Peyton Place (TV series)
| Peyton Place | |
|---|---|
| File:Peytonplace.jpg The opening title of Peyton Place from 1966 to 1969. | |
| Created by | Grace Metalious (novel author) |
| Developed by | Paul Monash |
| Starring | Ed Nelson Dorothy Malone (1964-1968) and a cast of over 200 secondary characters. |
| Opening theme | "Theme from Peyton Place" by Franz Waxman |
| Ending theme | Same as opening theme. |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 514 |
| Production | |
| Running time | Per episode 30 minutes (including commercials) 24 minutes (excluding commercials) |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | September 15 1964 – June 2 1969 |
Peyton Place is an American primetime serial which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15 1964 to June 2 1969. The program was broadcast in black-and-white from 1964 to 1966 and in color from 1966 to 1969. Produced by 20th Century Fox Television, to date it is the only primetime series ever to run episodes continuously without reruns. The series served as the springboard for such now famous performers as Ryan O'Neal, Mia Farrow, and David Canary.
History
The series opens with the church steeple overlayed with the words "Peyton Place," with a toning of church bells. An uncredited voice announces "This is the continuing story of 'Peyton Place'." The scene changes to scenes of the town square, a rolling brook, and a panoramic view of Peyton Place. It dissolves to cast members, and then narration of previous episode events by Warner Anderson, who also played Matthew Swain.
Warner Anderson left the series after the first season, but continued to offer his voice as narrator to the series until the final episode.
In 1966, the message was changed to "In color, the continuing story of Peyton Place." The early stories were adapted from the 1956 book and 1957 film of the same name, although some principal character names and occupations were changed or simply eliminated.
Plots
 | This article may use tenses incorrectly. |
In the first episode, Dr. Michael Rossi (Ed Nelson) came from New York City to set up practice in town. Newspaper editor Matthew Swain (Warner Anderson) told Rossi that people usually try to get away from towns like Peyton Place, not move to them. Matthew's niece Allison MacKenzie (Mia Farrow), a close friend of classmate Norman Harrington (Christopher Connelly), had begun to fall in love with his older brother Rodney (Ryan O'Neal); she was smitten as soon as she had been given her first kiss. At the end of the episode, Allison's mother, Constance (Dorothy Malone) made it very clear that she disapproved of her daughter's newfound relationship with Rodney.
Rodney was distracted when he found his father Leslie (Paul Langton) in a passionate embrace with his secretary Julie Anderson (Kasey Rogers), the mother of Rodney's girlfriend Betty (Barbara Parkins). Rodney started anew with Allison as soon as he made it clear to Betty that he couldn't date her anymore. Betty was confused and hurt as Rodney did not tell her why he was dumping her. He would take her back rather quickly, marrying her to spite his father in an October 1964 episode.
Meanwhile, another principal character entered Peyton Place midway through the first season. Elliot Carson (Tim O'Connor), Allison's birth father, had been imprisoned for the murder of his wife Elizabeth, though the actual culprit was Catherine Peyton Harrington (Mary Anderson), Rodney's spoiled and manipulative mother. He eventually cleared his name and married Constance. They later had a baby son Matthew, though by the 1985 TV film sequel he had been mysteriously transformed into a daughter called Kelly, unless he died and Kelly was born later.
In September 1965, Malone was rushed into emergency surgery, and producers were faced with the dilemma of what to do with Constance, who at that point was too deeply embroiled in the plot line to disappear without reason. Lola Albright was hired to take over the role, and continued in the series until Malone returned the following January.
For two years, Rodney could not decide whether to be with Allison, the girl he loved, or Betty, the girl he married. In 1966, Mia Farrow left the series to focus on a film career and her recent marriage to Frank Sinatra. With Allison's mysterious disappearance, Betty more or less was allowed to have Rodney, since her main competition had left town. Betty eventually divorced Rodney, married dark and handsome attorney Steven Cord (James Douglas), then divorced him and re-married Rodney, in keeping with the convoluted lifestyles of these small town inhabitants. The rivalry between Rodney Harrington and Steven Cord was intensified by the fact that they were actually half-brothers. Though raised by Hannah Cord, Steven was actually the illegitimate son of Catherine Peyton Harrington and Hannah's husband Brian (the 1985 TV film contradicts this and refers to Steven as the illegitimate son of Martin Peyton, Catherine's father).
