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Who is/was the biggest hack writer on soaps??


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Believe me, there's nothing vague about the fact that JER hated DAYS, hated Ken Corday, hated even NBC. And not only was the SSK his way of getting even with all three of 'em, so, too, was much of the craziness that happened on PASSIONS. That's why PASSIONS and JER's DAYS leave a particularly bitter taste in my mouth. If you have an axe to grind against your bosses, that's one thing; but he deliberately used his audience as pawns and made two shows look utterly stupid just to get even.

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JER 2.0 at DAYS was painful to watch in so many ways. The worst part was that it seemed he could do nothing to get fired!

What is his bones with NBC or Corday. Both gave him carte blanche to weave his tangled web of plot driven silliness.

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The first year or so of Passions, he tried really hard to make a lot of it come off as "serious."

By the second year, he realized that the casting sucked, the show was never going to be a ratings or critical success, and he really didn't have a fleshed out plan in mind, and then tried to play off the remainder of its run as some parody of soaps, which I don't think was ever his initial idea.

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I find this absolutely fascinating. JER is the JD Salinger of daytime, there is so much we do not know about him. But I can definitely buy this. One of the things I love about JER is that he had a pair in a genre that is so often homogenized. That his using that pair for evil rather than good can still be considered better by some than writing with good intentions yet no pair at all is interesting.

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First of all, don't think Corday gave JER carte blanche willingly. DAYS was in trouble the first time JER came aboard, and JER, riding off the crest of success he had encountered from working with Nancy Curlee at GUIDING LIGHT, had the support of the network. That's what I mean when I say he hated DAYS. Because, the truth is, JER landing the gig the first time around was a lot like Dena somehow ending up at ONE LIFE TO LIVE. He could have cared less about the particular show he was writing for. He just wanted a chance to prove he could swim in the adult pool with Bell, Nixon and the others.

JER 2.0 lasted as long as it did, because of the ridiculous contract stipulations, as negotiated by JER and his agent, that guaranteed a payout that was generous to say the least. JER asked for the money in order to stick it to Corday once more, but Corday was glad to be rid of him and didn't want to agree to the terms. However, NBC made it clear that unless JER returned, DAYS would be cancelled. Ergo, he had no choice but to allow him back.

In JER's defense, I will offer that many writers have found working for KC to be hellish, if only because Corday himself hardly ever gets involved in the day-to-day production of his own show; and when he does, things like "the Reboot" and Tomlin & Whitesell's return is the result. But why did JER hate working for NBC? Simple. Not only did NBC have an inordinate amount of contempt toward their own daytime lineup (an attitude that stretches back to the late '70's) but despite the fact that they gave him carte blanche, they also expected him to deliver material like "Carly buried alive" and Marlena's possession every time. IOW, don't think every story JER told on DAYS or PASSIONS was the kind he wanted to tell. They interfered with his work just as much as they did (and do) with everyone else's. He just got away with more because of the viewers who ate it up.

This!

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Val was ABSOLUTELY 100% ruined in such a way that I wished Jill was successful in murdering her. That character destruction is worse than Sharon on Y&R. It just kept going and going which made it so bad. If it was just the Jill story that would be okay, but she got dumber and dumber and became such a victim. It was sad to see in season 13 the new writers finally had a compelling story with Val (and Greg of all people!) then she was written off.

With Karen, she was watchable, but so annoying and I hate that she lost her sexuality and became such a saint. Writing of Diana killed Karen. Their relationship was thrilling and I thought showed Karen's vulnerable side and that she wasn't perfect. I also loved Diana and Abby's relationship, which would've been a nice contrast to Olivia/Karen. Overall the writers made everyone around Karen so whiny and perfect which blew. LML did a GREAT story with Mack possibly cheating with Anne (or was that David Paulsen?) and then Michele Lee objected to Mack cheating (although he was written always as a womanizer) and that was the beginning of the end. I also hated the comical Anne that came later. I preferred her in the final season when she got real again.

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Rating's went up with Ellen Weston. I liked the show around that time. It was over the top, but it was enjoyable. I also loved Maryanne Curruthers story. Carrie Nye was fabulous. Of course I know that is the most unpopular opinion of all time, but I was hooked on GL at that time.

