Shea You, Shea Me

I'm at home visiting my parents and taking the time to rediscover Aaron Spelling shows. Jeffery and I have been watching old episodes of Dynasty and Hotel online and lamenting the loss of the prime time soap. Henri Mancini themes and shoulder pads remind me of my childhood.

Hotel was a lot like a docked Love Boat. I was six when it premiered on ABC. The only hotel I knew about was the one my family vacationed at in Myrtle Beach, where I played pirate themed putt-putt and, on one misguided occasion, brought a horseshoe crab into the bathtub.


But at the St. Gregory, guests didn't miniature golf or domesticate marinelife. They cheated on their wives, got slapped in the lobby, died at the dinner table, questioned their parentage, got slapped in the lobby for questioning their parentage, ran from the law, even dueted with Mel Torme. They kissed and cat-fought their way through episodes with one-word titles: "Skeletons", "Obsessions," Lovelines," "Scapegoats," "Harassed," and my personal favorite, "Triangles."

I wasn't allowed to watch Hotel, just as I wasn't allowed to read the trashy romance novels I found in my aunt's spare bedroom after we'd gotten back from a faith-healing revival. Of course I did both. I was a travel agent for four years in Manhattan, and to this day, credit Hotel as my earliest customer service model. I learned comportment from Connie Sellecca and professionalism from James Brolin. I learned that there is usually an extra room available if you just demand it, aggressively clicking your manicured nails on the counter top. Once, I booked a client a slightly better rate at a Caribbean resort because the sales representative and I got on the subject of Hotel. "Remember when Christine and Peter were trapped in the desert?" I didn't, but that's the beauty of an Aaron Spelling drama -- if it aired long enough, you could pretty much guarantee that someone was trapped in the desert. Or falling in love with Engelbert Humperdinck:


I just rewatched the Pilot on You Tube and confirmed that Hotel is still relevant. I'd forgotten how inexperienced, hayseed Christine landed her job as Assistant Manager at the St. Gregory -- she simply pretended she was already hired and sent all other prospective applicants away. Risky, but brilliant! I'm going to show up at Kirkwood Community College this fall and start teaching dressmaking to a packed classroom.

(start at 5:25)


We live in a complex age. On the one hand, office security is much tighter. On the other, you can friend request your favorite 80's prime time soap stars on Facebook. Last night, I sent a message to Shea Farrell, the baby-faced All-American who played PR Director Mark Danning on Hotel. He promptly accepted my friend request and wrote back a few lines in the vein of "Why on earth were you watching Hotel?"



Hopefully, he'll agree to answer a few questions for my blog. I'm toying with the idea of going back to school in a couple of years for a PHD in Cultural Studies or Mass Media, because I'm fascinated by the reality TV phenomenon and how programming has evolved (I don't believe economics, ie cheap production, dictates public taste). Sure, Hotel was contrived and histrionic, so why do I disapprove of Americans watching this upcoming import?