Please FINISH Peyton Place on DVD! *Official Thread* (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

Nothing more than a guess but they may just be holding off on another set until after the holidays so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle of summer movies coming to DVD.

 

[MelloYello]

Thanks Mark for the welcome and I send you my wishes for a very speedy recovery.

I'm almost done watching the entire series. Mia Farrow certainly left a void when she decided to leave the series. The tone of the show changed. All of a sudden the show was without it's heroine. Leigh Taylor Young was brought in as "Rachael Welles" a mysterious girl who is in possession of Allison's bracelet. Leigh Taylor was no match for Miss Farrow although I must say she is easy on the eyes. She definitely had a very vulnerable almost childlike quality to her and the desperation in her voice suited the character well but the story line dragged in spots.

With Mia gone attention was re-focused to Barbara Parkins' ambitious "Betty Anderson". I loved her storyline because it fleshed out her character even more. Her ambition was at an all time high at this point in the series as she marries attorney Steven Cord who's equally if not even more ambitious than she is. Intertwined with their storyline is the Ann Howard Cord murder trial which ultimately reveals Steven's true parentage and knocks the whole town and the Peyton/Harrington families for a loop! It was well scripted and the acting was on point:
George Macready as "Martin Peyton", Ruth Warrick as "Hannah Cord" and James Douglas as "Steven Cord" are all at the top of there game here.

By the time Mia's second replacement rolled into town, Joyce Jillson as "Jill Smith" as another mysterious girl who brings along a baby girl who may or may not be Allison's the show was losing steam. Her storyline was not nearly as interesting as the "Rachael Welles" storyline or for that matter anything else that was going on at this point in the series run. Michael Rossi's rebellious teen brother Joe was thrown into the mix. Betty was becoming the lady of the manor but her marriage to Steven was unraveling due to the devious machinations of Martin Peyton and Adrienne Van Leyden played by the amazing Gena Rowlands. THIS was the storyline that kept me glued to my seat at this point in the show's run. The sparring between all four players of this storyline was unequaled: Parkins, Douglas, Macready and Rowlands were top notch all the way.

Poor Dorothy Malone had very little if anything to do and honestly her character along with Tim O'Connor's portrayal of Eliot Carson were becoming tedious. Mia Farrow's abrupt exit from the series really affected those two characters the most and by the tail end of the fourth season they were written out to make way for their replacements: Barbara Rush as "Marsha Russell" and Elizabeth Walker as "Carolyn Russell" (the "new" Constance and Allison)

By this time the series was really making changes. The psychedelic counter-culture revolution taking a hold of the country and the raging war in Vietnam and the civil rights movement were making their mark and made their way into PEYTON PLACE. First the music's score took a turn for the worse when it was replaced with this pseudo Doors influenced psych music, to add insult to injury a lame rock group named "The Pillory" made it's way into the show's storylines, The Shoreline was transformed into a hippie hangout replete with film projections on the wall, love beads and psychedelic swirling colors,

The characters were changing as well. Everyone was wearing their hair longer and the script was being infused by some really cringe worthy dialogue in an effort to stay "current" and "in". By this time Betty and Steven were divorced and she quickly ran into Rodney's arms in a storyline that was so forced that in my opinion it didn't give either one of those characters any time to really "breathe".

Last effort for the writer's were to introduce viewers to PEYTON PLACE'S first African American family to be prominently featured on the show. During the show's run there were many African American characters but they were mostly seen in the background or law enforcement officers, nurses, etc. This time the head of the family was prominent neurosurgeon Dr. "Harry Miles" (Percy Rodrigues) his wife "Alma" (Ruby Dee) and their son "Lew" (Glynn Turman) had their characters been introduced to the series a year or two prior it would have been revolutionary but by this time Diahann Carroll was starring in her own sit-com and Bill Cosby was on I SPY so it was more "jumping on the band wagon" if anything.

Honorable mentions must go to Diana Hyland as "Susan Winters", who was a really twisted, messed up character....and fun to watch and Robert Hogan as her husband "Rev. Tom Winter".

It was great to finally watch the entire series but I have to say the show was most definitely at it's absolute best for it's first 3 seasons.

 

[Tim Tucker]

I just noticed that next Tuesday is the 45th anniversary of the premiere of Peyton Place on ABC.

Since I bought the two SF sets during the DD sale this summer (thanks to everyone here for convincing me with their enthuiasm), I plan to start watching them next week on Tuesdays and Thursdays just as they were originally shown.

 

[Charles Ellis]

OK, Tim, but don't say I didn't warn you: you won't be able to stick to just one episode each night, you're going to want to see more!!!!

