Sela Ward made her Hollywood acting debut in 1983 playing Hilary Adams, the lover of Lieutenant Glenn Matthews, on the 20th Century-Fox production of 'Emerald Point N.A.S.' Jill St. John entered the world of Emerald Point in the 3rd episode playing Rear Admiral Thomas Mallory's sister-in-law Deanna Kincaid. It was at the reception the Admiral hosted for Russian Admiral Yuri Bukharin who was on a cultural and informational exchange visit, that Deanna met Hilary's father, Harlan Adams.
Adams Industries sought 1000 acres from the City Council to build an additional base runway. Three months into the 1983-84 season, Robert Vaughan replaced Patrick O'Neal as Harlan Adams. In future episodes, Deanna would become a double-agent for the Navy and FBI after Lieutenant Commander Jack Warren and Admiral Mallory found out Deanna was a spy for the KGB who agent was Admiral Bukharin. The KGB was trying to steal Navy secrets.
"Soap opera writers face with different requirements when they name soap characters," Linda Susman of 'Soap Opera Digest' explained. Henry Slesar of 'Edge of Night' elaborated, "Once a character is given a name, he’s pretty much stuck with it. People make strong associations with personalities and names, so they have to accurately reflect, to a degree, the character's personality, temperament and background. There is a feeling about people's names from past associations. Remember, we don’t just have to name a few main characters; every minor character has a name, too. (However) the baby has to be born before it can be christened."
Richard and Esther Shapiro sold 'Emerald Point N.A.S.' to the network without a pilot movie, only a 20-minute demonstration tape. CBS decided to go ahead with the project but changed the working title 'Navy' to 'Emerald Point N.A.S.' before the series premiered. Centered around the lives at a naval air station, the special 2-hour premiere episode written by Richard and Esther Shapiro and directed by Harry Falk was the highest rated of the 22 episodes produced, attracting a rating of 19.2% (about 18.0 million households were counted watching).
However CBS canceled 'Emerald Point N.A.S.' after one season because its average rating of 13.722 was lower than its lead-in, 'Newhart' (18.026). The 3rd last episode, 'Friends and Lovers' was shown after 'Dallas' in March 1984. 'Dallas' ended the season with an average rating of 25.7% and a 40% share of the audience. Jill told Byron de Arakal, "Before 'Emerald Point', I’d never worked on a series before. I feel in some cases I did some really good work. When we get our scripts, the actors begin to protect their characters, because we know our characters better than the writers and the producers and the directors.
"Character protection is very important as opposed to being arbitrary and trying to rewrite for the sake of rewriting. I did not know how I would be able to withstand the hours, the grind and the pressure. It wasn't always easy because sometime the lines were not good, and it takes a better actress to say bad lines than it does one to say good lines. There's nobody that knows that (the show would be back). Even the network doesn’t know that at this point (in May 1984). I’ve listened to a lot of rumors and the only thing I’ve decided is that there are a lot of rumors floating around. I can’t worry about it. I have no control over it, so to worry about it is foolish."
"Character protection is very important as opposed to being arbitrary and trying to rewrite for the sake of rewriting. I did not know how I would be able to withstand the hours, the grind and the pressure. It wasn't always easy because sometime the lines were not good, and it takes a better actress to say bad lines than it does one to say good lines. There's nobody that knows that (the show would be back). Even the network doesn’t know that at this point (in May 1984). I’ve listened to a lot of rumors and the only thing I’ve decided is that there are a lot of rumors floating around. I can’t worry about it. I have no control over it, so to worry about it is foolish."
Esther and Richard Shapiro "like writing about people whose actions influence a lot of other people. We think society is seeking a return to order, and that's what the military is all about. The Naval Air Force is the elite corps, encompassing all those romantic fantasies. The action focuses on a Navy Admiral (Dennis Weaver), his 3 daughters, young fliers, and a rich family in town. Our Admiral could be King Lear with 3 daughters."
'Emerald Point N.A.S.' was "basically a patriotic show, pro-military, but some of the characters are flawed. I have been interested in the 'warrior class' for a long time, since those first days when I began working at ABC and we started developing 'The Winds' and many others. Rich people do that, kings do that, military people do that ... We thought that if you were looking for an arena where you could have a number of good actors working and it would be broad-based enough, it would be wonderful to examine this 'warrior class' area.
