Paul Raven

Chuck Pratt wrote horror when he was writing soaps! It was Wisner Washam who clashed with Megan McTavish We Love Soaps: After some time away, you returned to ALL MY CHILDREN then left again for good. What led you to leaving? Wisner Washam: Megan McTavish. We Love Soaps: Interesting you say that. Among fans online, she is very unpopular writer in ALL MY CHILDREN history. Wisner Washam: She wasn't a pleasant person to be with every day, I'll tell you that. She drove me away. We Love Soaps: What was her role at that point on the staff? Wisner Washam: She was one of the outline writers. But she has a big mouth. And a very domineering personality.

Yes, I thought Vernita blaming Bill for Dani marrying Andre was a bit much. Did they also state that Bill has other dirt on them? So they have to keep him on side. Should we have had a Monday follow up to the Jacob/Naomi pregnancy story? To introduce a major plot for only one episode- I think a revisit the next ep would be wise. Those Ted/Smitty, Chelsea/Tomas scenes they need to do more of . Especially as Ted is Smitty's father in law. We need to establish those relationships. They did it again when Anita was on the phone- 'that was Jackie , the impersonator who married a drunken Dani and Andre in Las Vegas.'-those info dump sentences need to be cut.

The lack of Hortons carrying the name goes back to the original years. Bill, Mickey and Tommy were the Horton sons. Bill had Mike, but Mickey was sterile and Tommy had Sandy. Mickey then adopted Melissa (although she never used the Horton name) and was 'father' to Sarah. The decision was made not to have Sarah be a boy. Tommy could have easily fathered a son in his absences from Salem but they never went there as Tommy was dropped in 1980 and forgotten. Bill was later given Lucas but it took him years to take the Horton name. As for more Hortons in general, had the show made keeping the family front and center they could easily still be prominent. But throughout the 80's and onwards that was not a priority. They were more interested in dropping Julie, Bill, Marie etc Sandy was forgotten when she should have had children as was Steve, apart from mention of Spencer. David and Scotty were both discarded. Nick Fallon and Nathan Horton were retcons and fairly short lived. Poor planning.

What possessed ABC to place Spenser for Hire as the Sunday @8 show? I know they had to counterprogram MSW and Family Ties but a low rating series that had not done anything special in it's first season? Odd, especially as a lead in to Dolly. And ABC wasted the movie on Thurs night. There were some strong titles there that would have performed better elsewhere. They should have thrown O'Hara @8 and Hotel @9 and hoped for the best. Full House looked like a flop at this point. NBC was obliterating the competition on Sat night. But their hour long shows JJ Starbuck, Year in the Life, Crime Story ,Rags to Riches and Private Eye all failed. Everything on CBS was declining-soaps, comedies , dramas and the newbies like Tour of Duty and Wiseguy had not flourished. Apart from Sunday night their highest rated show was Dallas-yikes!

The actors are not the problem, although some of the characters have had their day. The writing and production is the problem. There is really only one storyline and that is Cane's return and his supposed threats to GC businesses. Most of the other characters discuss the possible implications. But so far there has been zero impact, just alliances being sought etc It's boring. Other 'stories' like Mariah's secret are barely mentioned and played offscreen. A bunch of characters -Adam/Chelsea, Devon/Abby, Michael/Lauren get crumbs. And having sometimes only 3 sets per ep and very little movement in the hour makes for tough viewing. How the #1 show ended up the worst written, produced and budgeted is a mystery.

Scott Banning is another possibility. He's Julie's grandson. But yes, having a male Horton on the show is a good move. Patty Weaver could appear as Trish as she's returning to Y&R as Gina, so possibly open to an appearance. Imagine a Julie/Trish flashback!

According to a Lynda Hirsch column Chris Robinson was in talks to play Bill Horton on Days in 87. But they felt he was not quite right to play 30 yr old Mike's dad and instead NBC offered him the Jason role on AW.

The Journal News White Plains, New York Sat Jan 4 1975

I think having both sisters marriages break up in the first year was wrong on a number of levels. I would have preferred Ted/Nicole on a different trajectory with them trying to salvage the marriage and rebuild trust. That would have suited Nicole's character and provided a contrast to Dani as well as depicting another angle to a marriage breakup. That doesn't mean Nicole has to be a pushover. DD could definitely portray those mixed emotions. I do not want to see a baby switch story. BTG shouldn't be heading to the soap cliche stories at this point.

