redontop4

5 hours ago, Forever8 said:

How would you think a Nancy Curlee head written GH would've been? Which characters would you think she would've succeeded in penning? 

Nancy Curlee + Wendy Riche . . . hmmm.  Hard to say. They would seem to share similar taste in stories, but GH was a volatile, unhappy place in those days apparently. Too bad -- a stint at GH would have reunited NC with Patrick Mulcahey, who joined the GH writing team in 1996. They worked magic together.

Yes, it always puzzled me why NC's name was never mentioned (officially) as a head writer for GL in the Laibson and Rauch years. She obviously knew and loved GL. Maybe it was a P&G or CBS thing?

3 hours ago, RavenWhitney said:

Alan mentioned it at the top of the interview then restated to Nancy when she was onscreen.

Ah, you're right. At the top, Alan says NC wrote for AMC and OLTL. I wonder when that was and what she was responsible for.

On 7/10/2021 at 6:13 AM, RavenWhitney said:

Curlee revealed some great tidbits.  First, it was mentioned that she wrote for AMC and GH although her name was never in the credits, and that she was 'negotiating' with ABC to head write GH when she got pregnant.

Where in the interview do they talk about NC's uncredited work at AMC and GH? I missed that. She talks about negotiating to take over GH at the 59:50 mark but says she did not take the job due to her third pregnancy.

On 7/2/2021 at 5:48 PM, cassadine1991 said:

 

This was a good interview although there was so much more Alan could have asked about. Two things stood out to me:

 

1) Nancy Curlee praised Jill Farren Phelps as "incredible" and had a number of nice things to say about her before adding that they were both "young and ambitious" and sometimes "emotions ran high." Alan, of course, did not follow up on that.

 

2) NC divulged that she wishes she had kept Maureen alive by having her slip out of Springfield with Roger's help. She made it sound as if it was her choice not to do this, which suggests that she, as co-head writer, had say as to how Maureen was written out after JFP decided to let Ellen Parker go. Imagine if NC had chosen to let Maureen live, albeit off-camera. Would have been much easier to reverse JFP's bad decision down the line.

On 7/22/2020 at 8:36 AM, Mitch said:

Tangie was brought on to combat the return of Luke and Laura on GH. I no doubt thought that they wanted to bring Zimmer back then but JFP wouldn' t do it so she threw out another "big name" in her place. I actually didn't mind Tangie at first..she came off as tough and was different..but her weird backstory and I never saw Walker as a romantic lead..

 

Yes, JFP was looking for a splash to counter L&L's return. A Martinez has said she approached him around this time to join GL, but he had a new baby and didn't want to leave LA. I suspect (bot no proof) that JFP had him in mind to play Detective Cutter, who debuted in October 1993. Cutter was a creation of the writers' to replace permanently-honeymooning cops Harley & Mallet and went forward with Scott Hoxby in the role. But still wanting her big splash, JFP moved down the list and asked Marcy Walker to join GL with no character or story in place. In interviews from around that time, even MW says she didn't know much about the character. Turns out no one did for too long although I'm surprised MW's good friend, Patrick Mulcahey, who knew her from even before their SB days, didn't give her character more definition.

 

Mark Derwin, in one of the recent quarantine interviews, said that JFP asked him and Beth Ehlers to stay in 1993 specifically because L&L were returning to GH. But he and BE were determined to head west. So JFP hatched another plan. You can't really blame her, and she was using the connections she had to stay competitive with a resurgent GH. The wrinkle, of course, is that Kim Zimmer was unemployed in '93 and wanted back on GL, but JFP fought it and won. Reva's return probably would have solved everything and kept GL competitive. But JFP was pleased with post-Reva GL and had other ideas.

2 hours ago, Asb23 said:

He interviewed Mark Derwin a few weeks back, too. I like this one-on-one format better than the 5-person interviews (neither polished interviewers, however). Mark shares some good stories and basically carried the interview. I’m happy to see any of the actors that we have gotten to see the past few months so no complaints here!

 

https://youtu.be/AoqR0D78xPY

 

He’s managed to get a few other GL stats recently, too.

 

Thanks for the link.

 

Yes, the interviewer is not very skilled, but Derwin is great and very generous with his time. Lots of great GL and OLTL stories. I didn't know he dated Gina Tognoni!

On 7/7/2020 at 2:41 PM, chrisml said:

I don't know what happened during the Dobsons' return, but I wish they hadn't mucked it up so much. I liked what they did with Flame and Michael, but that didn't last long because of the Born/Rauch fight. I wonder what would have happened if there were a different producer.

