High Hopes

[DRW50]

From Chris Schemering's book, Soap Opera Encyclopedia

Taped in Toronto, this was the first soap to be broadcast simultaneously in the United States and Canada. It was aired over the CBC network in Canada and over independent stations in the U.S., premiering on most of them on April 3, 1978. High Hopes delved into family counseling as psychiatrist Neal Chapman solved the problems of others while his own troubles mounted. Critics complained that early episodes contained too many storylines and the viewer was bombarded with too many characters and situations. Later in the show's short run, in a buzz of publicity, Dorothy Malone of Peyton Place fame was added to the cast. The half-hour serial was written by Winifred Wolfe, directed by Bruce Minnix, and produced by Robert M. Driscoll.

Cast

Dr. Neal Chapman - Bruce Gray

Jessie Chapman - Marriage McIssac

Meg Chapman - Doris Petrie

Trudy Bowen - Barbara Kyle

Paula Myles - Nuala Fitzgerald

Walter Telford - Colin Fox

Louise Bates - Jayne Eastwood

Amy Sperry - Gina Dick

Dr. Dan Gerald - Jan Muszinski

Victor Tauss - Nehemiah Persoff

Carol Tauss - Dorothy Malone

[DRW50]

I know very little about this show but decided to start a thread after I read this magazine article? Anyone have anything to say? Too bad it didn't last. Such a pointless crotch shot of the male lead must be worth something...

This is from the January 1979 TV Dawn to Dusk (Ideal Publishing Inc)

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[DRW50]

IMDB has a surprisingly detailed summary of the stories. Some of it sounds pretty interesting, and different.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077024/plotsummary

[TC]

High Hopes indeed.

Barbara Kyle was a regional version of Rula Lenska. She was doing commercials for one of the low end department store chains; K-mart, or Woolco, or maybe it was Miracle Mart. I don't remember which, but she'd always say, "Hi! I'm Barbara Kyle, for ________." And we'd all say, "Who?"

Then I saw her on High Hopes and wondered if they were trying to take advantage of her popularity on a show that no one watched.

[DRW50]

So did you watch the show?

[Chris B]

I recall reading about this. For Dorthy Malone I'd love to see it. I can't believe more Peyton Place stars weren't scooped up in daytime. I only recall James Douglas being successful, who had a long run on ATWT. And also Ed Nelson on Capitol.

[DRW50]

Daylight TV Yearbook #3.

[All My Shadows]

This does seem like an interesting little show. Colin Fox was also the star of Strange Paradise (which I've been getting into lately and is a great campy cult show), and I know "Gordon Thompson" is Gordon Thomson.

What an unfortunate name for that producer, right?

Ruth Warrick!

[Paul Raven]

Ruth had done two soaps - GL and ATWT before PP.

[dc11786]

Carl,

I saw the premier at the Paley Center in New York eight or nine years ago. As I remember it, the major conflict in the premier was Meg Chapman’s decision not to leave her home to move into a retirement community. Doris Petrie’s Meg was rather spunky and wasn’t going to leave her home without a fight. Neal entertained a phone call from Trudy Bowen before her talk show and another from Paula Myles. Paula was in her penthouse apartment wearing a cast. Later, Neal went to lunch with Walter Telford and Jessie discussed boys with her pal Amy. The show used at least one establishing shot as we saw the exterior of the Chapman home on a sunny day.

I don’t remember the episode being all that memorable. I remember thinking the plot involving the grandmother was a bit odd considering it was the premier episode. I had completely forgotten Paula even appeared in the premier until I was reminded, which is odd since I now remember the actress was in a cast.

Here is a review of the first three episodes:

I always find it odd when male television reviewers tackle soap opera. For the most part, they dismiss them completely, while acknowledging they are not the intended audience. Then again, I guess there have been few female television reviewers hired by the papers.

The source of the IMDB synopsis is a website covering the history of CBC programming. I’m not sure if the site is still around, but I remember reading it there about a decade ago. The original source of the information seems to be an article from The Montreal Gazette.

For what it’s worth, the show wasn’t actually set in Port Hamilton. The show’s locale was Cambridge. I don’t know why it was called Port Hamilton. Maybe this was something they tossed around before Winifred Wolfe came on board.

Dorothy Malone was brought on for one of the arcs the show would write around minor characters. She and Nehemiah Persoff played a recently married couple, Victor and Carol Tauss, who had married within a year of the death of Carol’s first husband. Carol’s daughter, Marie, was upset about this development and refused to accept Victor’s role in her mother’s life. Carol and Victor sought the help of Neal Chapman to help Marie with her problems. In therapy, Marie admitted her father had a heart attack after he learned Marie had been caught shoplifting. Marie blamed herself for her father’s death, and this was the root of her problems. With the problem unearthed, Victor and Marie reconciled and the Tauss family left town.

One article stated Malone would be around for five weeks, but Lynda Hirsch covered High Hopes in her column and the Tauss storyline played out from the week of July 17-21 until the week of August 28-September 1. Around this time, the Canadian press announced the show had been cancelled.

Here’s an article about the Tauss storyline

Lynda Hirsch covered the show in her column. Unfortunately, the summaries tended to be very brief and a bit confusing.

Along with “For Richer, For Poorer,” it appears “High Hopes” ended the final week of September. Unlike FRFP, HH left their stories up in the air with the suggestion that Michael Stewart may be the biological father of Jessie Chapman. This development seems particularly smart as it complicates several of the established stories. It eliminates Amy’s concern that Jessie is going to steal Mike Stewart away from her as Mike is now Jessie’s half-brother, but allows Amy to still become jealous of the Mike / Jessie relationship in a very different way. Grieving the loss of her daughter, Norma now has a surrogate daughter figure she could cling onto, which would amplify a Norma / Paula rivalry and keep young Jessie Chapman front and center despite a love interest.

[DRW50]

I can't thank you enough for all this detail! As I seem to say to you again and again it is so much more than I ever imagined!

Did the story with Jessica being fixated on Neal end by the time the show was over?

I hope some of this might make it onto Youtube eventually.

Have you ever seen the other Canadian show/soap that was about a therapist? I can't remember his name.

I hope my photos helped jog your memories.

[DRW50]

An April 1979 Dawn to Dusk/Daytime Stars talked to Robert Skip Burton and Bruce Gray about the cancellation of their soaps. I will type out Bruce's part here.

[dc11786]

It's interesting to hear Bruce Minnix was coming back since the premier article Carl posted was so much about developing Canadian talent. The final weeks of 'High Hopes' sounded like it was finally making strides in understanding what it wanted to be about. I think the story about the Stewarts and the relationship between Jessica / Paula could have fuelled the story.

I think the show needed a strong tentpole older couple; two people to provide a relationship most of the other characters would strive for. Eventually, Trudy and Neal could have developed this sort of relationship. Their careers ( psychiatrist and talk show host) sort of lend themselves to this, while, I will admit, being a talk show host is a rather unusual role for a soap character. And, eventually, when they settled, I would like to see they'd have over children and how Jessie would react to Neal and his 'new' family. In the meantime, I would like to have seen Helen (Paula's sister and Neal's first wife) make a grand play for Neal as Jessie reacts to all the instability in her life. I think having Paula react to Helen's manipulations would help to humanize Paula, who comes across more of an anti-heroine rather than the chief instigator.

In the end, I don't think the show stood a chance due to the production model. Soaps need time and there simply wasn't the production space available for this to work.

[DRW50]

January 1979 Afternoon TV.