Allison's presence was still felt heavily in storylines as she continued to be mentioned in dialogue. First, a mysterious woman named Rachel Welles (Leigh Taylor-Young, who later married and divorced O'Neal in real life), arrived with Allison's bracelet; then in 1968, Jill Smith (Joyce Jillson, whose later claim to fame was as an astrologer) came to town claiming she was raising Allison's baby, although in these pre-DNA times the child's parentage was never proven. (This storyline was in part a parody of the film Rosemary's Baby, which had just been released and starred Farrow in the title role). Jill later married Joe Rossi, Michael's younger brother. The plot device of Allison's disappearance, unresolved during the actual series, was concluded in the TV film sequels Murder in Peyton Place (1978) and Peyton Place: The Next Generation (1985), without Mia Farrow appearing again and in two contradictory ways.
George Macready was added in 1965 and continued until 1968 as the town patriarch of Peyton Place, temporarily replaced by Wilfrid Hyde-White when Macready became ill for a brief period.
There was also a long run of excellent performances by Ruth Warrick as Peyton's long-standing and secretive housekeeper, Hannah Cord.
A number of big screen names joined the cast for extended intervals, among them Dan Duryea, Susan Oliver. Leslie Nielsen, Gena Rowlands, and Lee Grant, who won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Drama for her role of tough-as-nails Stella Chernak. The series also served as a springboard for the careers of Leslie Nielsen, Mariette Hartley, and Lana Wood (Natalie's sister).
In 1968, in order to keep pace with the changing times, the writers introduced integration to Peyton Place in the form of African-American Dr. Harry Miles (Percy Rodriguez), his wife Alma (Ruby Dee), and their son (Glynn Turman, who also worked as a script-writer on the show.) Despite the noble effort, their inclusion rang a false note, and their story lines were never developed fully.
In the final year, with the departure of Dorothy Malone and Tim O'Connor, Ed Nelson became the lead actor on the series, and many of the stories revolved around him. His romantic interest during the final season was Marsha Russell (Barbara Rush). In the final episode his character Michael Rossi was put on trial for a murder he did not commit. The show ended with the audience unaware of the outcome, though all must have turned out well as Rossi was back on duty at the hospital in the 1978 and 1985 sequels; Constance and Elliot Carson were back in town as well.
Characters
Originial Cast
- Constance MacKenzie (Dorothy Malone, 1964-1968)
- Allison MacKenzie (Mia Farrow, 1964-1966)
- Dr. Michael Rossi (Ed Nelson, 1964-1969)
- Matthew Swain (Warner Anderson, 1964-1965)
- Rodney Harrington (Ryan O'Neal, 1964-1969)
- Norman Harrington (Christopher Connelly, 1964-1969)
- Betty Anderson (Barbara Parkins, 1964-1969)
- Leslie Harrington (Paul Langton, 1964-1968)
- George Anderson (Henry Beckman, 1964-1965)
- Julie Anderson (Kasey Rogers, 1964-1966, recurring afterwards)
- Laura Brooks (Patricia Breslin, 1964-1965)
- Catherine Harrington (Mary Anderson), 1964)
- Eli Carson (Frank Ferguson, 1964-1969)
- Dr. Robert Morton (Kent Smith, 1964-1965)
Later main characters
- Elliot Carson (Tim O'Connor, 1965-1968)
- Rita Jacks (Patricia Morrow, 1965-1969)
- Steven Cord (James Douglas, 1965-1969)
- Hannah Cord (Ruth Warrick, 1965-1967)
- Martin Peyton (George Macready, 1965-1968)
- Ann Howard (Susan Oliver, 1966)
- Lee Webber (Stephen Oliver, 1966-1968)
- Sandy Webber (Lana Wood, 1966-1967)
- Chris Webber (Gary Haynes, 1966-1967)
- Rachel Welles (Leigh Taylor-Young, 1966-1967)
- Jack Chandler (John Kellogg, 1966-1967)
- Jill Smith (Joyce Jillson, 1968)
- Joe Rossi (Michael Christian, 1968)
- Tom Winter (Bob Hogan, 1968-1969)
- Susan Winter (Diana Hyland, 1968-1969)
