What can I say? I love a good story, particularly when it's a mystery. It's so hard to find the source of any these days. I think James Patterson and David Baldacci have done so much that their stories have become predictable. I don't mean that I know what will come next, just that the anticipation of a plot point or twist have made their books readable, but forgettable after the first reading or audio book listening. My favorite author Robert B. Parker passed away 2 years ago and I am ambivalent about reading his successor's Spenser novels. Luckily, though, I have found a source for my original love of mysteries available to me.
In early 1986 I found USA was running the old mystery/thriller soap "The Edge of Night". I was immediately hooked on this show. The mysteries were engaging (most of the time), with a master writer named Henry Slesar at the helm. Unfortunately, my dad ddn't like the idea of his son watching a soap (he never even tried to watch at least 1 with me), and every so often my tapings were sabotaged not through malice, but he didn't realize I was recording so he left the cable box on a different channel. However, these instances were only occasional.
As I said, most of the stories were engaging. When I started watching, the Gunther Wagner murder story was in high gear. in late 1981. After that, the return of the real Sky Whitney and his trying to reclaim his fortune, the CEA (CIA clone) accusing Sky of treason because of his imposter's doings, the Ted Loomis story, the Nora Fulton murder, Louis Van Dine trying to take over Monticello (the show's setting, not Thomas Jefferson's home) with mass hypnosis, and the Logan Swift murder trial.
However, other stories were not as engaging: Smiley Wilson's (Frank Gorshin) scam to rob Raven Whitney of her millions (only partially interesting due to the real Sky trying to reclaim that money at the same time), Jody Travis (Lori Loughlin) being duped into playing the martyr of Eden, and most of 1984 with the exception of the Logan Swift mystery. However, I was a loyal viewer and stayed with it right to the end. In its last year, I began writing stories in its vein (and I was still 16 at the time!).
There was a good amount of humor sprinkled throughout the show as well as superb dialogue between the characters, especially in Mr. Slesar's era. in the last year and a half Lee Sheldon succeeded Slesar and the writing got more humorous in a corny way and less witty (I'll take the wit any day). The humor counterbalanced the crime drama well. As the theme song said, "The Edge of Night: half dark, half light)
Well, lately I came upon some EDGE episodes from months before I began watching 27 years ago. I am floored once again by the writing and good acting! Larkin Malloy and David Froman as the fake Sky (Jefferson Brown} and Gunther Wagner respectively made everything worthwhile. I fast forward through the soapy elements, as they're really not my thing. I am hoping that by the end of this year I'll have all the available episodes that I want. from the years I watched.
The fake Sky/Gunther storyline goes as follows (basic plot points only):
1. Sky Whitney arrives in town and begins a relationship with Raven Swift soon after.
2. After much reluctance, Sky proposes to Raven and marries her 8 months later.
3. Raven finds a picture of Sky with some people, including a man named Jefferson Brown. Brown has a peculiar scar on his back that Sky has as well.
4. Raven begins asking questions and Sky panics and hires thug Romeo Slade to kill Raven while everyone is away from the mansion except Raven.
5. Just as Slade is about of kill Raven, Sky, having a change of heart, returns and blows Slade away with a shotgun.
6. Sky reveals that he is Jefferson Brown and how he came to be Sky and Raven is just happy to know the truth.
7. Sky's evil servant/henchman Gunther Wagner, who has contempt for his boss, figures out Sky's murder plot and blackmails him.
8. Sky's plans to open his dance show are foiled when his star dancer Jody quits, and Sky blames her boyfriend Gavin Wylie for the loss and plans to kill him (he now seems to have a taste for murder)
9. After Gavin reveals that he has a gun in case Gunther bothers him again (Gunther broke his leg previously), Sky concocts a plan to make Gavin shoot Gunther with blanks and send Gunther away from town with a huge payoff.
10. Gunther puts the blanks in the gun, playfully assaults Jody, and Gavin confronts Gunther. They end up struggling for the gun and Gunther is "shot".
11. Gavin runs for help and Sky arrives, changes the gun's ammo to real and blows Gunther away for real, ending the blackmail and framing Gavin for the murder for the next 5 months.
Plot points 3 through 11 all happen in 2 months time! This is why I love the show!
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