Peyton Place

I must admit to watching the TV show on YouTube during Covid. I really enjoyed the first 3 seasons . I thought these were very well done . The Elliot Carson, Stella Chernak and Ann Howard storylines excellent. Both Ryan O’Neal and Ed Nelson quite dishy.

The first movie better than the Return….

The only good thing about Return to Peyton Place was Mary Astor as the town cunt.

I remember Peyton Place as one of the first TV shows to be on more than once a week, very unusual. I think Dorothy Malone played Lana's role, and Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neal became big stars. I always found it strange that Barbara Parkins didn't have a bigger career. She was huge in this series, then the lead in Valley Of The Dolls, then...nothing.

However, I voted for the movie , only because I thought the guy who played Michael Rossi (Lee Phillips) was so hot. Phillips appeared shirtless in either a Twilight Zone or a Perry Mason, and I almost had a heart attack.

The book's pretty damn good. Although it got bad reviews by critics, it's actually well-written and brutally honest. IIRC, a few characters make extremely racist comments, but it's clear Metalious didn't espouse or approve of those sentiments, and some of the descriptions of sexual behavior are very frank (Norman's mother has a bizarre control of him, in an incestuous way). When the new principal shows up in town, he sees two old sisters watching him suspiciously and thinks to himself "I wonder if they're the town's old Lizzies." When he briefly meets Constance she says she hopes to see him again and he thinks "I'd like to see you too, with your hair spread all over a pillow."

The movie had lots of hype, a good cast headed by Lana, and beautiful photography but it's so watered down there's nothing really shocking about it. The town pump, Betty Anderson, turns out to be a good girl who just wanted to be loved, Norman's mom is just clingy and over-protective, rather than the sick, controlling woman she is in the book, and Hope Lange doesn't really embody the Selena of the book, who looks like a "Gypsy" and is very sexy (without trying to be). And what her stepfather did to her and then attempts to do again when he shows up a few years later is really toned down (clearly because of censorship of the day). And although I liked him, Lee Rossi doesn't have the charisma to stand out against Lana's Constance. In the book he was a real stud, well-intentioned towards the students and has real sexual chemistry with Connie, but in the movie he's just a nice, liberal guy who doesn't forward the plot much.

And yes, Mary Astor is the only good thing about Return To Peyton Place. Eleanor Parker as Constance poses and occasionally looks anguished and that's about it (but then, that's about all she ever did).

Season 3 cast shot. The youthful vitality of Leigh and Ryan and Barbara and Pat Morrow and even nutty Lana Wood comes shining through. Meanwhile, Dorothy is in the center and clearly enjoying it!

As controversial as the book, film, and tv show were, at their time, I wonder why it wasn't a bigger deal that David Nelson appeared in the film.

r6 I believe it was because they needed a counterpoint to all the trashiness going on in that town. The Nelson connection of family pride, good humor and honesty was undeniable. Being easy on the eye helped a lot.

DN wanted to branch out and be his own man, away from the close-knit family that kept his face on TV all those years, and to show that Rick wasn't the only talent in the clan. I feel a lot of people were rooting for him, both fans and entertainment industry insiders.

I shoplifted a paperback version of the book when I was 12 and too embarrassed to face a cashier.

R4, in the movie, the most shocking storyline for me is the abortion Lloyd Nolan performs - is it for Selena? I think so. His nurse is troubled by what he is doing, but he puts her in place. And later, he gets to make to grand speech about the narrow-mindedness of the town...

And, in the book, isn't Selena molested by her father, not a step-father?

What was written and published really was too scandalous for a movie or a TV show and had to be toned-down.

Lee Grant was great as anti-heroine Stella Chernak on TV's "Peyton Place." Watched the entire series during Winter One of Covid. Some great characters on the TV series, but Grant was sensational. Here's my take on her big comeback.

[quote]Some of the descriptions of sexual behavior are very frank

John Waters stole the phrase "the V of her crotch" for Queen Carlotta in [italic]Desperate Living,[/italic] when she's shit-talking the minion whose night it is to service her.