Great Women of Soaps

[DRW50]

I think one of the reasons those shows died out was because the attempts to keep them going in the 90s came across as so empty. Stuff like Titans. Even though the actors were not playing parody, that's how it came across.

I don't mind that Brothers & Sisters doesn't try to play to what they may see as the stereotype of rich people, because I think that would seem too forced (as Holly does when they try to make her into the superbitch).

It's hard to sell that type of thing to the public now because the media presentation of rich people is usually just trashy people with money. You have someone like Paris Hilton who whores herself out everywhere she goes.

I do think there's a show out there which could show the downfall and death of a young rich figure, and to see the ruptures in this person's family. There are enough of these types of cases in the news lately, like what happened to Casey Johnson. I was looking through one of the tabloids and they talked about how her family had cut her off because they hoped this would stop her drugs habit, and instead she just got worse and worse, until finally, she was dead in her mansion for several days before anyone noticed. The power had been cut off, the pool was rat-infested, dishes were piled up. Her friends had to go rescue her dogs, all while Tila Tequila tried to cause a scene.

[Saving ATWT]

Agreed! Plus Jill Abbot from Y&R and Kate from Days

[DaytimeFan]

I know...good lord do I miss those shows where they played the OTT storylines dead straight. The OC, especially the pilot, played it as close to Dallas as anyone's ever got.

I really did enjoy Titans, it was Aaron Spelling's last foray into prime time soap and it was like all of his previous shows had an orgy and Titans was the result. Had it been given more time, it could have been really good. I think the problem it had was 1) it was on NBC who has yet to carry a prime time soap with ANY success 2) the audience was coming off of the end of Melrose Place and 902010 and needed a small break.

Gossip Girl is OK. It's not great, but I like that the parents actually steal the show and make it watchable.

I HATED Dirty Sexy Money, what a piece of s-h-i-t. Alexis Carrington was a very believable character, but that's down to Joan Collins playing her. Joan played Alexis with such tact, she managed to make a character that was basically horrible (Alexis DID cause Krystal to lose her baby) and made her fun, which in turn made her three dimensional. Joan basically forced the viewer to see the other sides to Alexis that made her a real person and she became rootable.

I'd argue that soaps aren't being written to make women strong these days...the only show that really is is DAYS and I think it's no surprise that it's ratings have improved.

[Ms. Chandler Quartermaine]

It's quite sad, that television these days (soaps and non soap) no longer have women like these......the closest thing we have to characters like those are Tanya Turner (Footballers Wives), Claire Meade (Ugly Betty), and Wilhelmina Slater (Ugly Betty), unfortunately only Wilhelmenia and Claire at the moment are still around striking the fear of God into whomever comes their way....but they are seen as supporting and instead we are forced to watch Betty, who is such a crashing bore of a character

I keep hoping that one day some producer somewhere decides to bring shows to our screens like Dynasty and Dallas.....

[DRW50]

Titans seemed very different from Melrose and 90210, it was more of an 80s throwback, so I think they might have appealed to different audiences, if Titans had stayed on the air.

I thought the biggest problem, aside from how played out it seemed, was the cast. I thought most of the lead actors were uncharismatic and a bit awkward. I did like Perry King, but he didn't last long.

[SFK]

I think Alexis Carrington owns this category for the record, daytime, primetime, whatever. No one could work a swivel chair and fondle a letter opener like Joan Collins. And to be honest, I pray that no one has the bright idea to bring Dynasty back because I fear that the project will inevitably fall into the wrong, incapable hands. If someone can do it justice, then so be it, but until then, I pray that a revival doesn't see the light of day. There are brains out there that "get" a show like Dynasty, but all too often, these kinds of things get handled by people who are no better than mediocre fan fic writers on the web. I want more brilliant, devastatingly witty young novelists to cross over into TV HWing gigs, the Lemays of tomorrow...

[SFK]

OMG, and I took one look at Yasmeen and thought, Oh sweetie, you are on that STUFF.

[DRW50]

That was deservedly the end of Yasmine's career.

So many boring people. Jack Wagner, Victoria Principal (I really liked her on Dallas but she had a very specific role on that show, the calm to the crazy of JR and Sue Ellen and others), Ingo Rademacher, Casper van Dien, etc. The only one I remember having a spark was Jason George, in the token role.

The whole thing seemed so stilted to me; I wish it had been given a good hard slap. And I was looking for a soap then because I had lost interest in Melrose 3-4 years before it went off the air and was never really into 90210. I was hoping this would be more like the Dallas/Knots/Dynasty/Falcon Crest show.

Sadly the days of primetime soaps have been replaced by tween tedium, or soap but we can't call it soap, which only gets attention for the ugly backstage battles, like Grayzzzzzzzzzz...

But you never know. I am always hoping primetime soap will return, along with variety shows and watchable game shows.

