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Gideon Rathbone

@gideon.rathbone2

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Author. Bibliophile. History lover. Film fanatic.

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Flamingo Road

This was NBC’s longest running primetime soap opera. For two seasons, viewers were invested in all the sex, murder, and machinations of the residents of the fictional town of Truro, Florida and it would’ve ran longer if it wasn’t for nepotism but let’s start at the very beginning.

Flamingo Road was originally a 1942 potboiler novel written by Robert Wilder that was eventually made into a 1949 film by Warner Bros starring Joan Crawford. When CBS’s mega hit Dallas came on the scene it massively gave audience’s a hunger for sex and suffering on primetime TV. Naturally, NBC wanted a Dallas of their own. According to veteran TV writer, Rita Lakin, the network literally threw the cliched riddled novel at her and said, “Turn this into a soap opera.” Lakin was pro a writing soap as she was a writer on the 1960s nighttime soap, Peyton Place.

The show did well and ratings were good but dipped a little towards the end of the second season. Many believed this was the reason why the show was canceled and left on cliffhanger. According to Lakin, the real reason the network decided to pull the plug was because the head of NBC’s son had written a show. So nepotism trumped what the viewers wanted.

#soapopera #soapoperas #nbc #1980s by @gideon.rathbone2

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7 days ago

Tiny Pretty Things

This show literally got me through COVID…

Premiering in December 2020, at the heart of the pandemic, this young adult drama about lies, secrets, schemes, and murders at a Chicago ballet school was rather traditional when it came to its characters and storytelling but nevertheless had post COVID, post pneumonia inducted COVID self immensely intrigued. What really amazed me about the show was that the dancing in the show was performed by the actors themselves and not doubles.

Critical reviews of the series were mixed. Regardless, Netflix quietly canceled the series after a single season due to insufficient viewing figures.

#soapopera #soapoperas #netflix #2020 by @gideon.rathbone2

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14 days ago

Emerald Point N.A.S.

What do you get when you put the creators of Dynasty with the network of Dallas?

This show is one of the lesser known projects on Richard and Esther Shapiro’s resume. A primetime soap revolving around the personnel stationed on a naval air station in Southern California. The series had an eclectic cast with notable actors of the time like Susan Dey, Andrew Stevens, Sela Ward, and Richard Dean Anderson. Ratings started off relatively good but decreased as the series continued. CBS pulled the plug after only one season leaving the show on a massive cliffhanger.

#soapopera #soapoperas #cbs #richarddeananderson #1983 by @gideon.rathbone2

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17 days ago

Dirt

By the mid 2000s, FX was a network that had became known for its edgy shows. Its flagship show, Nip/Tuck, became the example of the salacious sex soaked primetime soap that audiences would eat up.

Pretty much forgotten today, Dirt was a show that possessed everything the FX network was about at the time. Courteney Cox’s first project post Friends, she plays Lucy Spiller a ruthless tabloid editor who runs the magazine DirtNow along with her schizophrenic photographer best friend, Don Konkey, portrayed by Ian Hart. Like Nip/Tuck, all of Dirt’s characters were deliciously fucked up, the tone of the show was cynical, and explored daring topics.

The show got decent ratings and was renewed for a thirteen episode second season. Only seven episodes were produced before the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike shut down production. After the strike ended FX decided not to continue with the series due ratings starting to slip, possibly due to the network moving the show to Sundays at 10pm which is a highly competitive timeslot.

#soapopera #soapoperas #courteneycox #fxnetworks #2007 by @gideon.rathbone2

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a month ago

The Colbys

This one doesn’t need an introduction!

This spinoff of the legendary quintessential 80s primetime soap opera, Dynasty, was everything its parent show was cranked up to eleven. It more melodramatic, more glamorous, more sumptuous, more outrageous! The story followed Dynasty’s Jeff Colby as he has moved to Los Angeles to work for his billionaire uncle only to discover that his supposed dead wife, Fallon, is actually alive with amnesia and married to his cousin. Almost everything in this show somehow revolves around his complicated love triangle. I won’t say anything more about the plot, in case, you haven’t watched the show but it gets WILD!

This was a show that was jammed packed with Hollywood royalty like Barbara Stanwyck, Charlton Heston, Katharine Ross, Ricardo Montalban, and Joseph Campanella. Furthermore, the show introduced new unknown talents like Maxwell Caulfield and Stephanie Beacham who played the elegant but crafty Sable Colby, a role I may add that was turned down by both Faye Dunaway and Angie Dickinson.

