Dena Higley's Blog

[dm.]

Heh. That's so true. I'm still confused as to why would they let someone like her (who sucked on her first HW stint on DOOL, and sucked at her longer stint at OLTL) would let her head-write a show that is always so near to cancellation. But that's in the past now.

[Sylph]

Because she gets the job done. Anything you want, she will write. She is servile, kind of, she wouldn't have any objections to Ken's ideas.

[koos]

That has to be why we're seeing fake-outs and fantasies (and fake-out fantasies) again. Hell they're even showing them in episode previews, as if they were real.

[marlenafan]

[rhinohide]

Couldn't she just delegate? Call herself the headwriter and make the pitches to the powers, but leave the real creativity to somebody who isn't so burned out?

[Sindacco]

So when Higleys ideas are axed it's because she's a crappy writer and it's a tough business but when it happend to Sheffer he was the victim and Corday was evil.

This double standard is so ridiculous.

[Ryan]

I could take your double standard theory and flip it to fit my agenda too.

When rumors of Hogan's long-term plans were axed, those who support him were called crazy. Hogan didn't have long term plans and if he did, Corday cut them for a reason. However now when the shoe is on the other foot, it's Dena is a victim blah blah blah. See, it works both ways.

Hogan and his team had to work with a difficult person in charge and yet many never gave them any slack, so why should people give it to Dena. Btw, I'm just being devil's advocate right now, lol. I don't mean anything by it.

I for one didn't say her ideas were axed because she was a crappy writer. My complaint was she knew what she was getting into when she agreed to come back to DAYS, so for her to bitch about her ideas being axed in her blog as a way to try and generate sympathy doesn't work for me.

[Ponz]

Higley did a very competent job as a breakdown/scriptwriter for 17 years but that's her limit. She has no clue how to structure a story with a beginning, middle and end in a way that generates tension or suspense. She basically puts every story in a holding pattern and sporadically breaks the pattern with *events* that have little or nothing to do with the plots. The fact that Corday or NBC may be vetoing her ideas is irrelevant since her content is not the problem. It's her failure to grasp basic storytelling mechanics.

[brimike]

Thank you, Ponz. I couldn't have said it better myself.

She's not completely without talent. And I wouldn't mind her continuing to write scripts (not that I think she'd "settle" for that at this point). On Days though. Nowhere else. She ONLY fits on that show.

But the basic concepts of Storytelling 101 are lost on her.

[Khan]

Exactly, Ryan (and thank you). It isn't as if KC magically changed his managerial style while Dena was away writing for another show. Not when his family has an ownership stake in DAYS. Hogan and Dena have had long-term plans axed by him, so they're both his "victims."

[Khan]

That's true. Nobody - and I mean, nobody - kills off a pregnant psycho-b***h better than Dena.

[Sylph]

I think she would settle for this. After all, it's a payed job, and she has no other choices. Especially, with WGA behind her back. However, when she leaves, I think she will be gone forever.

And if someone fits only on one show, isn't that - sort of - a classic definition of a bad writer?

[brimike]

My honest opinion? Yes. Which is why I can barely make it through a few acts of DOOL these days.

But I've come to learn that the fans of Days are not looking for the same things that fans of other soaps are looking for. I'll give them Dena as a member of the writing team. To appease her supporters. And she seems to have a lot of them (Still trying to figure out how THAT happened.) It's all about compromise.

[brimike]

When she finally DIES, that is. How many false deaths did that woman HAVE?!

[Khan]

I lost count at three.