[SFK]

The only scene I seem to remember pretty clearly from Titans was when two teens, a boy and a girl, I think one of them was Victoria Principal's grandson, "borrowed" her Aston-Martin and went joy riding. And of course the title always reminded me of the episodes of the same name where the Colbys were still being introduced on Dynasty.

I REALLY agree with your last sentence. We go out to eat a lot, see movies/theatre and such, but I've never been a club-goer, I always preferred the lounge scene where we could drink (and smoke once upon a time) and have good conversation. We tend to do this during the week, so in many ways, I still feel like a kid when Saturday night roles around, except there is NOTHING good on anymore. Oh how I long for the Saturday nights of my youth, when Ray Combs Family Feud came on in the evening, Mama's Family in syndication at 7:30, then over to NBC from 8-11, 227, Amen, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Nurses, round out the night with Hunter and later Sisters. Those were the days.

[DRW50]

I know what you mean. I also watched a lot of Saturday night NBC sitcoms (remember all those crossovers they would have for synergy -- can you imagine that happening on a sitcom now), I even watched the bad sitcoms which lasted a season because a cushy timeslot with the NBC Saturday lineup. Wasn't there one about middle aged white women who took in a black girl? With opening credits where they washed a car? And another where a construction worked married a Latina who needed a green card?

I miss being entertained by TV, especially sitcoms, which are now so mean-spirited, so up their own asses, and so fake-cynical.

Back then I also loved Saturday night because I would stay up to watch GLOW, which came on late at night.

[SFK]

HA! OMG, GLOW and WOW (or was it WOWW or POWW? ) I used to watch those too but on weekday evenings. I remember Fiji, the heavyset Hawaiian lady ("Tika tika tika tika tika!") I liked how they would rap before they wrestled.

Are you talking about "I Married Dora"? That was on TGIF before TGIF was even TGIF. Truthfully, sometimes I look at some of my old favorites on YouTube and wonder whatever I saw in them comedy-wise, but there was a warmth, as you said, a joy in watching those programs. It doesn't help that I'm often afraid to commit to new shows the way they're always getting yanked. I really felt that *change* in our house's viewership when shows like CPW, Pacific Palisades, and Pasadena went on permanent hiatus. That's the beauty of the HBO shows. And with dvds/Hulu/Roku, there is no immediacy to jump on a show's bandwagon (especially if you aren't a Nielsen family anyway).

[DaytimeFan]

OH. Those were the days. Someone who knows my youth perfectly. DAMN those were good years for TV that you could watch with your family (aside from Sisters).

Speaking of Yasmine Bleeth, I actually thought her coked up behaviour enhanced her character because she looked like such a hot mess you couldn't help but think "Oh Heather Williams, you are in for it now!"...I do agree that the cast was somewhat melba toast, but Aaron Spelling knew that and he was in the process of hiring Joan Collins to come to the show as Alexis Carrington. Yep, you read that right. Alexis was going to join Titans. The only problem was, it got cancelled before the deal was in place.

[DRW50]

I wonder why he didn't have her on Pacific Pallisades as Alexis, instead of casting her as the vixen's mother on that show (I can't remember the woman's name).

SFK, there was a warmth and a joy, yes. I also enjoy the old Britcoms from the 70s and early 80s for that reason, before people like Ricky Gervais moved those into the same dreary cynical, I'm-so-cool-I-hate-everything type of crap you get on a lot of American sitcoms now. It's sad that the most popular sitcom on today is Two and a Half Men, which is a very bitter show.

[SFK]

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DaytimeFan, have you seen the above?

Oh wow, I remember rumors about Joan on Titans but I wasn't sure what was fact or fans' wishful thinking. He brought her onto Pacific Palisades as the bitchy blonde's (I'm forgetting her character's name) mother, Christina Hobson. She got Alexis billing when she joined the show. But Christina was no Alexis.

Hunter/Sisters was more my mom's thing, that's when I started to doze off. I'm not even that familiar with the current Saturday night schedule, but I find it interesting that a drama like Sisters lasted so long in a Saturday night 10pm slot, at least in today's climate. Then again, my mom's beauty shop would stay open late on Friday nights so the customers could finish watching Dallas and Falcon Crest before driving home, so who says there's no audience for those nights?

[SFK]

There are two '80s primetime soap business women I've never had the pleasure of seeing, and I'd really like to: the bodacious Anita Morris as Babs Berrenger in Berrenger's, and Jessica Walter as Ava Marshall in Bare Essence.

Most people know Jessica from Arrested Development, and Play Misty For Me before that. Esther Shapiro really championed her for the role of Alexis once Sophia Loren turned it down (and I guess Raquel Welch didn't turn out either). Lee Grant played Ava in the TV movie, and Jessica took over when it went to series.