EricMontreal22

They then talk a bit about Sam Hall's role as associate HW (he shares an office with Gordon Russell but only comes in a couple of times a week, working mostly from home) They do spit take conversations about overall story, but Sam's main job is to then do the detailed outline which Gordon heavily edits before sending to script writers. About Doris Quinlan there's this: Headwriter-Producer Relationship Gordon was not hired by Doris Quinlan nor does he consider himself accountable to her. When Gordon accepted the offer from the ABC Vice President of Programming to headwrite "One Life to Live", it was unofficially stipulated that he would not be working for Doris Quinlan but rather with her. Since she has more direct access to information concerning occurrences which transpire relative to directing, costume designing, scenic designing, tape scheduling and ratings, Gordon is inclined to take his producer's . 99 input quite seriously. However Gordon's interest in Doris's perceptions and observations should not suggest a subordinate relationship. To Gordon, Doris is an important liason, a feedback mechanism supplying him with information pertinent to the production, financial and aesthetic aspect of the show. Doris will criticize but will not chastise. She will recommend but will not insist. Gordon's insistance that he and Doris are on an equal footing appears, within a hierarchial context, theoretically true. However, Quinlan holds an important advantage of vantage point. The producer's position allows her an overview crucial to the functioning of the show as a whole. She is the hub of a synchronization process dealing with, amongst other elements of the production machine — writing. Producer-headwriter conversations ensue at no scheduled intervals. On occasion Gordon will personally deliver edited scripts to Doris (the producer's office is located at the ABC studios about five blocks from Gordon's office) in order to keep a finger on what's going on by talking to Doris, the directors and actors. Gordon explained "when I take them myself, I know they’ll get there". More often than conversing in person, Gordon and Doris speak via telephone. A portion of one such conversation which according to Gordon was fairly typical may be seen below: Doris: She can't go because she hasn't got a man to take her is rather un-Cathy Gordon: Oh Doris: Isn't it? Well, I think...what to comment on it or not. You know. Gordon: Oh, all right. Doris: I don't know...it's trivial Gordon: Yeah, Okay. I mean, I think she'd like to go with someone you know Doris: Yes, of course. Now she's well, Paul has invited her and if she's the lady she says she is, it should not concern her that she does not have an escort. Gordon: Yeah, all right, fine. Doris: I don't understnad page 4— why Cathy has a bottle of champagne to celebrate the occasion. Nor do I understand what tl;t means when Pat proposes a toast to Tony's place on Cathy's reaction we go to black. What reaction? Gordon: Ah Doris: If Pat has brought a bottle of booze and all that...I don't quite understand why Cathy would be celebrating the opening of Tony's...we use it and she says: "I planned a celebration this way”. Gordon: That might be a good idea. Yeah. Doris: That would be more likely Gordon: Yeah, okay. We could make that note. Although Doris' approach to this communication is more interrogatory and clarification oriented than declarative and edification oriented, she accomplishes change. Gordon's yeahs, o.k.'s and all rights sprinkled throughout 101 this portion of the conversation seem to be representative of the head writer's attitude toward his producer's observations in relation to his script. That which she brings up is often not worth arguing or acclaiming. On occasion Doris has an idea which Gordon deems valuable — innovative. Such an idea was forthcoming in this particular phone conversation : Doris: All right, I'm also gonna see if there's any way I can get us a guest star for the opening [of Tony's Club]. Gordon: Fine, I'd love it. Also considered in headwriter-producer discussions are actors' schedules and availability. Because some performers are obligated to work only three or four shows a week script content and taping schedules must be accomodating ly arranged. Content and tape schedules may be altered due to actor illness or producer brainstorm. Whether rescheduling is necessitated by a performer's week long migraine or a guest star's need to work on a certain day, the maneuver is never accomplished without prior consultation between Doris and Gordon. The moment Doris receives scripts from Gordon they become joint property. No longer is Gordon's say final. All is subject to discussion, reevaluation and alteration. Gordon as headwriter is ultimately responsible for scripts submitted to Doris. Though Doris is uninvolved in social and/or work activity associated with the actual writing of "One Life to Live’s" scripts and outlines, she participates in final judgment of them. The process by which scripts are created, the focus of Chapter IV, would be of little interest to Doris. Her primary concern is the final product.

