1985's "Hollywood Wives" on ABC - Joanna Cassidy ! Suzanne Somers! Candice Bergen! Stefanie Powers!

Co-starring Alice Ghostley as the Ghost of Joan Crawford

It's worth watching just to see Anthony Hopkins try to eat a hot dog. A food item he apparently had never encountered before taking this job.

I love it

It’s trashtastic

Goodness, OP, she looks like a Trumpette at Mar-a-Lago.

Loose tongues cut like knives

Laura Branigan!

Never saw this but I love the book. Much of the fun of the book though was no doubt toned way, way, way down for 1985 network TV.

Seeing Hopkins get his dick stuck in Somers’s would have been fun.

This song has never been included on any Branigan album ? Not even a compilation CD ? Surprised - it's rather catchy.

[quote] (ranking #7, #13, #2 for the three consecutive evenings it aired)

Aren't those ratings pretty good?

The great Anthony Hopkins had damaged his career so much with alcohol that he was reduced to accepting a part in this dreck.

Jackie promoting the show.

R9 those are good numbers.

It was around the time that Dynasty went to No. 1 so I think they might have been expecting more given the cast.

Plus, they promoted the HELL out of it; most of the cast went on Merv Griffin and I'll never forget Jackie Collins saying "OH, MERVVV, the cast includes CAN-dissssss BERGEN....and RODDD STEIGER!!!!"

She said 'Rod Steiger' like it was the name of a sex toy.

Candice B. was on Live at Five to promote HW, and when they asked why she even made it she said "Greed"

Where can I watch this glorious trash. When I was young I used to read Jackie Collin’s for the dirty parts and also the clothes. I always thought she was cooler than Joan. Her husband owned a disco which I thought sounded fun.

R9 With Aaron Spelling behind it, and Nolan Miller behind the clothes, I think ABC was really expecting each episode to place in the Top 3 that week. They were hoping that all the women who were watching DYNASTY each week would tune into this.

I remember they were really promoting Suzanne Somers in this - I believe it was her first prime time gig since her firing from 'Three's Company' in 1981, and she was on ABC. Also, I remember in the gossip columns they were saying she was angling for a role on 'Dynasty II' which was shaping up for the following season. As a matter of fact, I think many of these actors were 'auditioning' for the new show, including Angie Dickinson who came 'thisclose' to landing the part of 'Sable'.

Whose wife did Roddy McDowall play?

[quote]Candice B. was on Live at Five to promote HW, and when they asked why she even made it she said "Greed"

At the time, I think her career had cooled way down from the 70s. I wonder if this exposure helped her get 'Murphy Brown' a few years later ?

Here you go R14

Part 2

Part 3

I remember Roddy playing the pimp and making Andrew Stevens an escort. Andrew had to have a 3 way with 2 old ladies procured by Roddy.

It was supposed to be a comeback for Suzanne Sommers.

I can't believe Somers got the role of the 'sexpot' over Joyce DeWitt. What were they thinking ?

Aaron Spelling interviewed for the NYT

This needs to be remade - 40 years later.

Let's start by eliminating the 'all white cast'...

'Jackie is a tremendous storyteller,' Mr. Spelling said. 'The book has so many interwoven stories and characters, and I knew I could attract great stars.

One book critic wrote that it probably took more time to airbrush Jackie's photo on the jacket than it took for Jackie to write the book.

Was the Jackie Collins novel a roman a clef like the Harold Robbins books were? if so, who were the various characters supposed to be?

p.s.--I loved that by this point Andrew Stevens had been pretty much typecast as the psycho killer stud.

[quote] Was the Jackie Collins novel a roman a clef like the Harold Robbins books were?

Supposedly, but it's been a lot of years since the books were published and still no revelations as to who was represented. I think she just said that to enhance sales

Was Tori too young for a part?

Part of the fun of the Harold Robbins novels was that you read them (or watched the movies made out of them) and you knew who was supposed to be who: "Oh, THAT'S supposed to be Howard Hughes... THAT'S supposed to be Jean Harlow..."

But I guess that wasn't the case with the Collins books.

Collins used to say in interviews that her characters were based on real Hollywood wives (and their husbands) whom she had met over the years - mostly at parties. She would excuse herself to go to the ladies room, where she would write down notes on the conversations she had with these women. She would never reveal who they were, or the real 'titles' of the projects these couples were working on.

Didn't she write a sequel a few years later titled 'Hollywood Husbands' ?

I think Sadie LaSalle was supposed to be Sue Mengers.

Thank you r18, r19, r20! You’re a good egg.

R14

Hollywood Wives!

Living those HOLLYWOOD Lives!

And Telling those Hollywood LIES.

HOLLYWOOD WIVES!

The Big '80s brought big glam to the small screen, with prime time soaps like "Dynasty" & mini-series like Jackie Collins' "Hollywood Wives." A "Hollywood Squares"-style cast led by Candice Bergen, Suzanne Somers, Anthony Hopkins, Angie Dickinson, Rod Steiger, Stephanie Powers, Robert Stack and more, all plotting to get a piece of a hot Hollywood movie and maintain their status. "Legendary film stars" played TV stars, fugly Nolan Miller frocks, big hair & fake toupees, and so much more! My fun take, with tons of pics, here: