A New Day in Eden

[Lust4Life76]

Thank you @dc11786

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 Thank you, thank you... this is very kind of you to share this rare gem with all of us, but you're just that kind of awesome friend and fan of the soap community.

"A New Day in Eden" (EDEN), the infamous "first 'nude' serial"... I am not surprised viewers had to watch this late at night, as to not get it confused with the daytime shows (heaven forbid the toddler who wandered in). The Showtime bumper for what's on schedule takes me back. Watch EDEN at 11:30 pm and then Star Wars right after, at midnight  I thought EDEN must have been a weekend thing, but I read they aired new episodes twice a week, and then had days set aside for marathons to get people caught up (pre-Soap Net).

Given the episode #, 60, is it six more episodes, until EDEN just vanishes from the Showtime schedule, without any explanation? There are fans who used to watch this show as a guilty pleasure, and said, without internet back in the day you had no idea what the reason for cancellation was, and there was no real final closure to the series  I suspect the Moral Majority...

Having just watched the episode of EDEN you shared, starting with the opening... everything in silhouette (including a nipple!), I felt like I was supposed to be transported into the book of "Genesis", just witnessing another frolic in paradise between Adam and Eve. The opening is kind of slopped together (even for standards in 1983), having seen more filmed openings for the ABC soaps that were quite dynamic for that day. Of course, Showtime's groundbreaking "Queer as Folk" (QAF) had the same kind of silhouetted graphics and acid-like background, but given QAF's success over time, producers created a better opening that represented the series. Maybe due to budget, this was all part of the evolution with EDEN? Speaking of producers, I always thought that "Bold and the Beautiful"'s Susan Flannery was a producer (and sometimes director, per Wikipedia). That's a great talent to have on board if you're looking to do something evocative, while being provocative...

As are Patrick Mulcahey, credited as this episode's writer, and creator Douglas Marland credited with story...

I am in the process right now of rewatching and trying to observe why the story and scripting doesn't come off deeper, given either artist's usual nuance in plotting or planning? It all lacks gifts that could make EDEN sexier: Mulcahey's sharp, "tongue in cheek" wit (as exhibited on "Santa Barbara"), along with Marland's social relevancy (as exhibited on "Loving", and "As the World Turns"). Maybe five days a week gives the ability to tell the necessary beats for a story vs. two days doesn't? Also, with it being created by Marland, I was expecting more epic-sounding names like Nola, or Holden, or Seth, or Ava... but then maybe my expectations are running too high for something that was commissioned to be soft-porn escapism... Yet, this episode didn't pose to be any more or less risqué than what they were doing on "Young and the Restless" or "General Hospital" in 1983... (but to be fair, I didn't see EDEN's erotic deflowering in a barn, or lesbian seduction in the family pool) ...

When I look at the date of this episode, 7/28/83, I have to wonder if the creation of EDEN took somewhat of a backseat to what Marland was working on concurrently with Agnes Nixon at that time: "Loving".

To me "Loving", in its creation as "a soap opera for the 80's" was always too good for ABC. The alphabet network, not only allowed for "Loving's" scheduling to compromise "Ryan's Hope"'s ratings, but any attempt in telling original story for daytime was hindered in favor of other primetime projects the network wanted to highlight. "Loving", give or take several premiere characters, should have been the EDEN Showtime was looking for as I think, the new network would have allowed them to freely tell the edge stories they wanted about incest, AIDS, progressive priests, liberal media, and PTSD. 

I feel, given the talent involved, EDEN wasn't totally in vain. People wanted something more adult, but also the template of two, three, episodes a week, could be a very welcomed to preserve the current genre for networks (that maybe Prospect Park should have considered out of the gate). But no matter how many pair of breasts your characters show, or "F-bombs" they drop, your story is what needs to be "gripping".

I also feel... Larry Poindexter (Greg Lewis on EDEN) was and is still cute to this very "new" day.

Erik

Edited January 11 by Lust4Life76
Wanted to change a emoji, and edit spacing.

[DRW50]

@Lust4Life76 Appreciate reading your thoughts on the show. Hopefully more will pop up in the next 15 years...

[SoapDope]

WOW !...Thanks for sharing. I thought we would never see a full episode of this lost show surface. 

[Lust4Life76]

Check me... they did do a father/daughter incest story... possibly pre-Garth/Lily Slater ("Loving"), pre-"Something About Amelia"? (This is cut and pasted from the Internet Archives: "Soap Opera History" contributing author Mary Ann Copeland):

 

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Edited January 11 by Lust4Life76
Removing extra image.

[dc11786]

@Lust4Life76 The father daughter incest storyline was between Lewis Electronics attorney Emmett Claybourne (mentioned by Bryan and Miranda as being missing in the episode having dipped Eden at the end of episode 50) and his daughter nursing student Cynthia Claybourne. Cynthia was played by Britt Hefler (Robert Newman's wife) prior to her appearance as Cynthia's successor Lily Slater in the late 1980s.

