RavenWhitney

Carlivati's Days is toast. How embarrassing. Ken gave him enough rope to hang himself during his second year.  Now they're stuck trying to get renewed on his material.  Sad

I actually sat through this week's shows. 

Observations:

NuAdam is a big fail. Nothing against the actor; but he's too young for the role and a lightweight. Can't hold up against the vets. Plus the story intro is so lifeless (hallmark Griffith).

Jason Thompson should get an award for making any scene work.  He's such a skilled (underrated actor).

If they think a Kyle/Lola/Summer is the hot thing. NO.  I know B&B has success giving botox starlets the lead stories but the actress playing Summer is painful to watch.  Those lips, chin the whole cosmetically engineered package doesn't work.  Actress playing Lola is bland/weak. Kyle can run around naked and I'd watch but otherwise, not so sure.

Not sure why Griffith decided to give Traci a story, and I'd like to be excited but this one is downright laughable.  Even Beth can't pull off the dream sequences.

Overall, the show is returning to Griffith's boring, slow pacing but it does have hints of the repetitive, slow Bill Bell style. Some of the new background music is good.

The scripts are highly uneven. Lynn Martin's are the worst.  She's no Susan Dansby.  I guess it's cool that CBS has deigned to hire one black writer to replace Susan. I mean it is the 21st century. But Lynn wasn't the best choice.

Josh Morrow needs a long sabbatical.  His scenes this week were cringeworthy.

NuNate is a superstar. Reminds me of when Paul Rauch hired Taye Diggs on GL.  But Abby? No.  

And why are the megawealthy children of the scion families running tacky supper clubs. Underground and Social.  Lily ran the club etc.  Lazy writing. 

CBS just never got it that Griffith isn't Doug Marland. How does this guy get hired and rehired multiple times?  Steve Kent?

15 hours ago, amybrickwallace said:

 

Yes, and Myra Sofronski (who had worked on Marland's team) was held over, at least at this point in the rerun cycle.

Robert Dwyer was also a script writer during Marland's time the TD and he left to go work with him on GH I think. Dwyer definitely was part of Marland's GL writing team.

I see Ethel and Mel Brez brought in two new script writers when Nancy Franklin leaves to go work with Marland on GH.

Lin Cole

Frederick Feirstein, a playwright and psychoanalyst in NY.  

https://www.frederickfeirstein.com/about

Kevin Conroy (Chase) on Twitter today, wishing everyone Happy Holidays. He's 63.

Several writers who broke into the soaps didn't use their real names at first. Some have speculated that Millee Taggart used "KC Collier" when she first joined ATWT. 

Another fake writer name that showed up was on OLTL just before the writers' strike in 2007: Veronica Stanbridge.  There's no such person.  Some speculated at the time that it was a scab writer who ended up working on the show during the strike.  

John Conboy on GL. So many of his style/set changes were great. But casting the porn pool boys from Palm Springs and hiring Ellen Weston. FAIL

Whichever producer hired Stephen Black and Henry Stern as HW of ATWT. Wow....bad!

Charlotte Savitz on AW / Stephen Schenkel on AMC and AW

Richard Culliton back to Days as script writer.  What a surprise. April 2 episode. Sheri Anderson's name is gone; her last episode was 3/15

If NBC/Corday was smart they'd recast Sami with Gina. Gina is awesome and has a big following and already took over one iconic character.  Gina would rock as Sami.  Gina's 45 and Ali Sweeney is 42 so totally would work.  

During Jill Phelp period in 95/96 how long were Katherine Sutcliffe and Harding LeMay listed as Consultants?

I just read Sutcliffe's Wikipedia page and it says the following:
 

n 1995 and 1996, Sutcliffe worked as the Consultant Head Writer for the soap operas As the World Turns and Another World. Sutcliffe was offered the job after Bill Graham, who searched for writers for Procter & Gamble, mentioned to his wife that they wanted to refocus the soap opera stories on romance. His wife, who loved Sutcliffe's book, insisted that he contact her. During her time as a soap opera writer, she concentrated on developing the six-month story lines, which the breakdown writers would then develop into dialogue and individual scenes for the show. During this time frame, Sutcliffe also made a guest appearance on Another World, playing herself. She resigned from her position after the networks began to insist that she move to New York City to be more accessible.

