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

Really? I thought NBC cancelled it.

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.

Yup, Wheeler is awful as an EP. I would have thought she would have been great for GL. But the opposite occurred.

Edited February 11, 200817 yr by Soapsuds

Yup, Wheeler is awful as an EP. I would have thought she would have been great for GL. But the opposite occurred.

Being objective here - I definitely think Wheeler is talented in a lot of ways. She's got a great eye, and visually, she does a lot of interesting things with production. (Hold it up to a Steve Wyman Days episode. You can't argue the huge difference.)

And clearly, she has a long history working in daytime, especially from the acting side. So she's definitely an "actor's EP".

I honestly think if she just had a senior line producer like a Vivian Gundaker at ATWT - someone who can guide her (no pun intended) to what GL used to be and could be again, it might be in good shape.

Just playing devil's advocate - there are much worse out there. I just think if EW spent as much time worrying about GL rather than how it looked, she might prove a lot of people wrong.

Edited February 11, 200817 yr by brimike

Being objective here - I definitely think Wheeler is talented in a lot of ways. She's got a great eye, and visually, she does a lot of interesting things with production. (Hold it up to a Steve Wyman Days episode. You can't argue the huge difference.)

And clearly, she has a long history working in daytime, especially from the acting side. So she's definitely an "actor's EP".

I honestly think if she just had a senior line producer like a Vivian Gundaker at ATWT - someone who can guide her (no pun intended) to what GL used to be and could be again, it might be in good shape.

Just playing devil's advocate - there are much worse out there. I just think if EW spent as much time worrying about GL rather than how it looked, she might prove a lot of people wrong.

I completely disagree with you. Wyman is another story. But as an actress of daytime you would expect more of her as an EP. GL didnt get any of that from her. What production values are you talking about? I think they are horrible...IMO. If I was in charge I would have fired her &^%^ long time ago!

Let's be fair here, GL hasn't had a good EP since either JFP or Robert Calhoun...

Where is Ed Trach??

I had always wondered where he was. I just assumed he was dead or had retired.

Let's be fair here, GL hasn't had a good EP since either JFP or Robert Calhoun...

Speaking of....JFP was the downfall of GL. She was the one who had Maureen killed. The show would regret that decision as GL wasnt the same afterwards.

Speaking of....JFP was the downfall of GL. She was the one who had Maureen killed. The show would regret that decision as GL wasnt the same afterwards.

That was her biggest failure at GL, but the show was undergoing a creative renaissance at the time. GL was never better than when Nancy Curlee was its Head Writer, when she left GL spiraled out of control and was never the same.

JFP's biggest mistakes are probably looked on as killing Mo off and letting Beverlee McKinsey walk, but overall, that was the last time GL looked like GL....

But really, Robert Calhoun deserves all the credit for GL's late 80's/early 90's creative renaissance. He was the one why promoted Nancy Curlee to head writer status and led the show into its last period of greatness, JFP just came and took away some credit.

Hell, Robert Calhoun deserves more credit at ATWT than Laurence Caso too, Calhoun was the one who hired Douglas Marland.

Speaking of Robert Calhoun, what the hell happened to him? Both GL and ATWT could sure use his help....

Edited February 11, 200817 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

That was her biggest failure at GL, but the show was undergoing a creative renaissance at the time. GL was never better than when Nancy Curlee was its Head Writer, when she left GL spiraled out of control and was never the same.

JFP's biggest mistakes are probably looked on as killing Mo off and letting Beverlee McKinsey walk, but overall, that was the last time GL looked like GL....

But really, Robert Calhoun deserves all the credit for GL's late 80's/early 90's creative renaissance. He was the one why promoted Nancy Curlee to head writer status and led the show into its last period of greatness, JFP just came and took away some credit.

Hell, Robert Calhoun deserves more credit at ATWT than Laurence Caso too, Calhoun was the one who hired Douglas Marland.

