February 4-8, 2008

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Oh, and thanks for brining actual FACTS into this discussion, Vee.

[Vee]

Hey, I spent the morning combing the Internet for what "book" Bob Guza wrote, it was the least I could do.

[emilyq]

It seems that this board has the ultimate GH fangurl on it. I mean I have watched GH for 20 plus years and I guess everyone has what they do and don't like but to think that this past year for GH has been nothing but a total disaster as far as viewership is concerned and to sing Bob Guza's acolades is to just ignore basic facts.

Bob Guza at one time I think was a decent head writer. Brian Frons has been nothing but a cancer to ABCD since he joined. Jill Phelps already destroyed 2 soaps(SB and AW) with her fangurlism and pushing of certain actors over others.

All 3 need to go. I am a 33 year old female and find none of the female characters on this show one bit 'kickass' or anything like that. None of them get their own storylines and are all appendages to the male characters on this show.

I for one think a soap needs a regime change periodically to keep it fresh and sometimes has nothing to do with the quality of the headwriter or production staff. These 3 have been around too long and have let their preferences for certain actors and components of the show shadow what the audience and viewers want to see. I personally get offended by Brian Frons continually 'training' the audience to watch what he thinks we would like. And anyone who wants to dispute this can just look at their ratings compared to the ratings even 1 year ago. No other soap, and that includes DOOL, has hemorraged that many viewers in that short a period of time.

I don't think GH is beyond hope and the one thing they have going for them are decent actors. But even this has fallen as they have innundated the show with a bunch of newbies(some of which are annoying and can't act) and their cast is now imploding. They need to cut 30% of the actors on this show and focus on giving the rest decent airtime and not dropping stories but following them through.

The TMK storyline on GH is a prime example of no follow through until now. It had momentum and then was dropped for almost 2 months and now we are supposed to be interested again. And what about the HNR story. That just disappeared too.

I have stopped watching but ratings tell the story, I don't have to.

[emilyq]

I know this has nothing to do with ratings but I found it interesting.

Douglas Marland is considered by many as one of the greatest head writers ever. Marland was a former head writer of As The World Turns, Guiding Light, and General Hospital. He worked as a writer on Another World and co-created Loving. He won multiple Emmy awards and Soap Opera Digest awards. Marland, a former actor, loved daytime. He passed away on March 6, 1993. This article was published in the April 27, 1993 issue of Soap Opera Digest.

1. Watch the show.

2. Learn the history of the show. You would be surprised at the ideas that you can get from the back story of your characters.

3. Read the fan mail. The very characters that are not thrilling to you may be the audience's favorites.

4. Be objective. When I came in to ATWT, the first thing I said was, what is pleasing the audience? You have to put your own personal likes and dislikes aside and develop the characters that the audience wants to see.

5. Talk to everyone; writers and actors especially. There may be something in a character's history that will work beautifully for you, and who would know better than the actor who has been playing the role?

6. Don't change a core character. You can certainly give them edges they didn't have before, or give them a logical reason to change their behavior. But when the audience says, "He would never do that," then you have failed.

7. Build new characters slowly. Everyone knows that it takes six months to a year for an audience to care about a new character. Tie them in to existing characters. Don't shove them down the viewers' throats.

8. If you feel staff changes are in order, look within the organization first. P&G [Procter & Gamble] does a lot of promoting from within. Almost all of our producers worked their way up from staff positions, and that means they know the show.

9. Don't fire anyone for six months. I feel very deeply that you should look at the show's canvas before you do anything.

10. Good soap opera is good storytelling. It's very simple.

[usetobeasoapfan]

WOWWWWWWWWW........... Fantastic article! Thanks for posting!

I should make a few copies of this and send them out to the GH and ABCD.

[marceline]

It's so simple. Not easy but simple. I'd love to know what Marland would have to say about writing in the age of the Internet.

[TC]

And your hard work is greatly appreciated, Vee. Thank you. The best I could do is supply the definition of the word "fact" but I do not believe it is required.