 

Patrick Mulcahey once explained that he and Jerry Dobson and Chuck Pratt would gather at the Dobsons' house every few weeks to plot story, and that was the genesis of some of SB's best storylines. I  believe that's why the Dobsons' second stint didn't work. As talented as they are and as much as they deserve credit for the concept and launch of SB, they had a lot of help from some very talented people. For my money, SB was at its best circa 1987 when the Dobsons were exec-producing, Chuck Pratt was co-head writer, Patrick Mulcahey and Courtney Simon (and others) were writing scripts, and Jill Farren Phelps (who knew and loved SB and was fantastic there) was heading the production team as supervising producer. By 1990, John Conboy had run Mulcahey off and fired Pratt and Phelps. Simon left in 1992 to rejoin JFP and Mulcahey (and her husband) at GL.

 

What might SB have been if Conboy and Jackie Smith (NBC) had not made those personnel changes and the Dobsons had returned in 1991 to find the old crew still intact?

Interesting set of interviews of several SB actors in the wake of its cancellation. Lots of love for JFP . .

Various SB stars share their thoughts and memories of the cancellation   Courtesy of Soap Opera Weekly - January 5, 12 & 19, 1993

Gordon Thomson (Mason Capwell, 1990-1993 "In a lot of ways, working on SB has been one of the most wonderful experiences in my life as an actor.  I have done some of my most satisfying work there.  When Jerry and Bridget Dobson were writing the show, I was the most talkative man in soap opera history, but there was also a lot of dark exploration, which I enjoyed.  Every writer has characters through whom they see themselves, and I think Bridget and Jerry saw themselves through Mason.  I love what I do for a living, and I was glad to have a job and a fascinating part.  Nancy Lee Grahn is a very good actress.  She's funny and feisty, and we got along very well.  Marj Dusay was a treat to work with, too.  The show had a strong group of actors and an extremely nice crew.  It will be sad to disband such an intense team of gifted and dedicated people!"   Marj Dusay (Pamela Capwell, 1987-1988, 1990) "I always thought Santa Barbara was a very good show and liked the work on it.  But when I went in it seemed to be just going to hell in a hand basket.  I truly believe they had their problems within the show, and they just more or less hired me to get rid of the character.  Pamela was the baby of the Dobsons, and when they had their struggle [with NBC, which resulted in their outster from the series they had created] somebody had to take it over, and by then the character couldn't go anyplace.  It evidently was so much politics, and if I had known that it would have helped me feel a lot better.  I thought Pamela was going to be a wonderful character, and she might have been had the Dobsons stayed.  It felt good to return, because there was something of real substance for me to play, and I was much more comfortable.  I liked the way the Dobsons brought Pamela back and where she was coming from.  It's a shame the show was canceled and I'm sorry for all my buddies there."   Eileen Davidson (Kelly Capwell, 1991-1993) "Santa Barbara called me because I had a following from The Young and the Restless, and that was very flattering.  I felt pretty lucky to be working with such tremendous group of people, who were working very hard and doing some really terrific work.  It was challenging and also a lot of fun."   John O'Hurley (Stephen Slade, 1989-1990) "As an actor I liked the freedom that I felt on that show, but I look back with mixed emotions.  I liked a lot of the work I did, but I'm sad I was caught in that revolving period of indecision.  I thought my character was very interesting, and I could explore a lot of the darker sides of him, which I liked.  Unfortunately, the show was going through a pattern of not committing to any particular storyline, because I think there were just too many people in the creative kitchen.  One of the wonderful things the show had was comedy, but during the interim that I was there I watched all these great comedic characters - and I use the word characters strongly - just disappear, and it was frustrating.  One reason a lot of the actors who were there with me at the time went over to Santa Barbara was because of the comedy, but all the wonderful humor, the richness that was singular to SB, was just gone.  But I've never had a bad experience in daytime.  I loved the people I worked with on the show.  In fact, many of them remain very close friends.  I'm always sad when a show gets cancelled, because it means you've got 20 contract people who are out of jobs, and that's too bad."   Sydney Penny (BJ Walker, 1992-1993) "Joining Santa Barbara was more than I ever expected it to be.  I certainly didn't expect to just walk in here and be plunked down in the middle of every storyline going.  I like BJ very much; she's probably my favorite character [of all the ones] I've ever played.  I feel very fortunate I've been given such wonderful stuff to do.  Everybody here is so talented, and it's very pleasant to be working with people you like.  They don't come here with their own personal agendas and just do their work and leave.  We genuinely enjoy being with each other and doing things outside of work.  It didn't take long to get used to daytime.  One of the major reasons I wanted to check out this medium was the opportunity to work at my craft on a daily basis, and that's exactly what the last seven months have given me the opportunity to do.  I love being an actress and being around other people who do the same thing.  Everybody welcomed me into the fold, and our working relationship is really perfect.  These are friendships that I intend to keep."   Scott Jaeck (Cain Garver 1987-1989) "I had a great time while I was on the show, and the only reason I left was that I felt I had other things I wanted to do.  I decided to do the show to begin with [because] I thought the character was great and seemed to be unsoaplike.  Plus, I didn't have to shave or cut my hair!  The show always had such interesting writing - it never really seemed to take itself too seriously and had such a great sense of humor to it, with great comic characters and strange and bizarre situations, which I think it lost the last couple of years.  Santa Barbara was way ahead of its time, and it changed too much from what was its success.  It's too bad the network couldn't stay with it.  It was a great run while it lasted, and I hope it's not forgotten."   John Cassadine (Grant Capwell, 1986) "Before I joined Another World (as Reginald Love), I worked on Santa Barbara for a week.  I did six episodes as CC's brother Grant, and it was a lot of fun.  I always thought it would be a good opportunity to bring some conflict to CC's storyline, but for some reason they never brought the character back.  I really liked the show, and would have loved to return."   Todd McKee (Ted Capwell, 1984-1989) "Santa Barbara was refreshing because it pushed the limit.  There was a lot of talented actors over there, and it was fun to watch them create.  Everybody was so talented and so different.  I was inexperienced when I got the job, but what a place to start!"   Susan Marie Snyder (Laken Lockridge, 1987-1988) "Working on Santa Barbara was fun, and one of the easiest jobs I ever had in my life.  