"Suppose we had an Admiral, a decent man, at the core of this, like King Lear. He had 3 daughters. There's all kinds of chaos around him. The world is in chaos. The family may be in chaos and he is sort of an island there, trying to hang on to those traditions and the meaning of heroism whatever it is. There would be certain values that we weren't involved in with 'Dynasty', where we have a den of vipers at each other and it became a viable challenge for us."
Susan Dey played Celia Warren, the lover of Lieutenant Simon Adams. She told Mark Bego of 'Movie Mirror', "It's hard work. I was more used to a 2-month shoot (on feature films). The whole schedule of receiving new scripts every 6 days was hard to adjust to. First of all the plot is non-ending. It's like life, there is no ending, it just keeps going.
"It's more realistic. There is something that is very deep-rooted that has caused unhappiness in her life, and that her relationship with these other men is not going to make a difference … She realized that it is something else that she has to deal with, which is a tremendous amount of growth. Instead of drinking, and instead of being like time-bomb … That is one of the reasons why I took the job to play this particular character. If there's one person out there it helps, then it's all worth it."
Jill St. John told 'Orange Coast', "I'm sure that I underwent a lot of changes but I'm not so sure they were all changes. I think a lot of them were evolutionary. A lot of things evolved in my personality that would have evolved simply by an act of attrition. But there were some phases and parts of my life that I think living in Aspen accelerated, and I’m forever grateful for it. I discovered a spirituality that I didn’t actually realize I’d had.
"Living in those beautiful Rocky Mountains and seeing the beauty of the of the outdoors, and being so close to nature, and being able to camp out and ride rafts on the river, and hike, I got in touch with a part of life that I haven't had the time to explore before. It was very beneficial, emotionally and spiritually, to me. I think I’ve carried out of the mountains and down into the city a new strength within myself. It’s been a very happy experience.
"I’m a Leo, you know. I think you have to believe in your good luck. I know that my parents always told me that I would be a star. My mother always told me I was born under a lucky star. And of all the things they told me, they were right about that. They’ve been right. If they'd told me all my life that I was going to be a nuclear physicist, I would have been a nuclear physicist."
In the 1982-83 season, Douglas Marland developed the first soap opera for pay TV. 'A New Day In Eden' could be seen on cable channel Showtime. He told Joanna Coons 'Eden' was a metaphor for "a paradise lost or a paradise regained. A problem which has fascinated me because I travel a lot, is what has happened to some of our larger urban areas like Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Albany; places where the cities have really fallen into decay, where crime has taken over the streets and people are afraid to go into the cities.
"Everything has moved out into shopping malls. Downtown areas are almost deserted at night. And I thought, what would happen if someone said, 'Okay, we're going to take Cleveland and revitalize it – pour as much money into it as it needs to put up housing and tempt industry in. That’s what Eden is – a city that had fallen into urban decay."
"Enter the American Urban Renewal Investment Corporation (AURIC) – a huge conglomerate which sinks billions of dollars into Eden as a 'test city', hoping that if revitalization succeeded, the corporation could then sell their expertise to other decayed cities," Joanna Coon reported. "When we see 'Eden' for the first time, 12 years have elapsed since AURIC moved in. What we find is a bustling, flourishing super city at the heart of which is the very vigilant AURIC, a close spiritual relative of Orwell’s 'Big Brother'.
"Unlike many network soaps which are emphasizing youthful storylines almost to the exclusion of everything else, in 'Eden' middle-aged stories are very predominate. Since much of the action in 'Eden' takes place on or around a university campus, there are several young storylines. Unlike traditional soap opera, 'Eden' is extremely fast-moving. There are no story recaps as in network daytime."
Douglas Marland made known, "I was fascinated by the fact that it ('Eden') was new – and it was cable. Network had been there and well established long before I come along. This is the first time I have a chance to get in on the ground floor. It's constructed on more of a film technique, even though it's on tape." Actor Steve Carlson confessed, "Cable is going to be for American actors what the London stage is for British actors. It's not where you go to make your big money but it's where you go to keep working, and that's one thing actors just crave for. Actors really love to act and this is offering a good chance for them."
'Emerald Point N.A.S.' was "basically a patriotic show, pro-military, but some of the characters are flawed. I have been interested in the 'warrior class' for a long time, since those first days when I began working at ABC and we started developing 'The Winds' and many others. Rich people do that, kings do that, military people do that ... We thought that if you were looking for an arena where you could have a number of good actors working and it would be broad-based enough, it would be wonderful to examine this 'warrior class' area.
