Favorite Head Writer

[will81]

I would say Bill Bell. Having seen parts of his Days, much of Y&R and B&B I would say he did a great job with character driven story. I love the psychology of his characters. Jill Foster would have to be the character I love the most. He did such a great job always keeping her past current to her character without making it seem tired and old or re-hashed. The affair with Jack in 1983 was one of my favourite stories and continued affecting story for years.

I would also say Days and Y&R had such unique identities even with Bell's style they don't seem like carbon copies. B&B had it's own identity but I did notice much of what Bell had learned from Days and Y&R was used on B&B.

If Bell could have done social issues and humour like Nixon and mysteries like Slesar I would say he would have been the perfect writer.

One of the other things I appreciate is he understood the necessity of having a strong working relationship with his EP and was smart enough at a certain point to EP or co-EP his own shows.

[John]

Claire Labine, Agnes Nixon, Bill Bell, Douglas Marland & Loraine Broderick

[cassadine1991]

I got to say Michael Malone for OLTL, Lorraine Broderick for AMC, Claire Labine for GH from personal experience.. Agnes Nixon for OLTL and AMC

but from looking at YouTube: Pamela K. Long for GL, Douglas Marland for ATWT, Bill Bell and Kay Alden for Y&R and B&B, harding Lemay for AW;

Days it has to be Sheri Anderson

[Khan]

For me, it's a three-way tie among Marland, Slesar and Wisner Washam (AMC).

[titan1978]

Claire Labine on GH. As a kid I had been watching the show since the early 80's but that was a special time for the show and I was a teen and it just spoke to me. So for favorite that I watched as it was happening that is my pick.

I also have to add that now, through YouTube marathon views, Marland was pretty great. As was Bill Bell. But I also love love love that Curlee era GL.

A writer I haven't seen mentioned yet is Pat Falken Smith. She created some of the all time great families and characters on her shows, and she took what Marland started on GH and shot it into space. She is also an interesting character!

[jfung79]

Lorraine Broderick and Richard Culliton


- Broderick's emotionally compelling, umbrella baby Hope story (which showed me the rootable potential of Holden and Lily that a number of later writers never captured for me); the young love of Eddie and Georgia, and interpretation of Chris Hughes on ATWT as Bob and Kim fretted over their son, converted me to her multigenerational, show-spanning, character-driven style even though I only saw it for a couple months in 1999 starting a few weeks before AW went off air.

Then later, her work on AMC in its final year and currently on DAYS, to the extent she has influence, have cemented her reputation in my mind. She seems to have an eye to tying the canvas together; to character-driven story; to dragging story out wiith cliffhangers (emotional character cliffhangers as well as plot cliffhangers) in that classic soapy manner; and to writing young people in a relatable, rootable, three-dimensional way while tying them in with older characters as well.


- Richard Culliton is the first head writer I followed from soap to soap, from GH (1996-1997) to PC (1997) to AW (1998; kept watching after he was demoted to the end, 1998-1999) to AMC (2001-2002). I like his writing because of the sense of family on his shows (including family not related by blood -- Cass and Felicia on AW, and how 1/3 of the cast became family through the Hayward/Dupres/Stone clan on AMC), his use of vets on AW and his multigenerational style in general, his humanization and redemption of some villain characters (early Stefan on GH during the Guza/Culliton handover period when Culliton was already on staff in a non-headwriter capacity, Grant for a few months on AW, David on AMC), incorporation of wit, his sense of structure and dialogue within an episode, the cliffhangers between episodes, the grounded emotional dilemmas shying away from supernatural-type writing (Leah Laiman said the stories she found when she started after him at AW were too "salt of the earth", and I'm like, what's wrong with salt of the earth? ... also the hospital focus at PC ... he does like over the top villains like Orlena on ATWT, Rex at PC, and Vanessa on AMC though even as he is humanizing other villains), his umbrellla stories (drug story on GH, Proteus on AMC), and his long arcs and dragging out things that can be milked and still have emotional impact instead of rushing (a trait he shares with Broderick -- his not having Carly tell Bobbie she was her daughter for the whole time he was at GH, the long nature of the Proteus story).

