VelekaCarruthers

I watched EON's original run from 1976 to the end. I disliked most of Henry's final 13 months; although I later learned that Sheldon's contract started before his name appeared on May 23rd. He was exec story consultant for the last several weeks of Henry's outlines and scripts. He heavily edited the last three weeks (when the show changed the writing credits from Story By: HS and Teleplays by HS/LK to Written by HS and LK). So I won't fault Henry for April and May of 1983 BUT I hated almost all of Sheldon's era with a passion. I cried upon watching the final episode with that monumentally stupid Wonderland land twist and the rotten dialog (particularly the Liz/Beth balcony scenes) Of course, Sandy Faison's acting was dubious too. Anywho, I've gone back and watched many Sheldon episodes. I grudgingly give him credit for humor, fun character names (paying homage to Henry), and a few plot twists that were mildly clever. But the whole production staff was failing and flailing those last few years. The final 9 months under Henry was dark and dank i.e. the lighting, costumes, sets. And let's not get started on the endless David Cameron phone books scenes. But Lee Sheldon's Sky/Raven turn into Nick and Nora Charles was so painful to watch. And the haunted Whitney plot with the Earls was embarrassingly bad. Casting was also a hindrance during Sheldon's term. The actresses hired to play Chris and Beth were awful in comparison to Edge's history of phenomenal casting. Miles' three week grief plot over Nicole's death then pursuing Chris and Beth was a slap to viewers who had invested in Miles/Nicole since 1977. Logan's murder had potential but Tom Tammie was a poor Joe Lambie replacement and having Geraldine be the shooter and not know it.....huh? to this day I can't explain that plot twist. The Jody/Welllington murder plot was slightly interesting but again the recast Jody was awful. And there's a reason Sheldon was never credited as a daytime HW again; although in an interview once he claimed that he was hired to watch and possibly take over ATWT I think by Calhoun who ended up picking Horgan for a year before Marland became available. Sheldon may have also consulted on AW uncredited. I'll also give Sheldon credit for creating Alicia Van Dyne. MAGA Chris Weatherhead should have been put on contract and the plots should have tied her to Geraldine's maternal side or something. How wicked would it have been if they had properly developed that plot with Geraldine in the mix. Shelly (who Sheldon brought on for 6 months) was capably played by the actress (name escapes me) and she could have been Alicia's daughter. BTW: My older sibling watched from 1968 so I have had access to his amazing memories of Henry's best plots; he feel Susan Martin murder and Jonah Lockwood identity were the best. (He hated the Sky is Jeff Brown, Jody in Eden and Smily dupes Raven all Slesar plots). I recall him freaking out the day Nancy and Geraldine went to the lighthouse where Jonah died and when the two ladies showed up Nancy didn't know whether the dead body was Laurie or Jonah. Geraldine looked up at Nancy and said something to the effect of: It's not yours; it's mine. Badumbummmmmm. I get chills still thinking about his description of the climax.

Edge of Night: I think it's been discussed elsewhere but Henry Slesar had a one year plot sketched out for Sky Whitney when the character first appeared. There were no plans to make him Jeff Brown and when you rewatch those early October 1980 episodes, it's pretty clear. Henry was forced to rewrite because of Larkin's popularity and his fiya coupling with Sharon Gabet as Raven. But from Feb 82 to May 83 (when Lee Sheldon took over as head writer) Henry really struggled. Admittedly, the spring 81 writers' strike (although replacement writers Laurie Durbrow and Lois Kibbee working from Henry's story bible did a spectacular job that summer and the ratings rose to new highs) and Larkin's bad car accident, subsequent absences for recovering and later surgery, really hurt the show. The characters of Jim Deidrickson, Val Bryson, Damian Tyler were all victims of this convoluted twist. And having Raven caught up with Frank Gorshin's Smiley plot was another nail in the coffin. But even Henry's worst (the final 13 months with that endless phone book plot) can't compare to the crap we've witnessed for the last three decades on other shows.

