With so many primetime soaps on DVD, why not the one that started it all??? 

Some people seem to have forgotten that exactly 40 years ago ABC had a primetime soap that also became an instant smash: the grandaddy of primetime soaps, Peyton Place! For 5 years (and 514 episodes!) millions watched the saga of life in that notorious small town that was truly the spiritual ancestor to Desperate Housewives, led by a truly memorable cast that had a mixture of Hollywood veterans (Dorothy Malone, George Macready, Ruth Warrick, Leslie Nielsen, Kent Smith, Barbara Rush), New York-based actors on the rise (Lee Grant, Ruby Dee, Gena Rowlands) and hot newcomers who became household names (Ryan O'Neal, Mia Farrow, Barbara Parkins, Leigh Taylor-Young, Mariette Hartley, Christopher Connelly).

The folks on Wisteria Lane owe a lot to characters like the virginal Allison McKenzie, rich stud Rodney Harrington, town vamp Betty Anderson Harrington Cord Harrington, evil patriarch Martin Peyton, stalwart town doctor Mike Rossi, the brooding Steven Cord and his sinsiter housekeeper mom Hannah, single mom-with-a-secret Constance McKenzie, young lovers Rita Jacks and Norman Harrington, tragic nurse Ann Howard and the troubled Webbers. By the way, Ryan O' Neal did appearance on Desperate Housewives playing a character named- RODNEY!!!

Peyton Place is a classic just waiting to be discovered by a new generation. If MPI can have a great success putting all 1225 episodes of Dark Shadows on VHS and DVD, why can't Fox do the same with the 514 episodes of Peyton Place ?  If Fox isn't interested, I suggest that Shout! Factory get the DVD rights from Fox for this TV gem!!

B Ward,

I agree with you that Peyton Place has a very niche audience, but I wouldn't count all soaps out. Dark Shadows is proof of that! The problem with Peyton Place is that it's much older and hasn't been syndicated in many years. But shows like Falcon Crest or Knots Landing or Santa Barbara still have large fanbases, especially Knots.

Also the daytime soaps are a goldmine being wasted. Still being on the air, it would be easy to cross promote and get cast members (many still around) to do promo and extras for sets. Soaps have released various books that have been at the top of the bestsellers list. If fans will buy a book or pay hundreds of dollars to go to a fan club meeting (all sold out), surely they will buy a $30 dvd.

As for how to release them, for daytime ones, I'd say Best of's with complete episodes would be fine. In the UK they did this for popular soap Coronation Street. They did a Best of each decade with 10 episodes per year. Just one set with 20 episodes per decade would please US soap fans. Something to test the waters. You could list it in volumes in case a decade is successful.

Pending success, you could also consider sets centered around important episodes for popular characters. Example, last year was Luke and Laura's 25th anniversary. We didn't get a fabulous DVD chronically the meeting, then rape, then wedding, break ups, etc. We got a cheap and ugly wedding ring from Sears. Which do you think soap fans would rather buy? With all the press they got (and are still getting from Genie Francis' June Emmy win), it is shameful that no DVD was released to cash in. Thats an obvious hit!