RavenWhitney

21 hours ago, Mitch said:

Does anyone know what else Collier did? I just find the credit for ATWT at this time and nothing else..could the name be a cover for someone else? What an odd time on the show...the Dobson's leave...Wagner quits, the 25th anniversary is Kim and Nick's wedding and no other celebration...then the strike and someone bringing all these new characters on for the summer who just disappeared in the fall.

KC Collier was most likely a pen name for Millee Taggart.  She and King were romantic partners at that time and came in and out of the show's writing room over the next few years.  

20 minutes ago, amybrickwallace said:

Was their first soap Texas? Carolyn was billed then with both her maiden name and married surname - "DeMoney Culliton".

Yes.  Carolyn was Paul Rauch's assistant. I believe she and Richard may have gotten their writing break during the 1981 writer's strike but don't quote me on that.  The strike ended July and Richard started writing Texas in Jan 82.  Carolyn was added to Texas writing credits a few months later.  

Would someone please get Jenn a Chic Fil A (hole) gift card for under the Horton Xmas Tree.

On 7/29/2021 at 12:50 PM, glfaninnyc said:

Shannon Peace was the breakdown writer on today’s GH. Seems like she won a Disney/ ABC writing fellowship.

Shannon lists her GH job as full time; she started three months ago. Under contract?  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-peace-she-her-87bb98112/

Who the hell wants to tune in to Rinna's (sadly) cosmetically botched lips. When will the execs realize that the nearly non existed soap audience is nearly non existent because they rely on tired, over botox'd altered (frozen) faces from the past.  

1 hour ago, Paul Raven said:

Dec 1982

‘Guiding Light’ writer looks for fresh ideas

 

By TOM JORY Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - “Guiding Light” has been a daytime companion for millions since 1937, starting on radio and switching to TV after 15 years. Can anything new, really new, ever happen to the Bauers or the Reardons or any of the other folks in Springfield? “I get really upset,” says Pamela Long Hammer, principal writer for the CBS soap opera since March, “because I’ll come up with this neat scenario and someone will say, ‘That’s like “Strangers on a Train.’” “I think, ‘They keep stealing my material.’ “The way I figure it,” she says, “there are only so many stories in the world. It’s the characters who keep the show new and exciting. All of our stories come from them: I don’t come up with a plot, and then work a character into it.” Continuity is important. Someone out there surely knows all that’s happened, to everyone on the show, in 46 years.

How about Miss Long Hammer? "Nope. I care about what our core families have been doing,” she says. “I’m always interested in what happened to Bert Bauer (played since 1950 by Charita Bauer) 20 years ago, but as far as going back and reading scripts, no. “Others on the show keep track,” she says. “I’ll suggest something, and be told, ‘You don’t remember, but five years ago, they had this terrible fight. They would never speak to one another now.”’

Miss Long Hammer, a former Miss Alabama who came to New York as an aspiring actress in 1980, began writing for daytime television while playing Ashley on NBC’s “Texas.” She eventually wrote herself out of the story. Her staff for “Guiding Light” includes nine writers, among them her husband, Charles Jay Hammer, whom she met while both worked on “Texas.” NBC dropped “Texas” after two seasons, and episodes from the serial currently are being rerun on the Turner Broadcasting System’s cable-TV SuperStation, WTBS.

Gail Kobe, who was executive producer of “Texas,” now has the same job on “Guiding Light.” And Beverlee McKinsey, who played Iris Carrington in “Another World” on NBC, and later in "Texas,” will join the Light” cast of the CBS soap in February. Miss Long Hammer is reponsible for the long-term story, which can mean looking ahead 18 months or more. Staff writers deal with specifics, including the scripts for individual episodes. She says she draws on “imagination and instinct” for the “Guiding Light” story. Often, that involves inventing new characters. “‘I look at Vanessa (Maeve Kinkead), one of our leading ladies,” Miss Long Hammer says. "What could make the audience care more about her? “Then I think, ‘Why can’t she find a man she can love, who will also love her?’ Voila, here comes Billy Lewis (Jordan Clarke).