I'd come in two or three days and do this fluff, and I was sorry that it ended so abrubtly.  I felt like they didn't seek the full potential of the character - for whatever reason - but if was a good time for me!"   Michael Durrell (Alex Nikolas, 1987) "My feelings are a little confused, because the show that was cancelled was not Santa Barbara.  It became something else, just an entirely different show.  What I remember very fondly is a show that was a family, headed and nurtured and created and supported by a wonderful woman named Jill Farren Phelps (formerly executive producer).  It was the Dobsons (Bridget and Jerome, SB's creator, and former head writers and executive producers) who actually brought my character in and supported me in the role, but the true genius behind the creation and the nurturing of all of the characters was Jill, who was the one behind the scenes making the show work.  She was the one who helped create it, and she was Santa Barbara; I have only great, fond, wonderful memories for a show that left a very special place in my heart.  What we had was so warm, wacky and so wonderfully confusing sometimes, but that was the charm of it.  The family atmosphere with everyone there was initiated and maintained by Jill, and I missed it from the first day I left the show."   Shirley Anne Field (Pamela Capwell Conrad, 1987) "Pamela Capwell Conrad was a woman who was beautiful, witty, wily and throughly unscrupulous.  [She was] a woman with all the infinite charms of an ageless Helen of Troy - capable of launching a thousand ships.  That is what enchanted me about the role.  However, it was a nightmare when I left.  It was a really sticky situation, and unfortunately I was caught in the middle of the politics."   Sherilyn Wolter (Elena Nikolas, 1987) "Elena was my most challenging role, and it was really fun to play that wicked a character.  During the day I would run rampant as Elena, then I'd go home and be very sweet.  At the end of my stint, the producers asked me to stay, but I really felt she had done her thing for the time being.  Everyone was so personable, and it was a real nice family there.  A Martinez (Cruz) was such a doll, and a real sweet person to work with."   Jane Rogers (Heather Donnelly, 1988-1989) "It was really well put together.  The people there were wonderful, and the coordination of everybody - from props to producers - was great.  I was very pleased."   Vincent Irizarry (Scott Clark, 1988-1989) "At the time I thought the show was definitely one of the better-written shows on daytime.  The people involved with it were really a great group.  They were outgoing, friendly, there for you, and they had a sense of humor.  I had never seen such a spirited, fun group of people in production."   Signy Coleman (Celeste DiNapoli, 1989-1990) "I can honestly say that working on Santa Barbara was a wonderful experience for me.  It wa the first solid acting job I was given, and I grew a tremendous amount in the year I worked on the show.  Not only that, but that's where I met my husband (Vincent Irizarry), who gave me my child, Siena.  Even though Vincent and I are no longer together, I'm extremely grateful because we have a beautiful child.  Santa Barbara interwove storylines very well, and it was wonderful to be excited about going to work every day.  The show was so good at the time we were working on it, and I was very disappointed to hear it had been cancelled.  I wish everyone who was involved in it nothing but the best of luck!"   Terry Lester (Mason Capwell 1989-1990) "Santa Barbara was a different kind of show from all the other daytime shows, but I loved it.  At the time, I'd never been happier professionally.  I had the best material that I'd ever been asked to do, and I can think of no one in my entire career with whom I enjoyed working more than Nancy Lee Grahn!"   Nancy Lee Grahn (Julia Wainwright Capwell, 1985-1993) "I loved the character of Julia!  It was a really good character on daytime, because she was very multidimensional.  I loved the relationship between Julia and Mason because it was different and very unpredictable.  It wasn't a sappy love story, and that's what I liked about it.  The cast was terrific.  There isn't a bad apple in this group, and it's been very pleasant to be here."   Stella Stevens (Phyllis Blake, 1989-1991) "SB was my first experience on daytime, and I enjoyed working on it.  I thought Robin (Mattson) and I were cute together, and I enjoyed working with her because it was so natural.  People told us we were Lucy and Ethel, and that was the highest compliment.  It showed on the screen how much fun we had.  But I felt like I was out in the cold for a while, because my character got caught in a changeover of producers and people in power."   Nina Arvesen (Angela Cassidy, 1991-1993) "They've given me a fun part, and I've had enormous fun doing it.  We had a wonderful group of people here.  I think [executive producer] Paul Rauch has done an incredible job of bringing together the group of  people that we had, and it was a joy to come to work every day."   Rosalind Allen (Gretchen Richards, 1990) "Out of all of the daytime shows, I thought SB was one of the finest.  My time on the show was all too short lived, but I liked working there.  They were good to me, and I really had a high respect for the actors on the show."   Steve Bond (Mack Blake, 1989-1990) "SB was a different experience than General Hospital.  It was a much freer experience from a creative standpoint.  The day-to-day element, as far as the people and environment, was great.  But I felt that SB never really delivered to me what they promised, and that was frustrating.  At the time the show had two major producer changes and numerous writer changes, so there was no consistency with my character.  They enticed me onto the show, and I believe they did have the best of intentions, but it just didn't work out.  I thought the work I did with Louise Sorel was interesting, and she did too, but the writers chickened out.  The story with Rosalind Allen was interesting, too, but it happened so fast."   Karen Moncrieff (Cassandra Lockridge, 1990-1992) "The two years I spent on Santa Barbara were a wonderful time for me as far as stretching my limits and forming some of the depths of my potential as an actress.  I loved my character, and I think I had the good fortune of being able to speak some of the best lines in daytime.  I loved working with Gordon (Thomson) and also made some friends I know I will keep in Eileen Davidson (Kelly) and Michele Val Jean - one of the writers - and that's really nice!"   Timothy Gibbs (Dash Nichols, 1990-1992) "I felt doubly blessed to be on SB because of the family atmosphere and what I learned from my storyline.  The writers really pushed themselves and were serious about the date-rape issue, and it gave me a chance to play something meaty.  The actors I worked with were another blessing, most notably Nancy (Lee Grahn).  I thought SB was innovative, and in some respects at the forefront of its type of programming.  I also loved the comedy in the show.  I enjoyed being part of that aspect, in a very minor way, later on with Louise (Sorel).  I came on the show during the Jill Farren Phelps/John Conboy transition, so I didn't ge the pleasure of working with Jill, but John was fantastic to work for.  I wish everybody, both in front of and behind the camera, all the luck in the world.  I think they're very talented and are going to do well."

