Reflections on Head Writers

[JackPeyton]

JER comes up with an idea, picks a char to tell the story with, and then halfass trys to make it work even tho it doesnt.

they are not bad storys when they START, but 3 years later when nothing has happened they do suck.

JER would be great at movies. primetime. specials. not daily soaps.

hopefulyl when passions is off the air he will NEVER work on any daytime soap opera again.

I will say he MUCH better in the 90's, however what he did to days had the largest negative impact in the long run than anythign else, IMHO. and as for it never being boring - just because SOMETHING is happening doesnt make it good.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The thing with JER is that he didn't pretend to be Shakespeare, Bill Bell, or Agnes Nixon. He didn't do intellectual or humanly/emotionally compelling stories in the traditional sense. However, what he didn't do in intellectual or humane terms, he made up for with entertainment and camp value. Critics have always hated JER, but his writing clicked with a certain audience (particularly younger audiences) who didn't want to learn a lesson while watching a soap, they didn't want to be preached to, they didn't understand or care about the multi-layered facets of the other soaps, they just wanted to watch something entertaining, JER deliver that for the most part during his first DAYS stint. Of course, even then, he had his clunkers - the balance was off and his shows have NEVER had good dialogue teams.

JER's main problem was he NEVER developed characters. He would set major stories up where important things happened, yet after the stories wrapped, the characters never grew up or changed. They remained the same, through everything. The major example is Sami, she matured a lot (for the most part) after JER's first run. However, when he came back, she was yet again that insecure teenager who acted out. This severely limited the characters and when succeeding writers came in and tried to mature many characters, they failed because JER left such an imprint on both the audience and the character.

[juppiter]

I can't really think of any soap that doesn't do this these days. Soaps are all about shock value now. It didn't start with JER and he's not the only one that does it.

And I think JER was good for DAYS. He got mainstream people talking about the show. Since 90s DAYS, no soap has gotten mainstream buzz. ATWT sorta has with Luke/Noah, but nowhere near the buzz DAYS got in the 90s. DAYS was frequently #3 in the ratings in the late 90s. It was Langan who screwed it up, not JER.

[EricMontreal22]

Actually after writing on Falcoln Crest they were creators, headwriters of the Playboy Channel "soap", Eden (not to be confused with Marland's 80s Showtime soap New Day in Eden). I know it was largely softcore porn, wasn't meant to be very good, is from 1993 and imdb says the complete series is on DVD but nothing about how soapy it was...

I did find this review: http://www.scoopy.com/eden.htm that makes it sound awful and says that even when it wasn't a bad sex scene there was ZERO plot progression.

I didn't know Addie Walsh was part of a transitional team under FMB. SInce i loved FMB and Broderick's work at AMC so much I always am curious about their period on ATWT (I'm also a big fan of Addie's work as HW of Loving briefly)

I know this is a popular opinion but I think McT deserves SOME credit for keeping the show at number 2 for so long (indeed before McT, AMC ratings were slipping a bit and went to number 2 again under her). THis was what got me hooked on soaps--Natalie in a well, late 1991 so I'm biased tied with the Will murder and the Marrick/wildwind gothic stuff. But until McT kinda started burning out by 1995 I think it was lotsa VERY VERY strong stuff. Yes Agnes Nixon was still there more than she has been since, and yes FMB was a brilliant EP for the show, but they didn't keep McT as long as they did just so they could pay someone millions of bucks and not let them write. ANd in hindsight many of the stories are clearly McT's style--just executed far better than, I happily admit, any of her other eras at other soaps have been. For me, and again it was what hooked me so I know longer term watchers might disagree, this was classic, great, often perfect AMC and soap and I give McT quite a bit of credit for that.

Broderick of course was listed as HW on many mid 80s episodes of AMC (even if apparantly Agnes was usually the official headwriter) so had a history on the show. I loved AMC under her--particularly the brief period of AMC under her and FMB--I think it slipped a bit under Francesca James. The ratings were dropping, and the rise in DAYS ratings didn't help and the execs did get Broderick to do some out of character (for her and for AMC) stories like the voodoo mess, the cute but odd Santa Clause story, etc. Tanner Jordan, MAtteo's old friend coming back to steal Hayley, crashing he rin a plane, forcing her to drink, making her think she slept with him etc was another not so popular story (but was a huge hit compared to McTavish's story of Matteo's ex with their son coming back from his past done the next year)

But she did a lot of great stuff (even under some bad luck--like the actor problems with her character of Pierce) and managed to tone down some of McT's shock plot developments which were starting to get less and less well done--the show began to feel a bit more like the 80s AMC community I think. Definetly fired before her time (ironically she was fired to reinstate McTavish, I believe cuz ABC saw that ratings fell under Broderick and felt that replacing her with McT, who wrote when the show was number 2, would be an easy fix).

