Bare Essence (1982-83)

[Joseph]

Please register in order to view this content

[Joseph]

That ill fated try on having a new high profile soap on the life of the very rich, and the trials and intrigues of the Perfume Industry, What made me get hooked to the idea of watching it is the fact it got both Jennifer O'Neill an actress i adore and Jessica Walter as an Alexis type of character, since she was the "WOMAN they waited till the end to play Alexis" it would be very fun to see and have an idea on how she would have been in that role, 

As for the Pilot Miniseries it got some high ratings but i guess that's because it got one Hot cast, Lee Grant as Ava #1, Linda Evans (Krystle Carrington) having that time of her life playing a very Alexis kind of Mom: Lady Bobbi Rowan #1 and Donna Mills (ABBY Cunnigham) as Barbara originally a much more proeminent Character, now let's remember all of them went out when the series finally was picked up for a full season, all of them and some others were changed so i guess it contributed to the low ratings still i would Love to watch this so if anyone could help i would be very grateful

[All My Shadows]

I've only ever seen the miniseries, and yes, the cast is incredible. It's been a very long time since I've seen it, though, and I'd love to give it another watch (rainy day marathon alongside Scruples and Hollywood Wives, maybe?).

[Paul Raven]

The Bare Essence miniseries (2 part) aired on CBS in Wk2 of the season as counter programming to baseball.

This was a strategy CBS used regularly to provide female friendly alternatives to sport and also delay the debut of new and returning shows so they wouldn't get lost up against all the new shows and World Series.

It rated well, so someone had the idea of spinning off a series and NBC picked it up. Several of the cast were not available or interested in committing to a weekly series so those roles were recast.

NBC scheduled it for Tuesday at 9 following The A Team which proved to be a hit from the get go. Bare Essence failed to follow through.

It's debut 2 hr episode scored a 15.0/23. The A team had a 20.6/31. BE was third in its timeslot and as the A Team kept building, BE kept dropping. So NBC moved Remington Steele from Friday at 10 and Bare Essence went there up against Falcon Crest, which had a hold on the soap audience. NBC was obviously just burning it off there.

Remington scored better than Bare Essence so the move worked for NBC trying to win Tuesday nights.

Soaps @ 9pm had never worked .If NBC had put Remington at 9 and Bare Essence at 10 it may have stood a chance.

 

[Joseph]

Good luck honey, searched it everywhere only found part one, part 2 is nowhere to be seen the same goes to the spinoff series

[SFK]

Part 2 and the full series are (were?) on YouTube. However, the series is dubbed in German.

[Joseph]

Nope not anymore that's sad maybe is unlisted but I got no luck with it yet oh Iand AMS didn't mean to be rude as it might have sounded 

[Chris 2]

If you’re going to focus your soap on perfume or models, then you’re limiting your audience from the outset. A show about perfume following the A-Team? Who came up with that brilliant scheduling?

[DRW50]

Morgan Stevens, who played in the TV movie and series (I have no idea if this image is from either), was found dead at his home recently. 

https://deadline.com/2022/01/morgan-stevens-dead-veteran-television-actor-who-played-nick-diamond-on-melrose-place-was-70-1234920664/

Please register in order to view this content

Edited January 27, 2022 by DRW50

[te.]

He was in seven episodes of Melrose Place playing Nick Diamond, Jack Parezi's lawyer. I can't say I remember him.

[Khan]

Oh, man.  I was JUST thinking about him the other day, too, wondering what had happened to him.  RIP.

IKR?  Unfortunately, I don't know where a series like BE would have fit on NBC's schedule during that season.  I mean, they COULD have run it Wednesday nights against "Dynasty," which was on the ascendant.  But I guess NBC was reluctant to move "Quincy, M.E.," even though it was in its' last year.