On 6/29/2020 at 6:01 PM, TV4Me said:

It's true Kimmy. It was heavily reported back then. It's the reason Derwin was not offered a contract. He and Beth were willing to stay another year. Phelps didn't offer a contract, but higher ups stepped in when it was too late. 

 

In all that I have ever read about GL, then and now, I have never heard of anything but respect and affection between JFP and Mark Derwin. If the alleged trouble between them was "heavily reported," you'd think there would a mention of it elsewhere on the Internet.

6 hours ago, Dan said:

 

At the very least, the Who Shot Roger? Stuff is entertaining enough to watch through plus the resolution of the David story and Julie/Dylan's wedding. 1994 is really when it all goes downhill. 

 

Agreed. The fall of '93 through January '94 was outstanding on GL. In February it came unraveled--quickly--and by summer it was pretty bad, though not without its moments. Never have I seen a soap fall so far so fast. SMH.

20 hours ago, Fevuh said:

No one ever mentions it, but Jean Carol - when she took on the role of Nadine, won the Soap Opera Digest award for best/favorite newcomer.  This was a huge deal given that everyone knew that NBC and ABC's fan clubs for DAYS and GH would send the magazines to members and buy many many copies and mail in the votes.  If CBS did, it certainly was not for ATWT or GL.  So for her to win an SOD award which was nothing more than a popularity contest, it said alot.  The CBS/GL people could not have done it on their own...alot of other people voted for her.  She did get a raw deal - I said in other places...Ellen Parker being let go (Maureen), was not the only nail in the coffin.  They made the mistake of letting really popular actresses go...Jean Carol/Nadine, but I also think Jenna/Fiona Hutchinson.  Her relationship with Henry was really nice. 