I thought I didn't have my copy of the 1976 dissertation on OLTL and how it is written but I found some of the excerpts (this is badly copied from an old photo copy so all errors are due to copy and paste.) Gordon's predecessor and mentor, Agnes Nixon, created the bible for "One Life to Live." When Mrs. Nixon sold "Life" to ABC, Gordon was hired in her place. One of Gordon's first obligations to the network and the show was to create a six month summary. This summary, drawing from the bible, entails specific long range events scheduled ot occur. The events are scheduled with approval of the producer and the network. Decisions are made in relation to the six month summary primarily by Gordon. However determinations are subject to alterations based upon ratings (viewer mail, which trickles in, seems to have little effect on the course of the show). Mrs. Nixon, though officially unassociated with the show (except for an obligation to consult with the writing personnel in times of rating decline) still has important and valued input regarding future events as reflected in the six month summary. A recent Agnes Nixon intervention resulted in changing an already completed six month summary. Ratings were dropping drastically; in a two month period they had fallen from a share of 29 to 19. Mrs. Nixon called Gordon offering advice. "When Aggie speaks," Gordon explained, "you listen." Gordon's six years with "Life" and two years with another soap called "Dark Shadows" by no means equals Mrs. Nixon's 25 years of experience as a soap opera writer. Aggie recommended the demise of Victor, a patriarchial figure who had been with the show since its inception. Nixon claimed the show was dragging, stuck in the past — inundated with the old. Victor, a thoroughly ingrained part of the Llanview community would have to go. Heeding Aggie's advice, Gordon prepared for Victor’s death by sharing the idea with his producer and then changing the six month summary. A six month summary does not necessarily include circumstantial exactitudes. For example, Victor, dying as a result of a stroke, may or may not be a circumstance mentioned in the six month summary. That Victor will die and his death will facilitate organizational changes in the social and emotional lives of the remaining Llanviewites, would be included in the six month summary. Mention of events which could potentially cause character metamorphoses are made in the six month summary with the aid of qualifiers, e.g. possibly Victor will have to adjust his will leaving money to his estranged son instead of Dorian, the deceptive wife.

This is my thought too. In that 1976 dissertation that was archived online about how a soap is written which covers OLTL at the time (and includes a script) either Sam Hall or Gordon Russell actually say that they still phone Agnes Nixon for advice (she told them to kill Victor lol) and that it's still in the show's contract that if ratings drop below a certain number, Nixon will return as HW. So just how far did the numbers have to fall? But yes, from a modern POV all those 75-76 episodes we got are pretty compelling I think. It does seem though that it wasn't until Stuart took over that the writing really started on its trajectory to the peaks of 1979 (and I don't just mean Karen Wolek.)

Time travel painting was also under B/E, right?

As others have said, do sweeps months really matter whatsoever anymore (with daytime programming, but even primetime programming?) I assumed, with the huge erosion of network tv in general that they had become irrelevant.

Interesting, as I have it on good authority that AMC's Erica Kane's pill addiction story WAS instigated by McTavish (at least the setup/concept) even though her name was off the end credits literally a few episodes before Erica had her fall. What you say about the tone of the show (and how much the Marian storyline dominated and despite its offensiveness, probably offered most of the compelling material) jives with the episodes from this era that I've seen. Thanks for more details! Was Amish Reva McTavish or right before her? It's interesting that while McTavish's three runs at AMC all ended up being unrelentingly dark (especially her later runs,) at her best she did seem to have the facility to provide AMC with lighter moments and some heart (Agnes Nixon's involvement as "exec head writer" or whatever the first go around notwithstanding.) and yet, she never seemed to have any of this at her other stints, at least from what I remember of her 18 months at OLTL and what I've read at her similarly brief GH run (of course in both instances she was probably essentially doing what JFP wanted.) I also find it interesting that, despite a brief break with other writers, pretty soon after GL hired Brown/Esensten hot off The City (which I still think in its final months was a pretty strong soap, so it made some sort of sense to use them,) another ABC writing team known for some outlandish stories (although it wasn't until GL that they started to go sci fi/supernatural as they would on PC...)

Is that really you, DRW50?

