RavenWhitney

Who was the first actor to play Sharkey before Chris Goutman?

If there had been Twitter in 1988 I think all of this would have been public very quickly. You just have to look at the credits in the few months following the conclusion of each strike to see all the former soap actors, production assistants and unfamiliar names who were hired onto the writing teams. Everyone in the biz (I'm sure) knew that Swajeski had been writing the show during the strike. I think Zazlow and Hufford along with Radell were added once Swajeski started or shortly before. Lemay's breakdown writing team was his son, Chris Whitesell and Barbara Hagstrom. For instance: Lois Kibbee: I met Ernie Townsend once in NYC; he played Cliff. I asked him who wrote Edge during the 1981 strike and he told me that Lois and Laurie Durbrow were the writers. He said Henry was so impressed he fired Steve Lehrman and hired Lois as his script writer.

Many have reported that AW strike team of writers included: Donna Swajeski, Michael Zazlow (Roger from GL), his wife Susan Hufford, Nerissa Radell, Janet Iacubuzio, Mimi Leahey and Janet Stampfl. I imagine that Swajeski and the Zazlows worked off some of Lemay's story ideas but that EP/Michael Laibson supervised the storylines. Lemay was not a good fit for any show as a head writer by the late 1980s. His ten weeks after the strike ended were boring and uninspired. I thought the strike period other than the ghost story was pretty watchable. When Lemay's scripts starting airing I could barely get through an episode.

This news will not save GH from oblivion. No one cares about an actress who played an 1980s character on a cancelled soap. When GH stops revolving around murderous thugs it might gain a few more viewers. Writer Courtney Simon summed it up best why she never felt comfortable writing under Guza and left after a short stint. The show was built around criminals. Check out Alan Locher's interview with her and Peter Simon. It was brief and refreshing to hear the truth from a writer.

I agree with you. I loved him.

Sandra could never act her way out of a paper bag. RKK was okay as long as he was half naked and mouth shut. Charles Flohe was inconsistent. Had some good scenes on Edge where he played tender emotions nicely but he never cut it on AW and the character had potential being Janice's son. I've always been amazed over the years that TPTB on many shows seem to have difficulty finding outstanding performers to fill the role of the adult/aged children of the show's vets. Some get it right. Grant Alexander and Mike O'Leary were fantastic for years as Phil and Rick. Y&R has failed with Josh and Amelia as Victor and Nikki's kids. They can't get the right actor for Ashley's daughter or Nick's kids, Noah and Summer. All these actors are terrible. On AW, they couldn't keep actors in the Jamie role for very long. Bekins was the best fit. After him, none of the others worked. Look what they did with Lorna. Alicia was awesome then we got Sky Chandler. Terrible

Exactly, remember they were competing with Gloria Monty's GH at the time. The interesting thing is that Luke/AG was never hot and aged a lot. Gloria and AG made it work. The Dobson's had played Ed/Mike/Rita/Holly for years. It needed a bit of a rest anyway. I never liked PS as Ed even though I like the actor. He was a sourpuss as my Granny used to say. I think he always resented playing Ed and it came through.

The 1981 writer's strike happened in summer 81. Bunim hired actor Don Chastain to write the show and she fired Upton after the strike ended. Chastain briefly held the head writer role and ruined things with some crappy boxing story. I think he was still appearing as Max. Upton's real life son was named Garth. He died in 2004 of lung cancer at age 60. Gabrielle was still alive, having been born in 1922. Never found an obituary so she still may be alive! Amazing that she wrote the show solo. IMDB doesn't list that she was also head writer for Love of Life, an unwatchable period where she focused on a former prostitute. But I really liked this episode. Classy, Directing, music, pacing was all so classic soap. Dignified. Sheri was sensational. Rod never knew his lines. he was no Tony Geary! You have to give P&G credit for giving Bunim an EP title when she was so young (she had been an associate producer). She must have been really talented and wowed the execs. I loved most of her EP stint on ATWT too. Sad when you think of the crap on tv today.

Why was P&G determined to keep Gillian Spencer as a co-headwriter? She was paired with Sam Radcliffe, then David Cherrill, then finally Sam Hall all within a few months. Not sure if it was hack Shenkel who hired her; he had no business as a soap EP. He went over to AMC as EP for a short run (I think he developed cancer and had to quit) and he hired Spencer as a story consultant on that show. Sharon Gabet mentioned that Spencer created the Brittney character. What a mess. But Whitesell and DePriest did even more damage. Whitesell was a good director period. Spencer was a good actress and good script writer period. End of story, P&G often overlooked the veterans on the production staff for EP roles. When I watch episodes from 82- to early 85 I'm struck by how good the show was; it had stabilized especially under Potter/Soderberg/Purser and they gave the show legs again. It felt more like a more up to date Lemay version without all Lemay's boring scenes and awful dialog. Casting was stellar. Sets, costumes. It all worked. I suspect NBC kept interfering as Days became more popular and cultish and outlandish.

