titan1978

I know I’m not her and I can’t read her mind- she has her feelings for a reason. It is just strange to me when you look at how Lucinda was written for (and not) post Marland.

What I remember (again, I started watching in the early 90’s) was Pine Valley felt like a place, a real community. Everybody wasn’t rich or famous like Erica or Adam, and lots of characters had a real sense of integrity. Watching the clip posted about Michael and Kevin coming out really reminded me of that community sense. Stories and characters were connected but also had their own stories going on, with great supporting characters tying it all together.

It is strange how much she disliked Marland’s writing for Lucinda. She had it made for a soap star of her age- love affairs, kids to manipulate and fret over, a career storyline and stuff that was just about her. And none of it seems like they are trying to keep her young and in stories that are not appropriate. Look at poor Marlena on DAYS- they had such trouble moving her from romantic heroine and show lead to mature woman. They literally didn’t know what to do with her several times in the 2000’s. As far as Colleen Zenk- maybe what she hated was being on the losing side of the the stories as vixen Barbara. The rooting value was for HBS’s Margo to reunite with Tom. Barbara had been chased by all the men up to that point, now she’s chasing. Maybe it was more of a vanity thing than she cares to admit. She also loved being bad during Hogan’s time as HW.

It did. However, up to Faison as Duke shooting him, I would have taken Jason any day over Sonny. Now I’m just indifferent to him for the most part. The only time Sonny is even memorable to me after he left Brenda at the altar and quit the show the first time are always tied to the women he is paired with. Brenda, OG Kate, SJB Carly (I prefer TB with Alcazar and Jason).

That’s easy. Burton would have left, and if they recast or lured him back, Bob Guza would have killed him off. Or turned him into a monster of some kind.

The mandate to bring back that version of the theme (although updated) might be the only good thing that Frons did.

Lorimar became Warner Brothers Television. I am hoping HBO Max (Warner’s streaming company) will eventually have a lot more classic Warner material as time goes by. Especially since only three seasons have been released on DVD. The show doesn’t even get really good until near the end of the fourth.

That doesn’t surprise me, because for as much as I love Bell and the aesthetic of Y&R, I have also found it static, staged, and emotionally chilly. It’s part of the old school Hollywood aesthetic they used. Most of this is because I grew up on ABC shows. They all had more action in every sense. Their characters emote more by showing, not telling. On Y&R, you have the classic shots of someone talking to the back of another character with the camera facing both, the sweeping shots of sets, and a lot of classic soap elements like characters talking about every step and emotion of their lives, often telling as much or more than showing, and not much character based humor. Marland’s ATWT feels patrician to me. I haven’t seen enough of his other soaps to say if he wrote this way specifically on ATWT or if it was his style. The GH I have seen written by him is still filtered through Monty’s lens, and she did whatever she wanted with the script to get the show she wanted. I’ve seen some GL and with Nola it does have more spunk.

I’m burning through the Luke/Laura/Lucky playlists, I watched all of Laura’s trial and I’m now at Lulu’s illness and the introduction of Nikolas. I really miss how meticulous these shows used to be plotted out. They didn’t rush through the beats of this at all to get to the reveal they are heading towards. The little details are what I miss from soap storytelling. Its also Illuminating to see so much of the rest of the cast. Even Simone is onscreen often, both in her relationships with Tom, Justus, and as a doctor at the hospital.

Yes. She left to work in her own show, which never landed. We Love Soaps: So working on GENERAL HOSPITAL was such a positive experience for you and the viewers. Why did you leave in early 1996? Claire Labine: We had a show in development and NBC was interested in it. We left in order to pursue the development with NBC. And then we discovered that it was not exactly their plan, and they were going with, what was that weird show? SUNSET BEACH. So that was it. We took it back to ABC and they were really, really interested. I had done a first version of it for Michael Brockman when he came back after I had left RYAN'S HOPE. He was about to greenlight it when he got replaced, rather summarily, to my great regret. And then new management was not really ready to think about a new show at that point. Pat [Fili-Krushel] was really interested in it but it was difficult to get her to take the leap. The show was set in Brooklyn, and Matthew [Labine] had this absolutely marvelous insight to tie Lois and Ned into the show because they weren’t using Ned [Wally Kurth] and [Rena Sofer] was gone at that point. But they decided to go instead with PORT CHARLES from Wendy Riche.

After the heartbreak of Stone, the show was just starting to move the characters forward into new story directions when Claire Labine left and Guza took over. And one of his big first stories was the murder of Damian Smith. I forgot how much fun the show could be, especially when you have a room full of these characters. The reading of the will starts around 8:15, and continues in the next video. It’s soapy and I remember how refreshing this was after so much sorrow with Stone. I loved Labine but this was also a great time on the show.