I've been buying the show from the beginning and I have through July 2000. Right now I'm in February 2000 and I still find the show to be pretty good. Like you said, the show is comedic (but only in the modern dramedy sense), but overall it's a traditional soap with ONE supernatural storyline. Overall, I think it's been very good and the cast is very strong. If any other soap had this young cast they'd be hailed the next great things. Yes you have duds like Jesse Metcalfe and Molly Stanton, but just about everyone else is a great find. The original Jessica, Kay, Simone, Whitney and Theresa are all great young actors. The vets are mostly strong, but Grace was a HUGE casting blunder.

JER is polarizing, but I'm a Passions fan. It makes me sad that I've never seen his DAYS.

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Diana had to go though. I love Claudia Lonow's performance as the absolutely hellish daughter just because there is absolutely nothing to like about Diana in season 5, she is such a bitch... but aren't so many teenagers that way? It was a rare character. But she became awful enough that she was written into a corner and had to go. I don't think that is what killed Karen. The crap like the famous Pollyanna speech is what killed Karen-- and this is what I hated about the Lechowicks is how immensely proud they obviously were of writing that scene, like a high school kid who thinks he is more clever than he is. I could often feel their smugness through the TV scene and that is what I hate. Karen in the early seasons never would have wanted to be a Pollyanna. She was outspoken, opinionated, liberal, a true modern woman, yet also a dutiful wife and dedicated mother, and busybody extraoridinaire, a great unique paradox all rolled into some truly awful 1980 recession chic pantsuits.

Anne in the final season was just awesome. She finally got what she wanted, she had money, she had Greg, everything should be perfect... but it isn't. A great finish to a character's arc in the 14th season. Amazing.

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I think the Lechowicks were gone by that time - that was one of the last episodes, wasn't it?

I don't think losing Diana hurt Karen, mostly because I thought Diana was so shrill and smug. I think they just ran out of story for Karen. There were plenty of characters who could have called Karen out - Laura, Linda, Anne. The show seemed to settle into writing her as an archetype, writing which also killed Valene and which got to Abby before Donna Mills left. That was probably the success of Nicolette Sheridan - she was the traditional heroine, yet she was so aloof that she added layers even when the writing didn't.

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In light of what I've said thus far in this thread, I honestly don't know how to respond to all that. I'm glad you enjoy(ed) PASSIONS. Chances are, though, JER was laughing at fans rather than with them.

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I was never sure how seriously to take the show after they started out with an extended grave robbing of Princess Diana when she was still the martyred icon of the ages. It was like some sort of Internet trolling before it was trendy.

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And Karen did used to get called out. I love in season 5 when Laura says, "Was that before or after you started taking the pills?" But she then becomes above it all, a mother and best friend to all. Blech. Pollyanna speech was season 12, pure Latham/Lechowick. They have an ear for witty dialogue, measuring things on an "Abby Scale" is a pure classic, but real people don't talk that way. Val declaring to Gary in the season 4 finale that, "Your giving up your life for (Ciji's) means absolutely nothing" is far more powerful, because it's real.

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Good ratings doesn't make you any less of a hack. Hype doesn't mean you're actually good at what you do. If that were the case Michael Bay would be considered the next Spielberg.

Passions was horrible from beginning to end, an embarrassment that never should have seen air. I say this as someone who watched the first year, I wanted so badly to be in on the beginnings of a soap. But the writing was stilted. The characters had little to no personality outside of whatever plot they were forced into. The show looked like someone threw up Starbursts all over the set. It was just plain bad.

His type of storytelling, outlandish plot over character, atrociously repetitive dialogue, cheesy scenes and sets, which the other soaps tried desperately to emulate helped to destroy daytime. Fact.

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Passions may not have been my cup of tea (and it wasn't) or your cup of tea, but the new generation was eating it up. This genre is dying because it failed to adapt. Maybe Passions was what they wanted.

And I gotta disagree that the repetitive dialogue was a problem. What did Agnes Nixon say? "Make em laugh, make em cry, make em wait." We all revere her, but James E. Reilly applied this adage better than any of his contemporaries. And sets are a production issue; I don't see how that can be blamed on any writer.

His characterizations were usually one-dimensional. Sami is obsessive. Austin is dumb. Lucas is spoiled. But those characterizations were usually consistent, which, again, is more than I can say for any of JER's contemporaries.

And the outlandish plots were original, never before seen on daytime. There are only so many storylines you can do on daytime, so I applaud him for finding new plots after 40 years of this genre.

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