Proposed Soaps Over The Years

[Paul Raven]

Apparently this pilot aired in January 1970 as a part of a Rowan and Martin tv special.

[jo.frank88]

This is only my opinion- but I sadly believe that Passions will be the last of our traditional soap genre to ever premiere.

[Paul Raven]

Hollywood Reporter Nov 13 2012

NBC is adapting Amanda Steven's novel 'The Graveyard Queen'.The drama is described as a high concept genre soap opera centering on a girl cursed at youth with the ability to see the dead. She works as a cemetery restore who, at great risk to her physical and mental well being, joins forces with a haunted homicide detective to solve a string of brutal murders in Charleston NC.

Not seeing much soap opera in this concept...

[Paul Raven]

Sponsor Magazine June 3 1964

Lever Bros. may not be the U .S. king of the soaps in the U.S.A., but it still likes to stay clear or the competition in network tv scheduling. Latest case point: its quest among the networks for a soap opera it can call all its own. (ABC-TV's The Ways of Love, now in process of preparation, may get the nod.) P&G and Colgate arc carefree about letting a competitor participate in the same daytirncr they're on, but not Lever. The Lever policy, and a firm one: we don't even want to alterna te with any company that sells the same line of products that we do.

[KMan101]

Sounds like any current procedural drama. Castle, Sleepy Hollow, Forever ... pair a kick-ass woman with a quirky eccentric dude and voila!

[Paul Raven]

1954

Television Programs of America proposes The Family Next Door,claimed to be first soap opera for syndication.

They were behind Lassie,Ellery Queen and other TV shows of that era.

[Paul Raven]

Agnes Nixon's proposed primetime soap 'Beggars and Choosers'announced for May 77 postponed till Spring of 78 according to newspaper report July 77.

[Paul Raven]

Sponsor Magazine August 1951

The bugaboos facing the daily production of a live TV soap opera are many : memory lags on the part of the cast: daily rehearsals; set problems all add up to mounting costs. One solution: filmed soap operas. First of the daytime TV serials to be produced on film in the East is Cinderella Story. Broduced by Biography Films, the serial has been optioned by NBC. The estimated cost comes to $11,000.00 for five 15 minute programs weekly. Curtis Mitchell, co-producer along with Blair Walliscr. says that by the use of standardization techniques invented for this series the weekly cost is comparable, to the cost of a live serial. A big advantage for advertisers: good prints rather than kinescopes can be distributed to markets which haven't been cleared live. Tie story line: Young Ohio school teacher wins a cover contest conducted by a famous New York magazine: comes to the big city. This lends itself to another cost-cutter: actual backgrounds will be used. Whenever necessary, the cast will he photographed against Radio City. Statue of Liberty, and other Manhattan sights. Shooting schedule calls for Biography Films to work 20 15 minute episodes ahead on the 35mm. black and white soaper.

Sponsor Magazine March 1952

Miami also is trying to get into the TV field on a major scale. Fred F. Frink, head of Ball TV Productions, reports that he has brought in Wall Street capital for the project and that Film Syndications, Inc., which has set up in partnership with David Christianson and Norman Bauch, specialists in distribution and merchandising, will handle the selling of the Ball-financed and produced films. Ball also reports that the first of these series is a soap opera, "Carrie Williams, Justice of the Peace," starring Margaret Lindsay, and produced by Addison Smith.

[slick jones]

From the Encyclopedia of Pilots 1937-2012 by Vincent Terrace:

The Shameful Secret of Hastings Corners (Comedy;NBC;Jan. 14, 1970)

Hastings Corners is a small town filled with shameful secrets. It is also home to 2 feuding families--the Honkers and the Fandangos. The proposal, a spoof of television soap operas, was to focus on the various residents of the town--each of whom fears their shameful secret will one day come to light and disgrace them. The regulars are:Ta-Ta Honker, head of the Honker family,and his children, Jenny, Charlotte and twins Corey and Morey. Pa Fandango, head of the Fandangos, and his offspring, Tina, Brett and Junior; Dr. Byron Dorman, the town psychiatrist; Frieda Bindel,the elderly woman whom the whole town fears(she holds many shameful secrets in her memory); and Stacey, her niece

Cast:

Ta Ta Honker: Larry D. Mann

Jenny Honker: Ann Willis

Charlotte Honker: Karen Black

Corey& Morey Honker: Hal Linden

Pa Fandango: Peter Brocco

Brett Fandango: Hoke Howell

Tina Fandango: Stefani Warren

Junior Fanango: Barry Williams

Dr. Byron Dorman: Alan Oppenheimer

Frieda Bindel: Madge Blake

Stacey Bindel: Robyn Millan

Producer: Harry Ackerman

Music:George Duning

[Paul Raven]

Thanks for the extra info. Some soap names among that cast.

[DRW50]

Thanks for all this, especially the early 50's material.

[Paul Raven]

Variety Sept 70

Titled, "Wanda's World," the serial concerning the lives of nextdoor black and white families was created by Caryl Ledner and Annette Welles. They will work with Harry Dolao, a "Julia" scripter, in prepping the show

[Paul Raven]

Another article on NBC's Hometown USA concept August 1952

A NEW TV programming concept -a morning block of four quarter - hour serials with a single setting, which officials said will give the sponsors a major saving -was described by NBC -TV last week. To house the programs, known as Hometown and slated to start this fall in the 10:30 -11:30 a.m. period, Monday through Friday, the network is constructing sets representing an entire village in its Brooklyn studios. This village will be the setting for all four of the serials, and some of the sup- porting characters will appear in all four stories. Present plans are to launch the series about October, the exact date dependent upon signing of "enough" sponsors. Authorities said present thinking is that the sale of two quarter -hours will be sufficient to get the series under way. Talent costs were estimated at less than $9,000 per quarter - hour. NBC -TV officials said an advertiser would have to spend almost $45,000 a week to use a setting comparable to Hometown for his own 15- minute daytime strip. Under the Hometown concept, they reported, this cost is cut as much as 80%. Sylvester L. Weaver Jr., NBC vice president in charge of radio and television, told a news confer- ence t'.:e programs would represent soap opera "on a more interesting level, and more informative," and said it was hoped the new pattern would stimulate writers to move into "new dimensions" which, while providing entertainment, would do more than entertain. With the action of all four plots taking place in a single town, he said, the effects of real -world events can be shown in the actions and reactions of the characters in the stories. He said the programs will have the quality of nighttime shows. Outlines of Hometown's four stories were presented in a kinescope with Dave Garroway as m.c. One centers around the life and problems of the town's prominent surgeon. Another features an elderly couple who run the grocery store. Heroine of the third is a lady personnel manager of a local plant, while the fourth is the story of a kindly old maid who is the confidante of most of the town characters.

[DRW50]

Suzanne Rogers mentioned this briefly in the DAYS 50th SOD issue. She said they heard "rumors," and that Wes Kenney fought against the idea.

[Paul Raven]

Also in the cast were Peter Barton (Scott Y&R) Barbara Rucker (Sandy ATWT,Ginny TX)Irene Mandrell and Giorgio Tozzi