@Willie Oleson Just in case you're still interested in the subject, I thought a bit more on how I'd do "Peyton Place." This time, I decided to focus on Allison:
Season 1: When we first see Allison, she is every inch "Alice in Wonderland" - long straight golden-blonde hair with a headband/hair-ribbon, a white short-sleeved blouse, a blue skirt, and Mary Jane shoes. She'd also be holding some books, naturally.
She holds conversations with a photo of a man on the mantel, whom she identifies as her father. Constance disapproves, but Allison ignores her. Constance also disapproves of Allison's group of friends: shack-dweller Selena Cross, neurotic Norman Page and newly arrived Lew Miles (Constance actually doesn't start out having a problem with Lew; at first she thinks he's a perfectly nice boy and it'd be good for Allison to have more friends like him; but something happens later on that sours Connie's perception of young Lew).
Allison also has a crush on Rodney Harrington, who is currently dating Betty Anderson. I haven't quite decided what exactly happens there, but Rodney ends up dumping Betty and asking Allison out. She excitedly agrees, but manages to play it cool. The two end up having a pretty good time together. Once again, Constance disapproves, seeing Rodney as a wildly inappropriate match for her innocent daughter.
Next, former New York socialite Doris Schuster opens a new dress shop, filled with trendy 1960s clothes. Selena Cross eagerly applies for a job and gets it (this means she can finally get some new cloths - nice ones, too). Allison comes by the shop to congratulate Selena, and bumps into Doris' deaf-mute daughter, Kim, who takes an instant liking to Allison. Doris' husband, David, also takes a shine to Allison and suggests she become Kim's babysitter. Allison agrees, while Doris glances suspiciously back and forth between her husband and this pretty young teen.
After some time of watching David and Kim fawn over Allison, Doris steadily grows bitter towards her. One day, she sees Allison talking with Lew Miles, and, after seeing them hug, gets a spiteful idea. She goes and finds Marion Partridge, the town's notorious gossip, and "offhandedly" remarks about the possibility of Allison and Lew being in a secret romance. Marion spreads the remark like wildfire; both Constance and Lew's mother, Alma, are quick confront their children. Allison and Lew defend themselves, insisting they were never lovers and had no intention to be.
Betty manages to steal Rodney back by revealing her pregnancy by him. However, she miscarries, and Rodney goes back to Allison.
Allison begins to take more notice of how bad the lives of Selena and Norman are, though: she witnesses Selena's father, Lucas, hit and then try to beat her, but the presence of Allison and Selena's younger brother, Joey, stop him. As for Norman, he ends up confiding in Allison just how possessive his mother is, and how nervous he gets around girls.
Allison also wants to make amends with Betty, and invites her to her birthday party. Constance yet again disapproves of this decision, as she has never liked Betty's sexual reputation. But Allison insists on inviting Betty, who shows up with Lew as her date. Rodney pours liquor into the punch bowl, and then starts a game of "photograph" by turning out all the lights and passionately kissing Allison. Constance comes in and creates a scene, ordering every teen out of her house. She and Allison have a big fight that results in Constance slapping Allison.
Not long after, Allison experiences another slap: while out on a walk with Norman, the subject of kissing comes up. Norman again talks about how awkward and scared he is about such things... and how wildly curious. Allison decides to give Norman a kiss to help him overcome his shyness (though she's quick to point out beforehand she doesn't want to become lovers with him; she's still in love with Rodney; Norman will have to find his own girl to have more kisses with).
Unfortunately, they were being followed by Norman's mother, Evelyn, who separates them, slaps Allison, and drags Norman home.
Allison tells Rodney about her kissing Norman; Rodney finds the news amusing and says she probably did Norman some good. He does take offense to Evelyn Page slapping his girlfriend, though, and even wishes Mrs. Page were a man so he, Rodney, could slug him.