 

Nadine's exit actually bothered me more than Maureen's. At least Mo was given a big, very dramatic, exquisitely written, beautifully produced send-off. Nadine's was quick and cheesy and ultimately macabre (didn't they find her decomposed body on Christmas Eve or something like that?). But the fans did not cry out, as I recall, even though it was a loss of a considerable talent.

 

Jenna's death was at least more heart-wrenching but, yes, also needless and ill-advised.

On 6/8/2019 at 9:48 AM, kalbir said:

Over the last few months I've been watching Fall 1992 through to Summer 1993 that have been uploaded on YT. Fall/Winter 1992 was alright but after Maureen's death it's been a chore to get through the episodes. I'm planning to watch through the end of Summer 1993 as I want to see the storyline surrounding the episode that got Michael Zaslow (RIP) his long awaited for Lead Actor Daytime Emmy.

 

Does anyone know what Michael Zaslow's second episode for his 1994 submission was? I know the episode who's clips were shown on the 1994 Daytime Emmys was rebroadcast in December 1998. I think the second episode might have been when Roger visited Maureen's grave but I could be wrong.

 

I've been watching, too, and while I am enjoying 1993 more than you are, I agree that the show lost something between 1992 and '93. Everyone likes to point the finger at JFP and her decision to kill Maureen in January '93. But I will argue that it had more to do with the loss of James E. Reilly as co-head writer (to DAYS) in December 1992. When he was with the show, all of the plots interlocked like gears in a clock, and the stories twisted and turned in all sorts of surprising ways. After his departure, the show was plenty smart (thank you, Patrick Mulcahey and Courtney Simon) and warm and quite watchable, but it drifted at times for several episodes before getting back on track. That just didn't happen when Reilly was there.

 

After the first two notorious (and brilliant) weeks of January 1993, the show slumped pretty badly until late February or March. The stories slowed to a glacial pace for a few weeks while Nancy Curlee reset the show's course. That was her prerogative as new (well, returning) head writer, but it cost the show, which was peerless in the second half of 1992, a lot of momentum.

 

Still, there's a lot to enjoy in 1993: Ed and Michelle's strained relationship, Eve Guthrie's descent into mental illness, the Roger/Holly tango, David's violent confrontation with Vinny, Bridget's regrets after giving up Peter, some of Buzz's reunion with his family, and, of course, the fantastic who-shot-Roger story in December. 

 

Another observation: Watching the 1993 episodes, I am struck by two actors who did outstanding work and got the Emmy nominations to prove it but who are still undersung, IMO. Jean Carol is wonderful as Nadine, funny and heartbreaking and sweet and rueful and sympathetic no matter what she does. That she was totally repositioned on the canvas in 1993--from the Lewis clan to the Cooper clan--and required to work with an almost totally new subset of the cast and did it so effortlessly is a testament to her talent. And Hilary Edson, who was stuck in a dull triangle with wet rag Nick and a badly recast Mindy, is devastating as her character, Eve Guthrie, loses her marbles over many months. Such moving, chilling performances aided by meticulous plotting by the writers. 

On 4/28/2019 at 8:50 PM, j swift said:

 So, one week Stephen is accusing Cassie of burning his film about the Capwells, then they both disappear...

 

The Dobson's wanted nothing to do with the current plots so they were dropped.  

 

Actually Cassie outlasted Stephen by a full year. He figured out her role in various mysterious incidents, threatened to expose her, agreed to meet her for breakfast to hear her side of things, and was never seen again. Then we heard Cassie on the phone asking someone, "So you're sure they'll never find him?"

 

Cassie moved on a near-romance with Mason under the Dobsons, then got involved with Jack Wagner's Warren, then went full psycho when Pam Long took over and wrote her out in 1992.

15 hours ago, chrisml said:

 

The internet search says he left in summer 1991 and Rauch replaced him. Don't know how accurate that is. I just remember reading that Born and Rauch had feuded and Sorel was fired because of Rauch. It wouldn't surprise me knowing what I've read about him, but my memory could be faulty. I didn't always care for Conboy's SB, but Rauch ruined SB for me. Pamela Long helped kill it.

 

 

Roscoe Born left SB in May 1991. Conboy left in June and was replaced by Rauch.

