I think JER would have blown the ratings increase that he got from serial killer story all on his own. Lord knows he did with the Spike he got from Zach's death. He turned what could have been a great character driven story for Bope into a quest for Chelsea to break them up. He also blew it with Caustin and Lumi with that Highstyle betrayal crap.

As far as JER I think he took things seriously his first say 9 months at Days during the second run, but I think his vision of what he wanted got messed up so bad from the fans and Corday that he didn't try anymore. And it was very evident that he was not happy at Days during the last few months at all. I think that time trying to do Days and Passions both hurt both shows as well. I think Passions is much better than it was earlier this year, and I am hoping that JER can get back on top of things, but the budget is going to hurt it as well.

I think the big difference between the 2 stints for JER is what was expected out of him when he came on the 2nd stint. He was set up to fail because to me it was like the network was saying you have got to get this done and get the show back where it needs to be. And it was coming into a whole different show that the one he left. It was in lots worse shape and from what I remember reading he was told by the network to cut costs too. I can remember reading that in the interview when he first started - that the network wanted him to cut costs.

I will always honestly believe that the deaths that occurred were supposed to stay dead. Everything afterward seemed unplanned and was like he was writing it as he went along, and didn't even go by an outline or anything. Also he was dealing with a whole different set of staff writers the second time around, and that made a big difference too. The diologue and breakdowns were terrible the 2nd time around. The actual stories of JER's weren't really that bad - even now with better day to day writing some of them have been more tolerable as they have played out and finished up. It was the day to day writing that stunk to high heaven.

Also JER was dealing with a whole different set of fans the 2nd time around, and I think that was a big shock to him. Back in the 80's and the 90's, Days fans and soap fans as a whole were different. They were not couple oriented, and you didn't have the little couple names and all. Days fans were more demanding this go around, and either Corday or the network one were too scared to piss them off. All of those people were brought back, and evidently JER was told to write for them all. And he did. He wrote some type of story for every couple, and they all involved breaking the couples apart. I have often wondered if that might have been his plan. I have often wondered if he could have been that vengeful against what happened and would have done something like that. All I know is the same fans who demanded all these characters to come back, were the same fans who were not happy when the couples and all came back but were split up. He seemed to either this time around be in a fight with the fans or the powers above him one. That is just my opinion on it.

JER is not the best writer in the world, but he is not the worst either. I think McTavish and Higley are far worse and have done a lot more damage to AMC and OLTL than JER ever did to Days. JER did not do anything that was not recoverable. He did not alter dramatically the history of the show or get rid of ever veteran on the show or fill it with a completely new set of characters / new characters. He did keep the focus on the main families. MMT and Higley have almost destroyed AMC and OLTL, and what they are leaving for their successors is going to be hard to recover from, and sometimes I wonder if they will even be able too.

One last thought, someone mentioned Malone. I still think Malone is a good writer, but his last stint stunk. Again I think we have to look at how things had changed from his first go around. And I think the biggest thing was that he was given an agenda the 2nd time around on the show. He wasn't really allowed to write his own type of show, and his stint was highly interfered with. First he was basically told (from what I read) to write a mob story and family much like Sonny on GH. And then later he was told to create the role for Michael Easton because ABC or Frons wanted Easton on the show. Easton refused to take the role of Walker/Todd, and thus he had to create a role for him. So I think he just had too much interference the second time around.

Anyway those are just my thoughts on those. MMT is just an awful writer. LOL

JER and Megan McTavish have such unique writing skills that when they first wrote for their respective soap, the soap never saw anything like that and that's why it worked. Today, the writers are too much a like and McTavish or Reilly don't stand out like they used to.

GREAT post Steve.

You summed up exactly how I feel about what happened with JER

Much the same can be said for producers, or more specifically for one Jill Farren Phelps:

- Santa Barbara won Emmys under her tenure

- Guiding Light went well for the first couple of years, then the departures of Beverlee McKinsey and Ellen Parker (though TBBH, the real JTS for GL was Santos and San Cristobel, years later...)

- Another World was fatally wounded by Frankie's killing

- OLTL and GH were adversely affected by her time in charge

This seems to suggest that JFP worked very well for SB and the first couple of years on GL, but somehow really lost it.

I will never understand how AMC ousted Broderick for McTavrish's second stint. ABC should be knocking on Broderick's door right now asking her to return. She's one of the few headwriters who can totally turn a show around and make it at least decent again.

Puhleeze Broderick is needed more over at GL than AMC.

I will never quite understand how McTavish has written for all three ABC soaps. Do the Execs hold her for responsible for saving ABC daytime or something?

I will never quite understand how McTavish has written for all three ABC soaps. Do the Execs hold her for responsible for saving ABC daytime or something?

I wouldn't see how, outside of AMC's early 90's golden era (which anyone will tell you is mainly due to EP Felicia Behr). GH and OLTL survived well with or without her, McTavrish crashed and burned after a while on all of AMC stints as well. Let's not forget how McTavrish butchered GL as well.

As for Broderick, it's my wish GL would promote her to head-writer, but I don't see that happening. It always shocked me ABC let her go for McTavrish, when Broderick won 3 consecutive Emmy's for her work on AMC.