“Another example,” she says, “is Alan Spaulding (Christopher Bernau). All of a sudden, he’s got a sister no one ever knew about. “They come complete,” says Miss Long Hammer of the serial’s characters, including the new ones. “We know who they are and where they came from long before the viewer gets all that information. That’s one of the most interesting things about daytime, the complexities of the characters.” The writers make a big effort to keep the show contemporary, and four of the leading players are in their late teens or early 20s Judi Evans, who plays Beth Raines, Kristi Tasreau (Mindy Lewis), Grant Alcksander (Philip Spaulding) and Michael O’Leary (Rick Bauer).

“Guiding Light,” longevity notwithstanding, is a moderate success by that ultimate yardstick of the industry; ratings. The show is behind only “General Hospital,” “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” all on ABC, and CBS’ “The Young and the Restless,” among soaps. And Miss Long Hammer says she’s convinced writing is the key to even greater achievement. “When I say I love the characters, it’s not a light thing,” she says. “I think what the audience senses is an enthusiasm and an energy among the people who do the show.”

I don't think this article was from Dec 1982? Pam Long took over in March 1983 and her scripts began airing in May 83.  Alex first appeared in Feb 84. This article had to be Dec 83?

2 hours ago, Mitch said:

So insane that CBS/PG didn't hire her as a consultant or head writer...God, can imagine if we got her instead of McTavish or E & B?

ABC had a thing about hiring consultants to possibly take over a show then not hiring them. Kay Alden comes to mind.  Nancy was probably hired by ABC to look at AMC and GH around that 1995/96 time frame.  We might not have gotten Guza or McTavish!

15 hours ago, redontop4 said:

Where in the interview do they talk about NC's uncredited work at AMC and GH? I missed that. She talks about negotiating to take over GH at the 59:50 mark but says she did not take the job due to her third pregnancy.

Alan mentioned it at the top of the interview then restated to Nancy when she was onscreen.

Curlee revealed some great tidbits.  First, it was mentioned that she wrote for AMC and GH although her name was never in the credits, and that she was 'negotiating' with ABC to head write GH when she got pregnant. She was definitely being generous about JFP; everyone knows that Phelps took over every show's writing room at one time or another. Remember: Curlee was only co-head for 1 year after Long left (with her husband and Reilly) then she took a year maternity leave and Broderick stepped in to fill her shoes.  When Curlee returned, Reilly left for DOOL; Broderick stayed for six months then moved over to AW to become a break down writer.  That's when Curlee/Demorest were given full reign of GL but it didn't last long.  It was said at the time that Curlee needed to retire to parent full time, but I never bought it. Phelps then took over and had five writers work together under her as de.facto head writer after which she brought in an English professor, Doug Anderson, a disaster period for the show. 

The other interesting thing is that Curlee revealed that when she and Stephen first took over GL they were under the tutelage of Harding LeMay.  I know P&G had vet writers behind the scenes not getting on air credit.  LeMay would only be listed as GL consultant during the Doug Anderson year. Then Phelps took LeMay to AW where he got creative consultant credit with King/Carlson.  I recall reading an article about Henry Slesar of Edge of Night where he revealed that in the late 80s (1988 I think) he was consulting on AW. He never was credited on air either.  Most viewers have no idea where all the plots originated because in many circumstances over the years the producers purchased long stories and brought in uncredited consultants.

The interview also validated for me that Stephen was not a natural head writer; Nancy was the visionary. He went on to other shows mostly as a solid break down writer, and interim co head on ATWT but never made it as a HW.  

I agree that Locher missed the boat on so many topics but, all in all, it was a great interview.  GL was lucky to have Nancy and that three year period in the show's history was its last best.

But Ron's still employed at Days. What a travesty.  They don't get it that trotting out Ally Sweeney every few years doesn't counter the endless repeat back from the dead/lookalike/masks/killer/hostage stories Ron keeps retelling.

Thank Goddess, find a different career, honey.  Acting isn't for you.

13 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

Maura did try later on (especially in the early years of her second stint), but I don't think anything ever compared to the magic of her first stint.

 

Daniel Markel was hot and had a real spark as David Allen, in a pretty horribly written and shoehorned role. I never understood why he was let go - given that this was the period when CBS Daytime was reportedly run by people who fired actors based on whether they were "hot" enough, I wonder if that's why we got the porn type actor in his place. 

 

Markel retired from acting and became a successful stock broker, I think.

Ouch..Ron didn't get nominated for Days..OOOOOhhh. Days had its worst year of the Ron years.  And this year is shaping up to be even worse with the Kristin masks story, Jan/Charlie murder..