The network dumped a truckload of money into the series. Charlton Heston was the highest paid actor on the show and was making $85,000 an episode which is about $250,000 an episode in today’s money. However, all the glitz and glamour and crazy melodramatic storylines weren’t enough to keep viewers and the show was cancelled after two seasons ending on a now infamous cliffhanger of Fallon getting abducted by aliens.

#soapopera #soapoperas #barbarastanwyck #dynasty #charltonheston by @gideon.rathbone2

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a month ago

The Beautiful Life

This CW teen drama executive produced by Ashton Kutcher came and went so quick that most people have forgotten it even existed. Starring a post-O.C. Mischa Barton along with Elle Mcpherson, Nico Tortorella, and Corbin Bleu, this series revolved around a group of both male and female models sharing a residence in New York City and all the drama and shady goings on within the fashion industry.

The CW ordered thirteen episodes for its first season but only six were produced and only two were aired before the show was cancelled due to the show being at the bottom of the ratings. All of the completed episodes can now be streamed on YouTube.

#soapopera #soapoperas #mischabarton #nicotortorella #thecw by @gideon.rathbone2

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a month ago

Fashion House

Probably most of you vaguely or don’t even remember the slew of nightly primetime soaps that came around in 2006 after the WB and UPN merged to become the CW. The CW took over all of the stations the WB was aired leaving the channels that the UPN aired their programming on for a new network to emerge. When it was first launched, MyNetworkTV, wasn’t just a syndicated programming station. From the gate, they produced programming by airing a slew of daily primetime soaps or “English speaking telenovelas” as they marketed them.

Based on the Cuban telenovela, Salir de Noche or Out in the Night as it translates to in English. Fashion House was one of the first shows that aired on MyNetworkTV and was heavily promoted up to its premiere. The show is all about the backstabbing and drama that exists in the fashion industry. At its core is the rivalry between Bo Derek’s Maria Gianni and Morgan Fairchild’s Sophia Blakely. Maria had had an affair with Sophia’s husband, Charles Blakely, years ago, resulting in the conception of her now adult son, Luke. Now both Sophia and her son by Charles do everything they can to destroy and fuck up Maria and Luke’s lives. The cast also a started a pre-One Tree Hill Robert Buckley and a pre-Chicago Fire Taylor Kinney.

The series debuted to modest ratings but quickly dropped off. After finishing a sixty-five episode season, the show was canceled. Personally, I believe the show would’ve lasted if the network had taken a page out of the British soap opera book and had placed it in an early evening timeslot (6pm or 7pm) instead of 9pm when it was up against stiff competition like Grey’s Anatomy, The O.C., and One Tree Hill.

#soapopera #soapoperas #boderek #taylorkinney #robertbuckley by @gideon.rathbone2

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a month ago

Models Inc.

A SPINOFF OF A SPINOFF

Even though I was only five years old when this show debuted, I still remember it vividly when it came on the scene. Starring a post-Dallas Linda Gray, a pre-Matrix Carrie Anne Moss, and a pre-Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Garcelle Beauvais this Aaron Spelling soap was a spinoff of Melrose Place which itself was a spinoff of Beverly Hills 90210.

Basically created as a vehicle for Linda Gray, it follows her character Hillary Michaels (Amanda Woodward’s mother) modeling agency and all the crazy melodrama that happened with her models. Storylines included a murder, kidnapping, prostitution, rape, doppelgängers, hitmen, eating disorders, and sex trafficking amongst the petty bitchiness, the bitch slapping, manipulation, and the hair pulling.

After being on the air for five months, Fox wasn’t satisfied with the series’s ratings. Show creator and runner, Charles Pratt, declared that he was willing to try anything to keep the show on the air. In the middle of the season Dynasty alum, Emma Samms, was brought in as the manipulative, almost sociopathic villainess Grayson Louder in an effort to boast ratings. Nevertheless, the show ended with its first season after twenty-nine episodes.

#soapopera #soapoperas #lindagray #aaronspelling #carrieannemoss by @gideon.rathbone2

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This is the first entry of a miniseries inside of a series. The modeling world is rich with elements that would make a juicy primetime soap opera. However, there hasn’t been a series set in that world that has lasted. This miniseries focuses on the four primetime soaps set in the modeling world that didn’t make it past one season.

