http://soapnet.go.com/news/soapnet_amc_headwriters.html

BARBARA J. ESENSTEN AND JAMES HARMON BROWN NAMED HEADWRITERS FOR ALL MY CHILDREN

Brian Frons, president, Daytime, Disney-ABC Television Group announced today that long-time writing partners Barbara J. Esensten and James Harmon Brown will join ABC's Emmy® Award-winning soap All My Children as headwriters.

"We're thrilled to welcome this talented team back to ABC," said Frons. "They're known for telling compelling stories that take characters and viewers on a great emotional ride, and their creative vision promises to continue the show's tradition of cutting-edge storylines. Fans can expect an exciting summer in Pine Valley and can look forward to even more of the romance and intrigue they have come to love and look for on All My Children."

"Combined with their ability to take creative and emotional risks, Barbara and Jim write with commitment to character integrity and honesty. I look forward to working with them again and welcome them to All My Children," said executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers.

The Esensten-Brown Emmy® Award-winning writing team have written for the ABC dramas Dynasty, Port Charles and One Life to Live. In addition they wrote for Guiding Light, and most recently served as head writers for Days of our Lives.

I have no idea who these people are. What are the DAYS storylines they wrote?

Well, I'm confused, because this press release lists them as being Days headwriters. Hogan was the headwriter while they were on Days, and I thought that Beth Milstein was his co-HW? If B&E were also headwriters, then that means that Days has been written by FOUR CO-HEADWRITERS over the last five/six months. Crazy! No wonder it's sucked! LoL Anyway, while they were there, the veterans (Bo/Hope/John/Marlena) were all backburnered and the younger set (Chelsea/Nick/Stephanie/Max/Mimi/etc.) was shoved down our throats five days a week along with Sami and EJ. It's SUCKED, believe me. The balance has been waaaaaay off. Recently, however, the show has taken a dramatic turn for the BETTER, and now it's announced that B&E are no longer on the Days writing team. It could be a coincidence, but I doubt it.

As for their time as headwriters on Guiding Light, their most famous plot is the storyline where Reva was cloned. Reva was pronounced dead, so Josh took some of her DNA and had her cloned because he "couldn't live without her," then they fed the clone a rapid aging serum until she was the same age that Reva was when she died. Then, Reva came back from the dead and saw her clone living her life in Springfield. Clone Reva then kidnapped the real Reva and locked her up, because she didn't want Reva coming back to re-claim her life. Eventually, Reva escaped and Clone Reva took the last bit of the rapid aging serum and she ended up dying of 'old age' over the span of three episodes, LoL. It sounds hokey -- and it WAS -- but it was lots of fun!

Edited May 21, 200718 yr by Kennylicious

I think the Press Release is wrong-o.

They weren't responsible for GL's clone storyline... it was dictated by the network. I do think their era of GL was entertaining. They tried all sorts of new ideas that really reinvigorated the show IMO. Of course, their PC sucked.

They were Executive Story Editors (i.e. Head Writers) for the last two seasons of Dynasty.

They weren't responsible for GL's clone storyline... it was dictated by the network. I do think their era of GL was entertaining. They tried all sorts of new ideas that really reinvigorated the show IMO. Of course, their PC sucked.

I loved their "Guiding Light" work, as well. I was HOOKED on the show back then!

However, everything of theirs that I've seen since then (post-2000) has SUCKED.

I actually liked the Clone story.. and I liked Loving Murders (didn't they write that as well?) and I loved The City!

So I don't see them as bad... what WAS so bad? lol Enlighten me!

Oh, and I'm sure another reason Frons picked B&E over Alden is because he wanted to take writers from DAYS. You know, weaken it. Or so he thinks. Whether they are good or night is up to opinion. I'm sure he likes them and sees them as a benefit to DAYS.

The DAYS vs. ABC war rages on.

Edited May 21, 200718 yr by King

They were Executive Story Editors (i.e. Head Writers) for the last two seasons of Dynasty.

I'm pretty sure ESE don't equal Head Writers in primetime. Usually the showrunner (they listed as Executive Producer) are Head Writers.

ESE's are at the bottom of the primetime ladder.

Executive Producer

Co-Executive Producer

Supervising Producer

Producer

Co-Producer

Executive Story Editor

I'm pretty sure ESE don't equal Head Writers in primetime. Usually the showrunner (they listed as Executive Producer) are Head Writers.

They have a lot of creative input, but that's not necessarily true.

On Jason's site B&E were listed as Associate Head Writers for Days ... aren't those breakdown writers?

On Jason's site B&E were listed as Associate Head Writers for Days ... aren't those breakdown writers?

Yes AHW are also known as BDW.

B&E were Script Editors at DAYS.

B&E were Script Editors at DAYS.

They were probably the ones who edited out any and all suspense and flow from the scripts in the past four months.

They were probably the ones who edited out any and all suspense and flow from the scripts in the past four months.

I'm a little worried about AMC now. On DAYS, like everyone said, when they come on, that is when the bad stuff began to happen. Balance was horrible. AMC just got their sh*t togehter and the balance is awesome. I'm worried for that show.

I wish Alden would have gotten it though. Maybe she passed.

And as for who will be filling DAYS' writer gaps, Thaao has a huge hard-on for Sheri Anderson. And it seems that he's been getting what he wants lately when he it comes to Hogan. I think he has a lot do with the returns of Tony and Anna. If Thaao could get Leann Hunley back on DAYS, what's to say he can't get Hogan to bring on Anderson, who knows the Bradys and DiMeras better than anyone else.

Noooooo, what a horrid development for AMC!!! I can't wait to hear what RSinclair has to say about this... This type of HW team may be even worse then McTavish.

Snark Weighs In

There is, as far as I'm concerned, NO meaningful difference between Esensten and Brown AND McTavish. This is a disaster for AMC.

(Update): Previous Esensten/Brown coverage:

September 5, 2000

September 18, 2000

October 6, 2003

Hysterically, I just realized something: When Esensten and Brown were named Head Writers for Port Charles, the press release completely screwed up their career timeline, getting the dates wrong on when they took over Loving and Guiding Light. Today's press release names them as former Head Writers for Days. Well, Hogan Sheffer will be real pleased to hear that! It's nice to see that, six years later, ABC's press release team is as crackerjack as ever.

So basically Brian Frons had a writer with decades of experience working on the country's no. 1 soap opera, who was eager to write AMC, was studying its history, and seemed to be in sync with the fans in many ways--and he turned that down in favor of a Head Writing team who have seen four of the five soaps they've been charged with get canceled out from under them. All four of those soaps (I'm counting Dynasty) being on ABC.

I was going to say 'Thanks Brian Frons on conceding the timeslot to your competition", but with DAYS running around like a chciken with its head cut off, Y&R edging into JFP status in terms of constant stunting, and B&B's A.D.D.-style of storytelling as bad as ever, let's face it: in this race to the bottom, it's anybody's game.