I don't think that the JTS for GL was the Santos/San Cristobel stuff. IMO, the first few months of those storylines were fascinating. Both just dragged on way too long and degenerated into crap.

I will never understand how AMC ousted Broderick for McTavrish's second stint. ABC should be knocking on Broderick's door right now asking her to return. She's one of the few headwriters who can totally turn a show around and make it at least decent again.

The Reasin ABC replaced Broderick with Mctavish was when they hired Broderick in 1995 they wanted the rating to rise after the steep decline thanks inpart to the OJ trail but when ratings. still remained stagnant ABC canned her brought back Mctavish which only was worse.

Robert

As for Broderick, it's my wish GL would promote her to head-writer, but I don't see that happening. It always shocked me ABC let her go for McTavrish, when Broderick won 3 consecutive Emmy's for her work on AMC.

Yep that puzzles me. I've always seen Broderick's writing so much of what soaps like ATWT, AMC, and GL should be. Family oriented, while also focused on telling stories that deal with issues that face today's society. It sucks that she isn't writing for a soap right now.

The Reasin ABC replaced Broderick with Mctavish was when they hired Broderick in 1995 they wanted the rating to rise after the steep decline thanks inpart to the OJ trail but when ratings. still remained stagnant ABC canned her brought back Mctavish which only was worse.

Robert

Well, AMC had a good 20 years of being more or less a top 5 soap and MMT's second stint caused them to plunge as low as 7th in 1998- that was their lowest position in many, many years. Mind you, GH and OLTL also fell quite a bit that year whereas ATWT and GL were starting to pull themselves together at the time.

Both ATWT and GL had seen their ratings (and quality) decline for some time, but in 1998 they seemed to stabilise. In fact, during GL's clone storyline they were 5th and within touching distance of GH which would've been unthinkable 6 months prior. Later that year though, ATWT managed to leapfrog GH to 4th for some time- this would indicate that Broderick did a decent job at ATWT considering the big mess she had to clean up...

I will never quite understand how McTavish has written for all three ABC soaps. Do the Execs hold her for responsible for saving ABC daytime or something?

Jill Farren Phelps.

She was responisble for Megan McTavish writing One Life and GH consecutively.

Frons is responsible for bringing her to AMC again. She had been out of work for a year by that time because ABCD (still under Angela Shapiro's reign) had replaced her at GH with Bob Guza and Chuck Pratt in April 2002. Frons came on board fall 2002, and then lo and behold McTavish was hired to AMC in May 2003.

I agree wiht much of your thoughts on McT but not at all with Rayfield's tenure--the story was VERY plot driven under him, there was very little sense of family and the vets were VERYout of hcaracter when used

I think AMC was on the right track when Gordon Rayfield AND Anna Cascio were co-head writing the show from February to May 2003. Yes, there were kinks and newbies, but certain elements were present during their brief tenure that weren't there for years before and after they left.

~F R I E N D S H I P S!!!

~Interaction between new characters and established characters.

~Use of vets.

~Stories based in reality.

~Character-driven story.

Then McTavish comes along, and right out the box, she exhausts so many of her favorite gimmicks -- Brutal Rape(Bianca), Botched Character Return by Skulking Around Town for Six Weeks(Ryan), Make-it-up-as-we-go Murder Mystery(Cambias) and Blonde Ingenue Coming to Town as a Whorebag(Babe).

There are no friendships. Little incorporation of vets. Not a single story grounded in real, human emotion in real, tangible situations. Not a single character-driven storyline on the canvas.

I've said before that McTavish is woefully formulaic in her writing. Follow her material from show to show and you will see GLARING similarities in, not only storyline, but characters as well. I think McTavish's first stint was due to the fact that there was not only a better team of breakdown & script writers behind her polishing her turds, but FMB's stamp on the show as EP was unmistakably present.

Yep that puzzles me. I've always seen Broderick's writing so much of what soaps like ATWT, AMC, and GL should be. Family oriented, while also focused on telling stories that deal with issues that face today's society. It sucks that she isn't writing for a soap right now.

Agreed-_i think ABC was just scared cuz under Broderick AMC's ratings dropped for the first time

Agreed-_i think ABC was just scared cuz under Broderick AMC's ratings dropped for the first time

So ABC were more or less hoping that the return of McTavish for a second spell would bring AMC back to 2nd place??? Sure, AMC's ratings were declining but all soaps (and network TV generally) had been seeing a steady decline over the previous two decades. I think soap viewership overall peaked in the mid-70s and never quite reached those heights- probably only the rise of GH and ABCD at the end of the 70s disguised that to a degree (IMHO). The rate of decline until about 2000 was pretty steady.

I always thought the OJ Simpson trial and having more women in the workforce, whilst they may have been factors, are often used as cop-outs by TPTBs for the fact that soap viewership has been declining over the past decade PRIMARILY due to falling quality. And even at the start of this decade, there wasn't as much pessimism about the genre as there is in 2006- why else were new soaps like Port Charles, Sunset Beach and Passions created in the past 10 years if they didn't think soaps were still a viable medium? Clearly people do/did, which is why some primetime shows use soap-like formats (even some animation series do!).