'Capitol' and 'Sons and Daughters' both ran from 1982 to 1987. It was said, "Soap operas are television's equivalent of blue chip stocks (stocks of a company in business for many years and were considered stable based on continuous success). They're tough to establish, but once they find a following, they can go on for many years and are highly profitable."
"I originally conceived 'Capitol' as an hour show," John Conboy made known. "Washington D.C. is the backdrop for the show, which is the story of 2 political families, one having been ruined by the other during the McCarthy era...It gives me a broader canvas to paint on, so that if I really want to do something that parallels an event of national significance, I can have a little fun with it and do it on 'Capitol.'
"I'd produced 'The Young and The Restless' for 9 years. When we expanded that to an hour it meant enormous changes. When we started we did a lot of work in Washington but we were constantly told by CBS to stay away from Washington. We were told to stay away from politics. We were told the audience didn’t care about politics and that people weren’t interested in politicians...We would have loved to have gotten our hands dirty. The closest we could come to a real Washington story was a few scandals. That's the only thing we were allowed to touch. If we are able to move the show to cable we can take a much sharper storyline."
United Press International reported John had mentioned in 1982, "People have asked me, 'Is it going to be socially significant?'. I think anything is socially significant if you play it as wisely as you know how...Washington is fantasized in Europe a lot. We're dealing with the power center of the world...But we've only been allowed to see what the press and the politicians want us to see. Even when (Richard) Nixon was in pain...we were only allowed to see the public pain. We never really knew what went on between him and his wife in the privacy of San Clemente, or when it was all going down and he had to resign as President. All of that stuff is what I would like to explore on ('Capitol'). Not Nixon, specifically, but that kind of behind-the-doors thing we never know. I've always found it very interesting that people in the United States tend not to vote. Wouldn't that be interesting if I could just get some people to the polls? Not by saying, 'vote', but by making them realize dramatically that it's important. Maybe they'll look around and see what's going on in their own lives."
Michael Filerman maintained in 1981, "I think part of the success of 'Dallas' is that it's larger than life. 'Sons and Daughters' (the 1974 American series) was a very middle-class show and you couldn't take as much license with the stories you were telling. You couldn't have archvillainy, as with J.R...The audience is interested in character relationships. What goes on between people and among people, and not knowing how it's going to end or how it's going to grow. People on serialized dramas change, their attitudes change, their characters change, their relationships change. And I think people are finding that's a little more interesting...Yes, we deal with the 7 deadly sins, but I think we deal with greed as well as lust, power, all the things that we sitting at home like to fantasize about."
The Australian soap opera 'Sons and Daughters' was "an everyday story of family life in 2 cities (Sydney and Melbourne)." Belinda Giblin believed, "A soap will always be a soap but 'Sons and Daughters' is different. It's sophisticated. The scripts are now (in 1985) better than they were." Rowena Wallace played "Australia's answer to J.R." returned to 'Sons and Daughters' in 1987 for 10 weeks of filming (about 34 episodes). She had said at the time, "This secrecy is a bit boring really...The thing is, I don't return as the old character, you see. But it's great to be back. I didn't just enjoy playing Pat the Rat, I relished it. I had a really good time...Viewers are also waiting for her to get her just desserts, and she's always getting them. But she's a survivor, no matter what happens to her."
It was in the inland town of Albury, viewers learnt of the new character. Albury was described in 1891 as "360 odd miles from Sydney and 190 miles from Melbourne, with 2 mountain ranges on each side to battle over before the capital is reached." It was also noted in 1887, "Situated on the boundary of the southern colony, Albury was naturally the first portion of New South Wales to attract settlers from Victoria, and early in the (1860s) a steady stream of immigration set in from that colony. The town of Albury possesses considerable natural advantages of situation. It is built on a vast plateau, partly encircled by the father of Australian rivers (the Murray River) and partly by low hills."
Australia became a nation in 1901 after 6 British colonies (or states) united, also known as "federation". In December 1903, Burriss Gahan of the Toronto Globe filed his report, "The Ottawa of Australia". Burris began, "England, London; France, Paris; Germany, Berlin; Canada, Ottawa: Australia – what? That is the question of the hour here (in Sydney 1903). No matter how civilization and education may advance, schoolboys may see not only in history, but geography in the making, for the 2 houses of parliament have been quarrelling over the new federal capital. In all probability the deadlock has been brought about deliberately to postpone indefinitely this capital question, so dear to New South Wales, so hateful to Victoria, and so indifferent to the rest of Australia.
"The whole story is filled with delightful illustrations of the jealousies that naturally tear all young federations. When federation was first mooted, each colonial capital cherished some hope of being chosen capital of the new commonwealth. The most striking feature in Australian settlement is the size of its capital cities. Sydney, the mother city of Australia, had the advantage in seniority, and, perhaps, in natural beauty; Melbourne, the larger and perhaps the more progressive city, had the advantage of being the more accessible for the most of the states. Their rival claims were urged with such jealousy, and their voting strengths were so evenly balanced, that no decision in favor of either could be made without risking the whole prospect of federation. It was, in fact, a stalemate.
"But at last a compromise was arranged by following the Washington example and arranging that the new seat of government should be in a territory specially acquired by the commonwealth for that purpose. And the 125th section of the Constitution provides that this new federal territory, containing at least one hundred square miles, should be situated in New South Wales, but not within one hundred miles of Sydney, and that parliament should sit in Melbourne until the new capital was ready.
"The Melbourne papers reach Albury before the Sydney papers, and the first papers to arrive in the new capital will, of course, exercise the largest influence over politics there. It is seldom in this modern world that there is an opportunity for building a brand new model city strictly according to measure. It will rather be a Washington – an Australian Washington built on more perfect plans, made possible by advanced science in municipal affairs. All the territory will belong to the state...Certainly there is in Australia an independent spirit that seems strange to a Canadian."
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was announced in January 1911. The capital city of Australia would be called Canberra.
"The whole story is filled with delightful illustrations of the jealousies that naturally tear all young federations. When federation was first mooted, each colonial capital cherished some hope of being chosen capital of the new commonwealth. The most striking feature in Australian settlement is the size of its capital cities. Sydney, the mother city of Australia, had the advantage in seniority, and, perhaps, in natural beauty; Melbourne, the larger and perhaps the more progressive city, had the advantage of being the more accessible for the most of the states. Their rival claims were urged with such jealousy, and their voting strengths were so evenly balanced, that no decision in favor of either could be made without risking the whole prospect of federation. It was, in fact, a stalemate.
"But at last a compromise was arranged by following the Washington example and arranging that the new seat of government should be in a territory specially acquired by the commonwealth for that purpose. And the 125th section of the Constitution provides that this new federal territory, containing at least one hundred square miles, should be situated in New South Wales, but not within one hundred miles of Sydney, and that parliament should sit in Melbourne until the new capital was ready.
"The Melbourne papers reach Albury before the Sydney papers, and the first papers to arrive in the new capital will, of course, exercise the largest influence over politics there. It is seldom in this modern world that there is an opportunity for building a brand new model city strictly according to measure. It will rather be a Washington – an Australian Washington built on more perfect plans, made possible by advanced science in municipal affairs. All the territory will belong to the state...Certainly there is in Australia an independent spirit that seems strange to a Canadian."
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was announced in January 1911. The capital city of Australia would be called Canberra.
