Author Topic: Strange Paradise discussion vlog  (Read 110 times)

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Offline Gothick

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Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« on: July 15, 2026, 09:00:37 PM »
Last Sunday, Jule of the "Resident of Collinwood" vlog on the Tube of You invited myself, my Strange Paradise co-conspirator Curt Ladnier (whose blog here is worth checking out https://maljardinblog.wordpress.com) and "Collinsport After Dark" host Alan Gallant to record a discussion of the very first episode of SP. It's available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlyrhFIT0hk

Topics include memories of when each of us first encountered Strange Paradise, thoughts about the sets and early storyline, favorite scenes and characters, and some background stuff about the production.

I tried posting it to youtube but that platform seems to block links to Tumbler; there's a very good blog about the first couple of months of SP here:

https://michelles-garden-of-evil.tumblr.com/

cheers, Gothick

Offline Uncle Roger

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2026, 10:02:06 PM »
Hey, Gothick, thanks so much for the post. I watched Strange Paradise when it premiered on WNEW, Channel 5 from NYC. It aired at the dinner hour which made it very convenient. At some point, the station moved it to the afternoon which made it more difficult to watch. I'd see it if I got home from school in time but that was never a sure thing. They moved the show again but this time to 3am. Which meant that there was a large chunk of episodes that I was unable to view. [sadb] [sadg] [sadb].
Just wondering if you might know if Sylvia Feigel, who was one of my favorites, is still alive?
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Offline Gothick

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2026, 11:20:31 PM »
Hi Uncle Roger, that's awful that SP was moved to a 3 a.m. slot on WNEW. I guess the station manager and/or programmer just hated the series. It's gotten a bad rap from many viewers over the years but I happen to be quite fond of it (obviously). As I'm sure you know, DS producer Bob Costello left DS in October of 1969 to go to Ottawa and produce SP. He moved on to yet another series (I think it was Love of Life?) back in New York about five weeks or so prior to the conclusion of SP.

We haven't been able to learn anything about Sylvia Feigel's whereabouts since sometime in the 1990s, when we know she was living in Toronto. I thought she was very talented but apparently her career ran aground at some point in the early 70s. It is presumed that she retired from acting and moved on to other endeavors but we know of no details.

Best regards, Gothick

Offline Uncle Roger

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2026, 01:22:34 AM »
I wasn't surprised that WNEW did that, since they did the same thing when they aired the reruns of Peyton Place. They aired the show five nights a week with great fanfare and publicity. Then, it abruptly came to a stop with about a year's worth of episodes left to air. Some middle aged pudgy guy appeared superimposed in front of the iconic bandstand to announce that the saga of Peyton Place had come to an end. Newbies probably believed it. More than a year later, they began to show the remaining episodes at the 3am time slot on Sunday nights. I didn't work on Mondays at the time, so I was able to revisit some of my favorite memories. If you've never seen the late Diana Hyland as an alcoholic nymphomaniac who just happened to be married to the town minister, you missed 1960's television at its very campiest. Quite the antithesis of Hyland's later work as the mother on Eight Is Enough.

E
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Offline Gothick

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2026, 05:09:34 AM »
That sounds like an awesome storyline of Peyton Place. I think I might have seen one episode of that series. We never watched it (and I think it came on after my bedtime during the original broadcast until nearly the end). And I do not recall it ever being syndicated where I lived. From what I remember, only the first year or two of PP was ever released on DVD. Cubic miles of crap gets released every month while vintage TV gold (case in point, Grayson Hall's episodes of OLTL, but I won't lacerate myself about that) just get left to gather dust in the vaults.

Diana Hyland was quite good in an offbeat role in the TV movie Ritual of Evil, which was restored and issued on Blu-ray a few years ago. That was another one I missed way back when so it was quite a thrill to see it after so many decades had passed.

Btw I just saw that Jule did a discussion of the DS sets with Patty Karapinar whose forthcoming book on Sy Tomashoff's work (publication date will be later this year, I believe) will include a bounty of primary source materials from Sy's archive, including drawings and blueprints. It's on Jule's Resident of Collinwood vlog on the Tube of You. George Hernandez whom I don't know (and the host doesn't introduce him at all) makes really interesting observations, as does Alan Gallant who also participates. Alan is a community theater director and actor who has also built sets. It's just fascinating to hear this group discuss some of the sets we've all loved over the years. I think Patrick McCray joined in the later part of the discussion too.