Except some of the most critically acclaimed and highest rated shows in the last decade have proven people will watch slower rolled out material if the characters are strong. Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, are all shows that slow it down quite often. Lots of Netflix and other streaming programs tell incredibly slow, meticulously crafted stories. I think the key is to take advantage of what you have if you are a network. You don’t want to loose momentum? Then run a show like this from January to May. No reruns. You want to capitalize on that heightened soap thing? Have a cliffhanger each week (could be emotional like This is Us, could be danger, or a piece of a mystery revealed, etc). Be like Agnes- flexible enough that when something is happening in the real world, you can add it to the storytelling. Promote the [!@#$%^&*] out of it. For ABC, I say a week of GMA reintroducing the classic characters and themes, and meet the new cast. Finally- learn from the mistakes of the past and network shows that fall apart between season one and two that like a mystery angle- Solve one mystery from your premise before the end of the season, even if the characters do not know the resolution, the audience should be in on it by that point if you are carrying it into season 2.

It’s like they burn through two or more years worth of story in 6 months. Prestige shows string you along with all the character bits that soaps used to use (although soaps also did a lot of recapping due to the nature of the format to fill time)- the scenes that illuminate who these people are. I think it’s why so many of them have a sophomore slump and are cancelled within two to three seasons- they just burned up all the ongoing story and the next set of stories is either a retread after a pivotal climax, or focused away from what made people tune in in the first place. Soaps need momentum. I get a network is not going to give a show as long as Knots had to get there, but those first five seasons gave them material for almost another five, and more viewers over time.

Truthfully- them. If the show finds enough success to warrant a spinoff, it makes business sense for them to do the same thing on the new show, serve as EP and find a show runner to produce and run the writer’s room. They question is what superfan would they find to do that with them?

It would be something for AMC to lead to OLTL this time. I think the best part of this is that ABC might finally see some value in something they have ignored and neglected for a long time. Might even be good for GH in the long run. It is fun to think of Erica on a set that primetime can afford- think of the closet and wardrobes!

😂

Those top three seem like a lock to me, and the ongoing issues with diversity in media make me hopeful for Angie and Jesse and their family, because it’s already there for them to tap into. I think a mystery angle works just fine with these characters, and a bit of darkness. I wasn’t even watching the show yet (didn’t start until the Kendall stuff), and even I know the murder mystery around Will Cortlandt was very popular and that era of AMC is beloved. I am a lifelong fan of GH- but my love affair began squarely in the Monty era so that is the DNA to me of that show. I think a lot depends of when this guy started watching. No matter what happens, I’m watching the first episode if it makes to air.

I love soap fans- but this is wild AF. I am interested to see what they do with the property, but I am fully aware it will not be AMC rebooted in primetime, filled with the types of characters mentioned in your post. That’s just not real, even if it was a daytime reboot, because that is not how networks think. Ita going to be its own thing, with some familiarity. And we better be prepared to let go of some of what we watched from about 2002 to the end.

I don’t give Kelly Ripa any credit to want to protect this as a brand. In all the years since she left she obviously has fond memories of working there and that it was important in her life, but she is not precious about soaps or daytime at all. She used to make fun of her time on the show all the time (I haven’t watched her talk show in a very long time, but I remember her often poking fun at the silliness of soaps).

How interesting! Maybe this will lead to other shows being reinvented this way (Edge of Night I am looking at you). I would be shocked if they didn’t try to get SMG. This needs people with ties from before and also some big names if they want it to actually work. And she is a much bigger star than AM.

Yeah, and I think it was a mistake in hindsight on the show’s part. I know they chose to not accept the new lesser contracts. And I loved Julie when she came back without Doug for that period in the early 90’s. But I also see the problem- we still had Tom and Alice as viable characters for quite a bit after that. And Julie is just too much to be a standard matriarch, and there wasn’t room for her to not have a real role on the show. Just being Hope’s surrogate mother and Doug’s adoring wife is removing all of Julie’s personality.

I would much rather hear about what working for Irna was like!

As someone that started watching in the 1980’s, there were plenty of characters I would have gotten rid of before Doug and Julie. I get the show was moving them into older character territory, and had already moved Marlena to the centerpiece of the show. But people like Liz and Neil (and I liked both of them) outlasted them in the 80’s and that is kind of shocking to me. This might be blasphemy, but I would rather have Doug and Julie on the show back then as featured characters than Maggie and Mickey. And again, I love them. But Julie especially adds that extra layer that makes her good in all kinds of stories, and also independent enough to be in the mix of all the action. Maggie can’t pull that off.

If I remember correctly, she said a more complicated relationship between them and they (writers) would have to do it very carefully. I read that any number of ways, but I do not think the intention or execution would have worked for a them too be a long term couple. But imagine what it would have done to Ed if they had even just kissed and it went no further?

I agree. It just seemed to me in this case that they were gently testing the waters. It wasn’t the words in the scenes so much as the ways they had them looking at each other. Lots of long gazes when talking to each other, and soaps are notorious for chem testing.