She wreaked havoc when she was the executive in charge, yet I wonder if she would let P&G shows slip this low.

Remember, she

1. cancelled Another World even though she promised no show would get cancelled under her watch
2. she brought on ABC actors to P&G soaps
3. she hired Lorraine Broderick, whose tenure I liked, but which many people found too dark and hideous
4. massively fired the veterans from Guiding Light + Zaslow affair
5. and so on

Be free to add more.

Edited February 10, 200817 yr by Sylph

Several backstage veterans like longtime producer Robert D. Kochman and director Bruce S. Barry were gone. And Bruce Barry was a great director!

Other Guiding Light controversies:

• Clone Reva
• Painting Jumping Reva
• Pychic Reva
• Her infatuation with Bradley Cole
• The Bradley Cole Fans and graciously accepting their fruit baskets

I'm sure Khan's gotta a couple to list too, so I'll leave that up to him and other contributors who deliciously loathe the woman as much as I do.

Another shenanigan under MADD at GL:

In Joan Collins' contract (which was a $weet deal) Joan was entitled to have a P&G company car pick her up and drop her off at home, every day, whether she was working at GL that day or not. MAD went ballistic at Paul Rauch who had drafted JC's deal. Rauch then had to break the news to JC that she would have to pay for the car if she wanted, whether she was working at GL that day or not. JC was not amused. She wrote a scathing little article for the British magazine 'The Spectator' in which she referred to MADD as "the fat female production executive". JC quit GL the next month.

I'm sorry, MADD might have been foolish in some respects, but she was a hell of a lot better than the fools currently running the P&G soaps. At least there was something somewhat watchable about GL and ATWT during her tenure as Executive In Charge of Production, I can't say the same anymore.

Though, I will NEVER FORGIVE MADD over the whole Michael Zaslow situation.....

I'm sorry, MADD might have been foolish in some respects, but she was a hell of a lot better than the fools currently running the P&G soaps. At least there was something somewhat watchable about GL and ATWT during her tenure as Executive In Charge of Production, I can't say the same anymore.

Though, I will NEVER FORGIVE MADD over the whole Michael Zaslow situation.....

Better?? She was the one who fired all the male writers of ATWT. ATWT became a big mess after she did that. ATWT was on a role and she was stupid to fire all those great male writers.

Better?? She was the one who fired all the male writers of ATWT. ATWT became a big mess after she did that. ATWT was on a role and she was stupid to fire all those great male writers.

Comparing the state of the P&G shows during her reign to now, it was a hell of a lot better. Now Goutman and Wheeler rule over their respective shows without any balance or someone to step in and try to correct them.

MADD made her mistakes, I'm not doubting that, but the P&G soaps have gotten significantly worse after she left.

The last person to understand the P&G soaps was Edward Trach, both GL and ATWT had renaissance periods under him.....

Where is Ed Trach??

Can someone explain to me what the "Zaslow Situation" is? I think I have an idea, but don't want to say the wrong thing.

Where is Ed Trach??

Retired...

Kenneth L. Fitts was just as bad if not as hit or miss as MADD was...

Can someone explain to me what the "Zaslow Situation" is? I think I have an idea, but don't want to say the wrong thing.

Here's Wikipedia's summary of it all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Alice_Dwyer-Dobbin

Detractors of Dwyer-Dobbin are most vocal and negative about the sequence of events surrounding Guiding Light and the dismissal of veteran actor Michael Zaslow. Zaslow, a member of the cast from 1971 to 1980 and who had returned to the show in 1989, learned shortly after Dwyer-Dobbin came on board that he had Lou Gehrig's Disease. Procter & Gamble unceremoniously dropped him when he developed speech difficulties, choosing to recast his character. Dwyer-Dobbin defended this decision to the press with what could best be defined as an unfortunate choice of words, stating that viewers wouldn't want to see Zaslow's character, villain Roger Thorpe, portrayed as a "wizened old man." Fans were furious, and in the ultimate insult, Dwyer-Dobbin's former employee, ABC Daytime, snatched up Zaslow to reprise his role of David Renaldi on One Life to Live. Although Dwyer-Dobbin apologized for the comment numerous times, many fans refuse to forgive her for not allowing Zaslow the chance to finish the role of Roger Thorpe before his death in 1998.

Roger Thorpe is just unrecastable, no one can replace Michael Zaslow, MADD was a fool for defending such a stupid decision....

That's just disgusting......

MADD was bad but I think she gets too much blame. A lot of it was the EPs.

cancelled Another World even though she promised no show would get cancelled under her watch

Really? I thought NBC cancelled it.

Several backstage veterans like longtime producer Robert D. Kochman and director Bruce S. Barry were gone. And Bruce Barry was a great director!

Ellen Wheeler fired Kochman. She called him in, told him to pack up his things. When he wrote a memo to the cast & crew announcing his firing, Wheeler had those memos removed from each and every mailbox.

(I know a lot of people like Wheeler because she was such a good actress, but the woman is a monster as a producer, I firmly believe).

Bruce S. Barry was fed up with Wheeler and quit.

I'm always surprised P&G and CBS never made Robert D. Kochman EP of GL, he has so much history with that show and worked under Alan Potter, Gail Kobe, Robert Calhoun, Jill Farren Phelps, Michael Laibon, Paul Rauch, and John Conboy. What did P&G have against him?

I think since she's long since retired, MADD is probably one of the few things Tom C might actually be allowed to address in his interview. LOL