CBS: Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin

[Khan]

Definitely, lol. But by the time they arrived, the feeling of "maybe things will be better w/ THIS regime" had long since departed (for me, anyway).

[AddictedToSoaps]

I thought the same thing. Though looking back GL was at least somewhat enjoyable for maybe their 1st year or so...then things changed and changed and now you have a show that used to be known as Guiding Light.

[Noel]

I think I gave up shortly after the budget cuts in 2005 and the whole Phillip murder storyline was taking forever to wrap up. Then, I got to see Gus and Harley hiding out in New York City in a rusty Ice Cream Truck trying to find Phillip's killer.

I guess maybe I did have the "maybe things will be better w/ THIS regime" kind of attitude, but I've always been a glutton for punishment.

However, since MADD's departure during the fall of 2005, GL has been horrible. I never watched ATWT at that time because I watched Passions, but I've been catching up on ATWT and I find it pretty good. So, what gives? Is it because GL has only 9 writers? Or, do you think it's because they're lazy because they don't have someone like MADD to answer to? I'm just throwing questions here...

[Limenade]

I'm aware of Marland's work at GL from 80-82--I got hooked on GL because of the Nola-Kelly-Morgan triangle! I'm also aware of the fact that Marland quit because of the disagreement with Potter over Jane Elliot's Carrie Todd story.

I just dug out my April 2, 1991 issue of SOD (35th Anniversary of ATWT), pp. 79-80:

"On the eve of its thirtieth anniversary, ATWT was screaming for a savior. The show was getting its lowest ratings ever, and stories were scrambled. But there was more chaos in store: Whe Robert Calhoun was hired as executive producer, the writers quit...After critiquing GL and ATWT for daytime programming VP Jean Rennick at CBS, Douglas Marland wrote a long-term document, ever intending to take over the show, and went on vacation in Italy."

In any case, I think we're in agreement that Calhoun was a great EP and may still work his magic if given the chance!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

^Thanks for post that Limenade!

I LOVE old soap opera articles....

[Soapsuds]

How old is Calhoun?

[David V]

It was under Fitts' watch that ATWT, GL and AW fell into the gutter. More specifically, the 1995 move of John Valente from AW to ATWT and Jill Farren Phelps from GL to AW, which was disastrous for all three shows.

As I've said numerous times, we can say retrospectively that a come-down on ATWT post-Marland was not unreasonable to expect. Juliet Packer and Richard Backus had worked under Marland, and had the task of finishing his storylines. The execution was hit-and-miss but ratings were still decent at the time. When Richard Culliton took over, he showed that he could write some excellent storylines when he wrote the John/Lisa storyline which were very good. Valente replaced Caso, he let go much-loved actors such as Patricia Bruder, and then replaced Culliton with Black & Stern- and because of that, the Packer/Backus and Culliton periods are now viewed somewhat favourably in retrospect.

It's thought that Valente was bitter about being moved from AW, and that he may have sabotaged ATWT to get back at P&G. To their credit, seeing what was happening to their shows under Fitts' watch, P&G acted more quickly in 1996 than anyone would have right now! They fired Fitts, and also those who were allowed to thrash ATWT in that one sordid year.

One of the first things that happened on ATWT in the MADD period, with Felicia Minei Behr as EP and a transitional HW team in charge (towards the end of '96) was the recast of Connor Walsh, the new PTBs had no idea of the fan backlash which resulted. ATWT really didn't improve under their watch until the last few months of '97 under the same transitional team (Stephen Demorest and co), and hence Lorraine Broderick had a difficult task of cleaning up two years worth of garbage on the show. She didn't do badly in the circumstances when you consider what came before, and replacing her with Leah Laiman was a backwards step. Under Broderick, ratings stabilised and even improved.

If you take out the stupid decision to kill off Maureen, GL did rather well under JFP. In the 1991-93 period it was actually a collective HW effort (with none other than James E. Reilly on the team before he moved to Days), and won an Emmy for it as well. Guiding Light also saw its ratings sink in the 1995-97 period, but the cloning story in 1998 caused a spike which saw them ride as high as 5th in the ratings for a good part of the year.

