Capitol (TV series)

infobox television
show_name = Capitol


format = Soap opera
rating = TV-14 (U.S.)
runtime = 30 Minutes
creator = Stephen Karpf
Elinor Karpf
country = USA
network = CBS
first_aired = March 29, 1982
last_aired = March 20, 1987
num_episodes = 1270
imdb_id = 0083397

"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.

ynopsis

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, in retaliation for Baxter falling for Clarissa and not her, had fed lies about Clarissa's father, Judson (Rory Calhoun) , who was a congressman, and had linked him to communists during the McCarthy era.

The feud continued and was even more inflamed with the discovery of Clarissa's son, war-hero, Tyler McCandless (David Mason Daniels; Dane Witherspoon) falling in love with Myrna's daughter, Julie Clegg (Kimberly Beck; Catherine Hickland). Despite Myrna's best efforts to destroy this match, they eventually married.

Also featured were Myrna's other children, Trey (Nicholas Walker); Brenda (Leslie Graves; Ashley Laurence; Karen Kelly) and Jordy (Todd Curits). Trey, Brenda and Jordy were nothing like their scheming mother. At first, Trey, who, like his future brother in-law, was being groomed for the presidency, wasn't thrilled with Julie marrying a McCandless, but deep down, he was more honorable than his mother, and gave Julie his blessing, because he knew that Tyler made his sister happy. Trey would later marry a woman named Angelica (Teri Hatcher).

Clarissa's family included sons Wally (Bill Beyers), Thomas (Brian Robert Taylor; Michael Catlin), a doctor, and Matt (Shea Farrell; Christopher Durham). Myrna was married to government worker, Sam Clegg (Robert Sampson, Richard Egan) who was dominated by his scheming wife. Meanwhile Clarissa was in love with Senator Mark Denning (Ed Nelson) who was in an unhappy marriage with agoraphobic Paula (Julie Adams) and was the father of reporter Sloane Denning (Debrah Farentino). She later fell for a man named Jarrett Morgan (Ron Harper), whom she later discovered was her long thought dead husband, Baxter McCandless.

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.

Although the show was a modest success, CBS announced in December 1986 that it was canceling the series, 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 so new soap sets for its replacement, the "The Bold and the Beautiful", could be 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: Sloane is placed in front of a firing squad in the Middle Eastern kingdom of her lover King Ali, and the screen fades to black before showing whether she actually lives or dies.

Cast

*Carolyn Jones : Myrna Clegg #1 (1982-1983)
*Teri Hatcher : Angelica Stimac Clegg 1986-1987
*Marla Adams : Myrna Clegg #2 (1983)
*Marj Dusay : Myrna Clegg #3 (1983-1987)
*Robert Sampson : Samuel Clegg II #1 (1982)
*Richard Egan : Samuel Clegg II #2 (1982-1987)
*Tonja Walker : Lizbeth Bachman (1982-1986)
*Kimberly Beck : Julie Clegg #1 (1982-1983)
*Catherine Hickland : Julie Clegg McCandless #2 (1983-1987)
*Todd Curtis : Jordy Clegg
*Leslie Graves : Brenda Clegg #1 (1982-1984)
*Ashley Laurence : Brenda Clegg #2 (1984-1985)
*Karen Kelly : Brenda Clegg #3 (1985-1987)
*Constance Towers : Clarissa McCandless
*David Mason Daniels : Tyler McCandless #1 (1982-1985)
*Dane Witherspoon : Tyler McCandless #2 (1985-1986)
*Bill Beyers : Wallace « Wally » McCandless
*Brian Robert Taylor : Thomas McCandless #1 (1982-1983)
*Michael Catlin : Thomas McCandless #2 (1983-1987)
*Shea Farrell : Matt McCandless #1 (1982)
*Christopher Durham : Matt McCandless #2 (1982-1984)
*Ed Nelson : Senator Mark Denning
*Tammy Wynette : Darlene Stankowski (1986-1987)
*Billy Warlock : Ricky Driscoll (1984-1985)
*Jess Walton : Kelly Harper (1984-1987)
*Debrah Farentino : Sloane Denning (1984-1987)

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 23, 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.

External links

*imdb title|id=0083397|title=Capitol