'Hollywood Wives' miniseries, 1985

[Snarky Oracle!]

Do we have a mini-series page?

This one from 1985 (I recall watching it in NYC) features DALLAS' Mary Crosby, Steve Forrest, Andrew Stevens, Joanna Cassidy and even DALLAS' pilot director Robert Day, along with a host of well-known stars and semi-stars, and a Laura Branigan theme song. The script is by FC mastermind Robert McCullough based, of course, on Jackie Collins' novel.

And yet Aaron Spelling's trademark smarmy incompetence reigns.

 

[Grant Jennings]

I watched it when it first aired but I have zero interest in re-visiting it - and I own Lace and Sins on DVD so I am the target audience for this. I remember spending more time playing "spot the recycled Dynasty wardrobe" than following the ridiculous plot. I've never enjoyed any movie or mini-series based on the works of Jackie Collins, I find it difficult to become emotionally invested in any of her characters.

Charlie McCarthy isn't as wooden as Candice Bergen.

 

[Monzo]

I also watched it when it first aired and would like to watch it again. I almost got no memories about it, maybe not a sign.., I re-watched Jackie Collins' Lucky Chances and Lady Boss on VCR recently and bought next novel of the Lucky series, but haven't read it so far. Lucky Chances is still nice, Lady Boss is not so great, but still alright.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Collins' books are impossible to read -- not because of the "trashy" subject matter but just because they're poorly written.

 

[DallasFanForever]

I haven’t seen this in many years but I would love to revisit it. I honestly don’t remember much about it.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The script is by FC mastermind Robert McCullough

Here's a couple of Robert's recollections of working on it, from his podcast Where Hollywood Hides.

• Bob went on to develop Hollywood Wives for Aaron Spelling. They planned on turning it into a weekly series but then all the main players wanted more money than what they'd been paid for the miniseries and the plan was scrapped.
• Unimpressed with doing something so lowbrow, Anthony Hopkins was drunk for much of the filming of Hollywood Wives. As a result, he had to read his lines from cues that they stuck all over the place, including onto whoever he was acting opposite.

I watched it a few years ago and wasn't too enamoured with it. The clothes & flash locations kept me entertained if I remember correctly but the story was a bore. Of all of the adaptations of Jackie Collins' work, I think The Stud is the only one that I've truly enjoyed. The Bitch was also nice to look at, even if the storyline was a bit thin. I think the restrictions of network TV hinder bringing Jackie's work to screen. You need the dose of OTT camp and sex to make up for the often wafer thin plots and network TV didn't deliver on this.

 

[Toni]

Here's a couple of Robert's recollections of working on it, from his podcast Where Hollywood Hides.

• Bob went on to develop Hollywood Wives for Aaron Spelling. They planned on turning it into a weekly series but then all the main players wanted more money than what they'd been paid for the miniseries and the plan was scrapped.
• Unimpressed with doing something so lowbrow, Anthony Hopkins was drunk for much of the filming of Hollywood Wives. As a result, he had to read his lines from cues that they stuck all over the place, including onto whoever he was acting opposite.

I watched it a few years ago and wasn't too enamoured with it. The clothes & flash locations kept me entertained if I remember correctly but the story was a bore. Of all of the adaptations of Jackie Collins' work, I think The Stud is the only one that I've truly enjoyed. The Bitch was also nice to look at, even if the storyline was a bit thin. I think the restrictions of network TV hinder bringing Jackie's work to screen. You need the dose of OTT camp and sex to make up for the often wafer thin plots and network TV didn't deliver on this.

Remembering how lame this miniseries was, what amazes me is that Mr. Hopkins didn´t quit the business after this!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Oh, yeah. It's crap. The finale is hysterical, and yet, somehow utterly boring.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Do we have a mini-series page?

We have a mini-series prefix but I don't think it's possible to postfix the prefix after the post has been posted.

I think the restrictions of network TV hinder bringing Jackie's work to screen. You need the dose of OTT camp and sex to make up for the often wafer thin plots and network TV didn't deliver on this.

Agreed. The novels are much more sordid and there's also a cynical undertone that doesn't translate in any mid-eighties TV production, let alone an Aaron Spelling series.
Considering that CHANCES is a more interesting story I find that TV version far worse than Hollywood Wives.

 

[Barbara Fan]

I remember at the time being rather excited about this as Mary Crosby was in it

Taped it off the TV and quickly taped over it, as it was soo cheesy and seeing Wes / Ben in a hot tub was a shock if i recall!! But any Jackie Collins novel isnt Quality!!

Have never seen the appeal of the rather fake, false Suzanne Summers for one,

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

man, it’s not even “so bad it’s good”? How can you waste a cast like that??

 

[Franko]

Wives and its sequel, Hollywood Husbands, have a mystery running alongside the glamour and relationship drama. It works (slightly) in print because your mental image evolves as the story goes on. In Wives the miniseries, the surprise is blown fairly quickly (one of the actors has a dual role).

I read Wives before I saw it (and am the proud, albeit tacky, owner of a hardcover copy announcing "Now an ABC-TV miniseries."). Elaine (Bergen's character), the transplanted New Yorker with a shoplifting habit, was my favorite, so I have some rose-colored glasses regarding her performance. And I know she's miscast, but Stefanie Powers is kinda fun as Hopkins' wife/the Jackie analogue, a writer trying to break the glass ceiling of serious screenwriting. (*hysterical laughter*)

Snarky's dead on, though, about the smarmy incompetence. It's a toothless adaptation of a not-exactly sharp novel. I'd argue Dominick Dunne was better at this sort of stuff (it helped that he barely concealed who he was writing about).

Wives and Husbands also both end with sprawling epilogues. In Wives the miniseries, it's -- I wish I was kidding -- Rod Steiger plugging his latest project. One other thing -- Hollywood Kids, from the '90s, features an unmistakable Tori Spelling analogue. (Just like there's someone who may or may not be Joan in Husbands.)

 

[tommie]

Collins' books are impossible to read -- not because of the "trashy" subject matter but just because they're poorly written.

I remember one book that I read about half-way through (I think it was one of the Santangelo novels) where an older man pondered about his penis and how he could still get it erect despite being 80 or something. I thought for a moment that I was reading one of Mr Garrisson's novels from South Park.

I usually stick with a book no matter how bad it is, but I had to give this one a pass.

 

[Seaviewer]

I don't think I've ever seen it.

a host of well-known stars

I see Angie Dickinson and Robert Stack in there, too.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I see Angie Dickinson and Robert Stack in there, too.

I think that was the whole point of this mini-series: 1980s comfort TV with guest stars, like an extended episode of HOTEL.
I honestly don't think it's that awful, it's just not as sensational as it pretends to be.
Nevertheless, before the DVDs and everything-is-on-youtube, the obscure VHS release of Hollywood Wives used to be a sought-after item.