- Carolyn Russell (Tippy Walker, 1968-1969)
- Marsha Russell (Barbara Rush, 1968-1969)
- Fred Russell (Joe Maross, 1968-1969)
- Dr. Harry Miles (Percy Rodriguez, 1968-1969)
- Alma Miles (Ruby Dee, 1968-1969)
- Lew Miles (Glynn Turman, 1968-1969)
Later secondary characters
- Ada Jacks (Evelyn Scott, 1965-1969)
- Sharon Purcell (Dayna Ceder, 1965)
- Claire Morton (Mariette Hartley, 1965)
- David Schuster (William Smithers, 1965-1966)
- Doris Schuster (Gail Kobe, 1965)
- Kim Schuster (Kimberly Beck, 1965-1966, recurring afterwards)
- Joe Chernack (Don Quine, 1965)
- Stella Chernack (Lee Grant, 1965-1966)
- Gus Chernack (Bruce Gordon, 1965-1966)
- Marion Fowler (Joan Blackman, 1965-1966)
- John Fowler (John Kerr, 1965-1966)
- Adrienne Van Leyden (Gena Rowlands, 1967)
- Eddie Jacks (Dan Duryea, 1967-1968)
Schedules
When the show premiered in 1964, Peyton Place aired twice a week. Both installments of the show were Top 20 hits in the Nielsen ratings and this inspired ABC to air the show three times a week starting in the fall of 1965. Many television historians now consider this move to have been overkill. The season ratings for Peyton Place never rose into the Top 30 again and the serial's production was dropped back to two episodes a week. In 1969, with the show losing viewers with each episode, Peyton Place aired in one installment a week until the final episode was shown in June.
The show was one of the first seen on network television to talk about sex and infidelity in a frank manner. As such, ABC brass would only allow the show to be aired at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time, an hour in which many kids and teenagers were to be in bed. With the show in a ratings slump in 1968, the show was moved to 8:30 p.m. in order to get the viewers they once had shunned.
The series was revived as a daytime serial from April 3, 1972 to January 4, 1974 as Return to Peyton Place. Three of the actors from the primetime series reprised their roles on the daytime series -- Frank Ferguson as Eli Carson, Patricia Morrow as Rita Harrington, and Evelyn Scott as Ada Jacks. However, the daytime series did not prove to be as successful as the primetime series had been.
Trivia
| This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (May 2007) |
- The success of Peyton Place inspired rival network CBS to spin the character of Lisa Miller Hughes from As the World Turns off into her own primetime drama, Our Private World, in 1965, adopting the same twice-weekly format as Peyton Place had at the time. The show was neither a critical nor ratings success, however, and Lisa returned to As the World Turns the following year. This show was co-created by Irna Phillips (with William J. Bell, who had co-created Peyton Place with executive producer Paul Monash.
- Allison McKenzie was Mia Farrow's first major role. It was claimed the vulnerability she experienced as a polio patient in her childhood contributed greatly to her performance.
- Originally, Betty Anderson was scheduled to be killed in a car accident early in the first season, but viewer reaction to the character was so strongly positive that the writers decided to alter the plot, thus guaranteeing actress Parkins a long and lucrative run in the series.
- Paul Monash, one of the people who adapted Peyton Place for television, hated the term soap opera and instead wished that the show be called a television novel.
- In her memoirs "What Falls Away", Farrow admitted she never imagined the show would succeed and expected it to be cancelled after only a few weeks. When the show became a runaway hit, Farrow feared being tied down to the show for several years and asked to be let out of her contract. Her character was hugely popular though, so the network refused. Her husband Frank Sinatra used his considerable clout to get her released from the series early.