The Prime Time Soaps That Never Happened

[Willie Oleson]

From "The Dynasty That Could Have Been" thread:

The Pollocks brought on their bible for a different prime time soap they had created on spec, and the Shapiros or Spelling or ABC or some combo of the three decided to adapt that bible to the Dynasty characters (or, as it turned out, vice versa).

We've discussed short-lived, obscure and forgotten prime time soaps, but how about the ideas that were rejected or withdrawn prior to production?

According to wiki, the makers of Peyton Place: The Next Generation had hoped that the reunion movie would instigate enough interest to justify a Next Generation TV series, but I don't think any concrete plans had been made.

Any info about ideas for prime time soaps that never happened?

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Great idea for a thread Willie. I love reading discussions like these that dig up shows I've never heard of before. In addition to Football Wives and Dark Mansions that we've discussed on here before, there's a few that immediately spring to mind for me.

Cruel Intentions: damn you NBC! Announcing a follow up was interesting enough but getting Sarah Michelle Gellar to come onboard meant this would've been excellent. Alas, they teased us for months as they "tried" to find a way to fit in with NBC's schedule before dumping the idea. The pilot is out there for those who want to annoy themselves by watching what could have been.

Daughters of Eve: there is next to nothing about this online but it was a mid-90's idea starring Sophia Loren which was described as the "first international prime-time soap opera". I've no idea what it was supposed to be about or if it even made it as far as shooting a pilot. It was financed by Procter & Gamble and Terry Louise Fisher of LA Law was involved.

The Corsairs: I really liked the sound of this when it was announced. It followed the lives of a mega rich media mogul and his family including children and ex-wives (kind of like what HBO are doing with Succession now). It was written by Larry Gelbart (MASH) and starred John Larroquette as patriarch Brandon Corsair as well as Patrick Dempsey, Martin Landau with Mimi Rogers and Mary McDonnell playing the wives / ex-wives. ABC didn't pick it up and while there used to be very short clips from the pilot on YouTube, they're no longer there.

Midas Valley: mid-80's ABC effort about the lives and loves of people working in Silicon Valley. Jean Simmons, Robert Stack, Catherine Mary Stewart and Brett Cullen were among the cast. ABC aired it as a TV movie after declining to go to series with it, to negative reviews.

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/27/arts/an-abc-tale-of-the-microchip-world.html

 

[ABrown]

Cruel Intentions: damn you NBC! Announcing a follow up was interesting enough but getting Sarah Michelle Gellar to come onboard meant this would've been excellent. Alas, they teased us for months as they "tried" to find a way to fit in with NBC's schedule before dumping the idea. The pilot is out there for those who want to annoy themselves by watching what could have been.

I was really excited for this since Sarah Michelle Gellar said that she was going to do it.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Midas Valley: mid-80's ABC effort about the lives and loves of people working in Silicon Valley. Jean Simmons, Robert Stack, Catherine Mary Stewart and Brett Cullen were among the cast. ABC aired it as a TV movie after declining to go to series with it, to negative reviews

There's something about the description in the NYT article that reminds me of Emerald Point N.A.S.: it wants to be a Big Soap but they can't come up with a good reason (or excuse).
At least The Colbys could be described as "expanding the Dynasty universe".
Not that there's anything wrong with a soap-for-the-heck-of-it, and I probably would have watched and enjoyed the Midas Valley soap....although...microchips? Catherine Mary Stewart? It doesn't strike me as must-see TV.

Cruel Intentions as a series? I guess that would have been something like REVENGE?

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Cruel Intentions as a series? I guess that would have been something like REVENGE?

The pilot is just as opulent as Revenge but is a lot soapier. There's a lot of sex, drugs, nudity, ex-wives dropping by in helicopters to stick the knife into their ex-husband, more sex. It's such a waste that it wasn't picked up to series by some network.

There's a couple of others that I've remembered from the early 2010's

Scruples: from what I've read online, in addition to the Lindsay Wagner miniseries in 1980, there was also an attempt to launch it as a primetime soap on ABC in 1981 with Shelley Smith taking over the lead role. I don't know if that version ever saw the light of day as a TV movie when the series wasn't picked up. There was also supposed to be a daytime version in development with Susan Flannery as the lead. The most recent one that I'm thinking of is this version with Claire Forlani playing the lead. While the idea of a period soap is interesting, the trailer doesn't exactly fill me with excitement.

Americana: I think this was in development at ABC at the same time as the above. I remember thinking it sounded good on paper but watching the pilot, I wasn't that impressed by it.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

There's something about the description in the NYT article that reminds me of Emerald Point N.A.S.: it wants to be a Big Soap but they can't come up with a good reason (or excuse).
At least The Colbys could be described as "expanding the Dynasty universe".
Not that there's anything wrong with a soap-for-the-heck-of-it, and I probably would have watched and enjoyed the Midas Valley soap....although...microchips? Catherine Mary Stewart? It doesn't strike me as must-see TV.

