VelekaCarruthers

I believe Larkin left at the end of his two year contract (Dec 86/Jan 87). Long returned to GL on Sept 10 1987 episode, I believe.

38 RC drivel episodes remaining.

Chris Dunn no longer appearing in Days credits as script writer as of Wednesday, Feb 26. His name may not have been in the credits yesterday, didn't see the show.

They're writing 2 months ahead, episode 118. That's reasonable.

As I was re-reading the Soderbergs Gantry story projection and the summaries of the actual story online, I had flashes of the Ellis/Hunt ATWT Bennet/Willows plot and Marland's original Quint plot.

I misspoke earlier when I said the Soderbergs wanted the Lee Gantry story to introduce suspense and mystery to the show. It was the Wexler story detailed in the following pages of the projection that they intended to introduce suspense. Not sure if this story played out as written in the document.

I just figured out the Jack/Nikki episode was May 2 (script by Gazzaniga) Not sure about the Sharon/Cam episode.

Lee Gantry's character is first described by the Soderbergs in the main part of the story projection, and their original projection is completely different from what ends up happening. They first envisioned Lee to be an airport mechanic who's suffering from mono. They state clearly that over time the audience will discover he's dangerous and psychotic which plays out in the on air story later. The Soderbergs specifically mentioned that they want a 1 year suspense/mystery story to descend on Springfield to broaden the canvas. I believe Lee's story ends up being exactly that with him gaslighting Sara (having killed his first wife Alice) and working in cahoots with an evil housekeeper who Sara kills (none of this is in the original projection). Interestingly, the projection document dated April 9, 1969 has an April 24th addendum that was written by the Soderbergs after they met with the network and producers. They rewrite Lee's bio and story projection mentioning that he inherited a broken down farm from his deceased wife. He's prone to depression and violent outbursts. They mention the second story beat is the gaslighting and the final beat is Lee's death which may put Sara on trial for his murder. They wanted the story to play out for one year but I think it played for more than that as the actor who played Lee was on from late summer 69 through sometime in 71? I love the Soderbergs! The following is how they concluded the addendum to the Lee/Sara story projection: "On a happy note, In the beginning of the marriage Sara is madly in love with her husband, Lee. Their sex life is splendid for her - maybe not so splendid for him, but everybody can't have everything! Some other cool things in the projection: The Soderbergs intended to plant the seeds of a romance between Bert and Steve Jackson. They loved the young actress playing Hope and indicated they would give her more story if she continued to progress and mature. There's a whole section devoted to the expansion of Peter Wexler's family and mention that the Wexlers would replace the Fletchers as a prominent Springfield family. They also conclude the main story document by mentioning that "somewhere out there is Charlotte's mother who deserted her when she was a baby." Not sure if they ever played this story. They mention that they don't need the DA character of Ira after the end of May (and the conclusion of Peggy's trial) but that someone should give actor "Sorrelle Book" a daytime Oscar "he was beautiful casting." Sorrell went on to have a long career in nighttime television. most notably as Boss Hogg on the Dukes of Hazzard.

No mention in the document of Micky/Bill or rape. When Ed returns in summer 69 he does have a one night fling with Leslie and she gets pregnant (this is in the story document, not sure how it actually played out). Oddly, the Soderbergs only briefly address the pregnancy in that they say that Mike thinks the child might be his. No other mention of the pregnancy throughout the document. Bill is killed in a plane crash.

Does anyone know the 2 episode dates that were submitted?

Well, let's ask Robert Soderberg and Edith Sommer, GL head writers at the time! I have their 6 month story projection. I'll have to scan into PDF and offer to this community by email but for now here are the relevant pages from their (second draft) story projection that reference Bert/Bill. In sum, (although any contract or budget reasons for killing Bill are not discussed) the story is framed as a backdrop to Ed/Mike story. Here are the first two pages of the four discussing this story. Here are the other 2 pages.

LOL. Thanks Michelle Val Jean

IMO she's destined for BTG.

Thanks. I've been trying to piece together the writers from late 60s to cancellation. Here's what I have (based on the 2020 French Fan post and my own memory and research. Roy Winsor Agnes Nixon Frank and Doris Hursley 1957-1963? Julian Funt/David Lesan 1963?-1968 Leonard Kanter/Doris Frankel (Summer 1970 ?) Lou Scofield head writer/Bertram Berman/Story Consultant (November 1970 ?) Ralph Ellis & Eugenie Hunt (1971 – December 1973) Theodore Apstein (January 1974 – May 1974) Gabrielle Upton (May 1974 – November 1974) Ann Marcus (October 1974 - April 1975) Peggy O’Shea (April 1975 – November 1976) Irving & Tex Elman (November 1976 – June 1977) Robert J. Shaw (Summer 1977 - _____ Corringtons (____ 1978 to May 1980) Linda Grover/John Porterfield (May 1980 to mid July 1980) Henry Slesar _____________ Gabrielle Upton (____ to ______ 1981) Harding Lemay Don Chastain (Summer 1981 writers' strike - _______) Ellis/Hunt/Cherrill (Early 82-Dec 82) David Cherrill (Dec 82 - May 83) Gary Tomlin (May 83 to Jan 84? ) Jeanne Glynn (Jan 84? to March 85) (briefly with Madelyn David then Carolyn Franz) Paul Mayer/Stephanie Braxton (March to August 1985) Gary Tomlin/Michelle Lisanti (August 85-May86) Pam Long/Addie Walsh (May to Dec 86) IF anyone can fill in the rest of the dates, that would be great. Looks like the Corringtons had the longest tenure from their hire date to cancellation. That's just terrible.