5 minutes ago, juppiter said:

 

Not to mention the stupid vanity credit he put in — executive producer John Conboy in big bold letters. As if we could forget. 

 

Of course, it was Paul Rauch who moved the exec producer credit to the top. Before him, the GL EP was listed after the writers and directors, then came the EP, then other producers. When Rauch arrived, he moved his name up to the top of the credits, followed by the writers, then director, then other producers. Because he was just that important, you know.

Return To Health Since Head Writer Bob Guza’s Return, ‘General Hospital’ Once Again Is In The Pink

 

Wed., April 1, 1998

By Carol Bidwell Los Angeles Daily News

 

Never before has a soap opera turned on a dime so publicly.

 

“From now on, every damn thing around here is gonna be different!” proclaimed Luke Spencer as the Dec. 8 episode of “General Hospital” opened with a raucous party at his nightclub. Before the smoke from Luke’s cigar had wafted into the rafters, viewers saw a wild boogie contest, a drive-by shooting, a mobster’s attempted murder, a supermodel’s mental meltdown, and heroic lifesaving attempts - events that sent months of story line in motion.

 

“Bam! We were off and running,” exulted “GH” head writer Bob Guza, who announced in that script his intent to shake things up after a year’s hiatus. “It felt good to watch.”

 

The venerable soap opera, which had limped through its 34th year, hitting fifth place in the ratings among the 11 daytime series last November, was suddenly back in business. In the four months since Guza’s new stories started airing, “GH” - which from 1979 to 1987 was the No. 1-rated daytime drama - has bounced between the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the ratings, picking up nearly 400,000 viewers along the way. And Guza hopes “GH” will celebrate its 35th year on top once more.

 

“I love this show,” the writer enthused, leaning back in a leather chair in his austere office overlooking the ABC-TV lot in Hollywood. “This is like coming home for me. I couldn’t wait to come back.”

 

Guza left for a year to develop NBC’s new “Sunset Beach” soap for Aaron Spelling. During his absence, ratings dipped, many viewers wrote to complain about boring stories, and tales Guza had carefully plotted went awry under the manipulations of three other head writers in succession.

 

“They took characters in directions I wouldn’t have taken them,” Guza said. “But there are other things that I’m eternally grateful for, that I can build on.”

 

Whatever comes now, the “GH” cast is ready for it. When word of Guza’s return became public, some actors who reportedly had been considering moving on when their contracts were up began to purr with content.

 

Steve Burton, who plays the pivotal role of young mob chieftain Jason Morgan, signed a new multiyear contract. And Anthony Geary, who has played volatile Luke Spencer for 20 years, is a happy man again.

 

“Bob Guza is my hero,” Geary said. “I adore the man. He was with us 20 years ago, and he has always had a respect for the (Luke) character that nobody else had.”

 

On the set Dec. 8, as the writer hovered behind the cameras, Geary asked him how to deliver the crucial line. “He said, ‘Just tell the truth. Every damn thing is going to change around here.’ So when I said that, I was speaking for the writer, and I was speaking for the character, and I was speaking for the fans,” Geary said.

 

But is Guza the reason for the show’s renewed success?

 

“The show’s gone up to No. 2 since he’s been back. He had to have something to do with that,” Kimberly McCullough, who’s played Robin Scorpio for 12 of her 19 years, said matter-of-factly. “That doesn’t just miraculously happen.”

 

It took many near-miracles to get “GH” on the air in its early days. The oldest soap produced on the West Coast, it debuted April 1, 1963, in black and white, with action centering around General Hospital in the fictional upstate New York waterfront town of Port Charles.

 

Those first stories centered around three characters: dedicated Dr. Steve Hardy, loyal nurse Jessie Brewer and her philandering and much-younger husband, Dr. Phil Brewer.

 

“No one expected us to last very long,” John Beradino, who played Steve Hardy until his death in 1996, told Seli Groves, author of “The Ultimate Soap Opera Guide.” “GH” was the first soap to concentrate on making medical maladies seem real; it even hired a real doctor to coach the actors on their performances.

 

And while other soaps centered around chats over the kitchen table, “GH” broke new ground with story lines on rape and infertility, and over the years its characters dealt with the effects of breast cancer, AIDS, alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic abuse and other social issues.

 

But its popularity waned, and by 1976 it had sunk to No. 10 among the 15 soaps then on the air. The show was given six months to boost its ratings or be canceled.

 

Enter executive producer Gloria Monty, determined to put a younger face on Port Charles with a handful of teenage actors - among them the young Genie Francis, who was hired to play Laura Webber. The beautiful daughter of Dr. Leslie Weber was accused of a murder she didn’t commit, married law student Scotty Baldwin (played by Kin Shriner) and went to work in the campus disco, where she met mob hit man Luke Spencer. Luke, lusting after the teenager and believing he would be murdered the next day, raped Laura.