"Suppose we had an Admiral, a decent man, at the core of this, like King Lear. He had 3 daughters. There's all kinds of chaos around him. The world is in chaos. The family may be in chaos and he is sort of an island there, trying to hang on to those traditions and the meaning of heroism whatever it is. There would be certain values that we weren't involved in with 'Dynasty', where we have a den of vipers at each other and it became a viable challenge for us."
Susan Dey played Celia Warren, the lover of Lieutenant Simon Adams. She told Mark Bego of 'Movie Mirror', "It's hard work. I was more used to a 2-month shoot (on feature films). The whole schedule of receiving new scripts every 6 days was hard to adjust to. First of all the plot is non-ending. It's like life, there is no ending, it just keeps going.
"It's more realistic. There is something that is very deep-rooted that has caused unhappiness in her life, and that her relationship with these other men is not going to make a difference … She realized that it is something else that she has to deal with, which is a tremendous amount of growth. Instead of drinking, and instead of being like time-bomb … That is one of the reasons why I took the job to play this particular character. If there's one person out there it helps, then it's all worth it."
Jill St. John told 'Orange Coast', "I'm sure that I underwent a lot of changes but I'm not so sure they were all changes. I think a lot of them were evolutionary. A lot of things evolved in my personality that would have evolved simply by an act of attrition. But there were some phases and parts of my life that I think living in Aspen accelerated, and I’m forever grateful for it. I discovered a spirituality that I didn’t actually realize I’d had.
"Living in those beautiful Rocky Mountains and seeing the beauty of the of the outdoors, and being so close to nature, and being able to camp out and ride rafts on the river, and hike, I got in touch with a part of life that I haven't had the time to explore before. It was very beneficial, emotionally and spiritually, to me. I think I’ve carried out of the mountains and down into the city a new strength within myself. It’s been a very happy experience.
"I’m a Leo, you know. I think you have to believe in your good luck. I know that my parents always told me that I would be a star. My mother always told me I was born under a lucky star. And of all the things they told me, they were right about that. They’ve been right. If they'd told me all my life that I was going to be a nuclear physicist, I would have been a nuclear physicist."
In the 1982-83 season, Douglas Marland developed the first soap opera for pay TV. 'A New Day In Eden' could be seen on cable channel Showtime. He told Joanna Coons 'Eden' was a metaphor for "a paradise lost or a paradise regained. A problem which has fascinated me because I travel a lot, is what has happened to some of our larger urban areas like Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Albany; places where the cities have really fallen into decay, where crime has taken over the streets and people are afraid to go into the cities.
"Everything has moved out into shopping malls. Downtown areas are almost deserted at night. And I thought, what would happen if someone said, 'Okay, we're going to take Cleveland and revitalize it – pour as much money into it as it needs to put up housing and tempt industry in. That’s what Eden is – a city that had fallen into urban decay."
"Enter the American Urban Renewal Investment Corporation (AURIC) – a huge conglomerate which sinks billions of dollars into Eden as a 'test city', hoping that if revitalization succeeded, the corporation could then sell their expertise to other decayed cities," Joanna Coon reported. "When we see 'Eden' for the first time, 12 years have elapsed since AURIC moved in. What we find is a bustling, flourishing super city at the heart of which is the very vigilant AURIC, a close spiritual relative of Orwell’s 'Big Brother'.
"Unlike many network soaps which are emphasizing youthful storylines almost to the exclusion of everything else, in 'Eden' middle-aged stories are very predominate. Since much of the action in 'Eden' takes place on or around a university campus, there are several young storylines. Unlike traditional soap opera, 'Eden' is extremely fast-moving. There are no story recaps as in network daytime."
Douglas Marland made known, "I was fascinated by the fact that it ('Eden') was new – and it was cable. Network had been there and well established long before I come along. This is the first time I have a chance to get in on the ground floor. It's constructed on more of a film technique, even though it's on tape." Actor Steve Carlson confessed, "Cable is going to be for American actors what the London stage is for British actors. It's not where you go to make your big money but it's where you go to keep working, and that's one thing actors just crave for. Actors really love to act and this is offering a good chance for them."