I wonder who wrote today's Days script and thank god the outline wasn't written by Giddens.

Thanks

Has Kate Culliton been added in alphabetical order to the script writers in closing credits?

Did we not know that Griffith would ruin this actor's presence on the show by saddling him with this character. OMG this is in the vein but worse than Billy Flynn as Cain. FIRE Steve Kent and Josh Griffith. My God, Brock.

Tragic and yet production companies continue to keep employed head writers and eps who need to go on all the shows. GH might have a fighting chance with a new EP and the current head writing team, but the Y&R, B&B and BTG are in terrible shape with Y&R the worst. B&B is saved by overseas popularity and royalty and BTG is safe for one more year but 1.5 million viewers for a daily soap is not sustainable. MVJ and company really dropped the ball in the first 3 months after weeks and months of buzz.

Broderick rebuilt some quality during her 18mo head writing stint that ended in Aug 99 when her team was replaced by cancelled Another World writers (Leah Laiman) who were boring but didn't do any damage until Hogan took over in summer 2000 and revitalized the show. People were polarized about it but it had buzz. I personally didn't like any of Passanante's run from 2006 on but they did keep the show in tact; it was slower, staid and a bit boring for my taste; but in reality, Passanante's ATWT was more like ATWT of the later Irna era and Soderberg/Somer period. I agree with you though the other soaps were often really bad in the 2000s. As for the Marland era, his strong period was October 85-87. His 90-to his death was high and low and muddled and sometimes great. But I will say his Susan/Bob affair story was top notch and I think that was spring summer 90?

The only twist(s) that would save this poorly conceived Ronni plot is to have her turn out to be a Vickie alter. And let me add that if James E. Reilly were writing this show, Martin would turn out to be Tad also with DID and he and Ronni met on skid row in Center City and came to PC to fleece a family as rich as the Lords.

Won't make a bit of difference as long as Kent/Griffith are calling the shots. How many names have they brought in behind the scenes and on screen and the ratings stink. B&B just beat them in an important demo. B&B! another horrible show. We see how Alexander Dumas/Billy Flynn helped the ratings long term NOT. Now we're supposed to get excited about recycled ABC actors who had their day in the last 25 or more years. I don't think so.

I always knew when she directed a SFT episode. That show desperately needed her touch. Too bad P&G didn't keep her but she was brillzzz on Y&R. Wonder why she left Y&R at age 60.

Wasn't there some gossip in 81 that the Dobsons left (not fired) before the 81 writers' strike because they wouldn't turn in long term story to P&G to be used during the strike? In any event, they were brought back later to finish, I think, their original contract. We know the Dobsons were not easy people to work with as we saw with Santa Barbara. Re: Chris/Nancy - we don't know what condition DM was in at the point he was released and Helen had a reputation for being grand dame; perhaps, P&G had had enough and/or I can imagine she hated the Dobson's vision and story execution for the show.

Solid choice. Years of experience on soaps. Unfortunately, she won't be able to mask Griffith's crap.

I didn't see her earliest writing on Edge and Where, but watched her period of The Doctors and Days. She was excellent on both shows. On AW/86 she took over after the show had been decimated a few times over; she did her best and created some lasting characters. Her Phelps run I wouldn't watch because I hated Phelps and I liked King/Carlson material just fine with Harding as consultant. I didn't watch her 9 month? AMC run but she had the benefit of collaborating with Broderick and Washam. Not so on OLTL where I think she lasted 6mo with Laiman and Carlson. Overall, her most memorable/iconic material IMHO was on Days where she was trained under Falken Smith,

Was Guza still listed? If not, that would mean he was under contract for 150 episodes of 200 produced for season 1. Interesting.

I guess that was Errol's scoop from a couple of months ago. Jeff was fired after asking for a raise.

