I think I read either in some fan recount or some newspaper article that Secrets of Midland Heights had been developed for daytime, which is why some of the early episodes were so slow. Though, I may be confusing it with Behind the Scenes which had initially been conceived to be stripped nightly (hence the half hour slot) but a change in presidency at the network ended those plans.

I have a script somewhere for Secrets of where Melora Hardin's character is revealed to be the product of her father's affair with an African American dancer. I don't think the character learned of her maternity, but someone did, maybe her brother who I think was played by Lorenzo Lamas. I think this was one of the show's unaired episodes.

Edited March 2Mar 2 by dc11786

11 minutes ago, dc11786 said:

I think I read either in some fan recount or some newspaper article that Secrets of Midland Heights had been developed for daytime, which is why some of the early episodes were so slow. Though, I may be confusing it with Behind the Scenes which had initially been conceived to be stripped nightly (hence the half hour slot) but a change in presidency at the network ended those plans.

I have a script somewhere for Secrets of where Melora Hardin's character is revealed to be the product of her father's affair with an African American dancer. I don't think the character learned of her maternity, but someone did, maybe her brother who I think was played by Lorenzo Lamas. I think this was one of the show's unaired episodes.

Thanks for the extra info, as always. This show doesn't sound very interesting but I still wish we could see it. (Behind the Scenes too)

Sisters had the benefit of a strong lead in -Golden Girls/Empty Nest which were both Top 10 shows at the time, something Midland Heights/Yellow Rose, Berrengers/Twin Peaks/Dallas/Hotel did not have.

1 hour ago, dc11786 said:

think I read either in some fan recount or some newspaper article that Secrets of Midland Heights had been developed for daytime, which is why some of the early episodes were so slow.

I don't believe Midland Heights was ever meant for daytime -Lorimar wasn't involved with daytime at that point.

SOMH initially was developed as something called Heartland and aimed at 8pm for CBS.

Gannett Westchester/Saturday, December 13, 1980

Midland Heights' dreadful fun by Peter J Boyer

LOS ANGELES (AP) - One of the luxuries enjoyed by TV soap operas is that they're judged apart from other TV entertainment. Viewers tend to indulge soaps their weaknesses in areas of dramatic structure, execution and dialogue. Character is the thing in soaps. What I'm trying to say is, CBS' new prime time Saturday night soap, "Secrets of Midland Heights," could become a hit show in spite of its dreadfulness.

In a very busy premiere debut episode Dec. 6, "Midland Heights" showed itself to be a creature grossly fat with overacting and ludicrous situations. But, in the way soaps are, it was also sort of amusing. It's like this... Midland Heights is a little town out there somewhere in Soapsville County, where every citizen's life is a tangled web of deceit, lust, passion and sorrow, and where all the webs are interconnected. The burg is run by old lady Millington (Martha Scott), a crusty old bird" whose people founded Midland Heights. Running point for Mrs. Millington, and for himself, is Guy Millington (Jordan Christopher), the series' chief misanthrope. Of Guy's many reasons for unpleasantness, the most pressing seems to be that his niece, Ann (Doran Clark), somehow stands between him and the family fortune. Ann's mother is suggested to be insane, and Guy is most willing to assist Ann along a similar path. Ann loves a poor dropout, John. So, Guy has John run out of town. John might be saved, though, by Holly and Teddy, who ... never mind. Let's just say "Secrets of Midland Heights" wasted no time in setting up shop.

Some of the situations were just too goofy to let pass without a snicker. There's a lot of emphasis on adolescents in this soap, so it wasn't surprising to find in the first episode a young virgin seeking to alter her situation. She talked a young man into going to a motel with her. Who do you suppose was in the next room, consummating infidelity? The girl's mother. Who do you suppose the girl's mother was with? The boy's father. (Tee hee. I have to giggle even now.) As I say, soaps are accounted on a separate ledger. This is a really bad show. But bad, in this case, could prove to be good. It doesn't matter to me, in any case. I'm equipped to handle but one soap at a time, and "Dallas" came along first

Thanks @Paul Raven

I have a feeling this is more exciting to read than to watch, but I wish we knew for sure.

Watching some 1981 Hong Kong ads (which are very entertaining, especially the cigarette ads) and of all things to show up it's 30 seconds of scenes from the premiere! I don't think I've seen these before. It's at about 9 minutes and 50 seconds into the video.

@dc11786 @vetsoapfan @Paul Raven @Vee @soapfan770 @Franko @slick jones @SoapDope78 @j swift @Broderick @Chris 2 @te. @Khan @Soaplovers @EricMontreal22 @GymnastGuy @All My Shadows @Soapsuds @kalbir

TVB Pearl Hong Kong Adverts | 1981

Edited July 16Jul 16 by DRW50

Thanks for the tag, @DRW50. I wonder if Bibi Besch was in the casting pool for Julia on Falcon Crest.

@DRW50 Thanks for the tag.

So little of Secrets of Midland Heights is out there AFAIK.

3 hours ago, kalbir said:

So little of Secrets of Midland Heights is out there AFAIK.

Short-lived show in the early 80s that unfortunately never got repeated sadly... I think our best chance to see it (outside original runs) would've been when SoapNet still existed and showed the entire runs of slightly obscure shows like Pasadena and The Monroes.

