Lynn Marie Latham's "Pedigree"

[dm.]

Nobody ever said she was successful. After more than 30 years, she's even making our favorite show worse. Even AMC is currently more interesting than Y&R.

[JamesF]

I don't see what this thread hopes to achieve because it's not based on any kind of evidence. It firstly equates popularity with quality and attributes LML with power she never even had. If people had watched her primetime shows and critiquing them it would be a different story, but this is mostly drawing conclusions from a few dates on the IMDB. She may not be writing Y&R as it should be written. She may even be a power mad witch but there's no doubt that she does have talent and most of the shows she was involved in were excellent. I don't see that trashing her successes is necessary when her poor Y&R work speaks for itself.

Berrengers showrunner was David Jacobs. As in Dallas. Not exactly a Latham/Lechowick responsibility. There work on Knots Landing had some misses over the course of their 5 season involvement but it was on the whole excellent stuff. Way ahead of any of the other primetime soaps of the time and the only reason the show managed to survive into the 90s. It should be noted that as soon as they left and John Romano came in at the beginning of season 13 was when the troubles began and production had to be suspended. Others have explained Homefront. Second Chances was a decent show shut down because of an earthquake ruining the sets. Latham had a very minimal role on Savannah. Not much more than a scriptwriter with some story consultancy. And for the record, it too was a very well written show -- more sophisticated than anything else in the Spelling stable at the time. As for Pacific Palisades, Joan Collins could make an enemy out of Ghandi.

My point is Latham's primetime work has never been "dimwitted", nor has she displayed any evidence of being a "hack". Regardless of her abilities in daytime, she is a talented writer.

[heatherwebber]

I don't know anything about the MTV show but I think that might have been her husband. So if it was him then maybe she did have something to do with it.

[Ann_SS]

LML may not have been a success in primetime, but I loved HomeFront. It was one of the best dramas that I have ever seen on television. If LML created and wrote that show then she has some talent.

[heatherwebber]

AmericanLife network just dropped HomeFront reruns a few weeks ago after running it for several years. On a very short list of the best shows ever this show would make that list no question.

Frankly in my book Knots would rate as the best prime time soap ever.

But you can still watch Wild Card on Lifetime Real Women and see for yourselves. The weekday episodes on now are near the beginning (Lynn's first year) and same for the late night runs weekends. The earlier showings weekends are the 2nd season after she left.

The District is still running on A&E but they seem to be later episodes. I don't remember how long she was there. It was definitely a quality show at the beginning when she was there. There was some pretty amazing drama. It also had the knack for having multi-dimensional intriguing characters and excellent casting. So check A&E in a few weeks and you might catch some of her work.

To be honest, even though I haven't seen any of those short-term soaps, THOSE are what SoapNet SHOULD be acquiring and running instead of crappy reality junk and recent current stuff already available on dvd. Since none of those shows lasted very long they would be cheap to buy. Whether I liked them or hated them I would actually watch them through start to finish. Since so much else is so very bad I'd be thrilled to see something like those shows, or to see Falcon Crest again (Scott Hamner's father's other show) or even Flamingo Road.

[kade]

Homefront was one of the best shows of all time. Hands down. WHY there aren't DVD's available is beyond me. The network screwed that show over hardcore.

Kade

[crc]

What? There's actually a few That's Life fans on here? LOL! Now I don't feel so embarrassed to admit that I liked that show, too, when I saw it on that list.

Seriously, I don't really care about The Hack's past successes or not, I just know that I hate, hate, HATE what she's done to Y&R! I know there's some long-time fans that are enjoying her crap. But, I think a lot of the newer fans and the ABC refugees don't understand the hate, because they haven't witnessesd the change in the show, characters, and storytelling like a lot of us have. And then there's some that simply appreciate her style and what she's dishing. To each their own, I guess.

[MichaelGL]

LML has ruined Y&R for me. She's taken away what made it unique and has changed the show into what I would call a ABC soap.

[Rhiannon]

Never Mind..............

[sheilaforever]

Wonderfully put.

I think she totally destroyed Y&R - not so much because she's following past formulas (and she is recycling LOADS of stuff from her Knots Landing days, that's for sure) but because she's totally ignorant of Y&R's identy (or what it was) and is executing her stories in the most awful manner unlike on some of her primetime shows.

[Faulkner]

Speaking of flops, Wikipedia lists a "Lynn Latham" as one of the muses in the 1980 film musical Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John. Which as we all know was a historic disaster.

Is this Lynn Latham one-and-the-same as our heralded Y&R EP?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanadu_%28film%29

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Hey now! Xanadu is a camp classic!

[Faulkner]

Haha...and now a successful Broadway musical from the looks of it!

So, a cursory IMDB search shows that the Lynn Latham in Xanadu is not our fair Lynn Marie Latham. But it would have been hilarious...

[bellcurve]

As much as I would LOVE to moan and complain about Lynn Marie LETHAL...I'll take a pass on this one.

[juppiter]

Agreed... "Homefront" was definitely LML's best work.