VelekaCarruthers

I'm of a certain age where I caught some of Upton's final year and it was not great but Jean Holloway was worse. All I remember is Bambi, Bambi, Bambi!

Posted in another thread on this board: LOVE OF LIFE Head writers : Esther & Richard Shapiro (September 1970 - February 1972) Loring Mandel (Feburary 1972 - April 1973) Claire Labine & Paul Avila Mayer (April 1973 – April 1975) Margaret DePriest (April 1975 – December 1975) Paul & Margaret Schneider (December 1975 – September 1976) Gabrielle Upton (September 1976 – November 1978)

As long as Kent and Griffith are in charge, the show is doomed.

She was never right for the part but hopefully they don't bring back that friend of JFP who became so "fillered" and "botoxed" it was hard to watch. They wasted that actress who played the boy's mother, can't recall her name or name of the character. Didn't she go to jail. She was really good and reminded me of the early casting on Y&R, particularly the first Chris Brooks.

I believe so and Phelps' was at her worst at OLTL with her interference and control. She arrived at OLTL in Jan 98 (and stayed three full calendar years) with the Labines having been HWs for 9 months. They were gone 3 months later at the end of 1 year. Then, ABC brought in Pam Long and she lasted under JFP for nine months after which Phelps was head writer and brought in McTavish, Tom King, Michael Conforti and Harding Lemay without naming anyone head writer. I recall reading a Lemay interview where he bragged about Phelps coming into the writers' room each week and tearing apart the breakdowns. Finally, McTavish was named HW and that lasted 18 months before ABC switched both to GH.

JFP liked Doug Anderson because she could be the unnamed (in the credits) head writer and he was HER co-head writer. She had to relent pretty quickly to that set up and brought in Peggy Sloane and elevated Nancy Watts to co head positions while bringing in (for less than three months) Joyce Corrington as story consultant as well as Tom King and Craig Carlson as associate head writers. Harding Lemay was also her consultant for a brief period during Anderson's time. Of course, she took Lemay/King/Carlson to AW when she was moved over there. I think Doug lasted six months but it was writing by committee for the most part with Jill in the lead.

Thanks! I've been thinking about the P&G soaps from 1983 with all these uploads. My no. 1 soap was Edge but I was a fan of SFT, GL and ATWT over the ABC and non P&G soaps. They made huge writer/producer changes in March and May 1983 GL: Pam Long took over GL May 23, 1983 (Kobe replaced Potter as EP in March) ATWT: Caroline Franz and John Saffron took over from the Dobsons on May 23, 1983 (Franz was demoted to script writer after six months and Saffron lasted another six months as sole head before disappearing from daytime) SFT: Gary Tomlin took over from David Cherrill on May 27, 1983 (good move but he lasted 11 months and 2 EPs) (Lee replaced Bartholemew as EP March 30th) EDGE: Lee Sheldon took over from Henry Slesar on May 23, 1983 (got the show cancelled after 18 months) Another World: Soderberg had joined Purser as co head in Jan 1983 but Paul Rauch resigned in March 1983 and was replaced by Allen Potter who was switched from GL)

Were there any other changes to the writing credits? Is Dan O'Connor still listed as both break down and script writer?

There are two words to rain on the parade of excitement about the new writers: KEN CORDAY. As long as the production team is answering to him there's really no hope for this sad show. This is the man who kept Carlivati for 7 years, who fired the best head writing duo they had after Jim Reilly's mess (Cwicky/Brash who were replaced by Higley, the McTavish of Days, who Ken hired not once not twice but three times) who got rid of EPs who made the show look great (Noel Maxam and Ed Scott) who keeps his friends on staff even when they are completely incompetent or aged out of their jobs (costume "designer" Richard Bloore, actor Josh Taylor for instance). I'm sure Paula and Jean love the show and will have some glimmers of humanity and old school soap in their storytelling but the show lives on fumes for a budget and so many of the characters have been damaged by horrid stories (they're either back from the dead, actors playing a different part when they spent years playing another part, characters who break laws even when they're not the villain and get away with it (Hope killing Stefano for which Josh Griffith should have been banned from soaps on this one story alone). I could go on. It truly doesn't matter who's head writing this show. If Paula and Jean show promise they will be fired (unless Ken truly retires like Bill Bell did) or the show will be cancelled.