Laughable that anyone other than Genie was nominated. NLG chews scenery and the younger set of "actors" don't act; they pose and recite badly.  Even Max Gail (and I know this is unpopular) was not a high caliber performer as Daddy Corinthos.  

Woods/Steffy? Seriously?  Is there an award for botox/filler horror show? 

B&B

Sunset Beach

Port Charles

The City

Ryan's Hope

Texas

Kelly was another fail recasting on soaps but who lasted for years.  Great actress, wrong role.  Melanie was so Susan like. They had a gold mine with that actress and could have found a similar replacement.  I never liked the character after Melanie left.

21 minutes ago, Xanthe said:

 

"Love yacht" didn't sound quite right to me -- I think it was a [house]boat that John was living on. And IIRC it wasn't so much that *they* stopped but that John nobly rejected her because he could not betray Michael or something.

 

 

I remember liking Forsyth on SFT and I never had a problem with his performance on AW as such, but John as a character wasn't appealing before Sharlene. The bitter war vet part was fine, but retroactively forcing him into the role of spoiler in Donna and Michael's past and waffling on whether he had been truly bad or if it was really all Donna's fault was typical clumsy DePriest and made the whole thing nasty.

 

Who was writing when John and Felicia started up? I think one normally blames JFP for the sins of that era and there is less discussion of the writer.

Tom King/Craig Carlson with Harding LeMay consulting. But John/Felicia feels like a JFP pairing.

7 hours ago, te. said:

 

Which shows gained an audience beyond the initial co-vid bump last year?

 

I assume that most "bumps" these days will also just show up on streaming either way. Most people I know haven't watched broadcast in the past year - they've been binging available shows.

Toups just posted May 3rd week ratings comparing total households to the same week a year ago. Days was the only show that didn't go into reruns; it had no soap competition for weeks. That was an unprecedented situation and yet in the last year they've lost 417,000 viewers. See below:

Total Viewers
1. Y&R 3,270,000 (+50,000/+929,000)
2. B&B 2,766,000 (+133,000/+932,000)
3. GH 2,216,000 (+113,000/+78,000)
4. DAYS 1,576,000 (-41,000/-417,000)

Why?

It takes a rare kind of incompetence to lose nearly half million viewers during a global pandemic year when everyone was in front of their TV and screens.  But Ron, Albert and Ken did it.  

7 hours ago, Forever8 said:

 

Audrey Peters was a lovely actress but was so wrong for the role of Sarah Shayne.  Never worked.  And there was zero chemistry between her and Kim Zimmer. The writing was a problem too, but Audrey couldn't pull off the Oklahoma accent.

Thank Goddess Anna Stuart return to the role of Donna. PS was badly miscast.  

The most important figures are year over year total audience. And the numbers don't lie: Y&R lost nearly 700K, Days nearly 500K and BB nearly 400K. All three shows need an executive and writer housecleaning. We know it won't happen with B&B.  NBC must be considering how poorly Ron is doing as the mull whether to cancel Days.  There's no explanation for Y&R keeping Morina/Griffith other than programming execs want justification for killing the show in a few years.

Pam Long benefitted from the fact that P&G and CBS had big budgets at that time and were trying to compete with GH.  Gail Kobe was an excellent EP as well.  The Dobsons were a good fit during the time they wrote the show. It was character based and drawn out but a little more realistic and nuanced than a typical Irna Phillips show.  Not as stodgy as ATWT at the time.  Long also knew how to create big new influential characters like Alexandra, HB, Billy, Harley. Her stories were best when she had clear back story and gave the characters real definition.  Her duds were Annabell, Chelsea, Rusty and a few other boring female characters.  

1 hour ago, Forever8 said:

 

Two big Pam Long era casting mistakes: Dylan and Rusty.  Neither actor could hold up against Zimmer, Newman, Gates and others.  It was a shame because both male characters should have balanced the Reva show.  Imagine if they had cast a young actors with chops like a Zazlow or Larkin Malloy. 

Griffith uses terminal illnesses the way Ron Carlivati uses doppelgängers on Days.  How are these people still employed (Griffith, Morina)?  

The actors face a living nightmare every time they read one of Griffith's scripts. This show is unwatchable.