wonderwoman1951

not all together true: soap opera weekly (full disclosure: i was an occasional contributor) was the first publication to treat soaps as an industry. yes, there were the ‘beauty tips from soap stars,’ but there were also serious actor profiles (the best by laura fissinger, who had written for rolling stone), interviews with head writers and executive producers, and insightful commentary by editor-in-chief, mimi torchin (who once wrote something that so irritated ken corday that he denied access to days…). of course, after the magazine was sold (around 2000, as i recall), things devolved. but the early years, they were something.

now this is an interesting idea. i hadn’t watched ‘one life to live’ for years. but in 2008, i started hearing good stuff and finally took a look that june, and what i saw — a return to everything that had made soaps great in the past — knocked me out and i stayed until the bitter end. as i said, i hadn’t watched in a while. but, by all accounts, oltl’s renaissance began when valentini elevated ron carlivati to head writer in 2007, something may well have not happened had barbara bloom still been running abc daytime. yes, i know there were issues with brian frons, but my impression was that he was more concerned with saving ‘all my children’ and ‘general hospital’ — both of which the network considered more viable than the oltl, which some fans referred to as the network’s ‘red-headed stepchild.’ the same thing was going on at cbs, where the bloom and the network saw ‘world turns as more viable and wanted to ‘help,’ leaving gl‘s ellen wheeler largely to her own devices. irony is, of course, that the final year of gl was so much better than ‘world turns. so had valentini come to ‘world turns, it’s likely barbara bloom would have stood in the way of him working his magic.

was he there? i thought alan started at p&g in 1997. according to imdb, both melanie and mary ellen left the show in 1992. but, it is true that when actors who were on the show prior to he arrival want to let it rip, he lets them go — witness rosemary printz. came across thoughts about the roots of her feud with irna phillips — have to scroll down a bit.

Good question..not a clue for an answer. But as much crap as Goutman (rightly) gets..I don't think he was the major problem in the early years..I think MADD was more of the issue in trying to turn both GL and ATWT into ABC soaps era 1980s. i have no clue, either. and am in agreement re MADD. when she replaced ken fitts at pgp, then brought felicia minei behr to replace john valente at ‘world turns, one of minei behr’s first acts was to fire allyson rice taylor and bring on susan batten to play connor walsh. batten has played luna on one life to life. and while i had my issues with hogan schefer as headwriter, i have to give goutman credit for casting scott holryod as paul ryan. but two years later, after former abc exec, barbara bloom, replaced lucy johnson at cbs daytime, holryod is fired and roger howarth — todd on one life to live — takes over. seeing a pattern here? a friend called it ‘the abcafication of as the world turns — a situation that escalated when pgp eliminated madd’s position when she let in 2005 — leaving goutman and ellen wheeler at gl with no one to run interference with the network.

according to marland’s longterm, his original plan was to eventually bring kelly and nola together. would love to know the story behind that change.

They've been asking for her on social media i spent some time on the atwt setin the mid-90s, and got to know marie a bit. she was always up to talk with the media, so i’m surprised, and frankly, a bit concerned, that she hasn’t participated in a reunion. i hope she’s okay. at 80, she’s younger than many who have participated — hastings, hays, coaster, printz — but it’s still possible she’s just not well enough, which is likely the case with eileen fulton.

wanted to note the passing of douglas cramer. a supervising producer in the late 1950 for both ‘world turns (where he work closely with irna phillips) and gl, his is not a name familiar to a lot of soap fans, but it was he, in the early 1960s, who recognized that serials belonged on primetime as well as daytime. this is a link to his obit in the hollywood reporter also check out interview for the television academy’s oral history

wanted to note the passing of douglas cramer. a supervising producer in the late 1950 for both ‘world turns (where he work closely with irna phillips) and gl, his is not a name familiar to a lot of soap fans, but it was he, in the early 1960s, who recognized that serials belonged on primetime as well as daytime. this is a link to his obit in the hollywood reporter also check out interview for the television academy’s oral history

i remember reading somewhere that when richard culliton first pitched the character of carly to then ep, laurie caso, both saw her as the troubled girl who, down the road, could bring reva’s complexity and longevity to ‘world turns. of course, by the time carly arrived in oakdale, caso was gone, replaced by john valente, setting the stage for the show’s final decline.

file this under be careful what you wish for. 20 minutes into an hour-long interview with coster — who’s been on a dozen soaps, starting when they were live and running through web series — and we’ve heard about about how he lives on a boat and teaches scuba diving to the disabled, along with doing plays with laurence olivier and elizabeth taylor — but not ONE freaking word about soap opera. i don’t know if my blood pressure can take listening to the remaining 40 minutes.

in total agreement! there is a scene somewhere between gentry’s ed and his mother bert. watching her defend her husband to her son, who wants to hold his father accountable for his philandering is absolutely riveting. Of course, it has a lot to do with the writing: the conflicting emotions all stem from an emotionally authentic place.

alan has never been a great interviewer, which is a shame since he gets great people. i know there’s still a lot of discussion about the best ed. for me it was mart’s predecessor, robert gentry, who left gl around the same time i started college (prior to gentry assuming the part, was called billy, since he was named after his father). then there were jobs. so in those pre-vcr years, i didn’t get to see a lot of mart’s ed. i did like peter simon’s ed. fran’s peggy i remember very well. when she mentioned having a crush on don scardino (who played her first love interest, johnny fletcher), i giggled, because i, too, had a huge crush. actually got to see him on broadway — forget which show. i’m very much looking forward to hearing from nicholas coster — gl was one of the few soaps he wasn’t on. hope alan lets him talk without too many interruptions.

no need to read the old post. only mentioned it here in relation to the possible relationship with swan.

i know her father, hodding carter, worked in the carter administration, i don’t believe the two families were related — at least a google search didn’t turn up anything. this is the first i’ve heard anything about michael swan and finn carter, though certainly stranger political couplings have occurred. surprised that no ones’s mentioned that her first marriage was to steven weber (kevin gibson), whom she met when both were on atwt.

and the daughter of frances heflin, who played erika kane’s mother, mona, on all my children.

And terrible writing in the last ten-twelve years of the show. Also, P&G didn't want to produce daytime serials anymore. GL had been cancelled the previous year-- before ATWT, AW, a decade earlier. re the time switch: the year preceding year, atwt was at 7.0; the next year it was 6.6and continued to drop until its cancellation. you’re not wrong about p&g, but there’s plenty of blame to lay at the feet of cbs. the decline in writing really began after the 1995 exec producer shuffle instigated by cbs daytime vp, lucy johnson, who, according to the la times, ‘motivated’ p&g by threatened to replace gl with a new bell soap. with laurie caso out and john valente in, cbs president, les moonves, then foisted the writing team of black and stern on atwt with disastrous results. it was all downhill from there.

ATWT was moved to 2pm (EST) because Bill Bell wanted his own block with B&B following Y&R. And while it may seemed “mor organic” to have the P&G shows together, the reality is that ATWT’s ratings took a hit from which they never fully recovered. In retrospect, moving the time slot was the beginning of the end.