Who wrote Ron's last script today? Was Dan O'Connor still listed in breakdown section?

Ron went out with a whimper and, of course, featuring one of of James Reilly's worst excesses, Susan Banks, played annoyingly by Stacy who should have been gone years ago (all the Kristen characters as well as Stacy). Ron injected Days with Reillyesque crap overlaid with Fire Island camp overlaid with Giddens' low rent trash take on soaps (stuck in Dynasty bitch slap mode, cat fight, catty mode). The worst of Ron's excesses was all the back from the dead and regurgitated villains who escaped prison to move plots along because he was too lazy and uninspired to create new villains. I wish Jean and Paula the best but they will quickly jump the shark if they feature doppelgängers, Haddie, Bonnie or or Orpheus, Ava, Vivian, Kristen, Stefano's shadow (who am I missing of the tired ass villains Ron resurrected time and again). Ron aka Megan McTavish, good riddance. Sadly, Michele Val Jean thought these two fools were worthy of adding to her huge writing staff for Beyond the Gates which is whimpering out of the gate for the most part.

Dan O'Connor listed in breakdown writer title card and script writer title card (but today's script written by Joanna Cohen and directed by Drucker).

Thanks! And thanks for posting all these episodes. Even in SFT lowest moments it was heads and shoulders above any of the daytime soaps on air right now. I have a bunch of VCR tapes of 80s soaps in my garage. I'll have to dig through them.

Tomlin and Joanna Lee turned SFT around somewhat. When they took over from Cherrill/Bartholemew end of March 1983, SFT was on 164 stations and pulling as low as 2.2/9 rating but hovering around 2.5/10. Tomlin/Lee quickly brought them consistently to 3..3/11 and getting higher than that; and during Tomlin's 11 months or so (first writing stint) the show lost only 6 stations and was still getting consistent ratings in the 3s with share 11 or 12 and sometimes higher. Not sure why Lee was fired, perhaps it was the live show stunt or losing Rod Arrants. But she was a dynamic producer who also had been an established (for decades) television writer. There were mistakes made but I thought she and Tomlin made a good team.When Lee was replaced by Barrett in late October 83, she kept Tomlin through mid-March 84 when he was moved by P&G to help Richard Culliton on AW as co head. Big mistake IMO. That duo was a disaster at AW (even tho I liked some of their stuff) and we ended up with no head writers then Sam Hall/Gillian Spencer (another AW disaster). Culliton was always a mess of a head writer. They should have left Tomlin at SFT, particularly since they brought him back after Mayer/Braxton folly. It amazes me to think how P&G played roulette with SFT writers/producer but left inexperienced Sheldon and Nicholson (who was only as good as his head writer and casting director) in place at Edge when they destroyed 15 years of Henry Slesar's great work in a matter of months. Same with AW where Dorthea Purser was doing a great job after tutoring under Soderberg. Anyway, Barrett tried to turn SFT into Ryan's Hope and Glynn (who seemed talented) failed miserably with Liza's Cord/Kentucky plots in addition to bad casting against the dynamic Sherry Mathis. Michael Corbett was sensational and should have been kept around indefinitely. Adair and Justine were not well thought out characters after we got invested in Linda Gibboney and Sue Scannell both of whom were talented. Losing John Anniston was another blow and mistake. After all the Sentell stories, they should have built on that family and had Liza embroiled in something compelling around that. We didn't need the McClearys, especially Kate 1. However, Glynn and Barrett kept the ratings in the 3's with 12 share off and on and stations weren't defecting. There were ratings dips after Travis died but the show stabilized in the ratings again only to have the producer/writer tossed for Mayer/Braxton and Nicholson. Made no sense. What an odd coupling that was. Tomlin returns with Whitesell as producer and the ratings slide into the high 2s and more stations drop. Their fatal mistake was the Feb 86 flood. It was pointless but the ratings had been dropping to high 2s with 9 or 10 share. However, by May 86 the ratings were back in the low 3s with 11/12 share where they had been for much of Glynn/Barret and some of Tomlin's first run. So what does P&G do, they give maternity leave Pam Long executive story title with Addie Walsh as her head writer and the ratings drop into the mid 2s and 8-9 share with the Malcom/Kat bull sh_t and no experience producer David Lawrence. Thus, the show gets cancelled. I always wondered how much interference and/or impact Mary Stuart had on the merry go round of writers and producers. Also, when you go further back in the ratings archives and see how well the show was doing on CBS when it was cancelled, it really demonstrates how short sighted the network execs were about audience loyalty. CBS did this to Edge as well. SFT was a classic soap with such a loyal audience. Finally, with all these 80s episodes being posted these months I've been building out a list of writer/producer start/end dates which I'll post at some point, but it's absolutely insane how P&G treated SFT and continuously destabilized the show.