The story culminates in the final episodes as a mystery. Logan Claybourne arrives in Eden probably toward the middle of the run or slightly later. He is determined to reunite with his sister Cynthia and to discover why and his mother Blanche (or maybe it was Shirley?) were banished from Eden years earlier. Logan confronts Emmett, who was unaware of Logan's return. Logan informs Emmett he knows his mother didn't have an affair with Ham Fisher like he claimed and wanted to know the real reason behind the exodus.

In episode 49 or 50, Emmett drags Cynthia in her nursing uniform off camera where we hear her screaming. The next scene, Cynthia is in her bathrobe after showering. Emmett has already been accused at this point of being the Campus Strangler, who has been raping and murdering women. In addition, he nearly raped Gail Lee, a government agent working on the urban renewal project with Josh Collier and the Lewises. In the final episode, Logan gets into a confrontation with an intruder in the library of the Claybourne estate and a gun goes off with the fate of Logan and the identity of the intruder (presumably Emmett, possibly recast) up in the air. 

The production of the show is a bit odd. The episode order was 33 hour long episodes but they were aired in 2 parts each for a grand total of 66. The pacing is daytime. At 66 episodes, that's basically a 13-week cycle. Jaffe Enterprises produced the show which was mostly underwritten by Showtime, but other media outlets also purchased including Prism and Oak Media I believe. Jaffe was interviewed a few times during production about how it was going and he was making it on the cheap. All the scripts were written in 1982 between Marland's departure from "Guiding Light" and maybe shortly before. The final nine scripts (18 half hour episodes) were all filmed in the month of December, 1982. The only thing filmed in 1983 was a one scene resolution tagged on to the final episode where Francie learns her father is the serial killer who has been offing and raping the college co-eds.

Jaffe spoke alot about filming two versions of the episodes with the intention of selling the show into syndication. I'd be curious if they ended up at the NATSC show or whatever the big syndication trade show is in February, 1983. Actually, I wonder if that's why they wanted it all done in 1982 so that they could try selling the original 13 weeks into syndication. Flannery was involved, per her own interviews. I believe she stated that Showtime wanted more but that Jaffe was too overworked by the grind and didn't want to continue. Not sure if that's accurate.

Also, in my more recent readings, Jaffe implied that the early audience feedback to the show was that there wasn't an intense desire for the sexual content that people assumed there would be. More speculation than fact, there were issues trying to secure and keep talent with the nudity clauses. Anne Lockhart was set to be a lead, but refused to strip so she was killed off. Lara Parker also felt uncomfortable. The real champ seems to be Maggie Sullivan who beds down with Jack (J.P.) Wagner and Rachel Todd, both many years younger than her, while maintaining that Elvira beehive in this episode.  

By the time renewal would have come up, summer of 1983, Marland was definitely deep into "Loving." I imagine he could have done both since Nixon seemed to micromanage Marland to bits and pieces.

Also, Marland's pacing is all daytime. Shelley Novak has been in the hospital since late April/early May. It's now late July. If the show was daily, it would be six weeks. With Showtime schedule, it was 3 months 

Watching it all again, I do think some of the relationship is deeper than I thought on the first viewing. There is complexity to the Francie / Biff material that is lost do to acting choices and to a lack of time with a 30 minute show. Francie's desire for marriage and respectability, Biff's desire to be with Francie and his fear that she is too crude like Shelley, and the resentment each feels towards one another regarding their views on sexuality. Dana Halstad (Francie) looks like Lauren Marie Taylor from some angles and I couldn't help but think about how Taylor might be playing this opposite someone like Christopher Marcantel, or even Scott Doebler. 

Also, I thought there was a bit more depth to Shelley and Hank with Shelley's past haunting her and Hank constantly swooping in when she needed him (I think someone tried to rape Shelley earlier in the story). Shelley, the seductress, fearing that no one can love her now that her looks are no longer her asset and Hank, the good ole boy who has had to adapt to the modern world of Eden and abandon the farm for work at the factory. 

Greg and Laurel seem to be the simplest relationship, but once Betty reveals her little secret, they were going to make Franice and Biff look like Ward and June Cleaver.  

There were some other light touches that I really enjoyed like Biff spiraling out of control because of the Campus Strangler investigation and his decision to shoot Honey with the watergun. Miranda commenting that Laurel's presence made Biff and Greg stick around for the family affair alluding to her knowledge that Laurel and Greg might be hooking up (Biff had told her earlier he thinks Greg has a girl on the side post-Pam). 