Evelyn Page is quick to spread word that Allison Mackenzie is new hussy in town, and Doris Schuster decides Allison isn't good to have around her house anymore. Kim takes the news badly, but David reluctantly agrees with his wife. Allison is heartbroken at not getting to spend time with Kim, but she soon gets a job at the local newspaper thanks to Matthew Swain, whom Allison calls "Uncle Matt" despite him being her mother's cousin.
The comes the prom. Rodney and Allison attend as each other's date, but Rodney starts to get jealous when he sees Betty dancing with every available guy in the room. This results in a petty argument with Allison, and the two decide to break up. Allison then finds Norman skulking in a corner, and orders him to dance with her. He does so, albeit clumsily.
[Selena's father, Lucas, leaves town.]
In the season finale, during the town's 4th of July picnic, Allison and Norman go for a swim at the lake; Marion Partridge spotted them going that way. Meanwhile, Rodney and Betty end up at the same lake, and go skinny dipping. Marion's husband, Charles, saw the nude pair but didn't see their faces. He mentions this to his wife, and Marion instantly assumes it was Allison and Norman, and wastes no time in phoning as many people as she can.
When Allison returns home for the evening, Constance descends upon her in a rage. Allison holds her own and insists she was never naked with Norman, that the rumor is nothing but a lie. And just as she's on the verge of convincing her mother that that is the truth...
...Evelyn Page storms in, announcing that Norman admitted to having sex with Allison (in actuality, Evelyn forced her son to "admit" to that). She warns Allison to never again come near her son, and Constance angrily orders Evelyn to leave her house. Once Mrs. Page is gone, though, Constance turns on her daughter, accusing her of lying all along. Things become so wildly heated that Constance calls Allison a bastard, and reveals she never married Allison's father.
Stunned, it is Allison's turn to call Connie a liar and races upstairs...
...only to scream at the sight of Nellie Cross having hung herself in Allison's bedroom closet.
Season 2: Allison is in shock from both learning she is illegitimate and seeing Nellie's dead body, and has to be hospitalized for a while. She gets over it just so she can be there for Selena. But things are tense between Allison and Constance. The former ends up confiding in "Uncle Matt" that, once she graduates this year, she'll be leaving for New York. Matthew warns Constance to try and reconcile with her daughter, or she might lose her forever.
Meanwhile, Elliot Carson comes to town and gets a job at the newspaper - right alongside Allison. He starts a rapport with her, and later goes to the bookstore where Constance works. She is thunderstruck by his arrival and orders him to stay away from Allison. Elliot waves the order aside, pointing out he can't quit his new job so soon.
Elliot continues to grow close to Allison, who rather enjoys talking with him. He makes a good replacement for Rodney and Norman, who have been avoiding her.
Constance is very worried about Allison, and tries to warn her daughter away from Elliot, but Allison spurns her mother's advice. Eventually, Constance confides in Matthew who Elliot Carson really is: he's Allison's biological father... and that he murdered his own wife when he found out Constance was pregnant with his child. He had been found out and arrested, serving all these years in prison.
Matthew agrees Allison must be kept away from Elliot, but is unsure how to proceed, as Elliot could very well be a dangerous man.
Meanwhile, Rodney comes back into Allison's life, asking if she wants to give things another go. Allison says she's not sure, and ends up asking Elliot for advice. Elliot decides his daughter could do better, and goes to tell Rodney to stay away from her. Rodney, having no idea who this man is, tells him to mind his own business.
Elliot doesn't take kindly to this.
Later on, one evening, Rodney is out walking - and gets hit by a car. The driver doesn't pull over, but speeds away. Rodney is found and brought in to the hospital, where he recovers, but has to go around in a wheelchair for a while.
The news does bring Allison to Rodney's side, however. Something Elliot disapproves of.
Elliot also ends up disapproving when he starts to notice how close Constance seems to be getting with Principal Kyros.
Not long after, Principal Tomas Kyros is found dead - murdered.
