The Prime Time Soaps That Never Happened

[Carrie Fairchild]

Originally passed over by NBC in the late 90’s, Nevada from writer Walon Green (Law & Order, ER) was resurrected by the network in the early 00’s. Despite positive chat from execs, the soap, which followed the oldest and most powerful family in Las Vegas, didn’t make it past the script stage.

Inside Move: ‘Nevada’ soap cleaned for NBC, Pariah

An old script by Walon Green ("ER," "The Hi-Lo Country") may find a new lease on life at NBC. Gavin Polone, whose Pariah Prods. is set up at the Peacock, has dusted off the primetime soap "Nevada," which NBC developed three years ago with Warner Bros. Television (where Green was based until...

variety.com

 

[Ked]

Originally passed over by NBC in the late 90’s, Nevada from writer Walon Green (Law & Order, ER) was resurrected by the network in the early 00’s. Despite positive chat from execs, the soap, which followed the oldest and most powerful family in Las Vegas, didn’t make it past the script stage.

Inside Move: ‘Nevada’ soap cleaned for NBC, Pariah

An old script by Walon Green ("ER," "The Hi-Lo Country") may find a new lease on life at NBC. Gavin Polone, whose Pariah Prods. is set up at the Peacock, has dusted off the primetime soap "Nevada," which NBC developed three years ago with Warner Bros. Television (where Green was based until...

variety.com

Las Vegas would have been a PERFECT setting for something soapy! Heck, I *loved* how Vegas was utilized in the current show "Hacks".

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Las Vegas would have been a PERFECT setting for something soapy! Heck, I *loved* how Vegas was utilized in the current show "Hacks".

Indeed! I think the closest that we ever got to a primetime Vegas soap was that NBC comedy drama Las Vegas from the 00’s. Although, if I remember correctly, it leaned more into comedy and episodic drama than ongoing soapy shenanigans.

 

[Ked]

Indeed! I think the closest that we ever got to a primetime Vegas soap was that NBC comedy drama Las Vegas from the 00’s. Although, if I remember correctly, it leaned more into comedy and episodic drama than ongoing soapy shenanigans.

I never saw that show, and it sounds like a wasted opportunity.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I never saw that show, and it sounds like a wasted opportunity.

From my recollection, it was a fun show that followed a story of the week type format that involved whatever guests had checked into the hotel that week - gamblers, singers, performers. The relationships between staff formed the ongoing aspect of the show’s plots but it was never positioned as a soap opera.

In terms of an actual Vegas soap, in addition to Nevada, I only know of Casino, which was a daytime soap that John Conboy was developing in the late 80’s/early 90’s that never went anywhere.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The Towers aka Trump Tower: I came across this when I was reading up on something else recently. I actually remember this from when it was announced but thought I’d imagined it, as there’s so little about it online. Originally in development at NBC in 2004 (as The Towers), it resurfaced during Lifetime’s 2008 upfront announcement where it was renamed Trump Tower and described as “a nighttime soap opera set at fictional swanky apartments at the very real Trump Towers in midtown Manhattan. Donald Trump himself is executive producing and attached to serve as the show's narrator”. The show was named as part of their development slate but appears to have gone no further than that.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

The Towers aka Trump Tower: I came across this when I was reading up on something else recently. I actually remember this from when it was announced but thought I’d imagined it, as there’s so little about it online. Originally in development at NBC in 2004 (as The Towers), it resurfaced during Lifetime’s 2008 upfront announcement where it was renamed Trump Tower and described as “a nighttime soap opera set at fictional swanky apartments at the very real Trump Towers in midtown Manhattan. Donald Trump himself is executive producing and attached to serve as the show's narrator”. The show was named as part of their development slate but appears to have gone no further than that.

Actually, having done a quick Google search, I’ve unearthed a few more details on this. The idea originated in the 90’s, where it was described as a Dallas / Dynasty / Upstairs Downstairs style soap. A pilot was ordered at Showtime, with Bob DeBrino as producer but I’m unsure if it was actually shot. The idea cropped up at NBC in 2004 and again went nowhere, before being announced by Lifetime in 2008 as “Desperate Housewives in Trump Tower, with Donald as narrator”. A version of the TV idea did eventually see the light of day in 2011, when a novel was published under the title Trump Tower, by Donald J. Trump with Jeffrey Robinson.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

919 Fifth Avenue: written by Dominick Dunne and produced by Zev Braun (Tour of Duty) & soap veteran Paul Rauch, this failed CBS pilot from 1994 eventually rocked up as a TV movie and can still be found online. A writer researching the prominent Van Degen family gets tangled up in a murder mystery, where one of the family could be the killer. Barry Bostwick and Michelle Phillips play the heads of said family while the likes of Fionnula Flanagan, James Marsden and Denise Richards flesh out the cast with John Rubinstein playing a “Donald Trump wanna-be”. I’ve yet to watch the TV movie but it sounds like a similar setup to what NBC tried with their murder mystery soap Deception a decade ago.

One Fifth Avenue: another Fifth Avenue address and another mystery. This time, it was a soap to be based on the Candace Bushnell book of the same name, that followed “a columnist who begins investigating the scandal that erupts among residents in her building after she moves back to her old apartment following a breakup”. It was in the works at ABC in 2011 with Josh Safran (Gossip Girl) due to write the pilot but it ultimately never went anywhere beyond the initial announcement.

 

[bmasters9]

I was really excited for this since Sarah Michelle Gellar said that she was going to do it.

And she did say, from what I just read about it, that it would have been better streaming than network.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

And she did say, from what I just read about it, that it would have been better streaming than network.

Which is where last year’s remake of it ended up (Prime). When NBC didn’t run with the Gellar lead reboot, there had been talk of it being sold to a streamer but it ultimately didn’t go anywhere.

 

[Daniel Avery]

This latest "find" doesn't really fit the parameters of the topic, but I found I have nowhere else to post this, and it deserves to see the light of day again. It's long been considered "lost" except for a few disconnected clips.

A New Day in Eden was produced for pay-TV channel Showtime in 1982-83. Soap Icon Doug Marland created the show and Patrick Mulcahey was a writer for it, which apparently only lasted 66 episodes. Since it was on premium cable it had a decent (or indecent) amount of nudity and racy subject matter. It also had some pretty decent star power from the look of things: Jane Elliot (of GH, GL, Days, KL, etc.), Lara Parker (of Dark Shadows!), and "JP Wagner" (better known as Jack Wagner). It's very low-budget and very 1980s (the hair!) but a curious and interesting find.