Peyton Place

[jam6242]

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

[Bright Eyes]

Okay, I've watched the first four episodes.

It seemed odd to me that Mia Farrow got star billing, but Ryan O'Neal didn't. And did they not have bags in the sixties? Poor Allison is going to get a hunchback with all those books she's always carrying around. That said, the chemistry between Allison and Rodney was instant. Them becoming stars are really all I know about this show so NO SPOILERS please.

I don't quite get why Constance's secret is such a big deal, unless there's more to it other than her having lied to Allison about the type of hospital she was born in? I guessed she was a bastard child and that's why Constance is so worried about Allison dating Rodney.

Most of other characters seem interesting, though Mrs. Harrington has a weird diction that will take some getting used towards. I did like that glaring look she gave Barbara's mother, whose name I can't remember at the minute, almost like she knew she was carrying on with her husband. Plus, she's the only one that dresses fabulous on this show.

[vetsoapfan]

In the original novel, Allison McKenzie was a major character, and I imagine the producers of the TV series envisioned her being a lead right from the start, whereas they may not have been certain to what extent other, supporting characters like Rodney, Betty, Norman, etc., would develop.

As the series progresses, some characters/actors really take off and become quite popular, while a few others simply don't, and their roles are diminished. The star billing will reflect that; you'll see.

As for Constance's secret, there's more to the story than you may think, and it definitely turns out to be a big, big deal. Lots of drama unfolds!

[Chris B]

Initially I know Betty was supposed to be written off very soon after the series began, so my guess is Rod wasn't far behind. I'm re-watching the series too and although this is a BRILLIANT show, I do think it took a couple months to REALLY get cooking. I'd say once you're at around episode 15-20 thats when it really starts to click and then it's a nonstop ride from there on out. It never has a drop in quality and the final season was incredibly strong. I still can't believe it was the late 60s and they had a frontburner black family.

[allmc2008]

I can't wait for Ruth Warrick's stuff!

This is her first episode

[Chris B]

Ruth Warrick was great on the show and also in the reunion film. I've never seen her on All My Children, but she was legendary on Peyton Place.

[All My Shadows]

I'm gonna have to find the time to watch these! I torrented the first DVD release and loved the series, so I'm ready for more.

[YRBB]

It's true. The show gets going around episode 20 and becomes delicious.

[Paul Raven]

delete

Edited October 2, 2014 by Paul Raven

[DRW50]

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You have to love Dorothy Malone having those same beautiful melodramatic reaction shots a decade later.

Edited October 24, 2014 by DRW50

[Bright Eyes]

I'm at the point where David Canary has appeared and am blown away by how attractive and fit he was, especially as he always read old to me from his time on AMC.

[DRW50]

Canary had a great body on AMC for a long time (I remember fans noticing during some of his sex scenes with Liza). He also still looked fairly young early in his AMC run. I think the silver hair may have made him seem older.

[Avatar610]

Someone has been posting a lot of PP episodes on YouTube- watch and enjoy! (No, it isn't me!)

[Paul Raven]

From TV Guide Jan 65

“The Battle of Peyton Place” by Richard Warren Lewis is the first of a two-part look at ABC’s controversial bi-weekly prime time soap opera. It’s an interesting read. Lewis reveals the complicated history of the series. The original hour-long pilot was well received by ABC (vice president Douglas Cramer called it “a brilliant hour of film, one of the best pilots ever made”) but the network hired Irna Phillips to consult on the series. She insisted the pilot be thrown out even though the network and sponsors were thrilled with it. “When I saw it–the sensational story of Selena Cross and her father–I told ABC I thought it ought to be shelved,” she explained. “I did not think that this was the kind of thing to give an American public–a father seducing his stepdaughter.”

Phillips provided a treatment of her own that involved an incestuous relationship between half-siblings. Executive producer Paul Monash was furious:

Any relationship between them [Allison Mackenzie and Richard Bailey] would be incest. I utterly reject this tasteless and profitless story area. It is meretricious, trite and tawdry. Are we seriously expected to film a story in which Allison and this young man play out a

full

romance? Isn’t this suggestion coming from the very writer who complained about a plethora of sex in the pilot?”

In defense of her outline for the series Phillips suggested that Monash simply didn’t understand “the mechanics of serial drama” and declared it “could be handled delicately and in good taste.” Both the pilot and the Phillips treatment were tossed out. Phillips came up with another idea involving an unwed, pregnant girl named Betty Anderson and Dr. Michael Rossi. ABC loved it but 20th Century Fox and Monash didn’t. He told ABC “Irna Phillips is trying to impose her pattern on Peyton Place. I cannot do the series properly, expressing viewpoints which are not my own.” Negotiations continued between the studio and the network. And that’s where the article left off. Next week’s issue will pick things up with Monash signing a contract and agreeing to a murder.

Finally, there is the second part of “The Battle of Peyton Place” by Richard Warren Lewis. It’s even better than the first part. The battle eventually ended with ABC winning, for the most part, but not before two production shutdowns and executive producer Paul Monash threatening to quit. The first shutdown came after just two episodes had been completed (10 additional scripts were also done) while ABC and Monash fought over how to kick off the series.

Monash argued against ABC’s proposal to have Betty Anderson lose her child in an automobile accident and then quickly become pregnant again:

Dramatic fireworks without a solid platform of reality would be melodramatic pap, no matter how well it is written and acted. If the audience does not feel for the people in this series, if it does not have a genuine love toward some of them, if they do not believe in the reality of our people, then the

Peyton Place

series,no matter what its initial rating, will go right down the drain.

The second shutdown came in late November 1964 after 42 episodes had been filmed. ABC wanted murder and Monash, after initially opposing their plan and threatening to quit, eventually gave in:

The hell with it. If this is what they want, and the studio orders me to do it, I’m not going to breach my contact. In this screwy business you eventually end up as a prostitute anyhow. I suppose you could say I now have the most curious success in television. It’s unfortunate that instead of basking in the success, people are grabbing for the spoils. The show is no longer a reflection of what I wanted to do. I feel like a salmon swimming upstream to die.

Bizarrely, after winning the battle, ABC abruptly decided to tone down the very violence it had been asking for.

[YRBB]

Thanks, Paul Raven. Fascinating. I never tire reading about Irna Phillips because drama followed everywhere she went. And it's always great to get a look behind the scenes of the fabulous anomaly that PEYTON PLACE is!