14 minutes ago, te. said:

Short-lived show in the early 80s that unfortunately never got repeated sadly... I think our best chance to see it (outside original runs) would've been when SoapNet still existed and showed the entire runs of slightly obscure shows like Pasadena and The Monroes.

I'm surprised no one, either CBS or one of the repeat factories of the late '80s/early '90s like USA, didn't repeat the show, packaged with King's Crossing. Linda Hamilton was a fairly big deal through Terminator, Beauty and the Beast and Terminator 2. I wonder if somebody just locked this show down and refused to let it find daylight.

22 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I'm surprised no one, either CBS or one of the repeat factories of the late '80s/early '90s like USA, didn't repeat the show, packaged with King's Crossing. Linda Hamilton was a fairly big deal through Terminator, Beauty and the Beast and Terminator 2. I wonder if somebody just locked this show down and refused to let it find daylight.

I guess the issue might be that it just got cancelled in the middle of the run?

But Lorimar was pretty bad at exploiting their shorter run shows as only really Flamingo Road seemed to get some airings. Love him or hate him, Aaron Spelling at least seemed to push his even his shorter run shows as much as he could to get some money back on them. Channels like CBS Drama could've also been a good channel to repeat some of those shows.

The Times Record, Tuesday, December 3 1980

New passion soap opus debut Saturday

There is so much heavy breathing on "Secrets of Midland Heights" that the show sounds like an asthma clinic. "Midland Heights" will have its passionate premiere at 10 p.m. Saturday on CBS. A dozen sexual athletes cavort as the regular cast. The first two people seen on the show are a couple kissing in a car. After that you have to look fast to catch anyone standing up. The third character seen is a high school football star who gets hurt. The fourth person spotted is his girlfriend, who appears like a fervent Florence Nightingale to make love to him in his hospital bed. The main social center in Midland Heights is a motel called the Granary Cabins. The traffic gets thickest this weekend when a couple of high schoolers go there for a tryst, only to discover his father and her mother billing and cooing in the cabin next door.

"Midland Heights" was created by David Jacobs, who is also the architect of Dallas." "Midland Heights" is kind of like a kiddie car "Dallas," with the cast on the average about a generation younger. "Midland Heights" looks like what might happen if Lucy Ewing, the nubile granddaughter on "Dallas," assembled all her friends for a pajama party. The thin thread upon which all these bedsheets hang is that there is one rich family, the Millingtons, that controls the small Midwestern college town of Midland Heights. Since no one else in town ever seems to think of anything but sex, it's easy to see how the Millingtons have retained their grip on the levers of power.

The matriarch of the clan is Margaret Millington, played by Martha Scott. She has a slimy, worthless son, Guy Millington, and a beautiful and good-hearted granddaughter, Ann Dulles. The unsavory Guy perpetually plots against Ann, his niece, because he wants to inherit the family fortune and cut her out of it. I won't waste your time by calling the roll of all the layabouts who compose the rest of the cast, except to mention two.

One is Lorento Lamas, who seems likely to make a lot of teenyboppers' hearts go pitapat this winter. He is the son of a Hollywood dream couple of yesteryear, Fernando Lamas and Ariene Dahl, and he has inherited all the good looks of both of them. On Midland Heights," he plays the football star. Burt Carroll.

The other performer worth noting is Linda Hamilton, who played the role of Greta Hideout on "Rape and Marriage - The Rideout Case,'' a special that aired earlier this fall. Much more accessible on "Midland" than she was on "Rape," she plays Burt's girlfriend, Lisa Rogers.

In laying heavy emphasis on the sexual activities of young people, "Midland Heights" represents a departure from the norms of prime-time TV. In general,in the past, teen-age sexuality was a synonym for trouble. On this series, the carefree attitude it that everybody's doing it. I'll let you decide for yourself whether that's a bad thing, like the sexually suggestive blue jeans commercials that were recently ruled off the air, or a good thing, a reasonably accurate reflection of the increasing sexual activity by teen-agers that is indeed going on in real life. Probably it's not worth worrying about It's hard to imagine anyone taking "Secrets of Midland Heights" seriously. It's just fun-loving ole David Jacobs pulling our leg again, in addition to the many legs of his high-kicking characters.

Thanks as always @DRW50 for the tag!!!

On 7/15/2026 at 9:42 PM, DRW50 said:

Watching some 1981 Hong Kong ads (which are very entertaining, especially the cigarette ads) and of all things to show up it's 30 seconds of scenes from the premiere! I don't think I've seen these before. It's at about 9 minutes and 50 seconds into the video.

@dc11786 @vetsoapfan @Paul Raven @Vee @soapfan770 @Franko @slick jones @SoapDope78 @j swift @Broderick @Chris 2 @te. @Khan @Soaplovers @EricMontreal22 @GymnastGuy @All My Shadows @Soapsuds @kalbir

TVB Pearl Hong Kong Adverts | 1981

Thanks! Just as I was thinking, "This feels like an attempt at Peyton Place," we get the kid announcing that it's his dad's car parked outside somewhere I guess it's not supposed to be, and then the girl says, "That's my MOTHER." Okay, Betty and Rod!