O.T. Peyton Place

[michael c]

because not one 1960's small-new-england-town-with-secrets soap opera is enough for me i picked up the dvd of the first season of "peyton place".

does anyone here have any thoughts about it? i've always heard good things about it. mia farrow seems to be playing a sort of victoria-winters-ish ingenue. she looks radiant.

i can't wait to watch it. my only concern is that it's only the first 31 episodes of a 500+ episode series that has thus far been released. what happens if i get hooked and can't find out what happens?

[michael c]

just when i thought alexandra moltke as victoria winters had taken ingenue-ish-ness to a preternatural state along comes mia farrow's allison mackenzie and sends it to the outer limits.

she's to die for.

[Lydia]

Oh gosh, mscbryk, you wouldn't abandon us altogether for another soap, would you?

[David]

My parents were really into this show on it's original run. I remember in the mid-60s how "shocking" it was when an upscale black family became part of the storyline~~it's hard to believe that such attitudes were the norm during my lifetime, but I suppose they were.

PP gave us three movie stars: Mia Farrow, Barbara Parkins & Ryan Oneal.

David

[Charles_Ellis]

Let's not forget Leigh Taylor-Young and future Oscar winner Lee Grant, who made a great comeback after being blacklisted for a decade!!  There are DS links: Sam Hall served briefly as a story consultant and Malcolm Marmorstein wrote for PP in its final season.  Also, each show had its original ingenue lead leave the show halfway through its run, leaving a void that was never really filled.  Another coincidence: during the first year of each show, a male character returned to town to clear himself of a crime for which he was wrongly convicted and the culprit was the member of the town's 'first family'!

[Lydia]

Another coincidence: during the first year of each show, a male character returned to town to clear himself of a crime for which he was wrongly convicted and the culprit was the member of the town's 'first family'!

I'm not sure I'd call it a coincidence that two soaps used the same reliable old chestnut.

Interesting information about the writers, though.

[michael c]

Oh gosh, mscbryk, you wouldn't abandon us altogether for another soap, would you?

don't worry lydia. somehow i doubt ten years from now i'll be attending "peyton place" fan conventions and posting on a message board. dark shadows is in my blood.

there are more coincidences to be sure. like d.s. peyton place opens with a shot of a train pulling into a small new england town and a conductor announcing it's arrival time that's nearly identical to the scene with burke devlin.

the actresses who portray both shows ingenue heroines will later in life become embroiled in rather sordid public scandals.

of course both shows employ that old soap chestnut of having a star from hollywood's "golden age"(in this case dorothy malone)climb onboard as some sort of central matriarch.

the barbara parkins character betty anderson kind of reminds me of maggie evans. sort of the working class girl playing second fiddle to the dreamy central ingenue.

obviously a vampire isn't going to come crawling out of the woodwork but both show's early days share some similarities and i think that's why i'm enjoying peyton place so much.