first, but by the end, it had improved dramatically (and the ratings were rising too), so seeing it get cancelled when it was on a roll was really frustrating. 

[danfling]

I disagree about Where the Heart Is   I thought that the storylines were better in the show's beginnings, and I terribly disliked the show as it progressed.    

 

One show that I would love to see is the daytime show The Nurses that aired on ABC.

[Joseph]

 

I believe vetsoapfan meant RTPP was weak at first not WTHI, as for The Nurses I believe there's a few episodes floating on YouTube but I'm not sure

[Paul Raven]

The only episodes of The Nurses on YouTube are the primetime series, not the daytime serial.

As both Return to Peyton Place and Best of Everything were 20th Century Fox productions, it is possible they are in the Fox vaults. RTPP was shown overseas so there were tapes floating around.

[danfling]

I guess that I misunderstood about Where the Heart Is.   The show began as a very traditional soap opera whose major family was very influential.   The initial cast was also great and filled by former performers from other soap operas.

The creators of Where the Heart Is were former writers (and one of them a one-time performer) from The Edge of Night, Lou Schofield and Margaret DePriest.

Return to Peyton Place could be said to be a poor show in its infancy.   The performers who played Constance, Rodney, Betty, and Mr Harrington were all eventually replaced.

[Joseph]

Do you know if the recasts were better than the originals????

[danfling]

The original cast included such greats as James Mitchell, Diana van der Vlis, Louise Shaffer, Bernard Kates, Bernard Barrow, David Bailey, Rex Robbins, Terry O'Connor, Stephen Joyce. and Bibi Osterwald.

 

I really do not remember Bernard Kates on this show, but I had not cared for him when he played Ben Scott on The Guiding Light.   I was thinking that his replacement was Ed Moore, I believe.   (I adored Mr. Moore when he was on Loving.)   However, IMDb has Charles Ciofi and Joseph Mascolo as replacements.

Delphi Herrington did replace Terry O'Connor.   I remember her on the show, and she was great!

 

Also, Rex Robbins was replaced, but I do not know who his replacement was.

[Joseph]

Are you talking about RTPP or WTHI???? I don't remember reading about Diana van derby Vlis in Peyton Place