Unpopular opinions: cancelled soaps edition

[Frank2803]

The fact that Alan-Michael and Lucy came about because TPTB didn't have the backbone to make Alan-Michael and Gillie Grant a couple bothered me more than the actual couple of AM and Lucy.

Speaking of Alan-Michael I always thought he was Joey Buchanan status where they found a talented actor, but struggled with story and recast after the actor vacated the role.

 

[amybrickwallace]

Thanks. It was during the early 2000s, I believe.

[Spoon]

I didn't know the BTS stuff until the late 90s with the Internet. I assumed AM would've had another fling with Harley if she was still around thus AM and Lucy.  

 

Gilly and Hamp were a good couple but I could see Gilly with Hamp's best friend (fake)Billy or with Alan right after he returned. Maybe a Gilly/AM/Alan triangle leading to AM and Lucy. 

RH had some strong material with the Lucy/Brent storyline.

[amybrickwallace]

Again, this show is still on the air - but on GH, I thought Tamara Braun and Natalia Livingston were better as Carly and Emily than Sarah Brown and Amber Tamblyn. OK, you can throw tomatoes at me now.

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[vetsoapfan]

Not that longtime viewers of the REAL General Hospital would know, alas, considering how unrecognizable the new, pod version of GH is from its roots.

Sigh.

[vetsoapfan]

I had the same thought, originally, until I saw how ATROCIOUS, DESTROYED and UNWATCHABLE the episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 were in their dubbed-over version. Entire chucks of episodes were cut out.  Characters sang along to music, supposedly playing live for them at the time, which had been dubbed over with generic musak. It was idiotic to watch the characters "sing along" to tunes that were no longer even there. I had had the first several seasons recorded on VHS (in good quality, too), and was furious that I had gotten rid of them before even realizing that the official DVD releases would be so heinous. I wish a company like Shout! Factory would do a reissue and restore the music, like they did with WKRP (as much as humanly possible; there were still some changes.

The original DVD release of WKRP infuriated fans, but the re-release, with so much of the music restored by Shout!, made most people quite happy. 

[vetsoapfan]

I was truly shocked at how well Miami Vice was brought to DVD. Even though the studio could not get the rights to use all the original music, the changes were fine, and (thankfully), all the major, must-have material (like Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight) remained.

I must say, however, that the best, most gratifying and rewarding DVD release of a TV series which featured an enormous amount of popular music was China Beach. Time-Life took years, and obviously went through a ton of work, to get everything just right. Only 30 seconds of the original TV series had to be cut out, because a character quoted lyrics from a song that the producers could not obtain the rights to use. But no fan will complain after discovering that the complete collection on disc contains more than 300 (!!!) popular songs from the past.

Soap fans who have never seen China Beach should definitely try to check it out. It's more riveting, emotional and addictive than anything on daytime TV right now. (Is that...an unpopular opinion?)

https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/61151/china-beach-the-complete-series/

Here's an interesting article about the problems associated with obtaining music rights for DVD releases.

https://www.vox.com/2014/11/3/7145231/shows-not-on-dvd-music-rights-wonder-years-wkrp

 

 

 

[amybrickwallace]

Same with Family Ties. Thankfully, they were able to get Billy Vera's "At This Moment" on the DVD. If they hadn't, I'm sure there would have been a fan revolt.

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[Chris 2]

I’m actually surprised that Warner Bros went to such lengths for China Beach, which was not a major ratings success in its original run and has only been seen intermittently since. I’m guessing that the creators, who own a piece of it, had a lot to do with the effort to have it properly released on DVD with not only the music mostly intact but lots and lots of extras too. Clearly a labor of love.

[vetsoapfan]

The DVD boxset for China Beach was truly an astonishing accomplishment.

To be fair, I've also seen "labor-of-love" DVD releases for film gems like The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, but for beloved TV series that only attracted moderate popularity among the general audience, nothing beats China Beach. (The one-season release of St. Elsewhere was not even remastered, had grainy video quality, suffered poor music changes and was such a disappointment. Now, only a good set of St Elsewhere and seasons three, four and five of TV's Family--starring Sada Thompson--are on my dream DVD wish list. Well, along with collections of vintage soaps, of course.)

[Chris 2]

I love St E and am rewatching it on Hulu for the first time in years. It looks pretty good but it’s probably not HD.

I would love to see Family on one of the streamers. It is on Decades, I believe, but I don’t get that any more. I did get to see some episodes when Decades still had a local affiliate. On my wish for a DVD release: the scenes with “second Nancy” Jane Actman, who shot a handful of episodes of season 2 before being replaced with Meredith Baxter Birney, who reshot all of Actman’s scenes before the season premiere.

[victoria foxton]

For me the real GH creased to be about 20 yrs ago. In modern era GH. Somethings i see glimpses. So tired of the same played status quo.

I saw China Bench as a teen. And even then i was impressed by how real. raw and gritty it was. Been meaning to revisit the show through adult eyes. Very tempted to get the DVD. I'm so glad they managed to get some much of the music. Music after all was a big part of CB.

[vetsoapfan]

When characters like Scotty, Bobbie, Monical Mac, etc., are available to them, TPTB's insistence on focusing on Sonny, Jason, Carly, and Howarth's 800 characters boogles my  mind. GH needs a total overhaul. I'd write out 2/3 of the current characters if I could.

I think the China Beach DVDs are out of print and hard-to-find/very expensive now, but trying to hunt down an affordable set is well worth the effort. Dana Delaney cannot be praised enough for her work on this series.

[Efulton]

If you are in Canada you can watch Family on the CTV app.  I haven’t started it yet because I know it will consume my life!  

[FrenchBug82]

I am too young to have seen the Slut of Springfield fountain moment on-screen when it aired.
But when I did end up seeing it, years and years later, after hearing of it so many times for so many reasons (Iconic! The acting! etc.) over so many years, I was thoroughly underwhelmed.
I get Reva and Kim Zimmer's popularity because her charisma shines. But I don't get why *that* scene stuck to people.

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by FrenchBug82