Khan

I agree. Slesar's writing shouldn't be held responsible for CAPITOL's falling ratings. If anything, his work came closest to the kind of drama that the Karpfs had set out to do in the beginning. IMO, John Conboy was the problem. Aside from the older actors and a few of the younger ones, the cast was dreadful; and it seemed like Conboy thought all he had to do was turn down the lights and build a few, lush-looking sets and he'd have a show.

I've wondered that myself. Was that storyline TOO much like what viewers were seeing at that time on ABC, CBS or NBC? Or maybe AL's audience felt it was too secular, for lack of a better word.

Ironically, I always thought Erica should've had a son and not the two daughters.

Here, here, lol!

I had no idea Jon Cypher was supposed to portray Sen. Mark Denning. I wonder why they replaced him. Did he leave to take another gig, or did it just not work out?

To me, it actually reads more like a book proposal - a sample amount of pages for her agent to shop around to interested publishers. That's why so much of the work feels unfinished. (We still don't know exactly what Robin Mattson did to piss her off; or exactly what she said or did that caused her to get fired from AMC for the third time (she imagines it's something that occurred at one of her last meetings with the network, but was it?); or even exactly how you, too, can get yourself fired from a job you no longer want, lol). Either the publishers that McTavish and/or her agent had submitted her proposal to passed, because they didn't think a behind-the-scenes look at daytime soap operas would appeal to anyone outside of fans; or, they passed, because they generally had the same reactions to the material that we did.

That was my understanding as well. (I haven't read the oral history). The short-term arcs were part of Gottlieb's overall plan to "reinvent the (soap) wheel," as it were. Fortunately, I think they were enough of a bust that she had to kill the concept and allow her writers to tell more traditional storylines. Overall, I'm not as fond of the Gottlieb/Malone era as most fans tend to be. I think it was well-written and well-produced, but it just wasn't OLTL. But I do admire how the two were able to integrate music into the overall storytelling, especially because this was happening at the same time that DAYS, who'd always been tops in that department, was no longer using music as effectively as they had had in the past.

No, more like too kind, lol.

I guess it's because they were afraid of viewers accusing them of still trying to replace Kim Delaney/Jenny, although, after twenty-some-odd years, I think even diehard Greg/Jenny fans would've understood that it was way past time for Greg to move on.

He did work briefly at AMC, as Senior Producer, but I can't recall whether he was still there when Megan McTavish returned in late 1997. And I don't know about anyone else, but I, for one, did not need to read the intimate details of Frank Beaty's heartbreaking nervous breakdown.

I can just imagine the blurb: "Megan's new book is a rip-roarin' read! It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, it'll make you go Amish!" Which is about how long it took for P&G and Michael Laibson to realize they'd been sold a bill of goods.

And she would be right.

HELL NO, lol!!

After reading Megan McTavish's memoir, I think someone needs to upload Irna Phillips' unfinished memoir as a sort of palate cleanser, lol?

"Off the Rack" is a perfect description for that show, lol.

To me, Tad and Dixie were like Cliff and Nina: whenever they'd reunite, you knew it just was a matter of time before they'd split up again. In fact, you could set your watch to it. And the more the show put us through that, the less I liked them being together at all. If I had had my druthers, I would've brought back Laurence Lau as Greg and tested a Greg/Dixie union, while Tad would've moved onto other relationships.

I agree. Just as I find it hard to believe that she wanted Julia Santos to suffer or feel some guilt for having an abortion. If she really felt that way, then she would’ve had Erica suffer a lot more than she did for having hers. Heck, look at what Bill Bell did to poor Ashley Abbott on Y&R after she had had hers! And as for Cady McClain: I won’t argue that she isn’t a lot to take, both on-screen and off. Do I believe she deliberately sabotaged all efforts to reunite Dixie with Tad out of boredom and because she wanted to work more with Thorsten Kaye and Vincent Irizarry? Absolutely. Do I blame her for feeling that way? Not really. But she’s also someone who has long championed for soaps to stop telling these off-the-wall stories about situations that nobody can relate to, and to get back to Agnes Nixon’s philosophy of education-as-entertainment. (Or so I’ve been told, lol). Oh, how I wish it had been Jack who was killed with that bullet, lol.

Same here, lol! As we all know, there have been plenty of story ideas for soaps that sounded awful "on paper," but actually weren't half-bad once the shows were allowed to play them out. Endgame, no matter which version of the story (Geary's or McTavish's) actually landed on the air, was never going to be one of those ideas. It wasn't 1981 anymore, and Geary and Genie Francis were just damn too old to still be mixed up in action/adventure capers like that one. Everyone involved should've known better.

