ABC50th:Was it worth waiting 3 hours?

[DStoDA]

I waited 3 hours to see at least 20 seconds of DS recognition and after waiting till almost the end of the special, the soap section finally comes on and DS gets about.....2 seconds of screen time. Yasmine Bleeth even got more screen time. All they showed was one second of the DS opening title and one second of old barnabas. I am mad.

[denise]

As of this moment I am in Calif and yes it was worth it because you saved me wasting 3 hours of mindless watching just for 2 seconds of DS. Thank you.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

and after waiting till almost the end of the special, the soap section finally comes on and DS gets about.....2 seconds of screen time.

Well, simply taken on its own terms I think recognizing DS at all was an honor because practically none of ABCs past soaps got any recognition whatsoever. But I do agree that it's pretty bad when KLS received more screen time as part of the special's crime fighters of ABC montage when a clip of her episode of Police Squad (the shoot-out with Leslie Neilson - that was KLS' character hiding behind the bench) was shown, than DS received in total.

[Selby_D._Pearson]

I had heard that ABC got the clip of Old Barnabas biting Carolyn but it was questionable whether ABC would use any of it at all. Even to have shown one second of the fangs and hearing one second of Carolyn screaming would have made the clip more identifiable than seeing some old man standing there by the curtains doing nothing. Only die-hard fans would recognize this as Barnabas/Jonathan Frid. The only clue for someone who might have only seen the show during its original run was Barnabas' coat.

I thought that showing clips from past Oscar shows was a waste of time. Save them for Oscar specials. ABC was tooting its horn about hosting a show that it had little to do with. Pathetic.

Still, 2 seconds is better than nothing.  :-

SDP

[Midnite]

Thank you also for the heads up, DStoDA.  Did like that it was recognized as a groundbreaking moment.

But I do agree that it's pretty bad when KLS received more screen time as part of the special's crime fighters of ABC montage when a clip of her episode of Police Squad (the shoot-out with Leslie Neilson - that was KLS' character hiding behind the bench) was shown, than DS received in total.

Hmm, of the DS actors shown, seems Paul Michael was on camera the longest.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Hmm, of the DS actors shown, seems Paul Michael was on camera the longest.

Do audience shots count? But you're right - he was probably more a part of the special than Kate Jackson was with Charlie's Angels.

And was it just me, or did the special seem to focus heavily on the network's '70 sucesses (Brady Bunch, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Charlie's Angels, Roots, Rich Man, Poor Man, etc.)? Have the the last 20+ years really been that awful for them that they didn't deserve equal time? It was almost as if the entire '80s hadn't even existed for them.

[Josette]

Well, if one was watching the 3 hours just for DS, then obviously it wasn't worth it!!  And, it came at almost the very end, too.

However, I thought it would be fun to see all of the clips and whatever else they did, so was watching it anyway.  Fortunately, I was paying close enough attention to catch the DS glimpse!!

[ClaudeNorth]

And was it just me, or did the special seem to focus heavily on the network's '70 sucesses

Well, the 1970s were a great time for ABC.  Up until that time, they usually were the third place network. Under the guidance of Fred Silverman, they shot to number one in the ratings.

I agree that the DS clips were disappointing.  How odd to choose a shot of Old Barnabas.  Why not a clip featuring Barnabas and JULIA HOFFMAN?

For me, the highlight was the clip from LEAVE IT TO BEAVER with Damon Wayans morphed in.  I'll never look at Whitey in the same way!

Regards,

John

[Anubis]

For me, the highlight was the clip from LEAVE IT TO BEAVER with Damon Wayans morphed in.  I'll never look at Whitey in the same way!

I agree.  I thought that was the best part of the show.  Although I was disappointed that they showed such a small clip of D.S. I was very excited that they included Twin Peaks.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Well, the 1970s were a great time for ABC.  Up until that time, they usually were the third place network. Under the guidance of Fred Silverman, they shot to number one in the ratings.

Oh, I realize that - but it's not like the decades since have been all downhill.

I agree that the DS clips were disappointing.  How odd to choose a shot of Old Barnabas.  Why not a clip featuring Barnabas and JULIA HOFFMAN?

Well, as much as I agree it would have great to have seen a dramatic clip, particularly one featuring Julia, it seemed like they were going more for something that was "ground breaking" and the make-up effects DS used were most definiterly ground breaking - especially for a soap in the '60s.

We love to make fun of so many things about DS. But in this day and age when special effects are fairly common place on soaps, we tend to forget how really ground breaking DS actually was for its time - and not just when it came to special effects. For example, it was pretty common, particularly for shows like GH, to have an actor play a scene that was staged in front of one wall, with a chair in front of it, a floor lamp behind the chair, and a telephone stand and phone beside it. THAT was the character's entire apartment! DS, more often than not, had sets that were comprised of three walls and decorated with a fair amount of furniture (even if that furniture wasn't always entirely accurate for the period ). And having a permanent set like Collinwood's foyer/drawing room was practically unheard of for daytime. So, it might have been nice if a few more "ground breaking" aspects of DS had been explored, even if was simply in a really quick montage. But then, I suppose that would have cut into the time the special was devoting to ABC's celebration of the '70s.

[VictoriaWintersRox]

I liked the ABC special for the most part, but I wish they had focused more on sitcoms and soaps than they did. I can see why they focused parts on the '70s, but they forgot one of their biggest hits - Three's Company. There were like 2 or 3 small clips in the sitcom montage, but that's it. And TC was in the top ten for all but two of it's eight seasons [with it being #11 in it's first season and out of the top thirty in it's last.]. HD and L&S experienced more major drops during their runs, and TC is more or less on the same popularity level as L&S. Werm. That got off topic! 

As for soaps, they didn't even have a clip from One Life to Live, and that has been on since 1968. They could've put SOMETHING in there for it...maybe Judith Light's character confessing to being a callgirl. *shrug* It seemed to focus soo much on General Hospital and All My Children. It should've featured some stuff from their long running soaps, like The Edge of Night (ABC years), Ryan's Hope (yeah I know Bleeth and Helenberger were shown, but they still could've done better), Loving, and their shorter lived ones too.

I can see why the make up would put that clip in the 'ground breaking' catagory. Someone mentioned the Barnabas-biting-Carolyn scene. That would've been way better than the one they chose. I wish they had included some more clips outside of that. Like the first few seconds of Vicki on the train, Barnabas arriving, some Julia and Barnabas scene. The soaps montage should've been way longer. *sigh*

At least ABC decided to show soaps in their special. NBC didn't include them in their 75 year special last year.

[Patti Feinberg]

I thought that showing clips from past Oscar shows was a waste of time. Save them for Oscar specials. ABC was tooting its horn about hosting a show that it had little to do with. Pathetic.

SDP

What irritated me was all the Disney stuff. Yeah, now Disney is on ABC, but growing up "Brought to you in living color" followed by NBC'S PEACOCK....I mean, getting to watch Disney on channel 4 at Grandma's...she would hold that over you all day (to keep you in line). Plus, ABC showed alot of clips from Disney theatre movies.

I watched for about 1 1/2 hours...saw a couple of old friends (not DS) in the audience...wished I woulda seen more.

Patti

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It should've featured some stuff from their long running soaps, like The Edge of Night

Speaking of The Edge of Night, I just noticed in the TV Guide that should be of interest to those of us who watched both DS and TEoN: Maeve McGuire is on a repeat episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit tonight. She was always the "real" Nicole to me - accept no substitutes (not even when the actress who replaced her happened to be married to Joel Crothers' character, Dr. Miles Cavanaugh ).