He also made me fall in love with his characters. I loved his creations for Port Charles, the first Port Charles characters (especially the Scanlon family - shame they did not stay at the heart of PC after he left - and especially Joe Scanlon). I loved his complex writing for Anna and David at AMC, and how Finola Hughes felt he understood what made her character tick after previous writers did not -- it made me a lifelong fan of Anna and David, together and apart. Culliton also loved writing for Donna on AW and I suspect was reponsible for bringing Anna Stuart to AMC; I have an idolization of the complicated nature of Donna Love because of what he wrote for her at AW. How she was holding herself together after Vicky and Michael had a car crash and so Vicky killed her own father and Donna told Vicky not to tell Jake she was up at the cabin with Shane as then Michael would have died in vain. When people say Donna does nothing for them, or say she was just a snob or socialite, I'm like whaaaa? -- because the Culliton Donna and the Donna I know is was not some stereotype like that sounds like. Another character I loved because of him is Trey on AMC, who he created. He also wrote Frankie on AMC.

He's why I became a Procter and Gamble soap fan, because I followed him to AW from PC and that started several years when a P&G soap was my main soap (with the exception of when Culliton was writing for AMC in Sep 2001 to Dec 2002, and times when I wasn't watching a soap at all). Coincidentally, as I found out later, he was also on the writing staff of GL in 1989 when I watched it for a summer, my first soap experience between 3rd and 4th grade. (Pam Long was the head writer at that point.)

I never saw his other soap work such as his first run at GL, his first run at AW, and his headwriter run at ATWT (seen clips of early Carly and Carly/Mike/Rosanna - wow!), but have heard good things about them, especially the medical malpractice story at ATWT.

I do think his writing has had some flaws too and I don't think he is a head writer who is good for ratings. But I am a Richard Culliton fan through and through. I'm delighted he's a dialgoue writer for DAYS right now too, which I've been watching and loving since January, though I didn't tune in to DAYS because of him. (I would have if he was the head writer.)


- The only other writer I've ever deliberately followed from soap to soap is David Kreizman, who I think is underrated, creative, honoring of vets and character, and also quite competent, but who I wouldn't put in the category of Broderick and Culliton.


- Honorable mention to Claire Labine, who wrote GH for much of the time that GH was my main soap in the 90s when I would watch soaps in the summer. I found her writing to be worthy but not addictive. It wasn't until 1996, after she left, that I started taping GH even after the summer. Her writing did make me like the characters of that time period though, characters I have remained loyal to and many of whom are back on the show now thanks to the writer who I won't mention because I don't want to get into the same old debate. (Thus, Mac and Felicia are for me, and I don't care about Frisco. I love the Quartermaines and their dysfunction. I remember Maxie when she was little and got BJ's heart. Lucy Coe's quirkiness, Kevin Collins, Brenda Barrett, Robin Scorpio and the Nurses Ball. I remember Robin before she had HIV and when Stone was still alive. The Ward family, especially Keesha Ward and of course Mary Mae, but also Justus. Sean Kanan's AJ. Jason Quartermaine and his environmental activism -- as AJ was alluding to recently, he'll always be Jason Quartermaine to me. Jonathan Jackson's Lucky, or "Cowboy," and the domesticated drama Luke and Laura had at that time.)

I also watched Labine's GL in 2001 for a few months and it was a disaster, too focused on San Cristobel and the mob still, with Reva's blindness story a subject for mockery (though I didn't mind it) and with Beth just walking around all the time with nothing on. But she again did have some memorable characters, such as Tony Santos, Sam Spencer, and the way she wrote Olivia and Holly (but much credit for that goes to the actresses too). I blame Paul Rauch for the most part for the bad bits of the show, but I also know that even without him, GL would not have been addictive for me though, as Labine at GH was not one for big cliffhangers. Broderick and Culliton are a lot better at that serial storytelling, cliffhanger thing.