I'm still not sure what Jane Eliot is doing in her performances. I imagine she is trying to play Madge torn about her plot in Eden because she seems to be growing fond of Bryan again, but her plan may have been just to expose Miranda and leave town. Either way, bravo to Eliot for playing some sorta subtext to any of this material. 

[SoapDope]

I was surprised to see Jim McMullan pop up on this series. I recently watched the 2 Father Knows Best reunion films from 1977 on Tubi where he plays the pilot that wants to marry widowed Betty Anderson (Elinor Donahue). 

 

[Sapounopera]

A Campus killer was also featured on the LOVING movie.

Great find, I never expected to watch an episode of this lost show. 

[DRW50]

I forgot about that. I need to get around sometime to watching the full movie.

[Vee]

I talked about it in the LOV thread a few years ago. It's very gothic and strange, largely due to the one-off performances of Geraldine Page and Lloyd Bridges and their too-brief dark storyline and history. I really did see the throughline from that to the Loving Murders - it made a cosmic sense.

Edited January 13 by Vee

[Vee]

This was an absolute howler to watch with some very painful dialogue (I wonder if Mulcahey has talked about it much beyond the brief mention I saw a few years ago where he simply called it a terrible show), but a lot of fun. You can see they (like The City) hoped Jane Elliot would gas up the show per her Heather Locklear "Special Guest Star" credit. That Southern accent is hysterical.

I'm still making my way through the back thread. Thanks again to @dc11786 for all that wealth of knowledge to help us along. Interesting to see too the origins of some of what Prospect Park later tried to do, with equally mixed results. Many of their veteran cast dinged them for those efforts but they were a lot less clunky than this!

Poor Lara Parker looks even more adrift than she did as Alexis Stokes. And Miranda is too much. But wonderful to see more of the trace origins too of even more of Marland's psychosexual fascinations. The incest, abuse, serial killer, etc. angles all bore out on various shows but especially the opening of Loving.

Edited January 13 by Vee

[slick jones]

A NEW DAY IN EDEN

1982- 1983 SHOWTIME

EDEN

Luanne Butler   ????            dead student

Cynthia Claybourne     Britt Helfer

Professor Emmett Claybourne      Jeff Severson        father, Cynthia and Logan

Logan Claybourne   Stephen L. Shubert

Corinne Hamilton Collier           Never Seen    (maybe FB)

Professor John Collier        Steve Carlson         +Gail 

Pamela Evans     Rachel Todd

Betty ____Franklin             Lara Parker            +Bryan 

Joe Franklin         ????         (FB)

Laurel Franklin               Anne Wilkinson                  +Clint, +Greg 

Dr. Michael Hammond        Michael Laurence              Surgeon

Isabel ___Kittredge

Penny Landis          ???????                              murder victim #3

Professor Gail Lee        Victoria Tan                +Bryan , +Josh

Biff Lewis                   Grant Wilson                                   +Francie 

Professor Bryan Lewis          James McMullen 

Emily ___Lewis      Never Seen

Greg Lewis            Larry Poindexter                 +Laurel, +Pam ,

Captain Tim Lockhart     Don Matheson 

Gino Lombardi       ??????             attacked Shelley

Luke Lombardi              ???????             suspect, hung himself

Clint Masterson          Jack P. Wagner           +Pam, +Laurel 

Melvin Masterson         ????                   father, Clint

Lori Novack              _______ Michaelson           cousin, Shelley

Shelley Novack        Wendy Barry    +Hank

Joe Parker    Nick Eldredge

Francie Richardson        Dana Halstead                      +Davey,+Biff

Frank Richardson          Paul Kent       father

Hud Richardson       Robert Lisaius campus security

Ida _____Richardson.         ??????           mother

Madge Whitehead Sinclair      Jane Elliott             +Bryan 

Davey Sowolsky   Scot Doebler               +Francie

Hank Sowalsky     James Horan               + Shelley

Myra _____Sowolsky       Never Seen             mother

Muffy Spencer    ?????        victim # 2

Amy Stanley          ????????               girl in Phoenix

Miranda _____Stevens           Maggie Sullivan                 loved Bryan, +Beau 

Kevin Wallace             ??????                         rapist, stalker

Susan Walsh             Anne Lockhart                victim #1 

Beau             Never Seen                           lover, Miranda, Madge

Honey             Katherine Curry             Maid

????????

Brioni Farrell 

John Gibson   

Catherine Hickland 

Cathy St. John

Brinke Stevens

Edited January 14 by slick jones

[Khan]

Whenever I see the name "Madge Sinclair," I think of the actress who was on "Trapper John, M.D." and who later played Eddie Murphy's mother in "Coming to America."

[slick jones]

 

Same.

 

[Vee]

Same lol. But I know her best from Star Trek and the tacky Guyana Tragedy miniseries.

[Franko]

I'm slightly younger than you all. To me, she's Queen Sarabi from The Lion King.