Proposed Soaps Over The Years

[soapfan770]

The Young Loves of General Hospital planned spin-off reminds me of another one. For a replacement for The City a GH spin-off for Ned and Lois was proposed. However ABC went with Port Charles instead.

I had forgotten about JER's spin-off idea back in 2004 during the serial killer story. If I recall right he originally wanted to reveal that Stefano and witchcraft were behind the killings.

[CSF]

IIRC CASINO was proposed to ABC. I'm not sure if ABC/CapCities sought out Conboy or if Conboy proposed the soap to ABC to replace the failing Ryan's Hope. Either way, it's too bad it never materialized. I bet it would have been the most glamorous looking soap ever on ABC.

[SFK]

Yes indeed. And apparently John Conboy has had this one cooking for YEARS. I mentioned this a few months ago, but on CAPITOL he had a lot of the action taking place in an Atlantic City casino for a while. Plus he cast showgirl Lola Falana as Charity Blake, and Liberace was a friend of his. So he definitely has an affection for the glitz and glam of Vegas.

soapfan770, that was Claire Labine's HEART AND SOUL that I mentioned above. At the time, I really hoped it would be H&S, not hospital-centered PORT CHARLES that would win the spinoff race. H&S was set in Brooklyn, and Ned would have had to put up with Lois's family after years of it being the other way around.

[CSF]

Didn't Claire Labine have another proposed soap called UNION PLACE OR UNION SQUARE that was initially proposed to NBC then she retooled it as HEART AND SOUL for ABCD?

[UKBoi]

Was there not another soap proposed for NBC shortly after Passions that would kind of be like a Dark Shadows update? I think it was called Thunder Cove or something? I remember reading that Lesley Anne Down was attached and that it would be a kind of sister show to Passions?

[aMLCproduction]

Union Sqaure was a soap created forNBC right around the time Sunset Beach won out to beat Unions Sqaure.

I do remeber some type of spin of from Passions with the name Cove in it

[Chris B]

It's not uncommon for a sitcom to take an episode and do a backdoor pilot, but for a primetime soap it worked a little different. Unfortunately, Knots built the storyline up for several episodes, even giving it a cliffhanger (leading to the proposed summer series) and when it didn't happen they had to tie it all up on the main show. It was a terrible, terrible idea for a spinoff. First of all, Peter Reckell's character was a disaster and Knots needed Paige too much to spin her off.

[SFK]

You know, a gritty NY-based Claire Labine soap would always win out in my book. Of course we'll never know for sure, but I think Lois, Ned, and most likely Tracy headlining H&S would have been so much more enjoyable than PORT CHARLES.

Do you think RYAN'S HOPE's ratings history is what scared them off about another Labine 30 minute sudser?

[Marco Dane]

Was there any talks for a One Life To Live or All My Children Spin-off

[rcsnj]

Some others I can recall:

Mary Worth-NBC early 1970s

Daytime soap version of long-running comic strip; starring Nancy Wickwire

Aaron's World-CBS late 1970s

Soap opera about a doctor

Lifeguards-ABC 1983

Soap opera about California lifeguards; created by the guy who created prime-time's CHiPS

Beverly Hills-CBS 1982

Possible replacement for CBS' Search for Tomorrow; CBS opted to go with Capitol instead

Single-ABC

Soap opera about single working women; created by Claire Labine

Grosse Pointe-CBS 1983

Soap opera set in Michigan; featured competing families in the auto industry and auto racers

At the same time as Grosse Pointe was a second proposed CBS soap opera called StarCrossed. I don't recall if Grosse Pointe and StarCrossed were the same show but Soap Opera Digest did announce that both were supposed to debut around September 1983

As for Scruples, was Flannery the star? I recall reading that Victoria Mallory (who played Leslie on The Young and the Restless) was slated to play the lead.

[CSF]

No, because I think it was the fact that Labine wanted her soaps produced in New York City. Ryan's Hope was very critically acclaimed and won many Emmy's pre-1982, including 2 Best Series and 4 Best Writing. It wasn't until ABC fired Labine that it really went downhill. I know the show never got AMC or GH ratings, but it brought in decent ratings, IMO.

I think Labine wanted full ownership of Heart & Soul and I don't think ABC wanted her to receive all the profits from a show that centered around character's ABC owned.

It's obvious CBS wasn't going to not pick a Bell soap in 1987 after Capitol.

[KateW]

I also thought of Capitol as being a time-filler until Bill Bell had a second show ready to go on CBS. I wonder if CBS wanted a second Bill Bell show to replace Search for Tomorrow in 1982, but 1982 was Y&R's transition year so that could be one reason why Bill Bell didn't have a second show ready until 5 years later.

[aMLCproduction]

Very good point kate

[CSF]

That is often said, but I kind of wonder, if Bill Bell didn't have a soap ready in 1982, why cancel SFT and then replace it with a new soap only to cancel it in 5 years. IIRC, P&G only moved SFT to NBC when CBS canceled it, not when they moved it to 2:30. However, I could be totally wrong here.

[All My Shadows]

This totally sounds like an Irna Phillips-type thing. I would have watched the hell out of it, too.