Brody
04-01-2004, 08:43 AM
Dallas. Dynasty. Falcon Crest. The soaps which stood head and shoulderpads above the rest, and took the soaps out of daytime, and out of the suburbs, and into the bedrooms and boardrooms of the high and mighty.
Since the heady days when these three ballsy shows reigned supreme, prime time soaps have fallen somewhat from the tops of the ratings, and from favour. The 90s saw a series of attempts to revive the genre (Central Park West, 2000 Malibu Road, The Monroes), none of which caught that essential spark, CPW lasting the longest at two seasons. The long shadow cast by the Ewings, Carringtons and Channings, however, resigned these shows to their fate almost before they hit the air. Park West became the worst perpetrator of the 80s influence - into it's second year it employed Raquel Welch as a vengeful ex-wife bitch to a character called Blake, oh, sorry... Brock, who got into a cat fight with her rival, his more demure new wife. Hmmmm.
Anyway, all of these supersoaps have, whilst not gathered viewers in their millions, found a fanbase. And here on these boards, we have had any numbers of discussions about what makes a supersoap, whilst supersoaps fail, why they're a success, etc. Now, this is a futile little exercise, as these shows bit-the-dust way back when, and aren't coming back. But, what i'm asking you is what they did wrong? And if you could re-write the show, but under the same premise, what would you do?
I'll take a perticuarly dire show: Aaron Spelling's Titans, which I thought was, or at least could have been, great fun. As I see it, it was simply too pedestrian. Everything in it had been done before, and more extreme (the Ex-Wife/New-Wife setup was unsustainable in itself).
What did the show need? Balls.
Here's my premise: the Williams family are the richest family in Beverly Hills, and to the high-society they inhabit, they are a fine example of the all-american family. Richard Williams is a political heavyweight, his ever-supportive wife Gwen - to whom he has been married forever - always at his side, and their four children (Peter, Chandler, Laurie and Jenny) all smiling advoates of the american dream.
To the world, at least.
Behind closed doors, Richard & Gwen's marriage is a sad and crumbling battleground; Peter is a machiavellian bastard, using sex to embody his status and control over housemaid Samantha Sanchez; Jenny is a mess, secretly being held in a rehab centre to deal with her addiction to drugs and alcohol, having barely survived a breakdown where she nearly killed herself; Laurie, the supposedly 'responsible' one, is in fact a power-crazed insecure girl, desperate to stop her sister seizing power in their buisness venture and in the family (it transpires that she was organising dealers to supply her sister with drugs); The youngest child, Chandler, is the only 'morally clean' member of the family. It is through him that we are introduced to the Williams dynasty, and it is from his level that we measure all of their problems (this also stops Casper Van Dien having to act, which, as it happens, he never does anyway...)
The whole thing is torn apart by the arrival of Heather Lane, a woman Richard has been having a long-standing affair with, but then tried to keep a secret. She blows the charade wide open for all of Beverly Hills society to see, and and she rocks the family name. Heather Lane Vs The Williams builds up to a sizzling climax, where she flips out and stabs Richard to death (all very Basic Instinct), but gets found not guilty for the murder (don't as me how), and somehow gets a share of the Williams family money. Gwen resolves herself to pull her family back together, and fight Heather.
There, how's that for balls?
Since the heady days when these three ballsy shows reigned supreme, prime time soaps have fallen somewhat from the tops of the ratings, and from favour. The 90s saw a series of attempts to revive the genre (Central Park West, 2000 Malibu Road, The Monroes), none of which caught that essential spark, CPW lasting the longest at two seasons. The long shadow cast by the Ewings, Carringtons and Channings, however, resigned these shows to their fate almost before they hit the air. Park West became the worst perpetrator of the 80s influence - into it's second year it employed Raquel Welch as a vengeful ex-wife bitch to a character called Blake, oh, sorry... Brock, who got into a cat fight with her rival, his more demure new wife. Hmmmm.
Anyway, all of these supersoaps have, whilst not gathered viewers in their millions, found a fanbase. And here on these boards, we have had any numbers of discussions about what makes a supersoap, whilst supersoaps fail, why they're a success, etc. Now, this is a futile little exercise, as these shows bit-the-dust way back when, and aren't coming back. But, what i'm asking you is what they did wrong? And if you could re-write the show, but under the same premise, what would you do?
I'll take a perticuarly dire show: Aaron Spelling's Titans, which I thought was, or at least could have been, great fun. As I see it, it was simply too pedestrian. Everything in it had been done before, and more extreme (the Ex-Wife/New-Wife setup was unsustainable in itself).
What did the show need? Balls.
Here's my premise: the Williams family are the richest family in Beverly Hills, and to the high-society they inhabit, they are a fine example of the all-american family. Richard Williams is a political heavyweight, his ever-supportive wife Gwen - to whom he has been married forever - always at his side, and their four children (Peter, Chandler, Laurie and Jenny) all smiling advoates of the american dream.
To the world, at least.
Behind closed doors, Richard & Gwen's marriage is a sad and crumbling battleground; Peter is a machiavellian bastard, using sex to embody his status and control over housemaid Samantha Sanchez; Jenny is a mess, secretly being held in a rehab centre to deal with her addiction to drugs and alcohol, having barely survived a breakdown where she nearly killed herself; Laurie, the supposedly 'responsible' one, is in fact a power-crazed insecure girl, desperate to stop her sister seizing power in their buisness venture and in the family (it transpires that she was organising dealers to supply her sister with drugs); The youngest child, Chandler, is the only 'morally clean' member of the family. It is through him that we are introduced to the Williams dynasty, and it is from his level that we measure all of their problems (this also stops Casper Van Dien having to act, which, as it happens, he never does anyway...)
The whole thing is torn apart by the arrival of Heather Lane, a woman Richard has been having a long-standing affair with, but then tried to keep a secret. She blows the charade wide open for all of Beverly Hills society to see, and and she rocks the family name. Heather Lane Vs The Williams builds up to a sizzling climax, where she flips out and stabs Richard to death (all very Basic Instinct), but gets found not guilty for the murder (don't as me how), and somehow gets a share of the Williams family money. Gwen resolves herself to pull her family back together, and fight Heather.
There, how's that for balls?