RavenWhitney

The above timeline is how I remember it all also. Reilly's name was added as HW a few weeks before Long's disappeared. Long always had a co-head or two but she was the boss. I think Reilly was getting offered equal power and she didn't want that. Of course, in hindsight I think she realized what a hack he was and how he'd ruin soaps. When Long left, Curlee/Demorest were immediately added as co-heads and their three names rotated in the credits. Curlee left for a year and she was quoted ion an interview when she returned that she had suggested Broderick to Phelps. Broderick did leave to join AW as a breakdown writer on AW. It was never confirmed that Broderick contributed to the head writing duties at AW under Sloane then C. Culliton. Curlee talks nice about Phelps now but I always felt it was Phelps whose interference drove Curlee away. They never worked together again even though Curlee was a consultant for ABC and was offered head writing duties later in the 90s under Riche (confirmed to me by Curlee in a letter she responded to when I wrote her on FB after GL cancellation). She turned that gig down when she learned she was pregnant again. Demorest remained in soaps for another 10 or more years (mostly as a breakdown writer and short committee co-head on ATWT). Curlee/Demorest were the best HW ever but Curlee admitted that she needed a lot of control. She only could work with two breakdown writers and she and Demorest wrote more than 1 break down a week. She couldn't sustain the pace once she had kids. (And regarding Phelps: all who followed soaps through her tenure know that she dumped Long on OLTL and was the de facto head writer with a committee. She did the same on GL with at one point supervising Demorest/Taggart/Laiman/Mulcahey/Watt as co-heads).

This episode was the end of the line for Pamela Long and Robert Calhoun. They would soon add James E Reilly to the staff to co-head write which is why, I think, Pam quit, and Calhoun (one of the best P&G exec producers IMO) finally retired from soaps after his 2 year stint as GL EP.

The show will probably be cancelled before Zack's last episode airs 7 months from now.

Why are Griffith and Beall still employed?

Ann's son, Brian, posted a nice tribute and there are some public recent pics of gorgeous and classy Ann! https://www.facebook.com/brian.granath

Script by straight male Richard Culliton and directed by straight male Scott McKinsey.

This threesome plot point is so tired. While it's a first for a daytime soap, it's not interesting. This grouping is a well worn straight male fantasy and I'm sure the white straight men who run streaming and Days (Ken) easily signed off. Let's see if Ron gets approval to have three men threesome or two bi men/one woman threesome. My guess is it ain't going to happen for a long time. This particular plot is also hamstrung by RSW playing Alex which is beyond dumb as reformed Ben was shoved down our throats for years and the minimal acting skills of both females in the plot. Not to mention that Ally's character is so ill defined and uninteresting.

So did Simone replace long time YR writer, Teresa Zimmerman who hasn't written a breakdown since 9/6? Thanks

So Jennifer killed Abigail?

In early December 2021 Chris Dunn (writer) announced he had rejoined the DOOL writing team. His name has yet to appear. I wonder if this is the week and if Lorraine Broderick is retiring since Days typically keeps five outline writers (and Quan writes an outline too). She just hit her ten year mark on the writing team. I noticed there's day player this week, Judge Broderick, played by Gina Gallego. Perhaps the character was named to pay tribute to Lorraine?

As long as Morina/Griffith in charge, I won't be tuning in.

Peacock is an experiment in a saturated field of streaming services. With inflation and competition, there will be a shakedown of these many services. Just this week, there were major announcements of job cuts and streaming mergers as well as show cancellations. Days benefits from daytime brand recognition and the idea that 1 to 2 million viewers will buy pay the Peacock subscription. But IMHO, Peacock will get very few new subscriptions from Days NBC audience. I wouldn't pay to watch Ron's ScoobyDoo hour; I might not even pay to watch if Nancy Curlee were writing the show like GL circa 1992. The show needed an overhaul well before the switch to entice viewers. I think the execs are going to find out just how uninterested viewers are in paying for Ron/Ken/Albert's version of Days.

Never and even if it's free I can't stomach the scooby doo hour with Ron, Ken and Albert in charge.

I don't believe so

Pat Falken Smith was a script writer at days on the following dates (according to Jason47 website). So she was only gone for six months in 71. In 1975 she became Days head writer. Pat Falken Smith 5/66-7/66, 1/68-7/71, 1/72-5/75

Has anyone posted clip of Nichelle Nichol's Miranda death scene on youtube? RIP Nichelle!

ATWT was so unfocused and uneven in 90-92. I found it hard to watch. Too many groups of characters coming in and out of scenes. Of course, compared to what followed, those years were gold but Marland had lost something with the bigger cast and budget.

Pam didn't want Jim Reilly as a co-heat and P&G insisted on it. Remember: Pam always had a co-head (Jeff Ryder then Nancy Curlee/Trent Jones). Ironically, Jim's best years were the two he was GL co-head. His Days stints ruined Days and helped ruin soaps. Pam was also never successful on another show. Her final six month story on SFT was bad, not horrid, but bad. OLTL was a mess and SB was unwatchable before she took over and nothing changed. She needed to go.

This is around the time P&G was gearing up to bring in Jim Reilly (by Xmas) and Pam quit to take maternity leave; she was out of steam.

These episodes are first rate examples of how brilliant a writer Henry Slesar was in his day. So many plot points were being sewn during these episodes that took the show into the next 12 months and beyond with this group of characters. No soap could ever touch Henry's planning, plotting, breakdown ands scripts. Casting was superb. Everyone had an identity. These were the days when the terrible sets (what was Erwin thinking!) had no bearing because the scripts and actors were so compelling. The only downer was that Henry had to scrap Paige's character. Margaret Colin was a revelation. I think P&G forced her and the brother out after the incest plot (amazing that Henry did this plot way before Kreizman on GL with Cassie and Reva's kids). The writing for Calvin and his friendships with Steve and Deborah....classy and also unusual for P&G soaps that struggled with black characters for many years. Superb!

The Ron/Ryan pairing was super cringy but I can't believe how low the stories have gone since Jamey joined. This season has Jamey's putrid soap "storytelling" pitches all over it.

Beyond Salem 2; Beyond Bad. Beyond Cringy. The Ron/Ken Scooby Doo series.

No. It was an ensemble. No more built around Rachel than OLTL was built around Vickie or AMC built around Erica.

Also, Henry was on strike for 5 months in 1981 and the show was written (with his long term projection) by Laurie Durbrow and Lois Kibbee (as confirmed to me years later by Ernie Townsend who played Cliff). While Laurie and Lois followed Henry's outline, Henry wasn't writing the show and execs were making changes and decisions; some stories were changed, some delayed or scrapped. Henry's stories from 1981 to his 1983 firing definitely had their low points because (a) he was passed his prime even though at his worst he never stooped to the crap that Sheldon wrote or what followed in daytime on all the shows; and (b) we know ABC was involved in casting, story etc., and there was a ton of pressure to mirror GH because of Monty's success with that show during 80-82 (she ruined the soap industry in my opinion during the strike starting with the rape then producing Tom Racina's freeze the world book as a GH storyline during the writer strike). There are many brilliant moments in the final Henry years. Buffy's character, the actress who played Nora, Raven and Sky, anything with Geraldine, Jody/Gavin, Ian/Camilla... Worth watching until the moment Lee Sheldon's stories aired. It was quickly downhill from there. And sad and painful to watch.

Ingo who? Jax who? Next......