DAYS: Sheffer Out!?

[Vee]

Yes, but you thought Margaret was the future of One Life to Live.

[Brandeis]

To each his (or her) own I guess. Out of your examples, I absolutely hated (and isn't this when GL's rating hit rock bottom?)

The Santos Family

The Clone storyline especially

Nola's stalking of Buzz another low point for me

Michele & Danny

Jesse & Drew

San Cristobal

Phillip and Beth's place crash disaster

I admit you've got a few really good ones there too, though, most notably Buzz and Selena... and Nursery Rhyme Stalker and The Annie Dutton Storyline, of course.

[Ponz]

Though I'm inclined to give him a few more months to prove himself, I wouldn't be *devastated* if Hogan stepped down. Corday may have forced him to backburner the vets, but the stories he HAS written have been lacklustre since January. There's only so much blame that can be lumped on Corday. I highly doubt Corday forced Hogan to revolve nearly every storyline around Elvis or reduce Sami to a whimpering victim or have Kayla remove John's kidney etc. And while the financial situation may have limited the airtime of the "big 4", HS failed to use that time effectively. We have not had one scene of Bo & Hope alone with their new baby OR Marlena/Sami discussing the wedding/pregnancy. That is bad writing.

IMO, Hogan started out like a house on fire and his first 3 months were rocking. But that wasn't enough to make me invest in him long-term as DAYS headwriter. If the only alternative is a pair of stale hacks like Essensten and Brown, I'd say stick with Hogan. If the alternative is a HW with (positive) DAYS history like Peter Brash, Beth Milstein, Richard Allen or Sheri Anderson, I'd say replace him.

[Ryan]

You know what, if DAYS didn't have a habit of backburnering the vets for months at a time, I might blame Hogan for everything. But this has happened with more than just one writer. The vets are backburnered for months, the ratings drop, Corday comes out and blames the writers, the vets come back and it's good for a while, then the same [!@#$%^&*] happens all over again.

[juniorz1]

No doubt Ryan! Plus, I think this is more of the decreased budget rearing its ugly head. Yeah Nichols & Evans are "vets" but I doubt they're earning what DH, KA, PR, and DH are.

[Roman]

That's why I wish Stefano would kidnap him and brainwash him, making him think he was a good EP. He's just one of these people who doesn't want to learn from past mistakes.

Now, I also wish we could get a link to the article where this appeared, because I will not believe someone's brother's cousin's nephew's former roomate's uncle who has a contact at Days who once walked past Deidre Hall while they were sweeping the floor down the hall. Let's get some conformation before we all believe this.

[King]

Oi vey.

[darraholic]

^ Happy 10,000th post King.

I don't believe it.

[billyjill]

Once again you said what I feel. I want him to work out and I want to give him a fair chance and try not to pin things on him that aren't his fault, but at the same time, even when he was doing really well he didn't hook me. I was watching to see if the show was doing smarter things than before, and it was, but I could still walk away from it even at that point. I don't want him replaced with an industry hack who recycles stories from other soaps and plays their own set of favorites, I'd love it if Hogan shaped up. But if any of those other four you named expressed interest in helming the show, I won't shed a tear over Hogan.

As for the Milstein qualms expressed up thread, I agree that all she did was show she could hold the fort, nevertheless I was happier under her for all the little character moments and really wouldn't mind taking a chance on her, to be quite honest, rash as that may seem.

Yeah if only.

[Kendall]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME..Jean is destroying ATWT..Everyone wants her GONE

[PhoenixRising05]

Exactly. As has been said, Hogan had all these plans and not all of them came to fruition. He wanted to write for Abe/Lexie but she was fired. That was Corday's move. Hogan wouldn't lie that much. He has a reputation on the line. As Ryan also said, Days does this all the time. The show has always had balance issues on and off. They are Corday moves. He likes his younger set and his beloved Shelle. He likes to push whatever he feels like pushing at the time and, when ratings drop, he backtracks and gives you good story the rest of the year only to start back up with problems again the following year. I am assuming he also does this to save money where he can too. HE JUST NEEDS TO LET HIS HW WRITE!!! He clearly interfered with Hogan, who had a pretty good balance going especially in December.

As for the claim that Hogan could've written better stories without the vets, well that isn't really his fault. He had plans to write for the vets so if Corday forced him to write for a select group he probably didn't care much for doing that. Hogan is the type that doesn't seem like he likes things forced on him so I am assuming he was pissed and that is why some of this material is lackbuster and going around in circles. This was no Hogan's plan and since they weren't they are stories that come off as not as well thought out as those that were in his actual plans (like the stuff we got early on).

Hogan's tenure so far as been marred by alot of issues both financially, cast-wise, and now with Corday. It's pretty obvious. Now I like Beth Milstein too. I know her work as she has been on the writing team before and has had the HW duties before but you can't honestly sit there and say she should have a chance over Hogan right now. BETH WROTE FOR TWO MONTHS!! It was interim work and she tied up alot of JER things. It's hard to tell if she would make a good fit long-term since there were so many climaxes and big moments, which are always exciting. Whether she could maintain that same level of excitement in story over a long period of time is unknown because she wasn't in the position long enough. She is great as far as knowing characters and given you some great interactions and moments but we have no idea what she would do long-term and with Corday there it probably doesn't make a differences. Again, I like Beth and she should've been co-HW but I can't say she should have the reigns. Now if you told me B&C should have the HW's job, then I would be ok with that because we saw what they could do for over a year and they wrote Days as well as it can be written.

B&E would be a disaster and I did notice the show lost some of it's spark when they were added. As far as we know though, they are only script editors so I am not sure how much of this can really be pinned on them either.

Whatever the case, if this came from Baby Brady, then forget it. That gives this absolutely no credence whatsoever.

[juppiter]

Rick, ITA with you and I loved most of the storylines you mentioned. B&E's GL was fantastic; I was frequently glued to the TV during their tenure. And anyone who mentions Clone Reva.... It was not their idea, and actually I thought it was pretty damn good!

[Ryan]

Hmmm....if B&E's claim to fame is that they had three good years on GL....that doesn't mean that they themselves are good writers, it means that they had a great team to work with.

[Ridge]

In any case it would be dumb of Corday to fire Hogan at any point in the near future (including the summer). Like Ponz said this show doesn't need another transition. Hogan will have a plethora of vets to use and a good basis for a big storyline this summer and will have a lot of time to prove himself again.

[DrewH]

Whoever said this thread would reach 5 pages by morning was right!

I just don't get where this rumor even came from. We know that Corday has finally seen the light and is switching gears. We know that Hogan can write great stories for vets. Why would they fire him?