[Soaplovers]

My fav choices would have to be the Dobsons, Pam Long (only on GL, though I hear she was pretty good on Texas during its last several months on air), Claire Labine (Ryan's Hope, GH, and the potential I saw at GL during her brief stint), and Lorraine Broderick (AMC, ATWT though from what I read most of her ideas were shot down by P & G but she made what she could work).

Out of the honored 4 (Bell, Nixon, Phillips, Marland).. i would say my favorite was Agnes Nixon. I liked parts of Bill Bell, but watching episodes of Y & R in the 80s/early 90s.. the show seemed like three or four shows going on at the same time with very little to no overlap. Marland, on the other hand, was pretty good at reflecting the community feel and could interact stories seamlessly.. but as a previous poster said.. the shows he wrote seemed too orderly (which worked for ATWT.. but not for GL as much, at least compared to the Dobson's and Pam Long).

The reason I liked Nixon the best was because she did social issues, she maintained separate identites for OLTL + AMC (when she was running both), and always had humor/memorable characters. She believed that young people were an important part of a youthful soap while maintaining the balance between youth and older characters. I even liked Loving, though I think Marland/Nixon were not a good match.. hence why the show was never able to find a proper identity, nor footing.

[soapsnstuds]

Although it isn't my favorite soap opera of all time (that honor goes to Santa Barbara), I think my favorite head writer is Michael Malone and the work he did on One Life to Live from 1992 up until 1995.

I began watching OLTL in 1992 after watching the Young and the Restless for over a decade and was so used to that soap and it's story lines which seemed to move at a snail's pace and I was amazed that a daily, 5-shows-a-week soap opera could have all the elements that I loved the most in this type of medium: It had some guilty pleasure type storytelling that I was missing from the 1980's prime time dramas which had just become extinct; it had traditional soap story lines; and always left me on the edge of my seat and at the time, the cliches of today, weren't cliche yet, so I was endlessly entertained by the show.

Although I continued to watch the entire ABC and CBS lineup afterwards, I never found as much interest in a soap as I did in OLTL in the early to mid 1990's.

[greens_dupres]

I agree with this. Malone got me hooked on OLTL & soaps. I know his second run was a let-down for me and many other fans but mid-90s OLTL is just on such an elevated level for me so I can overlook the second run. Because of Malone, OLTL will always be MY soap even though I took multiple extended breaks in the early 2000s and really came to love ATWT.

Honorable mention to LB at AMC in the mid 90s. I would say Claire Labine but I didn't get to watch her stuff in real time as it happened because my grandmother quit GH during Casey the Alien and never looked back so I discovered GH on my own later in the 90s. I've caught up on lots of her stuff and know she would have been up there for Malone with me if I had been watching then.

[SOAPSFOREVER]

Henry Slesar

Bill Bell

Claire Labine

Harding Lemay

[JtSmarts]

This will be a mostly Dool list. I loved Sally Sussman Morina's Days (1998-1999) and second would have to be JER. Third would have to be Carlivati overall despite my love/hate relationship with them, (I've only watched Higley's and their OLTL and their version of GH) and fourth would be Peter Brash and Paula Cwikly for their Dool (2002-2003). For the other soaps I watched I never really paid attention to the differences between different head writers.

[EricMontreal22]

Jfung, your post was a great read! I only have one point I have to strongly disagree with (I'm sure you'd expect nothing less from me.) The Proteus storyline on AMC was a mess--it was clear that for much of it the writers had no idea with they were doing.

[KMan101]

Agnes Nixon. I think she gets soaps. Sometimes it's a little too basic for me but there's just something about her soaps and her writing that I just love and appreciate the most.

Claire Labine. I adore Ryan's Hope beyond belief. I also love what she did with GH. Was not a fan of her OLTL. I really think her GL was also a disappointing mess. Had I seen more of Millee Taggart, she'd probably be a favorite. I liked her GL a lot.