Best, Gothick

Offline Uncle Roger

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2026, 12:35:33 PM »
Peyton Place was considered a status symbol in my grammar school. If you were able to stay up.late enough to watch it, you achieved cool status.
The show had acquired a reputation for being televised smut. Which it really wasn't. Nothing risqué happened for weeks at a time. But, when it did, the sinners would suffer and suffer for months and sometimes years. Which may be why the show was so popular in the Bible Belt.
Lee Grant credits the show for resurrecting her career after a lengthy blacklist. It also gave work to veteran actors like Dan Duryea, Ruth Warrick, George Macready, Wifrid Hyde-White and others. It also gave television exposure to Gena Rowlands, Micky Dolenz, Joan Van Ark and many others.
Diana Hyland was one of my favorites. I loved Ritual of Evil! She also once played the wife of Reverend Norman Vincent Peale!
She also appeared in a classic episode of The Twilight Zone called Spur of the Moment. Her life becomes a complete and utter disaster because her character marries that of Roger Davis!
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Offline Mysterious Benefactor

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2026, 05:10:30 PM »
If I remember correctly, in my area the Jean Paul Desmond/Jacques Eloi des Mondes storyline was shown at 6:30pm on WTEV-TV(now WLNE-TV) right after Peyton Place. After that storyline concluded I don't honestly remember what happened because I don't remember if I ever saw the Desmond Hall storyline. I've checked out a few of those eps on You Tube and don't remember having seen any of them. Perhaps like on WNEW it got moved to some ridiculous time slot.

Offline Gothick

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2026, 07:20:36 PM »
MB, my viewing experience of SP was the same. I loved the show and I somehow thought the last Maljardin episode was the finale of the series. I still remember reading one of the Dorothy Daniels novels (which bore slightly more relationship to the actual narrative of the series--but only slightly--than did the Dan Ross novels to DS) and wondering what had happened to Jean Paul, Raxl, Quito and Holly and if Jean Paul had survived the events of what I thought was the "final" show.

It wasn't until the Centaur VHS tapes started to come out, and I saw a web page they set up to promote sales, with a synopsis, that I learned that there had been a whole storyline that continued AFTER Maljardin. If I recall correctly, their synopsis ended with Jean Paul preparing to marry Helena, and the VHS tapes didn't even get to that point of the storyline. I think the company failed around the time they released volume 21 of the tapes.

Btw I lost around $70 when I tried to order more tapes (I think I'd only gotten to volume 7)--the order was never filled and an attempt to contact Centaur led to nothing.

I still feel really grateful that I was able finally to see the entire series thanks to the kindness of a friend.

Gothick

Offline Uncle Roger

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2026, 07:48:51 PM »
Well, it's literally been decades since I saw any of this, so I hope that my memory is accurate. I remember watching the Desmond Hall episodes, though the witchcraft angle didn't seem to play out as I thought it would. I do remember some sweet young thing (Emily?) who was the servant of some serpent god. I also saw the introduction of Helena Raleigh which seemed to energize the show. I guess it came a little too late to save it from cancelation. Gothick, was there much more after that?
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Offline Gothick

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #9 on: July 16, 2026, 09:52:41 PM »
It ran for 195 episodes (one episode from late in the run is missing, but it doesn't really matter that much). There were three thirteen-week storyline arcs. The events you mention happened during the second thirteen week arc. The third thirteen-week arc was when Harding Lemay (who later became a famous, award-winning soap opera scriptwriter in New York) took over nearly all of the scripting. It was IMO when the series "jumped the shark." The most bizarre plot development was having Raxl move into a villain role. I think it's all on youtube if you're ever curious to watch more. On my last re-watch of the final 13 weeks, I found myself enjoying it more than I had done the first time around, when I spent a lot of time mouthing variations on that time honored phrase, W T F, at the screen.

Gothick

Offline Gothick

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Re: Strange Paradise discussion vlog
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2026, 02:24:39 AM »
Here's the DS set discussion featuring Patty Karapinar, author of the forthcoming book on Sy Tomashoff, and several others:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh8NZKFvoiA

Some very cool info here. Very much worth watching. I don't know if it was already mentioned at the time, but a few months ago Guy Haines posted a video of a talk Sy gave at an early Festival about his work on the show. Excellent presentation.

Gothick