 

Under the unwritten soap opera law that decrees that evil-doers must be punished, Luke should have ended up in jail or been murdered. But viewers had fallen in love with the couple, so the writers quickly rewrote history, characterizing the sexual attack as a seduction. Laura fell in love with her rapist, and Luke and Laura became soapdom’s first “supercouple.”

 

As “GH” expanded from a half-hour to an hour in 1978, college students scheduled their classes around the show. Luke and Laura were pictured on the cover of Newsweek magazine, and their November 1981 wedding, which drew more than 30 million viewers, still ranks as daytime’s most-watched episode.

 

Neither Francis nor Geary, who were busy in the studio taping four or five shows a day during Luke and Laura’s heyday, had any idea their characters had made such an impression on America’s consciousness.

 

“I think it was the cover of Newsweek when we went, ‘Wow, what’s going on here?”’ Geary said. “We never expected Luke and Laura to be that big.”

 

Once wed, the couple rode off into the sunset but returned in 1993. Since then, Francis has left to give birth to two children and is currently on extended maternity leave. Ostensibly, Laura is hiding from the Cassadines - her two-decades-ago kidnappers - but viewers are growing impatient for her return.

 

In the 12 years daytime shows have competed for their own Emmys, the series and its cast members have won 26 statuettes, including Best Daytime Drama in 1981, ‘84, ‘95, ‘96 and ‘97. It’s nominated for more than a dozen Emmys this year; awards will be handed out May 15. It’s Guza’s longtime link with the show - he started as a scriptwriter in 1982 - that has everyone expecting that the awards will continue to roll in.

 

Soap audiences have dwindled in the past 20 years, so can “GH” ever be No. 1 again? Can it overcome the CBS-TV powerhouse “The Young and the Restless,” the top-rated soap for more than nine years?

 

“I think we’ll do it,” Guza said confidently. “But to do it, everybody who ever watched ‘General Hospital’ will have to come back. And that’s what we’re aiming for.”

An interview with A Martinez from 1994 . . .

 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-11-24-9411240059-story.html

 

A MARTINEZ NOT BURNING ANY DAYTIME BRIDGES

 

9 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

 

I think I recall the Dobson's inheriting this story and stating this wasn't how they would have written Eden out.. but had to write what was already started.. and decided to fix it as much as they could (this scene is probably the Dobson's making sense of the mess they inherited.. and it made sense since Eden always had unresolved issues with Sophia.. even was hypnotized to forget seeing Sophia alive when in Europe)

 

The previous regime (Sam Ratcliffe/Maralyn Thoma and John Conboy) started teasing that Eden had a split personality in early 1991. The Dobsons' work began airing in February so, yes, they inherited this story. But it was the Dobsons who tied Eden's mental troubles to her crazy family history. Eden had spied Sophia and Lionel together on the Capwell yacht, then saw Sophia "die" going overboard or something like that. Out of that trauma, Eden's alter ego, Lisa, emerged to help Eden deal, and apparently Lisa was also a jewel thief at one time.  Then another alter ego emerged, Suzanne Collier, and then another, that of Eden's brother Channing, who was murdered by Sophia and got revenge by shooting Sophia in the scene above. Then the real Suzanne Collier showed up . . .

 

It was a mess, mostly of the Dobsons' making. (A Martinez has said many times that he regrets agreeing to play the scenes where Cruz did not recognize his soul mate, Eden, in a wig and glasses.)  The clip above aired in July 1991 so the Dobsons had several months to either toss or rewrite the embryonic story they inherited.  But to be fair, Marcy Walker was making noise again about leaving SB when she shot her pilot, "Palace Guard."  This, no doubt, left the writers in limbo (again) and needing a way to get Eden off the canvas quickly if that series was ordered for the fall 1991 schedule, which it was.  And that was the end of Eden/Lisa/fake Suzanne/Channing.

17 hours ago, j swift said:

It is such a great "I told you so" story because part of the Dobsons' whole fight was around the casting of Pamela.  The legend is that they wanted Marj Dusay, but network wanted Shirley Anne Filed (for no apparent reason).  

 

Bridget Dobson said in an interview shortly after being booted from the show that head writers Chuck Pratt and Anne Howard Bailey lobbied hard for Shirley Anne Field as Pamela while Bridget, at this point the sole (non-writing) executive producer, wanted Marj Dusay, who was fresh off of "Capitol." 