Yea I kinda see that, but I think Bill and Hayley both having been around the Duprees would have more of an idea of what constitutes 'good taste'. And they mentioned Hayley used a designer. I guess maybe the set designer went overboard with the brief. It doesn't look garish and expensive- which it should be- just tacky and cheap. And the room itself is too small with no windows and that table and chairs that are squashed in at the entrance And the opposite (but nowhere as bad) is Nicole's house which is supposed to be restrained and minimalist but comes off to me as bland and lifeless.

BTG does not need his dreary Devon in Fairmont Crest.

Has Chelsea spoken to Dani about the marriage? Or Chelsea and Naomi discussed it? Certain interactions are missing. We need to see relevant characters reactions. That is Soap 101. Every time I see the Hamilton living room I shudder. Literally every aspect is wrong.

Great to have Jill back on set and not on a laptop screen. BUT she's stuck in that awful story. Some AI threat...really not interested.

No.

Patty came back for the 50th Anniversary shows. Killing off Chance was pointless. Connor Floyd was fine. Josh put him in a suit to involve in the corporate trash but there was no real effort with the character. I guess they can easily say the death was faked and come up with some nonsensical reason why.

Agree on a lot of this. Xavier Phideaux in his interview talked about restrictions with sets and I think mentioned characters having to be in a bedroom. Referring to Jacob/Naomi. Which has me wondering why that decision was made in the first place. Such a dumb move. That set could have easily been a small living room which a clever designer could have worked with to give the impression it was part of a larger house or apartment. Any sexy scenes could have taken place on the sofa or a limbo bedroom set as we have seen used for other charcters. Then we had Randy at Orphey's which was odd but the next day they set up a simple set (wall/table/chairs) for Dani and Andre at the airport. Why not do that for Randy? I remember when the show was announced and they talked about real estate agents, politicians and firefighters and I was wondering how they were going to show all that. Well they haven't, and Vanessa not having either house or office is poor planning. As for sets having Nicole and Bill's house having similar floorplans with no front door and people entering through a corridor -that's a miss for me. We need those classic soap scenes of character A opening the door to character B.

After Leslie died mid 76 Mike had to go to the widower position as standard for soap charcters. Usually about a year. Ann was lurking in the background but they never went anywhere with it. I think Jackie showed interest and then he fell for Elizabeth but that fell apart. Wasn't there a brief thing with Renee (Deborah May) who Marland brought back later as Brenda/Ivy? Then Jennifer but it seems Don Stewart wasn't happy-although I don't know why actors get much of a say. I guess could play it a certain way to add to a lack of chemistry that might be there. Anyway that romance fell through. There was Trish and Alex. Did he date Lillian? Am I right in saying he wasn't happy with Trish cos he felt she was too young for Mike? Which goes against theories that he wanted Mike with younger women. Have we ever had definitive answers on why Don left so suddenly after so many years? Did he clash with Gail Kobe? Was it a money/contract thing?

Mike Horton is Julie's cousin ,right? Her mother Addie and his father Bill were brother and sister. So what does that make Jeremy to Julie? 2nd cousins?

There weren't any other children from the past apart from Billy and Emily who had any 'current' connection. It was poor planning not to give Mike a son at some point as he only had Hope and she was born early 60's. He and Leslie should have had a son before she was killed off.

I don't understand why a daughter wouldn't come to town for her father's funeral. Where is this university supposed to be? With Donnell on the scene, is he going to dealing with life from Orphey Gene's? The MacBrides need a house.

Happy for Kate but wondering why so many appearances for Esther? It's not like she is in the midst of a story. 19.) Mark Grossman (Adam Newman) : 3 *.) Christel Khalil (Lily Winters) : 3 *.) Tracey Bregman (Lauren Fenmore Baldwin) : 3 *.) Cait Fairbanks (Tessa Porter) : 3 23.) Sharon Case (Sharon Newman) : 2 *.) Sean Dominic (Nate Hastings) : 2 *.) Camryn Grimes (Mariah Copeland) : 2 *.) Jess Walton (Jill Abbott) : 2 27.) Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea Lawson) : 1 *.) Bryton James (Devon Winters) : 1 I'm sure Bryton and Camryn are now recurring. Too many months of low numbers. Adam and Chelsea deserve the same fate.