Capitol (TV series)

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Capitol
Image:110TITLE.jpg
Format Soap opera
Created by Stephen Karpf
Elinor Karpf
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of episodes 1270
Production
Running time 30 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Original run March 29, 1982 – March 20, 1987
External links
IMDb profile

Capitol is an American soap opera which aired on the daytime schedule of CBS from March 29, 1982 to March 20, 1987 for 1270 episodes. As its name suggests, the storyline usually revolved around the political intrigues of people in Washington D.C., whose lives intertwined.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The soap opera revolved around the Denning, Clegg, and McCandless families. The story began with the feuding between the familial matriarchs. Kindly Clarissa Tyler McCandless (Constance Towers) and vituperative and vindictive Myrna Clegg (Carolyn Jones; Marla Adams; Marj Dusay). The two women were former best friends and had been rivals over the love of one Baxter McCandless. Scheming Myrna had fed lies about Clarissa's father, Judson (Rory Calhoun) , who was a congressman, and had linked him to communists during the McCarthy era.

With the success of such "glamorous" soap operas like Dallas and Dynasty, CBS ordered producer John Conboy to put the serial into production. Capitol was the first soap opera to commence production in Los Angeles since The Young and the Restless (produced, coincidentally, by Conboy in its early years) began in 1973.

The show's opening sequence during its early years was somewhat reminiscent of Dallas as well, except that, of course, it showed aerial scenes of Washington, which had been shot during the exceptionally cold and snowy winter of 1980-1981. The white monumental and governmental buildings against the snow and the leafless trees projected a stark image of power, which was presumably what all of the major characters were constantly struggling to either obtain or increase. The opening sequence for Capitol would continue to primarily showcase the sights of Washington until the final year, when a computerized sequence was instituted, illustrating glamour and sex in addition to the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial.

Some of the cast members included Carol Alt, Rory Calhoun, Debrah Farentino, Carolyn Jones, Richard Egan, Ginger Alden, Leslie Graves and Teri Hatcher. Although the show was a modest success, CBS canceled the series in December 1986, telling Conboy that the last two months of shows would have to be taped in the span of a month; the Capitol sets were to be torn down and new soap sets put in their places. Conboy complied, albeit begrudgingly, as he and head writer James Lipton (future host of Inside the Actors Studio) wrote a cliffhanger ending for the serial: journalist Sloane Denning (Farentino) was placed in front of a firing squad in the Middle Eastern kingdom of her lover King Ali, and the audience never knew if she lived or died.

[edit] Main Cast

See also: List of Capitol characters

[edit] Main Crew

John Conboy (Executive Producer)


[edit] Scheduling/Ratings

When Capitol debuted in 1982, it captured 8th place in the ratings (roughly the place of the show it had replaced in CBS' daytime lineup, Search for Tomorrow). It remained in 8th place throughout its five-year run, with its best ratings points of 6.4 achieved in the 1983-84 season. Although it was consistently CBS' lowest-rated soap, its numbers reflected the general strength of the CBS daytime lineup, and also the weakness of NBC's.

On June 8, 1981, CBS moved daytime television's longest-tenured soap, Search For Tomorrow, a fixture for nearly 30 years at 12:30 p.m./11:30 a.m. Central, to the 2:30/1:30 p.m. timeslot, between As the World Turns and Guiding Light, in order to accommodate the hit serial The Young and the Restless. Procter and Gamble, who owned SFT, was not happy with this action and demanded that CBS return the show to 12:30/11:30; when the network refused, P&G moved SFT to NBC on March 26, 1982. CBS replaced SFT with Capitol, scheduled against the last halves of NBC's Another World and ABC's One Life to Live, the latter of which dominated the ratings.

Capitol did reasonably well given OLTL's strength, but in 1985, the ratings fell slightly from a 5.8 to a 5.1, prompting some CBS affiliates to drop the show. CBS panicked and decided to cancel the show after only a five-year run. Capitol was replaced with The Bold and the Beautiful on March 26, 1987. However, CBS put B&B in the 1:30/12:30 timeslot, bumping As the World Turns to 2/1. It should be noted that despite The Bold and the Beautiful becoming CBS' as well as America's second-highest rated soap opera, has never surpassed Capitol's ratings peak in its 20-year history.

Ironically enough, Search For Tomorrow's run on NBC lasted almost as long as Capitol's on CBS, with NBC cancelling the show on December 26, 1986, ending a then-record 35-year run.

[edit] External links