Carolyn Culliton was responsible for the creation of the laughable Justine plot. Why not give her a long lost twin and just repeat the Vickie/Marley story or better yet do a DID story. I hated every minute of Justine and was horrified that King/Carlson/Phelps/Lemay continued it. Terrible. No wonder Culliton never lasted as a head writer. And VW was cringeworthy in most scenes. Embarrassing.

Who wrote today's script? Thanks

Wednesday episode Written by Emily Culliton Directed by Allison Smith

Wednesday episode Breakdown: Gregori Martin Script: Lynn Martin

I've been wondering when the plump soap stars on this show (and others) are going to start using ozempic. I'm surprised Valentini hasn't made it a requirement given all of his performers seem to get filler and botox regularly no matter their age. Looks like Genie is a lot slimmer in the Monica dedication episode than she was in a Bobbie funeral clip I saw recently. And poor Daniel Cosgrove.... As far as JJ, he needs to go. I never saw the draw, still don't. Squeaky, whiney voice, not leading man material. Not to mention the weak return stories for him.

The high point of Friday's episode: Derek's arssss on that bar stool. He may be dumb as a doorknob butttt.... So many low points to chose from but DP's dialog is a solid runner up with the nadir being Vanessa calling Joey a Zaddy. Cringe This show has fallen far and fast and wasn't too strong to begin with.. It's sad that the 20 producers, 15 writers and other vets on the production staff couldn't put together at least three watchable months. I could barely get through this week's episodes. They failed at two cardinal rules: hire players who can ACT (especially those in the A,B,C plots) and tell a few cohesive stories consistently for the first several months. They really squandered an opportunity to roll out a few gripping stories so that many who tuned in out of curiosity could be hooked. Once new viewers tune out it's hard to get them back. And viewers tuned out according to latest Nielsen ratings.

As these stories play out I'm reminded that there may be a reason Michelle Val Jean was never a successful head writer in her 30 plus years in soaps. She's very weak so far.

Wednesday was written by Lynn Martin with Sara not Judy. Just double checked paramount posted Wed episode.

Susan Horgan had been an ATWT producer with no official daytime writing experience when she took over. I believe I read that Calhoun was searching for a head writer for the entire year he employed her. I wonder if P&G was always planning to bring back Marland to the fold once his two year Loving contract was up. Calhoun allowed or caused a huge merry go round of writers during Horgan's year. Her first co-head was Cynthia Benjamin who had no head writing experience; she lasted a few months, then was moved to outlines then fired. Then, Klein/Wasserman were co head with Horgan, then demoted back to outline writers. After the two week April 84 writers' strike, ATWT producers Michael Laibson and Bonnie Bogard were listed as co-heads for about two weeks (I think because they had been the strike writers). Then, Calhoun brought in Jack Sowards and Janet Stampfl as co heads (for weeks). In addition, Calhoun turned over a few story consultants including Robert Soderberg, George Lefferts and finally Harding Lemay (who was there at least from right after the 2 week strike ended through summer). Not to mention that the show kept adding and subtracting script and outline writers. Calhoun obviously had no confidence in Horgan and/or she was a placeholder until Marland was no longer under contract with Nixon. I thought Taggart/King's tenure was working well. Horgan's was messy but she had such a strong cast, huge budget and Calhoun knew how to produce. They paired Marland with Horgan when they brought her back as one of his outline writers (Dec 86 through May 87). I don't think it worked out well for her working with him.

Bye. Now let's get rid of Leo, Kristen, Melinda, Fake Abby, Javi, nuGabi

Does anyone know when in early 1982 Ellis/Hunt returned as head writers? Mitch just posted on YouTube the final CBS and first NBC episodes 3/26 and 3/29 and they were already writing the show.