[Paul Raven]

Producer Chuck McLain told David Hinckley of 'New York Daily News' in 1983, "Some companies do try to make everything a back-door pilot but most do not. Most movies are just movies. 'Bare Essence' is an uncommon case because even before the mini-series was filmed, I thought it was a weekly series. So Warner Bros. authorized me to make a presentation on it, and even though CBS wasn't interested, since they already had 'Dallas', 'Knots Landing' and 'Falcon Crest', NBC didn't have any serials, so they were." 

 

On 'Bare Essence', Genie Francis played a 20-year-old entrepreneur who ran a high-financed cosmetics and perfume empire after saving the international corporation from bankruptcy. "It's not such a far-out possibility," Genie made the observation at the time. "After all Tyger doesn't own the company. She married into the family that controls it. Today's (in 1983) young people are taking their place in the business world. Tyger is a perfect little mogul-ess, determined, ambitious and aggressive." Genie also pointed out, "I have older advisers around me. For instance, the head of our empire is a 70-year-old person, played by John Dehner. I also have such helpers as characters played by Jessica Walter, Jennifer O’Neill and Ian McShane." 

 

D.C. Denison of 'The Boston Pheonix' noted the fate of a character would usually be dictated by a change in storyline. He gave as an example, Tyger's roommate and confidante, Kathy Bradshaw. Chuck McLain clarified, "The character of Kathy has turned out to be wrong for the story. Kathy was intended as a contemporary for Tyger, someone she could talk to. But once she was on the show, I realized that I now had 2 very similar heroines when all the attention should have been going to Tyger. So, I've had to write her out. 

 

"The first thing I considered, once I made the decision, was how I could write Kathy out to best serve what we're doing on the show. I wanted to rectify the mistake in a way that would be beneficial to Tyger and to the main storyline. I wanted to write her out at a time when Tyger was very, very vulnerable, and to use her leaving as a way to play up to that vulnerability. As it's planned now, Kathy will be written out just as a new romantic interest is entering Tyger's life. Kathy's departure, which will make Tyger feel even more alone, will work very well with this new storyline." 

 

Media monitor Joan Crosby of 'Compulog' observed, "When 'Bare Essence' began the serial focused on the lives and loves of women perfume executives, but as the season wore on, British actor Ian McShane's character,  Greek shipping tycoon Niko Theophilus, became more dominant."

'Bare Essence' lasted 11 episodes. 'The A-Team' provided lead-ins for the first 3 weeks on Tuesday nights in February 1983. The network then pre-empted 'Bare Essence' for the following 2 weeks to telecast basketball. Then the next 5 episodes were shown on Friday nights after 'Falcon Crest' ended its 1982-83 season. The network then pre-empted 'Bare Essence' for the following 6 weeks due to lackluster ratings. Then the remaining 2 episodes were shown back-to-back in the non-ratings season on a Monday night in June as a movie, 'Bare Essence: The Final Chapter'. 

 

Ian McShane made the comment at the time, "Next year (1984) there will probably be a mini-series called 'The Best of Bare Essence' and 10 years from now (1993), it will be a cult series. We certainly needed better writing and more delineation of character. They would bring in characters who were confusing. Also, the network changed the time slots, so the audience felt confused and they (the network) felt we would not make it." Genie insisted, "I didn’t take the cancellation of 'Bare Essence' as a personal failure. Many of the prime-time series of that period didn’t make it either."

 

 

 

[Khan]

I think a big problem with BE is that they had to recast too many roles for the series.  

[Paul Raven]

Agree. The whole thing was too rushed. 

As far as timeslots Tues @ 10 would have been best. Sun and Mon were movie nights, Wed, Th and Fri were soaps on other networks and that left Sat @10, which Berrengers showed as unsuitable (not enough steady viewers)

[gimmetoo]

Is this where Genie met her husband Jonathan Frakes ?   At least something lasted from BE...

The gorgeous Al Corely started on the show but if I remember correctly his character was killed off pretty quickly.  

Wish it was still available to be seen...