Jean was a network employee before she became a soap writer. She was with ABC's writer's development program. Like McTavish and Higley, Jean was constantly hired because she was the associate head writer to whomever was exec producer of each show she worked on. At NBC, she and Laiman were hired to replace Culliton because he wouldn't bow to network pressure. Goutman had her wrapped around his uncreative middle finger. I think ABC had hopes that she'd be a good Nixon trainee but she didn't have the chops which is why she ended up being a P&G hack. Y&R hired her for the same reason. Phelps was the head writer, along with Kent and McDaniel, no doubt. Tom C was Hoagie's assistant. Hogan promoted to breakdown writer whomever (as an assistant) helped him turn in outlines (there was another Tom and Meg Kelly). Read Tom's eulogy after Hogan's death to find out how their relationship developed.

Today's episode (Monday US): when did it originally air?

The actor who played Seth was so lackluster. Marland and producers had trouble casting some important male characters over the years. Caleb is another. Love righteous Kim. What a treasure (character and actress).

Just realized that 2.5 years into Pam Long's first HW tenure, she had created 22 out of the 30 contract players on the canvas.

Here's the episode that aired the day before Cass showed up. I didn't realize Corrine Jacker created Cass character.

When is Alan going to get another writers group together. I'd love to see McTavish on at the same time as Curlee. Krystal and Alexis!

She was the worst possible actor to play this role when the show was suffering. Reminded me of Felicia on GH or Bobbie on GH in later years. Completely annoying with that nasal, mousey voice. The other GL actress that completely ruined every scene was the one who played Olivia's daughter in the last year or two. OMG. And of course every cute male Conboy hired was god awful!

I just came across this very moving article by the wife of Denny Albee on the suicide of their son Hunter. So tragic. https://autismspectrumnews.org/a-parents-plea-for-reform-of-school-safety-and-mental-health-programming/ Denny and wife Laura in 2013

I always wondered what the story was behind Marland losing 'created by" credit after he departed when his contract was up. Aggie must have insisted in their initial contract with him that his name be removed upon departure. it doesn't seem like a successful collaboration. Marland never collaborated well with anyone really. He was always sole head writer and wrote breakdowns. On GL he wrote all the breakdowns and had 2 or 3 script writers for most of his 3.5 years. In the early ATWT years he kept 2 or 3 break down writers and boasted in articles about how he wrote outlines and was the script editor. Control freak but I understand it. The best shows were the ones written by a creative force who maintained control. Henry Slesar is a great example (on Edge at least).

What a bloated writing staff. They had no confidence in Horgan and kept rotating consultants and co-heads. Luckily, they got Marland from Loving. Her co heads during her 1 year were: Klein/Wasserman, Benjamin, Sowards/Stamfl, Laibson/Bogard. Lemay/Consultant, Gross/Consultant. Not to mention all the various breakdown and script writers who cycled through.

That was a Gary Tomlin story. Long/Walsh stories started airing soon after through end of show.

Damian Scheller

Jeanne Glynn was a creative writer who loved soaps. She was with SFT for nearly two years and most of that time was head writer either alone, with CF or briefly with Madelyn David. Her head writing tenure turned out to be the longest of anyone who came after her most of whom lasted under a year. The problem was some of the casting and Ellen Barrett who seemed to want to turn SFT into Ryan's Hope. Too many red heads running around, some bad casting (started by Joanna Lee who cast Kevin Conroy as a straight leading man and he was obviously neither) and supplanting Jo with Kate McCleary. Not sure why Barrett couldn't get a little more creative and NOT center the show around an Irish family.

The last year on the show was just awful and that final episode with the gorilla. I heard that was the work of the Cullitons. Embarrassing.

All the writers in this interview revealed and/or implied that the more outlandish plot points and controversial story decisions were mandates from network execs and producers. Jim Brown revealed what's already known that he was told to tell the clone story (Wendy Fischman concocted it). He was told to bring Jesse back from the dead on AMC. Millee said she never resurrected a dead character. I remember her second short GL stint. The show was getting good but Rauch left and Conboy fired her for Weston. I loved her stories about bringing Ed back. She tried. Network and P&G and EP interference killed the show. Dave was too young and inexperienced to head write a troubled show. Dave seemed to value and appreciate the history of the show but he took over after Weston, Labine, McTavish. The three worst periods for the show. He was also forced to work with Swajeski who had petered out after four years on AW and again was not a writer; she had been a network hack. But P&G was hiring to pay minimum salaries for those positions. Why do you think they replaced expensive Conboy with actress Wheeler. Do you think she was earning his salary? Nope. What was clear from comments: Paul Rauch was a hot mess with a lot of power.