ICAM, @Jonathan! With her memoir, McTavish had an opportunity, not to point fingers, but to take an honest, unflinching look at her career and examine some of her successes (and why they succeeded) as well as some of her failures (and why they failed). "Regardless of who rewrote what," she might've said, "the buck ultimately stopped with me." She could've even retraced the steps that led her to her gig as the head writer for her "favorite soap" - and by the way, I know THAT ain't true, because I still remember when McTavish mentioned being an avid EON fan - and showed how everything that had happened in her life - from her childhood in New England and/or Illinois (which is it, Megan?), to her college days at Northwestern, to her early career as an actress, including her role as Lola Fontaine on GL - prepared her for the work; and how we, too, can achieve the job/career of our dreams. Instead, McTavish chose to waste 70-plus pages on deflecting criticism of and blame for her shitty story ideas, as well as on spilling tea about a lot of people who, in many cases, didn't deserve their names being tarnished, and who actually come off looking more sympathetic than the heffa talkin' [!@#$%^&*] about them. (If Susan Lucci was paranoid about her age and job security on AMC, she had every right to be. And I say that as someone who still remembers when practically the entire soap press was touting Sarah Michelle Gellar as the NEW Susan Lucci.) All in all, McTavish's memoir is the most disgusting thing I've read from any soap scribe since the time Elizabeth Page wanted people to feel sorry that she couldn't afford $400 haircuts while she and the rest of the Writers' Guild were on strike.

In a way, I think pitting “Knight Rider” against “Dallas” on Friday nights was smart counter-programming. On the one hand, I’m sure a lot of male viewers enjoyed watching Larry Hagman/J.R. But, on the other hand, there might’ve been just as many men out there who weren’t comfortable with watching a soap opera. For those viewers, therefore, KR was a perfect antidote.

I see what you mean, @Vee. FLF and HBS do appear to have much in common, although I’d argue that HBS has more comedic timing than does FLF. I can’t see FLF being as eccentric and witty as HBS was as Margo on ATWT. If you’ll notice, very few women who are mentioned in Megan McTavish’s memoir are treated sympathetically, which might explain why AMC itself became so misogynistic and “anti-woman” in its’ final years. Clearly, McTavish was/is someone who perceived any other woman in her profession or in the industry to be a threat. I mean, did we really NEED to know that Felicia Minei Behr had a big ass, or that Eva La Rue’s boobs always stood at attention? God forbid anyone talks about the time FMB allegedly walked in on you doing lines of coke in your office, right, Megan? One other point: McTavish talks about how the Cullitons betrayed her at AMC, despite their longtime friendship (she claims she introduced Richard and Carolyn to each other at Northwestern and that she was their daughter, Emily’s, guardian). As with everything else she writes, you have to take it with a grain of salt, if not the entire shaker. However, her comments about Richard in particular do track with what Another World Homepage’s Eddie Drueding (sp?) has heard in the past about him, as well as what many of us have heard regarding his dealings with Tony Geary at GH.

No way, lol! If Brenda comes back after helping Sonny die (yep, I said it), I want her paired with someone who's new to the show, mature and sexy as hell. My girl deserves the best.

I think Leo works only one way, and that's as one of the victims of the Salem Sniper.

I'd never suggest that Susan Victoria Lucci of Garden City, NY, was as pure as the un-driven snow - the time she threw expensive china at Helmut during an argument proves the poor dear is a little cuckoo - but I just don't buy that she is as neurotic as Megan McTavish makes her out to be (or that Agnes said she could only hope that Susan would get hit by a truck). Oh, and I liked Felicity LaFortune - but as Leigh Kirkland, not as Laurel Dillon.

Weren't there rumors at that time that Rachel Miner was being considered for Risa? You have to remember, though, that Roscoe Born suffered from bipolar disorder IRL, which might explain his actions (that is, if Megan McTavish is telling the truth, lol). Yep. Another lightbulb moment: why Laurel, as played by Felicity LaFortune, whom McTavish presents as a friend, started off strong with the con-artist background, Lily's autism storyline, Denny's murder, marriages to Jack and Trevor, before eventually fading into the wallpaper at the Dillon homestead and then getting shot to death on the set of "The Cutting Edge" at the climax of the Michael Delaney storyline. I see now that there might've been two reasons for that: 1) as with Kate Collins, LaFortune had reached a point where she just didn't want to work with James Kiberd anymore; and 2) being a friend of Megan's might've made her a target (pun intended). If it's true that Susan Lucci didn't want to work with younger women, then why in Black Agnes' name did we have to endure all those ridiculous feuds with the likes of Annie and Greenlee? Did anyone else catch Megan McTavish's not-so-subtle digs at Felicia Minei Behr's weight? Personally, I thought it was ironic for McTavish to call her fat, considering she's not svelte herself.