Critic's Review of CAPITOL (1986)
A personal viewpoint
By John Kelly Genovese

The triangle of politician Trey Clegg (Nicholas Walker), ambitious wife Sloane Denning (Deborah Mullowney) and reformed prostitute Kelly Harper (Jess Walton) was once CAPITOL’s biggest drawing card. It is now virtually nonexistent. Kelly, the survivor, is now Kelly, the loser. Her struggle with the Cleggs for a place in Trey’s life has manifested itself in booze, pills, and involvement with slithery D.J. Phillips (Grant Aleksander). And Sloane had to deal with the rantings of insanely jealous Jenny Diamond (Catherine Hickland), who mistakenly believed Sloane was after Zed (Bradley Lockerman). The Zed/Jenny romance had to be the silliest romance in CAPITOL’s history.
  When will soap producers ever learn that international intrigue bores most fans? Sloane’s whirlwind affair with Prince Ali (Peter Lochran) is little more than an excuse for location footage. Lochran is charismatic and there is chemistry between the actors, but Ali’s exotic environment looks fake through and through.
  This flair for the exotic also hindered the Clarissa/Baxter story. Baxter’s reappearance after being presumed dead was ingeniously interwoven with a crime syndicate story line involving Zed, Jenny, and Jenny’s mysterious father, Victor Markham (Paul Comi). It also threatened to shake the three key families down to their roots. Clarissa was caught between Baxter and her beloved Mark Denning (Ed Nelson). Myrna felt renewed stirrings for Baxter, unbeknownst to her husband Sam (Richard Egan). The McCandless brothers were at odds, and catty Paula Denning (Julie Adams) eagerly waited for all the pieces to fall so she could move in on Mark and get something on Myrna. It was delicious – until Myrna’s past relationship with Baxter was totally obscured. Mark Denning was reduced to a seemingly unimportant character, and Clarissa and Baxter were enmeshed in a tropical island mystery involving a mistress (the formidable Beah Richards), a burning house, a locked trunk, and Clarissa thinking she was going batty. More tricks.

 
  Another example of excess flash is CAPITOL’s fascination with ”name” stars. While countless opportunities for human story lines fall through the slats, the show busies itself with shoving celebs into forgettable roles. Lola Falana’s character, Charity Blake, worked well in the Zed/Baxter mob sequence, only to be inexplicabiy dropped without a story payoff. And grandad Judson Tyler’s (Rory Calhoun) fling with country songbird Darlene (Tammy Wynette) is more cuteness than story.
  Nevertheless, CAPITOL is one of the most brilliant productions in daytime. Sy Tomashoff’s flawlessly-crafted sets shine, and are aided by an immense studio and clothing of consummate good taste. The stunning cast includes Constance Towers (Clarissa), as lovely and as believable a heroine as one can find. Marj Dusay’s Myrna is perfectly-balanced bitchery, always tempered with vulnerability. Julie Adams is captivating as instigator Paula Denning. Nicholas Walker is perfect as the ambivalent Trey Clegg, with Jess Walton (Kelly) matching him ounce for ounce, despite her character’s disappointing new path. The show’s younger performers are unique, hardworking and well-cast, and probably no single performer in the history of daytime has shown more growth than Deborah Mullowney, as Sloane Denning. Relatively inexperienced when the show premiered, this actress has never ceased to surprise viewers as the romantically-thwarted career woman. Mullowney has molded one of the few flawed heroines on television – a sympathetic, industrious young woman given to vengeful fits when pushed to the edge.
  CAPITOL has several ingredients for success, including a host of dramatic possibilities. Let’s see those possibilities come to fruition.