1 hour ago, Toups said:

I don't understand these "Storyliner" credits.  Damn you, Mal Young for bringing over these British titles.  LOL   I'm assuming it's just a different title for a second tier Co-HW position. 

Here's an EastEnders storyliner job description.

https://careerssearch.bbc.co.uk/jobs/job/Storyliner-EastEnders/31455

Mellinda Hensley added to story editors credits on YR. She's been a writers' assistant on YR and now lists her current title (on Facebook) as "Storyliner/Writer" 

On IMDB she's been listed as "Assistant to Executive Producer/Headwriter"

Daren Little name gone as story consultant on YR with 3/20 episode.  Knew he'd be out. 

Sonia Blangiardo Goins, Days Director, directed Monday YR episode.

This Sept episode is so memorable. I remember taping it on a cassette recorder when I realized Raven was leaving. I still have the tape.  This episode marks a difficult transition period for Slesar and the show.  The next year was tough with the focus on the Madisons and eventual departures of Deborah, Steve, the entire Madison family, Margo etc.  But set the stage for Sky, Jody, Gavin,  Gunther etc....Slesar's last great period on the show. My understanding from talking to Ernie Townsend in 1981 in NYC was that ABC was pressuring PG and Slesar when the other ABC soaps rebounded in 1980 to become more youthful, and romance focused.  Henry's difficulty (but was probably the source of so much creativity) is that he wrote all the long story, all the breakdowns and three scripts per week. He associate writer only wrote 2 scripts per week.  By the early 80s he was seen as too old fashioned and unable to write by committee.  Loved Henry and Edge!  Lee Sheldon sucked.  

Looks like Christian Mc is out as a scriptwriter at YR based on Toups' posted Jan / Feb scriptwriters list.

Sheri Anderson out at Days.  Knew this was coming when she moved from creative consultant to script writer.

Sheri Anderson‏ @sheriawriter

FollowingFollowing @sheriawriter

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Eric Braeden said in an interview after KSJ death that Griffith's material airs in 3-4 weeks from now.

2 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

What ever happened to Jack Smith (Y&R)?  Is he no longer writing soaps?

Jack had a rough 2018.  His future son in law committed suicide and Jack's daughter found him. Jack posted all of this on his public FB page. In one FB post he thanks Brad for firing him and makes a passive aggressive comment that Brad did it a few weeks after the suicide.  So Jack was fired by Brad Bell. 

Good sign: Noel Maxam back to YR as a director.  Tuesday episode.

4 minutes ago, Eboneece said:

In her recent interview, Kay Alden said that it was highly unlikely that Sally would return. But who knows? These might be more favorable conditions for her and the $$$ probably is not bad.

Sally's name may never appear in the credits but that doesn't mean that she or another writer isn't being paid to contribute to story.  

Henry Slesar was a story consultant for AW and Loving but never got credit (late 80s). It's also been widely confirmed (especially by Geary) that Luke/Laura/Lucky return story was penned by Geary and Irene Suver...and Labine took it over but worked with the story ABC had purchased from Geary/Suver.

When GL was going off the air, I contacted Nancy Curlee on social media and she wrote me a wonderful email about her love of GL and mentioned that she was working as as story consultant on ABC and was to join the staff of GH when she got pregnant with another child.  

On 1/17/2019 at 5:41 PM, Toups said:

I don't think he'll stick around either.   I think Lisa Seidman will return too. She usually follows Griffith.   Also, maybe Anthony Morina will convince Sally to return as a BDW. 

Sally started following Josh Griffith on Twitter recently...HMMMMM

Danielle Page started following him too but that might be because they're both published authors

Wonder if Daran Little is out as story consultant at YR. He was tweeting about the show from early Sept. to Dec 21. Nothing since.  I don't expect him to stay around with Josh Griffith as HW.

Sheri Anderson no longer listed as creative consultant; her name has been added to the script writer group. Ron is solidifying his power.

During Marland's early tenure he has one script writer, Elizabeth David.  I'm wondering if this is Elizabeth Levin (married to David Cherrill). Both Elizabeth and David wrote for the Doctors; she had two stints as  head writer.