ATWT and GL were helped in the ratings race in 1998 by the fact that ABC Daytime experienced a collective dive. GH, AMC and OLTL all lost a good chunk of viewers that year- the latter two can be attributed to McTavish and Phelps respectively...

The handling of the Zaslow situation on GL was an utter disgrace, reprehensible in every way. I'll also add that Dennis Parlato, the recast Roger, has stated that he would never have accepted the role if he was aware of what had happened.

[sungrey]

Ah, hold on here... I gotta disagree, but respectfully. The tie is broken by the Ben Reade serial killer story, which prompted me to write CBS and P&G and let them know what a monster they had writing the show and any future Ellen Weston stories would destroy Guiding Light.

DK and EW have done some head-scratching things to the show, but all in all I think Kreizman is the better writer than Weston. And you can't compare Wheeler to Wyman. Wyman's biggest fault was he kissed Reilly's ass, even though I was told by another poster that Wyman couldn't stand Reilly.

I heard Gail Kobe was quite the bitch to work for as well, but maybe I'm misinformed. I know Doug Marland had his disagreements with Potter over story direction and he up and quit the show when the fantastic Carrie split personality story was cut short.

[Khan]

Reportedly, Vincent Irizarry quit (the first time, in '85) because he and Kobe did not get along; and it was Kobe's decision to kill off Lujack onscreen, thereby making it impossible for VI to return (at least, until the Nick McHenry story).

Potter believed the ratings during the time that story was front-burner did not justify continuing with it; so, yeah, Marland quit. Unfortunately, his replacement, Pat Falken Smith, made some wrong turns with most of his stories (like having Mark Evans, who had been out to kill Amanda for her money, suddenly fall in love with her), and for about a year, GL was in a state of flux.

[Sylph]

So, in the end, who brought Marland to As the World Turns?

[Khan]

That's what I'd like to know, too, Sylph! My understanding was, P&G originally contacted Marland about taking over SEARCH FOR TOMORROW. Reportedly, Marland said he'd take the job, but only under certain conditions - one of them being, he got to bring Ellen Dolan, then GL's Maureen Bauer, to the show. But, somehow, through a series of circumstances, he ended up going to ATWT; and Pam Long, who had been on maternity leave from GL, and Addie Walsh were "transferred" to SEARCH, instead.

Can't argue with that. I can't recall if it was immediately before Black & Stern or after, but there was a time when it seemed as if ATWT was absolutely lousy with Grimaldis. So much of the show was revolving around them that it was starting to bug me in profound ways.

Can't argue with that, either. I, myself, wondered at the time whether someone behind-the-scenes was truly out to dismantle and sabotage the show. Things were happening on the show, production- and writing-wise, that would've given even the worst hacks in the business cause to pause.

Which I didn't get. (Not that I was a fan of Susan Batten's, I just wondered why no one thought to write out Connor sooner.)

I appreciate Mr. Parlato's sense of decency; but really, he had to make a living like everyone else. That's why I don't like to criticize his work on GL, or compare him in any way, favorably or not, to Zas. He wasn't Roger Thorpe, but he did the best he could under the circumstances; and if you were to tell me Roger Thorpe was still alive, and that I had a choice between him and Joel Fabiani to return and reprise the part, I'd pick him.

[EastMA2]

Someone wondered why Robert Kochman was never named EP of GL when he had worked there for so many years. While Ellen Wheeler probably could have been a little more tactful in firing him, the reality is that it should have been done long before she did it. He just kind of took up space at the studio and did little else. Oh except he used to be the first one out the door at 12 to go get his lunch.

[Dan]

I agree with everyone else. I will never forgive that frigid old cow for what she did to GL. But who woulda thunk that MADD-Cow would prove to be somewhat of a blocker for Wheeler and co.'s more insipid ideas. Insanity!

Where's Robert Calhoun, Nancy Curlee and Ed Trach when you really need them?