 

[AlanP]

Sorry,
I have been away so LONG !!!
Mark wishing you a SPEEDY recovery, sorry to hear that you are out of commission for awhile.
And Mello Yello, I am in total agreement with you the first THREE seasons were the best. After, that it did become tedious and boring. I became an occasional viewer after Rachel departed. I will by the series up to that point. I am really not interested in the series after Allison left the show. I remember watching it with Barbara Rush and thought Grace Metalious, must be rolling over in her grave at the thought of this nonsense !!
Allison left the book and became an authoress. My feeling is they should have recast Allison. Leigh Taylor Young would have made a perfect Allison. It changed the whole dynamic of the series. Allison was central to the BOOK, FILM, and SERIES. She left and there was a huge void. It was not the same. They could have had her disappear for a month and returned as a new person. TRIVIA- Charmain Carr from "THE SOUND OF MUSIC" tested for the role of ALLISON.
also, did anyone catch on RODNEY and BETTY'S honeymoon Betty mentioned the name of "EDEN HILL" as the team Rod played against at PPHS ?? "EDEN HILL" was the working pilot name for "PEYTON PLACE" !!!
Looking forward to SET 3 ?? Anyone know the status. I have not completed set one yet I am on the last two episodes of it now. Set two is waiting in the wings........

 

[Tim Tucker]

Originally Posted by Charles Ellis /img/forum/go_quote.gif
OK, Tim, but don't say I didn't warn you: you won't be able to stick to just one episode each night, you're going to want to see more!!!!

When it comes to TV on DVD, I try to watch shows in close approximation to how they were originally broadcast. I've been watching Dark Shadows for over a year now, one episode a weeknight, and I think it gains something from the measured pace. It also helps keep my excitement up to see the next episode, which I wouldn't have if I gorged myself on a series all at once.
Here's a question for you PP experts. How accurate are the online episode guides for this series? I was trying to work out the broadcast dates of the episodes in the SF sets. So does Part Two run through 22 Apr 1965 or 27 Apr 1965?

 

[AlanP]

[SIZE= larger][COLOR= rgb(255, 0, 0)]CHECK OUT THIS REVIEW FROM THE NEW YORK
TIMES of PART TWO !!!!![/COLOR][/SIZE]
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/arts/television/19karp.html/img/vbsmilies/htf/dance.gif">
[SIZE= larger][COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 255)]And another great BLOG about "PP" !!!![/COLOR][/SIZE]
http://anotheroldmovieblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/in-search-of-peyton-place.html

 

[Tim Tucker]

I watched the first episode last night.
Never have I seen a more lyrical piece of television. Modern shows just pale in conparison.
I also immediately started catch the Dark Shadows parallels.

 

[AlanP]

[COLOR= rgb(255, 0, 0)]I just started Volume 2 last night........
The return of Elliot Carson.................
The early episodes define the series. I remember watching this in middle school, but,
forgot the series and how creative it was.
Dorothy Malone was a good as Lana Turner was in the film.
And Mia Farrow was outstanding.
I can see why the series declined after the core character left the series.
It was a HUGE VOID !!!![/COLOR]

 

[fairycake]

Ta very much Mark Collins for the warm welcome! You are in my prayers as I have survived a kidney transplant and am now dealing wih CML...leukaemia. I wish you all the best always!
Nw, about Peyton Place...........does anyone now when set 3 might come out and if there are any possiblities of extras such as the original pilot with Selena Cross?? Would also love to see RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE (NBC daytime, 3 April 1972--4 January 1974) added in as a bnus for us fans! I would give anything to see those eppys once again just to see the Benny Tate murder saga with Allison, D.B. Bentley (played by the late Mary Frann), Monica Bell who worked at Ada's.............along with so many others!!!!
Blessings to all the fans out there with cheers and regards!
x

 

[SueEllen]

Yes, again my thoughts are with Mark Collins.
I finally have a decent scanner and will share RTPP articles/photos from my old Daytime TV magazines. One is a full page color cast photo on the stairs of the Peyton Mansion. There was also a Who's Who on the flip side. Bear with me.

Volume 3 has to come out with extras!