Yup, Calhoun was a great EP. I thought he was better than Caso. I think if Calhoun had been in charge during the time Marland past away....ATWT wouldnt have gotten so stale and boring. Thus leading to Caso's firing from the show. I honestly think Caso didnt know what to do after Marland's death. He kept everything the same but the show was not the same without Marland.

Speaking of Robert Calhoun, what the hell happened to him? Both GL and ATWT could sure use his help....

I dont know. This is Bob Hughes ...paging Robert Calhoun...report to ATWT.

Robert Calhoun recently co-wrote his longtime partner, Farley Granger's (ex-Earl Mitchell, ATWT; ex-Dr. Will Vernon, OLTL) autobiography, Include Me Out.

I'd love to see Calhoun back at ATWT, too. Alas, he's probably retired.

I lay the blame for GL's complete slide into oblivion with three people: John Conboy, Ellen Weston and MADD. True, GL was already in trouble. Before MADD brought Conboy aboard, however, and allowed him to wreak havoc with the show's budget, there was always hope the show would make another turnaround. Conboy - along w/ Weston, whose writing for the show was, for the most part, tasteless and downright ignorant - destroyed that hope.

Edited February 11, 200817 yr by Khan

Hell, Robert Calhoun deserves more credit at ATWT than Laurence Caso too, Calhoun was the one who hired Douglas Marland.

Interesting! I think in the mid-80s Marland was given both ATWT and GL to critique, and he ultimately picked ATWT instead of GL. I didn't know Calhoun hired Marland.

Speaking of Robert Calhoun, what the hell happened to him? Both GL and ATWT could sure use his help....

Calhoun co-wrote the memoir of Farley Granger (ex-Earl Mitchell, Shannon O'Hara's Uncle), "Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway" which came out last March:

http://www.amazon.com/Include-Me-Out-Goldw...y/dp/0312357737.

Calhoun and Granger have been together for a long time as partners.

Yup, Calhoun was a great EP. I thought he was better than Caso. I think if Calhoun had been in charge during the time Marland past away....ATWT wouldnt have gotten so stale and boring. Thus leading to Caso's firing from the show. I honestly think Caso didnt know what to do after Marland's death. He kept everything the same but the show was not the same without Marland.

ITA! Also, it's so easy in retrospect to mythologize Marland's reign at ATWT as one continuous golden age, when in fact, his tenure went through phases. Except for certain later SLs such as Kim-Bob-Susan triangle, I tend to like Marland's early years at ATWT, i.e. 85-87/88, maybe Calhoun had something to do with it...

I lay the blame for GL's complete slide into oblivion with three people: John Conboy, Ellen Weston and MADD. True, GL was already in trouble. Before MADD brought Conboy aboard, however, and allowed him to wreak havoc with the show's budget, there was always hope the show would make another turnaround. Conboy - along w/ Weston, whose writing for the show was, for the most part, tasteless and downright ignorant - destroyed that hope.

Then DK and EW came onboard and made it even worse.

Then DK and EW came onboard and made it even worse.

And to think I thought it couldnt get worse but it did.

Interesting! I think in the mid-80s Marland was given both ATWT and GL to critique, and he ultimately picked ATWT instead of GL. I didn't know Calhoun hired Marland.

That's not true, Marland was GL's HW from 1980-1982. To date, his only Emmy's come from his GL stint. He left GL out of creative differences with Alan Potter, GL's EP at the time I believe.

Robert Calhoun worked for years on GL as a producer, then in the mid-80's P&G promoted him to EP status at ATWT. I believe he left ATWT and went to GL on his own accord in 1988. He would leave GL in late 1991, allegedly out of creative differences with P&G and CBS. I think he knew Marland from his producing stint at GL in the early 80's.

The man hired Douglas Marland at ATWT and promoted Nancy Curlee at GL, I can't thank him enough for that.

Edited February 11, 200817 yr by Y&RWorldTurner