Good Writers... Bad Stories

[Paul Raven]

It seems to be generally accepted on the board that there are certain writers who consistently delivered the goods.

Agnes Nixon

Bill Bell

Douglas Marland

Claire Labine etc

And some who divide opinions

James Reilly

Pam Long

Hogan Sheffer etc

and some that are pretty much disliked

Dena Higley

Jean Passanate

What I am asking you in this thread is to objectively look at your favorite writers, past and present, and identify the clunkers.

Conversely be gracious and acknowledge something one of your least favorite writers did well!

First up

Bill Bell - Lisa locks Brad in a cage. A never before mentioned ex wife turns up ,does nothing much and locks hubby in a cage.

Also,hires Rich Little(!)to impersonate Brad's voice.

- Joshua's crazy ex .Wearing world's most obvious wig and (gasp)glasses,Veronica romances Miguel and ends up

impaled on a pitchfork.

[ClassicsSoapFan]

Claire Labine at Guiding Light.

She is a legend and I was happy when she took over Guiding Light but her tenure there was a dud.

There are some that say she had network interference and the same from Paul Rauch. The only thing I really liked was how she formed a friendship between Frank and Rick,even if they were mooning over the cigarette girl!

I can't believe she couldn't have done better despite the interfernce.

[angel]

I liked May once she was Mary Murto, the sexy FBI agent who SMOKES. I also liked that this storyline brought in Gus.

Anyway, Who was the AMC writer that killed Gillian Andrassy-Lavery and brought that stupid girl swinging under the clock heaven? I liked the other stories from him or her except that one. Although, I like that he or she brought back the characters that died including Natalie, Ray, Jeremy and Jesse, who assist her on Earth to say goodbye.

[All My Shadows]

I'm sure that was Jean P. That's around the time I first started watching.

[Dan]

Claire Labine's tenure at GL, like oakdale said, is a great example of a good writer writing bad stories. She was a legend from her work on various shows, but she had just recently come off a particularly mediocre stint at OLTL. Of course, she also really did not want to be there. She was shipped to OLTL after her GH spinoff fell through. Then she went to GL and she had a pretty schizophrenic tenure there as well. I still say alot of it had to do with the stinky triumverate of Paul Rauch, Mary Alice Dwyber Dobbin, and Lucy Johnson. However, by her own admission, Claire really didn't know much about GL history. So it's hard to say how good she would have been even without the network and sponsor interference. Millee Taggart, two years later, dealt with the same people, yet pulled out some pretty darn good soap opera regardless.

Throughout Claire's tenure, there were sparks of the old Claire Labine. Jim's death at Christmas time is probably the best example of the Labine touch on GL. It was a classic soap tragedy that brought family to the forefront. But the biggest problem with the show at this time was the twin albatrosses of the mob and San Cristobel. Neither story was really what GL was about. San Cristobel, in particular, really tore up the show and split it between two locales, which is never a good thing. Add in the fantasy kingdom elements, and you have one hot mess.

[DrewH]

Brash and Cwickly

The Gemini Twins - I remember being excited about the meteor shower storyline, just because DAYS hadn't had a natural disaster storyline in years. However, when I found out that Rex and Cassie would arrive as "aliens" during the catastrophe, I was no longer interested. I thought it was stupid. I'm glad they quickly fixed that up and explaine what really happened. Rolf was flying the twins somewhere and a meteor hit them, and that's how they crashed into Salem. Still stupid, but better than being aliens. After that was explained, I loved the story. I loved them being Tony and Marlena's children until Dena Hilgey came in and ruined everything.

[leevo64]

Michele Val Jean on GH... began some interesting stuff but the whole Deception Cosmetics plot was just filler and took up way too much time.

Brash and Cwickly on DAYS... Colin's murder comes to mind.

Michael Malone on OLTL... The second stint.

[MichaelGL]

Definitely Claire Labine on GL. What a mess that was. I hated GL during her tenure. Hated it! Mobsters, fantasy island, more mobsters, May Mursi, Reva the immigrant savior, Blake and Ross in snoozeville, the storyline involving the teens, Josh and Olivia's sexcapades, Reva and her boy toy, that anticlimatic storyline for David and Vicky, her plans to have Reva run for mayor, it just goes on and on. Ugh. The only positive was Rick and Frank's friendship. By the way so I didn't know Labine killed Jim off, totally thought B&E did that. Well that's the second thing I liked written by her.

Other notable mentions would be...

Pat Falken Smith and her tenure at GL.

Sheri Anderson and her tenure at GL.

Curlee and Demorest had a few clunks like the whole Eve/Nick/Mindy thing. Julie Camelotti was also a WTF.

Millee Taggart introduced that god awful character by the name of Eden August.

[Adam]

Lorraine Broderick wrote pretty much gems for AMC, but the voo doo arc she did in Jamaica with Noah/Julia.... big miss.

But I think that was more network driven.

Wow Michael... was their any writer at GL in the last 20 years that you actually thought did a good job?

[angel]

OMG NOAH!!!! I remember how he left. "Oh Reva wants to be with Josh. I just figure that out when everybody else knew for a long time. Ok I'll leave." Wasn't he played by the guy who was Nora's lover who turned out to be gay and killed Jennifer on OLTL?

I'm sure that was Jean P. That's around the time I first started watching.

Wow! That was Jean P? What is she SMOKING now on ATWT (or the Gwen Norbeck and Friends Hour)? Probably the same stuff that got her the heaven creation.

[Adam]

Yeah Jean Passanante wrote some god awful stuff on AMC that has been discussed at great length here. ATWT is bad, but that stuff overall does not touch the crap she put out on AMC....

Ok Cleo Babbit comes pretty close to matching it

[MichaelGL]

Yep the same actor portrayed both roles, Mark Dobbies was his name I think.

I agree about how he exited. Lackluster would be a understatement.

I also remember Labine introducing a character from across the pond by the name of Perdita. I liked her, but she was only on for a matter of weeks.

Haha Curlee and Demorest did do a good job, they just made like two mistakes over a span of four years. That's pretty good. Taggart and Culliton were good too.

[MichaelGL]

That was like one of my first episodes of Y&R ever.

[DAYSisHOT]

JER

Passions

The Rapes

Rome/Vendetta

JER

DAYS

New Salem Island

Sami/Stan

Hogan

Days

Bell/Shawn/Duck/Gabby Island

Programed Steve

[ClassicsSoapFan]

I agree but don't forget L.Virginia Browne,a writer who followed Smith,I believe. One of these writers did the Mona Enright~Rebecca story. It might have been both.

The diference in Guiding Light was so jarring after Douglas Marland left it was unbelievable. You could tell that'Marland had definitely left the building'.

I didn't like Jeff Ryder who was Pam Long's co-writer when he took over either.