On Kathleen Culliton: I believe Carolyn had her when she and Richard moved to AW in 1984. Carolyn would remain on AW writing staff for many years and had Emily in 1986, I believe. Keep it in the family. The Cullitons have always been very capable script writers. Terrible head writers for the most part though. It must be great to get script writing training from your parents. BTW: If whoever is updating IMDB for Y&R and DOOL reads this: a) you've dropped Fran Newman from the writing credits for a a long time. And she's a script editor. b) On Y&R, whoever's updating the credits has alway misidentified the script editor as a breakdown writer. In fact, lately Marin Gazzaniga has been left off the updated credits on that site for months. I haven't seen the opening Y&R broadcast credits but I assume she's still there as script editor?

Here's what I know about Patrick Smith. He was hired by Pat Falken Smith and Norma Monty when they were GH head writers in 85-87. His name started appearing as a breakdown writer in Jan 86 and there's at least one YouTube GH episode from July 86 where he's listed under James E. Reilly so they worked together. Interesting, Monty had hired (in 1984 I believe) William Dale Smith (who wrote several novels as David Anthony one of which became a film starring Burt Lancaster). WD Smith died on March 31 1986 (suddenly probably) because his name was in the breakdown credits through April 85 when Smith/Monty took over from Bailey. Could Patrick have been related to either Patricia or William? Maybe.

At least under Ron, Ryan wrote breakdowns as well.

So much for Billy Flynn's plot lifting Y&R. Now they're throwing the kitchen sink of unemployed soap vets with Tamara, Roger etc.. but it's not going to work as long as Kent/Griffith are in charge. BTG is in trouble. It had such a messy, weak plot line in the beginning months (and still problematic) with very poor casting choices for some major roles; they lost the chance to keep those initial viewers coming back in the early weeks. And running repeats in the first year is just another nail in the coffin. I give it Season 2 possibly Season 3 but with BB and YR so weak, plus MVJ is not a great HW, the show is going to continue to struggle.

Whatever happened to the scoop posted here that a veteran soap writer was fired for asking for a raise? The only vet writer who's departed a series that fits the bill is Chris Dunn, although I know most on here only considered Jeff Beldner..but he's still with Y&R months later. It does feel strange that they hired Chris from Days only to fire him after one season. It would be ashame given his family lost their house in the LA fires. We know Ron left 'for another project' which I think could be ABC launching a new soap to go before GH and perhaps that's why many major markets are moving GH back to 3pm?

I haven't watched YR in a long time other than some clips here and there (the ridiculous Cane plot this summer), but as long as Steve Kent is in charge true lasting change that most long term viewers want to see will never happen. Many of us joke about 'friends of Jill" but Kent hires friends of Kent. He needs to go. McDonald is a Bell veteran but as long as her filter is Kent and his friend Griffith the show will remain a boring shell of itself. She may bring back more of what Ed Scott was trying to do to refresh the lushness of the sets and music (which he did tepidly this last year). But she won't be able to mask burned out Griffith who was never a charismatic head writer on any show.

Stephen Schenkel was, I think, AW's worst executive producer. He had some sort of connection to Spencer I think because he brought her to AMC for his disaster run there as EP where Spencer was story consultant. Spencer seemed dedicated to soaps and was a good script writer on Days, but not HW material by any stretch. And to pair her with tired Sam Hall was also a disaster.

I recall reading a Slesar interview after he joined as HW wherein he wryly mentioned that the writing structure was different for him in that he had two break down writers and 2 script writers (with a third freelance writer coming in here and there..including Lois Kibbee who wrote about 4 episodes before Bettina Bradbury was put on contract). The show had no deep roots or complicated plots from which Henry could draw on. His 15 months was admirable and logical but somewhat boring. The Baxter casting was terrible and that was a pivotal role in Henry's main plot. I think Henry should not have been fired. The ratings were dropping and didn't improve under Lipton who was terrible. I think Conboy probably would have stuck with Peggy O'Shea but she went back to OLTL where she finished her career and I'm sure paid handsomely by ABC. The California actors also were not suitable for Henry's style of writing. But I do think Henry lasted the longest of the five sets of HWs.

oh dear....