Most of my GL knowledge is from the history of the show--pre mid 1980s (some years back now I listened to tons of episodes from the radio days--mostly the early 1950s focusing on Meta, and have seen most of the old Youtube episodes.) So I apologize for this question which probably was addressed at some point here. Watching 90s AMC again, I had forgotten that when Megan McTavish was fired from AMC in 1995, she was pretty much scooped up straight away by GL (given how highly rated most of her early 90s AMC run was, I'm sure that was seen as a coup.) I think she only stuck around for a year and a half before she was dropped--I know that she wrote the infamous Marian Crane/Brent storyline but what are the general thoughts about her run overall? Was there anything good she brought to the show? Her final stories on AMC at that popint were seen as relying too much on gimmicks (doubles, etc)--was this the kind of storytelling she brought to GL as well? (Knowing McTavish and how quickly she switched between shows, I have to wonder if she brought any ideas for AMC over to GL)

Dunno why I didn't think to check out Wiki--for the record here is what it says: In the mid-1990s, Fickett decided that she wanted to reduce her schedule and spend more time with her family. She allowed her contract to expire and expected to go on recurring status, meaning she could still appear on the program but did not have to meet any contractual obligations or minimum number of appearances. Negotiations with the producers of the program broke down, and the role of Ruth Martin was recast with Lee Meriwether taking on the character in 1996. In 1999, Meriwether was let go and Fickett rehired on recurring status. She resumed the role of Ruth and supported several front burner storylines including son Tad's romance with Dixie and the breakdown of son Dr. Jake (Joey) Martin's marriage to Gillian. After another year, Fickett decided to call it quits from the busy schedule of soap opera acting and retired in December 2000. In 2002, the producers wanted to bring the character of Ruth back, but Fickett remained in retirement, so Meriwether was rehired and played Ruth whenever the occasion arose.

I remember at the time some fans were so upset that they got rid of the oldest set, and I get that. However, as a viewer who just started watching in 1991, I swear that that set was barely EVER used in those years between then and the tornado so young teen me didn't get what the fuss was--I felt like maybe I had seen it two times in those years :P (I'm sure I saw it more, but...)

Who knows who/what's behind how these are being programmed. It does seem like we get a new batch on the weekend continuing into Monday/Tues and then for the rest of the week they just repeat those episodes (confusingly in different sequences--like right now sometimes they go between 6570-6575 but sometimes 5666-5675. I suspect by tomorrow/Sat we'll go up to 6581...) Besides the big jump backwards from August/Sep episodes to May/June episodes, this at least seems to be the rhythm they're following and I'm keeping my eyes open for but... Yeah--I completely agree. They did release online (for the BeondTV European base) that great random May 1 1980 episode in full that was captured here...

Where the Heart Is (why haven't any episodes shown up?) was notorious in the soap press at the time for obsessing about sex. I believe so was Return to Peyton Place--so could those be contenders?

There might be something interesting to mine storywise about a white character being of such lower social-economic class than her black best friend, but the show hasn't really gone there (and won't I suspect.)

Schemering in his Soap Opera Encyclopedia (and I've heard others say this) did say that in the 1970s AMC always looked cheap and it wasn't until a big overhaul a bit after they went to an hour (and ABC bought the show) that the sets by the 80s were up to snuff.

Only recently was I reminded about some of the drama when Fickett retired from AMC. I think it was shortly after the anniversary week at the start of 1995 (when it felt like literally dozens of past characters came to the homewarming of the Martins new home, after the previous one was destroyed in the fire.) I believe shortly afterwards was when Lee Merriwether took over the role, and then from my bad memory, Fickett DID come back in a recurring status for a while, before Lee took over permanently. I feel very guilty admitting that I didn't... well mind Lee in the role, even if it really wasn't the same (for the most part AMC seemed to do well by their vets, and it does seem with Fickett it was her decision not to return again.) It is tragic how she seemed to be pretty incapacitated (with Alzheimer's and other health issues) for the final years of her life, and died IIRC just days before the ABC finale for the soap which was dedicated to her. She was only in her early 40s when she started playing Ruth, which I suppose says something about how the age of actors (and age of people in general) has changed over the past 50 years, although for the first decades of AMC, although we don't have a lot of remaining episodes to easily check out, they certainly gave her a lot of her own stories.