This was a very weird period for AMC--some of the story ideas--the psychic tatoo, CHandler ghost, etc, seemed to have been again partly pressure to be more like DAYS still. It was largely a disaster but in hindsight I still think it seems brilliant in spots next to Passanante and we still did get to see a lot of the vets (in weird stories like the Brooke/Jim child molestor story, or Palmer and the Nazi paintings)...

It's clear Nixon never intended to come back for long--just to help get the show back in shape. After a couple of months her name was liste din the credits with Elizabeth Page as co headwriter, then by that fall it was Page AND Passanante and VERY soon after it was AGnes and Passanante only. I know Passanante had a respected run as Malone and Griffith's associate on OLTL but i'll never understand what got her the job as co-HW on AMC.

WHen AGnes started, yeah Bianca was always the main focus, but you could tell Agnes was trying to reshape the whole canvas back to more how it was. We had fun comic character stories like Marian tricking her way into being a social climbing Chandler (tea with the queen). Becca, a flop character IMHO but, was introduced along with Greenlee who really in many ways seemed like a Tara and an Erica for the 2000's--as well as Leo. I even liked the very unpopular story of Brooke (now involved again with her shelter) and the priest Elliot tho the reveal that he had killed her daughter was poorly done. But lotsa potentially great soapy moments.

As soon as Passanante was co HW it felt like Agnes was basically ONLY writing the Bianca stuff and the rest was Passanante. I have no clue how Agnes allowed the show to get as schizo as it did during the cartoony, silly libidizone plot which happend at the same time as the brilliant Bianca stuff, or how she could (I'm sur eit wasn't her decision) leave the show solo in Passanante's hands. As soon as she left the show bottomed out to its worse era ever. Dog boy, all the E taking teens who were horribel and had no family connections, Ghost Gillian, etc etc. Amidst rumours of being fired, that summer Passanante left to join ATWT and for 2 or so months in the Fall AMC had no headwriter listed and they just kinda stretched the Ghost Gillian/Jesse stuff as far as they could.

A weird tenure that's a bit of a muddle in my head. A neverending and way too complex drug umbrella story with Proteus. TONS of dropped characters and storylines (including what was meant to be the return of classic characters like Tim Dhillon and Arlene). Everyone related to Leo stories, etc, etc. Still it was a huge improvement over Passanante and had some longlasting good moments.

When Rayfield wrote solo the show was pretty unrecognizable. Lotsa new characters instantly introduced, lack of family, and an odd tone. When Cascio joined him it did start to improve and some of her planned stories sounded good but we never found out cuz...

Mmm not at first. She got the show in shape, returned core families and a sense of interconnectedness, did some pwoerful scenes (Anna and David coming to terms with the death of their baby, tons in the Bianca rape) and got people talking about the show--and a spike in ratings. I think her first full year was actually good--certianly stronger than her late 90s tenure although it was a diff show--that time she came whent he show was in great shape, this time when it was in poor shape. After that the show was faily solid but each year it got worse and the last 2 years were largely a mess--the last 8 months or so a huge muddle.

Well now we know--no direction. I give them credit for ANgie and Jesse, at least partially--they loved the actors from Lovin/the City and almost everythign done with them has been done right. The Spike deaf story started with promise but then went nowhere and had no payoff--which is often their prob. RIchie Annie started with promise, went nowhere and has hard barely any payoff, etc etc... Still the show ever since May seems to be on an ever so slight upswing... to me anyway. Let's see what Pratt brings.

I'd love to do this for Loving/The City but it'll take me a while to keep track of who wrote what, that show had such a quick turnaround

[EricMontreal22]

What was Phoebe's storyline under Culliton? I honestly barely remember her except in holiday scenes since the late 90s and not in a major storyline since the early/mid 90s with that retirement home scandal Edmund investigated

And yeah Broderick gave Myrtle a story tho it was the bizarre Santa Clause one (mrs clause was also played by Eilleen H)

[EricMontreal22]

The way JER got DAYS to rise in the ratings is something I don't think we've seen since--I remember DAYS always being quite low rated in 92 or so when I started reading the ratings in SOD, by 95 when it had jumped so far and then by 96 or so overtaken AMC I remember being shocked. As for his writing, I agree with what others have said--I love campy soaps but what has stopped me from liking JER's for the most part is how poor the dialogue has been--I know Passions is a poor example but it literally gives me a headache, it feels liek the same characters talk in the same circles scene after scene sometimes day after day.

