The continuing story of Peyton Place, which spanned five seasons and 514 episodes, begins here. Based on the sensational bestselling novel and subsequent Oscar-nominated film, this groundbreaking 1964 series was television's first serialized primetime soap. In this inaugural year, it aired episodes twice weekly, and catapulted fledgling network ABC from third place to No. 1. The name of this New England burg has become synonymous with small-town scandal. In the first episode, Dr. Michael Rossi (Ed Nelson), a transplanted New Yorker, arrives to set up his practice. "Peyton Place is more complicated than you think," he is told. That is an understatement. An illicit kiss between wealthy and married Leslie Harrington (Paul Langton) and his married secretary, Julie Anderson (Kasey Rogers), gets things rolling. Rodney (Ryan O'Neal), Leslie's son, witnesses the kiss, and, in turn, breaks up with Betty (Barbara Parkins), his summer fling from the wrong side of the tracks, and Julie's daughter. Things get increasingly complicated from here as the series tackles such not-ready-for-primetime topics as premarital sex, teenage pregnancy, and domestic abuse. Oscar-winner Dorothy Malone (Written on the Wind) lends some Old Hollywood glamour to the proceedings as bookstore owner and overprotective single mother Constance MacKenzie, whose own devastating family secret will be revealed in episode 31. In addition to O'Neal, New Hollywood is represented by a charming Mia Farrow as Constance's innocent daughter, Allison, an aspiring writer who falls in love with Rodney and, as these episodes unfold, becomes obsessed with the case of Elliot Carson (Tim O'Connor), who was imprisoned for killing his wife, and is up for parole.Another cast standout is Henry Beckman as discontented George Anderson, one of Leslie's salesmen, who has a sizable chip on his shoulders. Forty-five years later, Peyton Place seems quaint and moves at a deliberate pace, but one very quickly settles in and feels right at home. As wise old local newspaper editor Matthew Swain (Warner Anderson) tells Rossi upon his arrival, "Some morning you're going to wake up and realize that every face you see is familiar, and you're going to have a definite feeling about each person... You have an experience ahead of you." --Donald Liebenson