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I think Angel Falls is the show you can't recall the title of. There's definitely one episode of it online. If I'm not mistaken, it aired in the Knots Landing timeslot the season after it ended.
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Was anyone a fan of King's Crossing, or its earlier incarnation The Secrets of Midland Heights?
It had an interesting cast: Lorenzo Lamas, Linda Hamilton and Beatrice Straight.
It had an interesting cast: Lorenzo Lamas, Linda Hamilton and Beatrice Straight.
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And Daniel Zippi.
It has a nice theme tune but the opening sequence suggests that it might be a little too nice for my taste. Not that I would dismiss it if I had the opportunity to watch it, but it doesn't look like must-see soap.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's as good as Knots Landing.
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Knots did beat Dallas in the last three years they were both on the air; and it still had strong ratings holding its own opposite LA Law (the shows had a weirdly symbiotic relationship, neither one really cut into the audience of the other)
It did have that Thursday night slot. it disappeared very quickly, which was odd given that its competition was an ABC news show, and LA Law in its death throes. It lasted all of five or six weeks, not the shortest CBS run of the season though (that would be South of Sunset starring Glenn Frey; gone after a single episode). Angel Falls was replaced on the schedule by Second Chances, a serialized crime soap from the duo of Lechowick and Latham, the same ones from Knots landing and Homefront. That show lasted for 10 episodes, but was doomed because its sets were destroyed in the early 1994 LA earthquake, and two of its actresses (Connie Sellecca and Megan Follows) were pregnant. CBS refused to pay up more to replace the sets or work around the pregnancies so the show was axed (it also co-starred Jennifer Lopez and had a recurring part for Michelle Phillips)
As for Titans, in 2000, NBC doomed that by ripping it out of its Wednesday slot, and moving it to Monday, refusing to advertise very much about its new time. Aaron spelling had been hatching an idea that could have given it some new juice. Before NBC dropped the axe, he was in talks with both Joan Collins and Donna Mills to join the show. Collins was actually going to reprise the role of Alexis. The very idea of three of the big 80s soap queens, Victoria, Joan, and Donna, on the same show is an intensely intriguing possibility, and I wish it had happened.
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Titans was moved because it was doing badly in the Wednesday time slot, especially as they had the red hot West Wing on the same night - so moving it to Mondays were their attempt at salvaging it as their Monday line-up was bombing worse than Titans. Add that they had to make a decision if they wanted to go further than 13 episodes, so they had to do something to see if there was some life in it - so they would've been satisfied for the season if the audience that it had on Wednesdays had followed it to Mondays, but it fell further in the ratings. I don't think they failed at advertising it either - they took a break for two weeks and ran non-stop promos for it moving ("One wild night!"). Viewers knew, they just didn't care because it was a lousy show.
As for bringing in Joan and Donna - I doubt it. That sounds like pure rumour mill. Bringing those two in would've catapulted the costs further for a show that was essentially bombing.
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From like 1988 onward, KNOTS regularly bested DALLAS in the ratings.
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That’s an interesting point about Knots and LA Law. Would I be correct in thinking that Dallas and Miami Vice had a similar relationship?
That show spawned an offshoot in Hotel Malibu, which Jennifer Lopez’s character crossed over to but it lasted even less time.
Unfortunately, the Alexis story was actually just a rumour that started on a forum and was picked up by the press. I think Spelling actually commented on it when asked, stating they’d no plans to do it. I didn’t hear the Donna Mills rumour until long after the show ended. It was said that she’d be joining the show as Richard and Jack’s sister. I’m not sure where the story originated but again, I don’t think there was any truth in it.
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I don't know that I'd call Second Chances a crime soap, but it was very good. I'd say it was more like a mixture of Knots Landing and Gilmore Girls. The issue with the earthquake is sad because it showed a lot of potential. I bought the DVD boxset, but I never got around to watching Hotel Malibu.
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The predecessor to this forum IIRC, so that's why it sort it boths amuses and annoys me when it comes up here tbh.
With that said, in order for Alexis to come on another show they'd have to pay the Shapiros to license her (and they could've very well turned him down!) and no way Aaron was going to do that.
Connie Sellecca didn't have much luck with CBS.
She was in the crime comedy drama Ps I Luv U (one of Glen Larson's creations) with Greg Evigan in 1992, but CBS premiered the show in the same Saturday 10pm/9pm Central slot against 2 other new dramas, Sisters on NBC and The Commish on ABC.