Amid the resulting frenzy of the whole town wondering and gossiping while the police investigate, a terrified Constance confronts Elliot, hoping that it was not him. He doesn't admit to anything, aside from saying he's glad "that man" is out of the way of him and Constance getting back together.
Her fears confirmed, Constance next worries that Elliot will go after Michael Rossi, her other potential love interest, next. She warns the doctor to never go anywhere alone, to always watch his back and be careful of anyone he doesn't already know. Michael is suspicious of such warnings, but Connie insists she's just paranoid about the recent murder.
Meanwhile, Allison discovers that Elliot Carson is her father (I haven't decided how yet). At first, she doesn't take it so well... but after thinking things over, she decides he's actually surprisingly close to how she imagined her father to be. She welcomes Elliot into her life with open arms and even encourages Constance to get back together with him ("After all, he's not married anymore. His wife passed away some time ago, did you know?").
Constance is too afraid of what it'll do to Allison if she finds out what a monster her father really is, and simply says she's not in love with him anymore. But this only causes more tension between mother and daughter. Constance is forced to come clean and tell Allison not only the truth about Elliot's late wife, but also her suspicions that Elliot murdered Principal Kyros. And possibly had something to do with Rodney's accident.
Stunned, Allison refuses to believe it... and yet...
Eventually, what Connie fears will happen occurs: Elliot gets the impression that there's something going on between her and Michael, tries to murder the doctor. He sets a trap for him at his beach house, but Constance gets wind of Elliot's plan and races over.
Allison follows, desperately hoping that she might catch her mother in a lie or something. Constance saves Michael, but he's badly injured. Elliot appears and becomes violent with Constance. Allison arrives and sees the fight. She grabs a knife and stabs Elliot, killing him (this is a reference to how Lana Turner's daughter killed her mother's abusive boyfriend, which resulted in a trial held during the original movie's run - which helped a lot with its publicity).
Once again, Allison goes into shock once she realizes what she's done, and must be hospitalized. Constance gets Michael to testify that it was Constance herself who killed Elliot (in self defense, of course), fearing how the citizens of Peyton Place would view Allison if they knew. She also leaves out that she and Elliot knew each other beforehand, saying only that he recently became obsessed with her. The police buy Connie's story and no charges are pressed.
But Allison becomes disgusted with how many lies her mother has told; disgusted with how all her dreams have been shattered; disgusted by all of Peyton Place; and in a horrendous fit, viciously cuts her own hair.
Allison becomes withdrawn from her friends and family, until one night, she takes a shower (symbolically cleansing herself of Peyton Place), puts on new clothes she recently bought from the dress shop, places all the money she has into her purse, and goes walking around the town, stopping at various places and remembering old moments, just like Mia Farrow's last episode.
Meanwhile, Rodney has bought a ring, and is preparing to propose to Allison. The last line he speaks this season is, "Allison Mackenzie, will you marry me?" But Allison remains unaware of this as she goes for her evening stroll. Finally, she makes it to the outskirts of town, takes one last look over her shoulder, before continuing onward.
Season 3: Everyone searches wildly for Allison, but she can't be found. Accusations fly and theories are shared, but nothing can be done. Allison Mackenzie is gone.
Around Christmas, Selena Cross and her little brother Joey, in their neatly fixed-up home, are happily decorating their tree, when a drunk Lucas comes in, wearing a Navy uniform. He quickly becomes violent and lecherous, and Selena beats him to death with a pair of fireplace tongs.
Sometime later, close to the season finale, Constance is buying a new outfit at the dress shop, being assisted by Selena. Just then, Naval Officers come in (they open the door for Marion Partridge to enter first, but she steps into another section of the store and isn't noticed by Connie or Selena) and question Selena about the whereabouts of Lucas.
Selena says she knows nothing, but after the officers leave, she breaks down and hurries into the back room. Constance follows and tries to console her, but Selena lets it out what truly happened: that she killed Lucas and buried him under the sheep pen. Marion, who had quietly stepped up to the door, overhears everything, and just as quietly scurries away before Constance comes to check to see if there's anybody else in the shop, before closing the door behind her. While Constance tells Selena to keep things quiet, Marion phones her husband, the district attorney.
