Having watched Palumbo's 1990 General Hospital in recent years has helped frame Rituals in a different context because there is a lot of repetition (as there is with so many headwriters given the output expectations of the genre). I still don't think the first six months is the most compelling narrative in the history of soap opera, but I think it would be interesting to see more of how the show developed over those initial months and all the stops and starts. I think there are some story twists that seem decent. For example, Patrick Chapin's death and the ensuing battle for heirs seems mildly intriguing. I believe the show was setting up Tom Gallagher as Sarah's son by Patrick Chapin early on before they went and revealed that Carter Robertson was Patrick's son. I think once they decided to kill off Eddie, and Patrick was already dead, the change in Tom's paternity wouldn't have had as much bite, though it probably was intended to play into the revelation that Mike was the father of Diandra's baby.
I'm much more interested in Raymond Goldstone's work (March until about June, 1985) when Jorn Winter seems to take a deeper role in the creative end and we end up with young rich bitch in training Julia Field falling for African American cop, Lucky Washington, Sarah Gallagher on trial for murdering her abusive husband Eddie to protect her daughter, Noel, C.J. Field's arrival in Wingfield to takeover Chapin Industries, the kidnapping of Mark Field by the white supremacist group the American Crusaders, and the introduction of Christina's former madam sister Lisa Thompson.
I also would be curious to see Stacey Anderson and Steve Burkow finishing off the show to see how to two relatively soap novices did at writing an off network show as they seemed to do a lot of social issue plots (or continued them) and plots that were just different for soap opera. I'd really be curious to see how they mingled the political drama involving C.J.'s campaign for governor with the ongoing business machinations involving the Chalon formula while also telling the romantic stories between Dakota / Mike while Lacey starts having an affair with Larry Burns, the father of her former foster daughter.
While it's understandable why there is more available of Palumbo's I can't help but wish there was more later in the run material.
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dc11786 ·
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