Jump to content

ALL: Standalone Episode for Viewing


Recommended Posts

  • Members

I need your help! I talk so much about soaps that I have convinced a friend of mine to come over and watch two episodes. I am tasked with picking two episodes that really showcase what soap operas are all about. Now, I will obviously fill him in about storylines and events that led up to said episode, but I'm having trouble picking an episode that would be great on its own. I really don't mind which soap. I have a fondness for most. My faves are ATWT and GL, but I have watched all soaps on air on or off since 2003. I also love watching old clips that are posted on here. 

 

Thanks for your help! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 18
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

there are two that come immediately to mind. unfortunately, i can’t give you specific dates, but will describe them as accurately as i can so others might help. not sure i’ve remembered all the details accurately, but i’m pretty sure i’ve got the gist right.

the first is an episode of ‘all my children’ from 1997. kevin sheffield and his friend kelsey jefferson are lying outside looking at the stars and talking about life. meanwhile, palmer cortland is ripping kevin’s mother, judith, who is not taking the news of kevin’s coming out well,  a new one in front of the country club crowd. can’t remember what the third thread was.

amc won best writing and show that year, am i’ve always thought this was the episode they submitted. in both episodes, the plot moves not a millimeter. but the conversations between and among the characters reveal relationships and contextualize back story, which makes things easier for the blue ribbon panels who more often than not are not familiar with the show. 

the second is an episode of guiding light from the mid-90s. again, a lot of conversation between characters, but virtually no plot movement. my memory of this one is a little fuzzy, but i know bridget has little peter with her, and i believe is talking with roger. vanessa was somewhere in the mix, and there’s still some fall out from nadine’s effort to pass peter off as her own. 

oh, don’t know how i missed this. but, while i was researching dates, i found out that ben jorgenson, who played kevin, died last yeat, sadly by suicide. 

 

Edited by wonderwoman1951
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Thanks for the recommendations. I believe most of 1997 AMC is uploaded somewhere as I remember finding a channel on YouTube a few years ago with all of the 1997 season. Hopefully, it's still up. 

I would still be interested in what you shared. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

For me, it would be something like Tricia shooting Ryan during his wedding to Victoria; or Days' Greta's coronation episode when everyone gets shot. Or Days' episode when Abe/Lexie give Zach back to the Bradys. 

I showed Cassie's death episode to my Mom, who never saw Y&R ever in her life and she was really glued to the screen and cried. 

Tornado episode from 1994 on AMC

EDIT: How could I forget.. one of the soapiest episodes ever I can remember... Sami/Austin wedding, interrupted by Carrie, who exposes the truth about Will's paternity and then the PUNCH that happens.. so campy, overdramatic and soapy. 

Edited by Manny
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Along that same line, a DAYS episode from June 1996, billed as "Sami's Secrets Revealed" when Kate exposed Sami's drugging of Austin and scheming to keep Carrie & Austin apart. Meanwhile, across town on the Fancy Face, you have Bo & Hope reconciling and him proposing marriage. The episode was a perfect blend of bombshell drama and schmaltzy romance. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I had uploaded Jake's shooting on AW because Anne Heche and Tom Eplin are amazing. Then I realized that it wasn't the full episode leading up to his shooting, it was clips put together. It's listed as "Another World-Jake's Shooting pt 1."

Please register in order to view this content

then there's this episode that is entirely Cali Timmins (an awesome Paulina before Judi Evans) and Tom Eplin only, mixed with some flashbacks thrown in. A different kind of episode with just two characters. 

These episodes when they aired hooked me on OLTL and I watched until the end of its run. The writing was just so good. I know it's broken up into 6 parts but the ep I'm talking about starts with Pt 4

Edited by Melroser
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I like the idea of "secrets exposed" as being a good theme for stand alone episodes.

With that in mind, I would recommend GL when Alexandra exposed Roger at the country club (12/2/93 according to soapcentral).  Not only is it a tour de force performance from Beverlee McKinsey, but it serves as a great recap of the story.

Please register in order to view this content

Similarly, I would choose John Dixon humiliating Lisa at their engagement party (11/95 again according to soapcentral).  Larry Bryggman was such an excellent actor, and it rare that male characters are given the emotionally driven monologues outside of courtroom and romance scenes and this was a great use of history for the long running character of Lisa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbobwoZNQLo

 

Edited by j swift
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

He's 27, avid reader, enjoys sports. Soap operas are not really up his alley. I know he likes Friends but may be due to nostalgia and connection with his mom. He likes A Fish Called Wanda. The TV show Boys. Big Mouth. These are just things from random conversations we've had. I don't know much of his taste in TV or movies as he does spend a lot of time reading. 