Absolutely. One of Henry's top three best EON plots: Pamela (Irene Dailey ) was married to Nicole's 1st husband Duane who was still in love w/Nicole and pursued her. So Pamela hated Nicole. At the same time, Stephanie and her catatonic daughter came to town. S hated N because Ben Travis (as head of the syndicate ) was responsible for the deaths of Stephanie's husband and another child! Nicole and Stephanie both worked at McGrath's Dress shop. N started getting phone calls from a man who recited lines from Shakespeare's plays relating to death. We would see a man in a hat and trench coat call N from a phone booth to spook her with these Death quotes. (one was from Othello; right before he kills his wife: he says "Put out the light, then put out the light!" Well it wasn't a man making those calls! It was Stephanie with a stocking over her face playing a tape of a man reading the Shakespeare quotes! And at one point, she actually shot Nicole in the arm before we knew it was Stephanie doing this stuff. Nicole found out and went to confront S at the dress shop. When she entered, Stephanie had been stabbed in the back! Crazy Debbie was already there and screamed: pull it out! So N got her fingerprints on the knife, and S was already dead! During the trial, Adam put Deb on the stand even though she couldn't remember what she saw that night. All of a sudden, she got her memory back, stood up on the stand, pointed to Pamela and said: she's the one who killed my mother!!! Pamela had gone to the Dress shopintending to kill N, but accidentally killed Stephanie! She admitted everything and said her goal was to get rid of Nicole.

Here's a link to a discussion about the various adult Patti actresses https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/soapworldclassicsoaps/episodes-8876-8878-t5896.html

If I were Jackson I'd quit. His story has been so lame.

Wow. Thanks. I think the Hursleys were writing at this time....?

Watching these and I remember watching live when they aired. Tomlin/Whitesell had a firm hand from the beginning and the show looked good. Writing was solid until they decided to do the flood which was totally unnecessary waste. Then, P&G was so wowed with Whitesell they moved him over to AW and fired Tomlin (after six months) to give Pam Long an assignment before she was ready to return to GL (after her divorce and birth of second child I believe). Of course, Whitesell quit AW after two years to go to Hollywood. It always pissed me off that they gave him a chance to EP two shows at age 33 or so and overlooked women like Hope Harmel Smith, Susan Dansby, Mary Bonner, Charlotte Weil (OLTL) and Leslie Kwartin. If they had kept Tomlin/Whitesell through to the end of SFT it would have gone out with more dignity. Long's SFT was uninspired.

Here's Victor Miller's soap job history based on YouTube closing credits etc...Fascinating OLTL: 82-June 84 (hired by Sam Hall/fired by Paul Rauch/Corringtons) 2 years AMC: 84-86 (Aug 84 to Aug 86 (hired by Wisner Washam) 2 years GL: Dec 86 to August 87 (hired by Munisteri/worked for Anderson/Manetta/fired by Long) 9 mo AMC 87-89 Fall 87 to Nov 89 (hired by Lorraine Broderick/fired by Agnes Nixon) 2 years AW: Feb 90 to Aug 95 (hired by Swajeski/fired by Phelps/King/Carlson) 5 years/8mo GL: Sept 95 to March 97 (hired by McTavish/fired by Rauch/Brown/Estensen) 20 months AMC: August 97-August 2001 (hired by Lorraine Broderick/quit to join McTavish at GH) 4yrs GH: Fall 2001 to April 2002 (hired by McTavish/fired by Phelps/Guza/Pratt) 6mo

Not sure if this has ever been posted but here's longtime AMC writer, Victor Miller's career timeline in which he explains each of his moves between and among the soaps. New info for me: Mary Munisteri hired him at GL but she was fired before he got there. He makes a funny comment about Sheri Anderson/Joe Manetta. Other cool writing drama tidbits in the Q&A as well. https://victormiller.com/autobiography.php

The Corringtons were writing in 79 when these scenes with Mignon aired. It's vintage Louisiana Corringtons.

Cathy Abbi may have had stinky feet but she made the show look great and hired a superb head writer. The new opening, sets and most casting under Abbi were great. But there was much damage from Holloway and Upton head writing periods.

I'm curious that (although most of these episodes don't have full closing credits, there's only been one (or two) where Racina/Schibi/Bacos listed as script writers. All other long credit crawls show Elizabeth Levin as sole script writer. BTW: Margaret Schibi is veteran script writer Peggy Schibi although IMDB lists them as two separate writers. It's hard to get through these episodes. I think the Corringtons left the show in a mess. I give Grover/Porterfield credit for focusing on Liza with the child story and Stephanie/Wendy with long long Brian/Spencer. But it's hard to get through the other stuff. Never liked Cissy (or the actress as Kim Brady on Days). Never liked Lee Sentell character either.

Watching these 1977 episodes that were recently posted, I noticed that Nancy Pinkerton seems to read her entire scenes from the cue cards. This is particularly noticeable in the March episode I believe where she has a few scenes with the Matt character. I wonder if she was one of those who never learned her lines.