Its not long before Selena is arrested and Marion has the town viciously gossiping about her - and about Constance too (Marion correctly deduced Connie instructed Selena not to say anything). Ted Carter breaks up with Selena, saying being attached to a murderess would ruin his chances at becoming a lawyer. Michael, Matthew and Harry gather to discuss the possibility of revealing the truth about Lucas, except that could potentially ruin Selena for the rest of her life.
The trial takes place, and both Joey and Selena each take the stand. Then a third witness is called forth:
Allison Mackenzie.
In the crowd, a woman wearing a hat, scarf, sunglasses and coat stands up. She takes off these things to reveal that she is indeed, Allison Mackenzie (and her hair is as short as it was during last season's finale; plus her wardrobe is a lot more flashy and trendy than how it was in the last two seasons). She steps up to the stand amid a flurry of whispers, each one wondering where she's been all year.
[When Allison is sworn in, she says, "I do." This is her first line in Season 3. This is meant to make fans speculate that this is a sign that she and Rodney will marry, as his final line in Season 2 was practicing his proposal to her.]
Allison testifies that she knew Lucas Cross abused Selena, having seen him beat her (she gives more self-assured testimony than her movie-counterpart did) and even states she noticed bruises on Selena from time to time.
In response to Allison saying she say Lucas slap Selena, the prosecutor asks her if she herself has ever been slapped. Allison says yes: by her mother, by Evelyn Page, and by Lucas Cross himself. She goes on to say that one time, she stopped by the Cross' shack to meet up with Selena, but she wasn't there. Just a drunk Lucas who became angry, started accusing Allison of making Selena think she was better than him, and even started saying other things that didn't make sense, and slapped Alison, who made her escape when Lucas tripped on something.
Of course, Allison is lying, but she's trying to help Selena by painting Lucas as a consisently abusive man. The prosecutor takes note that nobody else was around when Lucas allegedly slapped her, though. Allison remains cool, though, and says she never told anyone about it because she was too young, too afraid and too stupid.
Constance is called to the stand next, and asked if her daughter ever brought her troubles home. Constance ends up having a breakdown, and a recess is held.
Several people try to get close to Allison to ask her where she's been, but Allison only has time for Selena, who of course also wants to know where she's been. Allison reveals she went through with her desire to go to New York. While there, she roomed with an actress named Stephanie Wallace, who knew somebody who worked for a magazine, and that was how Allison got her first job there.
Meanwhile, Matthew Swain, Michael Rossi and Harry Miles all gather to discuss whether they should reveal that Lucas raped and impregnated his daughter, but they know doing that would ruin Selena's life. They decide to follow Allison's example and make statements that they too noticed Selena was being abused, and that it was they who drove Lucas out of town to get him away from her.
With all this evidence, Selena is acquitted, much to the anger of Marion Partridge. But everyone else is relieved and glad for Selena.
Rodney goes up to Allison with the wedding ring in his pocket... but then a man steps up next to Allison. She introduces him as Lewis Jackman, a publisher in New York City... and her boyfriend. Rodney congratulates them and sadly walks away.
Constance manages to corner Allison, but only tell her how relieved she is to finally know where her daughter is. She also comments on Lewis, saying how he seems like a nice man... only for Allison to come out and say that he's already married.
"Like mother, like daughter."
Season 4: I only have a general idea for what happens here, but Lewis ends up telling Allison he wants to divorce his wife so he can be with her... only he dies in a car crash. Not long after, Allison is confronted by Lewis' widow, who reveals herself to be pregnant. She wants to know if Lewis had really fallen in love with Allison, but the latter lies and says Lewis had just broken up with her before the accident. This comforts Mrs. Jackman, and she leaves peacefully.
So there. What do you think?