We have become really close friends and he just knows my fascination with soaps so gave me the opportunity to show him two episodes so see what it's all about. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think it would be cool to show two episodes that follow the same storyline but show the passage of time. For example, Nina's baby being stolen on Y&R in 1987 and then her reuniting with the adult Ronan in 2010. That's the real power of soaps, the fact that you can follow the character through the years and get payoffs DECADES later. That's not replicated by any other genre. Another good one might be Laura's rape on GH and then Lucky finding out about it as a teen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • I was talking about 1986, but the glimpses of 1982 are about the same. 
    • I skimmed some of the 1982 synopses; Steve was planning on an opening an office in Finland, and I think Jim went there as part of the preparation. That probably was a big issue; AW had already gone to San Diego that year, with Rachel/Steve/Mitch. And to upstate NY with Pete and Diana. I wonder if upstate was as expensive lol  AW in 1982 has always fascinated me, because of how messy it was 
    • That makes sense. What a messy time for the show. And any changes they made were mostly for the worse.
    • The transition from Neal to Adam was very abrupt, and to be honest my theory is that the character of Neal was designed so that we think he is super shady but then it turns out that he was on the side of good all along so Neal could have seamlessly become a hero of the BCPD with no need for Adam. I don't know whether Robert Lupone was hired on a short contract or if he was fired from a longer-term contract because they decided they wanted someone who was more of a leading man type, but I can imagine a scenario where Charles Grant did both the undercover Egyptian treasure/flirt with Victoria and the straighter-arrow day to day police investigation. But in my imagined scenario the MJ prostitution plotline probably doesn't exist and instead he probably continues a relationship with Victoria. The story seems very odd to me. I assume that David Canary would have been included only because a plotline where Steve is going to Finland in which only Rachel is seen in actual Finland seems unlikely. The synopses explicitly mention that Alice can't go with Steve but would whoever was playing Alice at that time have had the kind of clout to get the remote cancelled? It also strikes me as unlikely that production would have approved the expensive location shoot and *then* cancelled it only because of jealousy. It seems more likely that they rejected it because of the expense but then the jealousy part got added to the gossip speculatively, possibly because while it was being worked out they justified not including more castmembers because of the expense. 
    • My comment has nothing to do with cast resentment, but does relate to the Finland location shoot: It may be a coincidence, but Jim Matthews died in Finland in 1982.  Hugh Marlowe's final episode was in April 1982, but the character probably didn't die untll May or June. (I'm unable to find the character's date of death, only the date of Marlowe's final episode). SInce Jim and Rachel had very little interaction after around 1975, it is unlikely Jim's death in Finland had any connection to Rachel's potential visit, but the choice to have Jim die in that location at that time is a head-scratcher.  I'm sure the writers sent Jim on an extended trip (and off-screen) because of Marlowe's illness.  But Finland seems like a strange choice considering the (then) recently cancelled location shoot.  
    • I totally understand your sloths concern about it and I agree with you. Let’s hope the show plays it’s cards right.    Further comments about the last few episodes: - I liked that one of the attendees was filming the scene. That’s realistic. I wonder if the writers will follow up with that.  - Martin and Smitty trying to drag Leslie out was very heteronormative, so perfectly in line with them two as characters lol.    As for the future: it’s obvious the Duprees will come to accept Eva one way or another, but the rivalry with Kay should be here for the long term   On the topic of acting: the only bad actors I’m seeing are Ted and Derek. Tomas hasn’t proven to be either good or bad, so far, but he’s certainly mediocre and uncharismatic. He sucks the energy out of the scenes and I don’t see any couple of women ever vying for him. 
    • I’m trying to think which actors VW were working with at the time, and none of them had been there for a while. Even like Mac and Ada didn’t have that big of a part in Rachel’s storyline.  And Jamie was involved with all that movie stuff.
    • Brooke did ads before ATWT too. That probably helped get her the job. After ATWT she seemed to branch more into hosting, along with ads.  I think I saw Kelley in an ad or two, but you're right she wasn't on as much. 
    •   Thanks for sharing these. I wonder if Charles might have been in the running for Adam. I know Preacher was a bit of a bad boy at times on EON, but Neal seemed to be a step down, and Robert Lupone had played a similar part on AMC. Given the huge cast turnover at this point I wonder who thought they had been there long enough to go.  Laura Malone/Chris Rich would get a remote within the next year. 
    • Interesting.  It seems to allude to that statement that Warren Burton made around that time about some AW actors getting special treatment.  I wonder who was resentful about not getting to go. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy