I will give Ron Carlivati credit. Whatever Malone may have intended with Heart of a Lord before Roger Howarth left (by his own admission) as soon as humanly possible, RC managed to give it some sort of weight many years later. He tied in Victor's signet ring (which Todd took from "Victor" and became mysteriously fixated on in 2003 before Howarth's exit) and made it part of the conspiracy plotline in 2011 with the Two Todds, which also tied back to '03 - the ring had microfilm in it or something connected to Irene's spy organization. I appreciated that small touch in an otherwise very silly retcon story.
I was ecstatic when Malone was rehired in late '02. I could not have been more excited, or more disappointed with the results. But looking back now, especially revisiting the early '90s, it's not hard for me personally to believe it's the same writer. The same gothic trappings, the same literary influences and stylistic elements, the same obsessions, the same love for fantasy episodes and old Hollywood interludes, the same tropes or archetypes (holy man, party girl) are all very evident in both runs. It's just that both the budget and the larger quality control of the scripts, storylines and in a number of key cases acting is way, way below the bar. Brian Frons' ABC micromanaging the show and what stories got told with who couldn't have helped either, and in fact actively hindered the show in a number of instances we know of. But Malone made his own bed as well. He also was reusing messy stuff he'd attempted at Another World, and possibly also his unsold 13 Bourbon Street pilot for Fox primetime (which we all still want to see).
Still, as bad as it got Malone II was an undeniably creative, very volatile time. You had literally no idea what you were going to see from day to day, be it brilliant (rare), terrible or just plain ugly. And some character vignettes (like Kevin and Jen Rappaport bellying up to the same bar to trade war stories about Joey who they both screwed over, with Kevin flat-out telling Jen she was just a substitute for Kelly in Joey's life) were of a type we never got to see on the show again. Some reinventions or new ideas worked, many didn't. Some stories and concepts had good bones and terrible execution but there was always a lot of passion, however misguided. That was the story of that period, and it was succeeded by probably the darkest era in the show's history for me (Dena Higley, who I think added the weird 'Cristian is not Cristian no wait he is' twist - she came in in very late '04).
As for Max and Gabrielle in 2001, what I was told is one of the actors explicitly (and quietly) asked to end it due to the howlingly bad reception from both the audience and the soap press. It's been so long that I can probably just say it but you might as well take a guess. I don't know if that's true but I couldn't blame anyone if so. I know Malone allegedly wanted to revisit them while re-pairing Bo and Nora, but neither got off the ground. Exterminating the Holdens was a Frons directive.
By
Vee ·
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