Given that ABC were struggling at the time, I imagine they were trying anything they could to replicate the success of Dynasty, in the same way that CBS had with Dallas leading to Knots Landing and Falcon Crest. However, in their desperation, they were green-lighting pilots for any old rubbish before eventually deciding to literally replicate Dynasty with Dynasty II: The Colbys.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The pilot is just as opulent as Revenge but is a lot soapier. There's a lot of sex, drugs, nudity, ex-wives dropping by in helicopters to stick the knife into their ex-husband, more sex.

Sounds like soap mayhem, I wonder who played the hunks.

Scruples:

Americana:

Soap fashion is fabulous but I find fashion as a business rather dull. Scruples is mostly a "behind the scenes" story and I really enjoyed the book. The fact that they had to enhance the mini-series version with a rape scene tells you that there really wasn't much to show. It wasn't that kind of story. Maybe it would have worked as a super-sleazy eurofilm (starring Kate O'Mara) but Lindsay Wagner was too All American "clean".
I must say, the actors in that Scruples trailer look the way I imagined them when I read the novel.

Emerald Point's naval base was a much meatier key feature, but there really wasn't much they could do with it, I don't remember what happened but I assume it had some anti-American villains. But you can't trash the navy itself, at least not in Hurray For America 1983.
The oil business is much more fun, even when it doesn't make sense. I'd rather watch the befurred and bejewelled Dynasty divas sinking each other's tankers than fighting over a design for some frock. Or a cosmetic line, like the men in Paper Dolls did. It's just not exciting at all.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Sounds like soap mayhem, I wonder who played the hunks.

Taylor John Smith played Bash, who following the death of the man who he thought was his real father in a blowjob related car crash, discovers that the long deceased Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe in the original film) is actually his biological father, meaning he is set to inherit a fortune.

Coby Bell, Peter Gallagher and Duane Henry rounded out the rest of the male cast while Nathalie "Cristal #1" Kelley played the assistant and lover of Sarah Michelle Gellar's Kathryn.

 

[JamesF]

I had desperately tried to find the Cruel Intentions pilot a couple of years ago, failed, then this thread alerted me to its existence and I found it. So glad I did! It wasn't perfect but it seemed to weave together the film, teen soap and classic family soap really well. The last few scenes were particularly delicious; such a shame it didn't get picked up. It's absolutely not an NBC show but could really have worked on Netflix.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

On the subject of period soaps like Scruples, Lee Daniels was developing Valley of the Dolls at NBC prior to Empire but the idea was dropped after the failure of other 60's set shows Pan Am and The Playboy Club.

 

[GillesDenver]

The Shapiros developed a project of soap in the mid-90's but I can't find the source.

"Flamingo Road" could have continued as a daily soap in 1982 but the plans were eventually cancelled, probably because most of the cast did not want to do a daily show.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The Shapiros developed a project of soap in the mid-90's but I can't find the source.

Are you thinking of The Colony? I've seen Esther Shapiro mention it in an interview. She described it as being like The O.C. It's another of those failed pilots that showed up as a TV movie. I may be completely imagining this but I think someone on here (possibly @Alexis ) had it on DVD and posted a thread about it.

 

[GillesDenver]

Yes, it must be "The Colony".

 

[Alexis]

Are you thinking of The Colony? I've seen Esther Shapiro mention it in an interview. She described it as being like The O.C. It's another of those failed pilots that showed up as a TV movie. I may be completely imagining this but I think someone on here (possibly @Alexis ) had it on DVD and posted a thread about it.

No I haven't seen it, I had read about it on here though. It must have been someone else.

 

[Alexis]

The Shapiros also did a Vampire show in the 90s I think.

 

[tommie]

The Shapiros did Blood Ties in 1991 and The Colony in 1996, both of this were shown on television but clearly meant as pilots for a tv series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Ties_(1991_film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colony_(1996_film)

 

[Willie Oleson]

Blood Ties could have been the first True Blood!

 

[GillesDenver]

Oh my God, how it is possible that Richard Shapiro never thought of including vampires in "Dynasty" ? "The Colbys" had an UFO and the only thing as ridiculous could have been to have a vampire ! I can picture Emma Samms as the victim.

 

[Toni]

The Shapiros also did a Vampire show in the 90s I think.

Was it autobiographical...?

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

No I haven't seen it, I had read about it on here though. It must have been someone else.

I can't even find a mention of it on here now so I must be imagining it or maybe it was talked about before the forum crashed. Here's the DVD cover anyway which they presumably released in the early 00's to cash in on the popularity of The O.C