Paper Dolls

We are going to start with the very first modeling soap. This show had a solid cast packed with legendary and iconic actors like Morgan Fairchild, Lloyd Bridges, Brenda Vaccaro, Dack Rambo, and a pre-Knots Landing Nicollette Sheridan. The show was a continuation of an ABC Monday Night Movie that aired two years previously starring Daryl Hannah, Marc Singer, Craig T. Nelson, and Joan Collins.

Set in New York, the series was about the cutthroat world of the modeling and cosmetics while revolving around two young models and the manipulative people pulling the strings. The show instantly became lauded by critics for its witty dialogue and characters but viewers didn’t gravitate towards the show. Even a last minute addition of Lauren Hutton to draw in viewers didn’t work and the show was cancelled after fourteen episodes.

#soapopera #soapoperas #abcnetwork #nicollettesheridan #1984 by @gideon.rathbone2

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The Round Table

NBC fumbles again…

I was surprised when I found that this was an Aaron Spelling show. It didn’t have typical glossiness that was standard of Spelling primetime shows of the 90s. Moreover, its opening theme was David Bowie’s Young Americans and not a pre-manufactured song created just for the show.

Partially inspired by the film, St. Elmo’s Fire, the series is set in Washington DC and focuses on the lives of a group of twenty-something professionals who frequent a bar called The Round Table. (Generic premise, I know). In this case, I cannot fully blame NBC for the show not lasting as it had a lazy premise and a middle of the road cast. The show never managed to attract an audience and was cancelled after airing six of its eight filmed episodes.

#soapopera #soapoperas #aaronspelling #nbc by @gideon.rathbone2

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Mount Royal

THE WRONG TIME
BADLY EXECUTED

I could write a twenty page term paper on why this French Canadian attempt at Dynasty crashed and burned but I only have such much space in a post so I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible.

The CTV (Canadian Television network) was criticized for not doing enough Canadian dramas and it needed a substantial Canadian drama to satisfy the Canadian Radio television and Telecommunications Commission in order to get its license renewed. Therefore, producers threw together a French Canadian Dynasty knock off. However, this show was nowhere near as good as its American predecessor. Yes, it had moments of glitz and glamour and was filmed in both Montreal and Paris and, at the time, was one of the most expensive Canadian TV productions with a staggering budget of seventeen million dollars.

The show followed the Valeur family, a rich French Canadian clan that resides in Montreal’s elite Mount Royal neighborhood. It was clear from the get go that the writers didn’t know how a soap opera works. Every installment of this show was self contained instead of being serialized. Storylines, backstory, and character development was retconned every episode. On top of that, the characters were just outright boring. There was little to no family conflict. Nothing truly scandalous or juicy happened. The only thing I found enticing about this damn show was its theme song, which I believe is criminally underrated, and the fact that it had Jonathan Crombie (Anne of Green Gables’ Gilbert Blythe). Crombie was a little critical of Mount Royal claiming that his character, the product of a wealthy family, should be “running around getting girls pregnant” instead of being (as Sable Colby would put it) a hive of inactivity.

The series proved to be an absolute flop for CTV and was cancelled after sixteen dismal episodes.

#soapoperas #soapopera #jonathancrombie #ctv #1988 by @gideon.rathbone2

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Sex, Love & Secrets

Though this show is pretty much forgotten now, as most UPN dramas ended up being, it was kind of innovative for its time for its documentary approach to characters and storylines. Created as a vehicle for Denise Richards and labeled as a “Generation Y soap opera”, Sex, Love & Secrets was about a collection of twenty-somethings in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood and their secrets regarding love and sex.

The show was narrated by an omnipresent type of narrator who discusses about all the characters. Denise Richards played devious publicist, Jolene Butler, who critics compared to Melrose Place’s Amanda Woodward characterized as a man eater and a “devilish character with a dark soul”.

Unlike UPN’s other primetime soap, South Beach, Sex, Love & Secrets wasn’t universally hated by the critics. Negative reviews called it a vapid soap and that it relied on “stock characters in stock situations”. However, others viewed it as a good replacement for Melrose Place fans and that it had potential though it was seen as a shallow version of The O.C.

Nevertheless, the show was cancelled after only airing four of its already ten filmed episodes.

#soapopera #soapoperas #upn #deniserichards #2005 by @gideon.rathbone2

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