Vee

Thread:

I think Frank and Ron were very simpatico for a very long time, so I don't think Ron was nearly as controlled as all the Frankolytes brought in after him. Ron got a lot of his vision onscreen (good and bad) and Frank facilitated well for him and the show. On paper at least that is the ideal role for an EP IMO. IIRC (and I don't think I'm confusing this with someone else) Ron used to gush that Frank would help him do an outer space storyline if he asked. Frank and Ron were "Cartini" in the soap press' eyes, a supposed dream team who worked in sync - until they didn't. Frank was perceived (by the DC crew, anyway, who lost their absolute minds at the time) as stabbing Ron in the back when various actors (Benard, Geary, possibly Stafford or others) and ABC had the knives out for him when the stories and ratings began to fall apart in late 2014 into 2015. I wasn't surprised when it happened; I knew Frank could be ice cold and was all business, having never let his face crack during the Higley years at OLTL when he allegedly detested her work but used to regularly cheerfully bat down repeated inquiries from the soap press who would hammer her stories. Everyone since Ron, I think, is a Frank choice who he could control and micromanage for his own stories and preferences. He became one of those EPs that thinks he is a HW, and all the writers were simply modular yes-men. I think a lot of that change in persona came out of the Cartini era - they both began to think they were the last hope for soaps, the future of soaps, etc. Patrick Mulcahey is not a Frank hire with no history in daytime or someone he plucked from his existing pool. He has a rich and proud history at GH that predates Frank, something Frank is not always super comfortable with in my experience (paging Vanessa Marcil, or the multiple attempts to dump Genie for not going recurring). So this will be very interesting. Demorest was also on staff at Frank's OLTL for a number of years, IIRC.

For the sake of completionism Frank was there when Malone and Griffith came back to OLTL, but this was just the beginning of his tenure as an EP, when he was put in place as a 'controllable' EP himself by Brian Frons after the firing of Gary Tomlin. Frons masterminded the creative reset at all 3 ABC shows at the time with what he felt were 'classic' writing teams back at the shows - Malone and Griffith at OLTL, Megan McTavish at AMC and Guza at GH. But yes, I agree with you, including re: scripts. As I said before, if Mulcahey starts writing it should show.

And yes, I've been using one of many nitter mirror sites to read this myself as I don't use Twitter.

Kin (who's been on recurring for aeons) has never said a word against being paired and re-paired with Lynn, Jackie, Genie and then Kathleen Gati over the last 20+ years. I don't mean back in the '70s, '80s or '90s, I mean the show's regular tired attempts to link Scott and those women back up in the 21st century, before they more recently tested him with Maura and then put him with Obrecht for a long stretch. I can't remember a time he had a love interest that was ever age-inappropriate in fact. I find it extremely hard to believe he is suddenly demanding a young woman lol.

What happened to all that weird bullshit with Lucy wandering across ABC Daytime investigating Martin's past and exes like Blair? Did she ever learn about that whole money thing with him? When did she fall out of love with him or whatever (if she did)? I don't care, but I am curious.

I remember this well. John Bell was so cute. Amazingly, he has gone on to a considerable career as a teen and then adult co-starring in Outlander, The Hobbit films, etc. Here's an article from several years back re: his performance in a Larry Kramer-themed show.

I don't think this is doing anyone any good at this point, especially Shannen, though I do believe her version of events. (And I say that as someone who likes watching Alyssa Milano, has no beef with her and knows Shannen can historically be volatile, but I also think Alyssa did that shît.)

Generally i'd agree - if it was up to me he'd be long dead. But I'm going to give PM a chance to make something of that impossible situation.

The article says it starts an umbrella story by Mulcahey and Korte. Not that it's going to hopscotch between Mulcahey and Korte's new work and the old writers, which is not something I've ever heard of happening before.

LOL:

I find it impossible to believe she'd do this.

The front page article on a return I am not even going to bother tagging at this point indicates the show is likely being penned by Mulcahey/Korte as soon as March 4th.

Notable from @Errol's article on the front page: So, that soon.

If anyone can make Steve's raggedy ass work again it's Mulcahey.

They always say that to excuse his latest show, and then it generally turns out to be the same toxic mix of wannabe viral camp, historical inaccuracy and two-dimensional caricatures. Capote's married lover did allegedly abuse him, but the stuff about the specific Swans is too reductive; some of their reactions to him and to "La Cote Basque 1965" were more nuanced than the show's approach indicates.

JFP adored RKK and brought him onto GH where there was allegedly even more trouble. He wasn't forced on her. The timeline on ATWT/AW is also inaccurate. Jensen and ABC got in hot water for her doing GH in 2000. AW ended in the summer of '99 and Vicky Hudson was killed off on ATWT almost immediately thereafter that same summer-fall, in a plane crash. By the time Jensen briefly did double duty on both shows, which got her in hot water at P&G/CBS, Vicky was dead and part of a ghost storyline wrapping up on ATWT. She was therefore appearing as both Melissa on GH and Ghost Vicky for a couple days in early 2000. They didn't kill Vicky because of GH, the character was killed long before she got hired at GH. They killed Vicky because they wanted to.

There's actually a lot of evidence Capote was deeply hurt by what happened; it was well-researched in a number of in-depth articles over the last decade and a lot of his associates (including some of the Swans, IIRC) were either interviewed or quoted via archival stuff. He apparently spiraled into drug and alcohol abuse with considerable more intensity once he lost his preferred social scene. I have no interest in this series because I don't tolerate Ryan Murphy product and his eager need to poach and associate himself with every possible pop culture totem by proxy, and even when his name isn't on the scripts the imprimatur, style and laziness of his factory style often show through. (Case in point: Promos showing Flockhart's character Lee Radziwill plotting Capote's downfall when by all accounts she was one of the women least impacted by his expose and didn't fully shun him.) Prefabricated viral camp moments and bitchery will always win the day in Murphy world, because he's a misanthropic nihilist. But I am glad the actresses are getting a showcase.

I'll just reiterate other people and say over half the cast (contract and recurring) of GH.

That was nuts and seemed like a Sonny/Lois chemistry test to me, as I noted to caroline at the time.

Genuinely wild to see good dialogue on modern B&B. So much of that show ran together for me when I tried watching it for awhile during somewhere around this time, for the actors like Heather Tom, Rena, etc. And you're right, unmistakable. This is why I feel confident we'll know if ghostwriting starts to happen early.

No, I'm pretty sure he was there for most of her tenure. He wrote for B&B on staff for maybe 15 years. He left before she did. I thought Lois still ran L&B all over the world. Shows what I know.

Extremely common for this show tbh. I can only hope PM finds real plans for Rena, who I'm sure he wrote for at B&B a fair bit.

That's interesting, because they never treated A.J. with much more than disdain once BW was in the role IMO. I did wonder early on as a kid if it was going to end up with them falling in love given the setup, but it never really went there (and should've, at least with Sean Kanan).