JER. Until he seemed to completely lose it around 2005. I think he and McTavish must have lost it together because she totally went off the rails with AMC too.

Malone/Griffith are very good. I think Griffith is boring on his own (Y&R is not pulling me back in right now, even though I wish it would) and they were a mess in their return.

I like Richard Culliton. I don't think he works as a solo HW, but he's very good, along with his wife, and they knock out some great DAYS scripts. I liked Culliton's brief HW stints though, as JFung has already pointed out. He seems to love his drug stories though.

Even though it was transition/wrap up, I quite liked Beth Milstein's brief DAYS HW stint in 2006. I also liked Lorraine Broderick's brief ATWT run.

I like Hogan Sheffer. I think he suffered from not having a stronger co-HW on each soap who better understood their soaps. I know he was with Meg Kelly a lot but I don't remember much about her history with DAYS or ATWT. I think while he had some clunkers on DAYS and especially ATWT, I think the potential (especially with Ed Scott as EP for DAYS) was there. It's too bad there was that power struggle. Ugh. I don't know what happened to his ATWT.

I think we also should give a shout to some of the great script writers and breakdown writers because they churn out what we see daily. I think Melissa Salmon's has been wonderful at DAYS.

It's hard to pick overall favorites because I just love and appreciate the many different styles. I wish we could have seen their work free of what they claim to be network/producer interference, though some clearly just went off the rails towards the end of their stints.

I could go on but I already tried not to make this an essay and was just going off of who I've watched the most. Of course I love the classics but I wasn't alive to watch every day and could really only go off on episodes/clips, which is ultimately enough but it would be too long LOL.

[KMan101]

THIS! (and great post JFung)

It was so awful to follow.

Like I said in my post, Culliton loved his drug stories. But they never ever worked, IMO.

[EricMontreal22]

Culliton had a number of issues during his run on AMC with dropped stories and characters it seemed. From obvious ones (like Tim Dhillon's sudden return and sudden disappearance) to stories that just sorta lost direction.

Kman, I loved reading your list too, even if I don't share your love for earl JER, I agree with it for the most part.

Agnes Nixon definitely is my pick even if I've only actually watched "live" some of her lesser and shorter runs--I became hooked on AMC and soaps in general during her return around 1991 which moved fairly seamlessly into McTavish's first, largely great run. I loved her year (1994) return to Loving, and largely loved her return to AMC in '99/2000 though it became an odd mix when Jean Passanante's ridiculous co-HW work started to take over more and more.

For me her soap style is simply what speaks to me the most. I agree that sometimes maybe it can be too simple, but still the Dickensian mix of social stories, over the top melodrama and coincidence, near caricature characters and humour with simplistic pure young love stories.

Broderick is great--so much so that I still look back so fondly on her AMC even when, if I actually look at it closely, she had a number of truly flop-tastic stories on it. The overall tone of her show was so strong for me that it compensates for that.

I appreciate the more gloomy and psychological style of Bill Bell's shows, but I admit, it doesn't grab me the same way for whatever reason. I'll go through really connected to a certain storyline, but the don't captivate me in the long term the same way--I think because I find, for whatever reason, the Nixon style of production and acting as more relatable.

I loved Malone and Griffith's OLTL in the 90s (and I'll always give credit to Griffith who deserves more of it, as Malone on his own even in the 90s never really worked) even if their return was a mess (but they had a lot of interference as judged by Griffith's very public early exit citing Frons interference as being unworkable.)

McTavish penned some of my fave moments on AMC, so while I understand the criticism she gets wholeheartedly, I still have some affection for her. Similarly Brown/Esenstein provided nearly a year of Loving that I loved, and, once it found its footing, nearly a year of The City that I loved so, maybe they only work well with that show or with Nixon's consultation but I have to give them some credit.

About Labine, I wonder how much credit for Ryan's Hope should go to Avila, who seems t so often get forgotten.