With 3 new dramas competing in the same slot, one was going to lose out, and it ended up being Ps I Luv U.
The closing credits to that have Connie lipsynching to the vocals of Suzanne Fountain alongside Greg.
Joan had done nothing for the ratings of Pacific Palisades to add, so doubt it would've worked for Titans.
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Titans was basically Pacific Palisades with Dynasty aspirations - a jumbled mess populated mostly by daytime stars. It just looked too cheap and lowbrow to be on the schedules alongside The West Wing. Had they stuck to the original concept of it being a dark satire in the vein of Soapdish (according to Victoria Principal’s interview with Ultimate Dallas I think) it could have worked. One year later, Pasadena did that theme quite well, albeit not well received. Had NBC gone that route, they could’ve had an edgy soap for the 00’s. Instead, they ended up with a badly written throwback that didn’t know what it wanted to be and didn’t fit in on any schedule.
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Pasadena just seemed like it was on the wrong network, wrong time slot (Fridays on Fox was a death sentence at that point) and came at the wrong time (in the aftermath of 9/11 and no one wanted to promote a dark serialised soap that's pretty much a critique of the American dream). Three or so seasons later, along came Desperate Housewives and exploded...
But yes, Titans looked incredibly cheap - you can even see the difference in the reshot scenes from the pilot featuring Lourdes Benedicto vs Priscilla Garita. Spelling put literally in no money post-pilot it seemed.
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Fox always was famous for killing off shows on Friday, but Pasadena's brief existence and quick disappearance also had another ripple effect concerning the later Desperate Housewives. Dana Delany, who would eventually join Housewives as Katharine, was repeatedly courted over and over to play Bree, and she turned it down three times, saying it was too close to her role on Pasadena. Marcia Cross (who was just originally going to try out for the role of deceased narrator Mary Alice) ended up getting a whole second wind to her career all because of a quickly cancelled Fox show.
Unable to find any episodes....however, it looks interesting
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You’ll catch a brief glimpse of the intro towards the end of this video (in addition to a continuity announcement for it near the start).
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The Colbys failed mostly due to its high expenses. Its ratings weren't huge, but not abysmal. Heston bring its biggest star. Certainly had potential and had the morons moved to a less competitive night, not Thursdays in the 80s.... it might have given us 5 years.
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These two factors I believe (as do most, I would say) are fundamental in why THE COLBYS didn't succeed. It was a very expensive show -- and, of course, it would have to be with the likes of Heston, Stanwyck, Ross, Montalban, and other well-known names cluttering the primary cast. That, along with the locations and clothes, it was probably more expensive than DYNASTY at the time.
THE COLBYS did also have a rough time getting good time slots. The show got its best ratings when ABC placed it on Wednesday nights, directly following DYNASTY. When they decided to shake things up and move THE COLBYS around, the audience left. Putting the show on Thursday evenings was a death sentence. Thursdays were dominated by NBC and their sitcom schedule in the mid-to-late-'80s. And by the time THE COLBYS had fallen to like 62nd in the ratings, ABC felt it was more sensible to kill the baby and save the parent.
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I wanted to like DIRTY SEXY MONEY (the acronym for which is the same as the one used for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) but the writers' strike of 2007/2008 killed it, and then ABC told them to go more "camp, like DYNASTY" (which was a mistake, arguably for both shows).
And who says sociopaths can't be adorable, Mr. Gabel?
And who says sociopaths can't be adorable, Mr. Gabel?
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I felt like season 1 was way more campy than season 2.
IIRC, they had to re-tool the first 6 episodes of season 2. Some of the stuff they had already filmed ended up as a stand-alone flashback/fantasy episode, which was aired late in the season. That's why Samaire Armstrong appears in that episode, even though she left the show after season 1.
Season 2 was too dark for my taste, even though I enjoyed most of the characters. The only one I could have done without was William Baldwin's Patrick – not because of his storylines, but he didn't feel like an organic part of the Darling family.
Btw, I didn't think that Seth Gabel's Jeremy was a sociopath. He was a loser and good-for-nothing, but he never hurt himself or others. He genuinely cared for his twin sister Juliet, for Nick's wife, and even for that bitch Nola. Before DSM, Gabel did play a convincing sociopath on NIP/TUCK, though.