 

[fairycake]

OMG! SueEllen I LOVED RTPP and would give anything to see it again. I sure wish they would release it as part of the PP dvd releases> Would also love to hear more about the RTPP series from your perspective. I find so many people have never even heard of it before.
As always cheers and regards to Mark Collins.
Blessings to all always
x

 

[Tim Tucker]

Now that I'm watching the DVDs, what strikes me most is how much the show benefited from having access to the Fox music department. The full orchestral scores for each episode (whether written for the show, or recycled from earlier Fox films, such as the Franz Waxman theme) raise the show to a higher level than it would be otherwise.
I even recognize some of the names on the credits -- conductor Lionel Newman, composer Fred Steiner, and music editor George Korngold (Erich Wolfgang Korngold's son.)
Did Peyton Place ever have a soundtrack album back in the '60s?

 

[AlanP]

[COLOR= rgb(255, 0, 0)]Mark,
HOPE YOU ARE FEELING BETTER and RECOVER QUICKLY without any PROBLEMS !!!
Tim,
There was a soundtrack to the television series. As for the music, I recognize much of the music from the film version. They must have just recycled that and it was a brilliant move, as it gave it a higher caliber feel. For sure the music has been on both Part one and Part two from the film !! If you have not bought the soundtrack CD to the film it is worth tracking down. It is one of the best soundtracks ever for a film. Lionel Newman did the music for the film "LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING". It is an amazing CD as well !!!
Something I have noticed from watching all of Part one and a small portion of Part 2 so far is Dorothy Malone is not used as much as she should have been as she was the STAR. It seems Kasey Rogers was utilized much more than Dorothy. Constance was pivotal in the film and book while on the show she seems moved more to the background and not a core character. I am not sure why this happened ? Constance seems more secondary. What a shame, she was the star of the show. Not sure if this changes or her role fades into the background as the series progresses along. [/COLOR]

 

[Jack Cleveland]

Hey all-

I was just on the Shout Factory Forum marked TV Shows from the 60's and found a thread marked "More Peyton Place". Here is a thread from Brian Ward of Shout Factory:

"Okay, I'm coming in to update, but PLEASE send any and all responses to THIS thread. Do NOT create new threads for this topic. Maintenance on this site is pretty time consuming, when we're just responding to multiple threads on the same topics. And if you're wondering, I chose this one because it has the largest number of responses.

So...

We have exhausted the number of episodes we licensed from FOX for Peyton Place, which means we don't have the legal authority to proceed from here with more sets, yet. I say, "yet." We are currently actively making efforts to secure more episodes of this wonderful series, but deals like this take time. So don't think we've abandoned it. We're just trying to get more episodes and can't do anything with the show until we do.

Once again, I'll keep you posted further.

Brian"

So there you have it- In a later posting Brian says they are pleased with the numbers to date from the first two volumes, but that they would not have been good numbers if Fox was doing the releases. I get the impression that the show is not dead... they are exploring avenues apparently to continue- So keep your fingers, toes and eyes crossed!!

Jack

 

[DeWilson]

Interesting that they would licence out a block of episodes. I wonder how they fixed upon this particular number of episodes to start with - even over two boxes, or the end of the first major storyline or what?

 

[Charles Ellis]

Jack, thanks!! At least we know that the release has been a success, but the villain (as usual) is Fox! I don't get why Fox is being stingy here- they should be grateful they have an outlet for their vintage shows!

 

[TravisR]

^ I don't think it has anything to do with Fox being 'stingy'. Shout cut a deal for x number of episodes, they released them and now they have to make another deal. I'm sure Fox would have loved if Shout licensed every episode of the series at one time but no company would be dumb enough to buy the rights to the entire series when they couldn't be sure it would sell.

 

[AlanP]

[SIZE= larger][COLOR= rgb(255, 0, 0)]Maybe, Fox let SHOUT do the first two boxes to see how they sold and now maybe FOX will pick up the series and clean up some of the episodes. And include the UNRELEASED PILOT with the CROSS family. I AM SURE WE WOULD ALL LOVE TO SEE THIS as it is a FAITHFUL ADAPTATION to the film and book.
Didn't something like this happen with "BEVERLY HILLBILLIES" and Paramount came in with the second season and is releasing them now. And the same thing with "DYNASTY" started with FOX and now it resides with Paramount.
Only time will tell !!!!![/COLOR][/SIZE]​

 

[Charles Ellis]

Actually, Alan, the whole Dynasty issue was that of ownership: when CBS and Viacom/Paramount got together, this included Aaron Spelling's indie productions (i.e., those not done in partnership with Leonard Goldberg- Sony owns those) like Seventh Heaven, Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place. Since the first season was released prior to the merger, it was released through Fox. Now the whole series is a CBS/Paramount property.
It would be nice if Fox were to finally give PP the treatment it deserves, but I'm not counting on it. Right now, let's concentrate on Shout! Factory and their efforts to get more episodes from Fox.