 

From a 1988 interview with Bridget:

 

"Jerry and I had conceived Pamela many years ago but NBC did not want us to bring on another forty-ish character. But we kept pushing because we know it could be hot stuff." Once the powers gave in, movie queen Samantha Eggar was signed, but quickly got cold feet when the rigors of daytime grind were fully explained to her. Fellow British actress Shirley Anne Field was cast instead. "She was Ann and Chuck's first choice," reports Bridget. "Marj Dusay was my choice but we cast Shirley Anne because we wanted the head writers to be excited. To me, Marj is a great beauty and seemed to be the kind of person that CC (Jed Allan) would have once been attracted to. Ann and Chuck's perceptions were not marginally different from mine - they were very different."

 

Ironically, Field wound up delivering a tepid, colorless performance and was given the heave-ho after three months. The replacement? Marj Dusay. Perhaps just as ironically, Dusay came on board as nothing short of brilliant with each icy line reading revealing encyclopedias full of character. Clearly, the plot possibilities were endless and the likelihood that the actress would emerge at the forefront of Santa Barbara - much as Elizabeth Hubbard rules supreme as Lucinda on As the World Turns - must have seemed delicious to loyal watchers. Guess again. Dusay was on the unemployment line before she knew what hit her and the dandy part was foolishly tossed into limbo.

 

Dusay lasted only until the summer of 1988, then returned for a week in March 1991.  When SB was canceled, she had this to say about the experience:

 

"I always thought Santa Barbara was a very good show and liked the work on it.  But when I went in it seemed to be just going to hell in a hand basket.  I truly believe they had their problems within the show, and they just more or less hired me to get rid of the character.  Pamela was the baby of the Dobsons, and when they had their struggle [with NBC, which resulted in their outster from the series they had created] somebody had to take it over, and by then the character couldn't go anyplace.  It evidently was so much politics, and if I had known that it would have helped me feel a lot better.  I thought Pamela was going to be a wonderful character, and she might have been had the Dobsons stayed.  It felt good to return, because there was something of real substance for me to play, and I was much more comfortable.  I liked the way the Dobsons brought Pamela back and where she was coming from.  It's a shame the show was canceled and I'm sorry for all my buddies there."

 

SB should have done much more with Pamela, but it sounds like the writers were not fans of the character and/or Dusay.  Of course, she and Jill Farren Phelps would reunite a few years later at GL when MD was cast as Alexandra Spaulding so apparently there was no ill will there.

I have been watching the complete August '92 episodes recently posted on YouTube. This is just post-blackout. Sherry Stringfield departs in the first episode, and Liz Keifer takes over a few days later. Kimberley Simms is gone, and these are Beverlee McKinsey's final days. Reilly/Demorest/Broderick are head writers, and the legendary Patrick Mulcahey joins them mid-month. And, of course, Jill Farren Phelps is exec producer.

 

To say this show was "on fire" is accurate. Every story is clicking (why did BM complain about the writing in her last months at GL?), and the show is chock-a-block with romance, suspense, humor, heart, wit, and style. The actors appear energized with the exception of Ellen Parker, who, bless her heart, acts like she is in a different show. Maureen is a rock and a sounding board for several characters, notably Bridget at this point, but she is so painfully passive and reactive that she feels adrift from the action. (I also agree that EP could be a bit "big" in her performances with not a lot of subtlety in her work.) I am happy to see that the show holds up so well, something that cannot be said about most 25-year-old soap episodes.

19 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Catherine Hickland not being valued as an actor?  Man, JFP loves to rewrite history doesn't she. 

 

To be fair, JFP did not say this. The article's author, Michael Logan, did.

Interview with then-new OLTL EP Jill Farren Phelps from TV Guide, 8/22/98 . . .

 

Brief interview with the peerless Patrick Mulcahey from SOD in summer 1993 . . .

I have a bunch of VHS tapes of SB recorded off the air. Where's a good place to sell them?

All of the sets, pre-Conboy, had a distinctly California feel and distinguished SB from the soaps set in the Midwest and East Coast. The Capwell mansion, Julia's beach house, and Cruz and Eden's house were all unlike anything on any other soap.

32 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

Was it under his watch that the Capwell house was drastically remodeled?

 

Yes, he was brought in by NBC over JFP to "fix" SB in 1990. His plan included more lavish sets, starting with a remodeled Capwell mansion, and lots of pretty new faces, most of whom were gone within six months.

 

I liked some of Conboy's tenure (Julia's rape, the Capwell dinner party) but always felt he was wrong for SB, which was such a special show that he didn't appear to know well. It was classy of him, however, to give credit to the incumbent production team, led by JFP,  when SB won its third (and final) Daytime Emmy for Best Show in 1990.

 

https://youtu.be/bjDOgVhwMzo?t=20m51s