Anyone wanna tell me what the Killing Pool story was?

[EricMontreal22]

The dates with OLTL are hard for me too. I agree with your assessment a lot but am gon add my thoughts--I started watching OLTL as a very young teen already hooked on AMC and Loving who was drawn in by the Billy Douglas gay story in '92. I haven't watched it as solidly as AMC (or during its time Loving) partly because I found the late 90s such a mess and didn't have time for two soaps but...

Like with McTavish's time at AMC during these same years, part of why Malone and Griffith were so successful was Linda Gottlieb their EP for most of the run--and the one who hired them. It was a winning team. I know some feel that the show introduced too many new characters and families, but I think that was necesarily--largely--to bring it out of the campiness that by 1990 OLTL had completely been overtaken by. Some also found it preachy--I never did and I think the mix of social storylines with classic soap romance and twists was perfect. OLTL fetl very sophisticated--and won a lot of awards even if the ratings were still very middling during this era.

However I think Griffith is the key when Malone writes soaps. When Griffith left, for some reason, around 1995 Malone's work suffered--we got the convulated mess of a syndicated crime storyline with the Men of 21, and I believe he may have penned the awful Vicki is hypnotized to kill her son story. he was out by mid/late '96 anyway--I can only assume partly because he realized he needed Griffith's help--he has said so since.

And this is one of those areas I remember next to nothing--except that they starte din 96 not 95 It felt like the show was largely treading water--I think they continued some of the crime ring storylines Malone had had little success with and yeah, couples.

I was SOO excited to hear this writing team I had never watched but had read so much about were joining OLTL. And the first week I remember being great--even with silly things like Todd now having a parrot (apparantly Claire Labine loves animals in her stories). I remember Carlotta havign sexy fantasies, lotsa fun stuff--and the Dorian's history storyline, and Mel were great. But it seemed like by Summer they were for osme reason losing their sure footing and the stories were beign less compelling and their tenure just kinda dissipated to nothing it seems to me--I guess they were a bad fit?

I belive Long came in with Jill FP as EP. SHe was NOT liked and was out within a year I think. Then for pretyt much a FULL year OLTL was without a headwriter. Rumour is that JFP was dictating the major story and I believe it. FInally under pressure she hired McTavish--sorta funny coming off of her disastrous AMC second run. The stories didn't change too much--McTavish is eager to please those above her and I have little doubt that JFP was still dictating a lot of story. But, at first, I was getting more interested in OLTL again. It was--true to McT--dark and broody but had stronger dialog and writing than it had under Long and JFP, and I liked a lot of the new characters. But it certainlyw as not good enough to make me watch all that often as I don't remembe rmuch especially near the end.

This is an odd era. Whitesall is known to be a fiarly campy writer. Gary T was the EP and is know to like camp too. Broderick is known for almost the opposite. I'd love to know hwo these three worked together, why they wer ehired together, what Broderick wrote, what she didn't etc. The show did start to show some life for a bit--but it was def much sillier/campier, and became kinda famous for its ruanchy sex scenes for a bit. It felt pretty irreverent--the thign I remember most besides Natalie's story are the special one off episodes and live week.

This was a weird era. I BELIEVE first Josh Griffith was brought in as writer with Malone as consultant--we had the excellent Strom of February during this era. Then they became co-headwriters again and it started to slip. They definetly were making the show campier than they had in the 90s--with stuff like Mitch and that house that became the Santi estate, Victor Lord, etc. But I liked some of the setup--we had that center where the poorer teens of Angel Square hung out (never warmed to Flash but she was a good idea and I liked Riley back then) also they seemed to be working up for Llanview U campus to be a part of the stories again--some parties there, etc. I remember liking overall the first 6 months even if nothign was brilliant.

Then it started to fall apart. John McBain, the Santi MESS (which I still blame partly on miscasting--Tico Santi was as threatening as a lisping poodle) weird ideas like killing Al Holden off and having him switch bodies, Max and Gabrielle leaving, etc, etc. Soon Griffith left explicitly saying that Frons and ABC were telling him what to write and he wouldn't have it and true to form, Malone writing solo did NOT work.

Still you know what? Even at its worse it was more entertaining than nearly ANYTHING, for me, during Dena Higley's era. I was shocked that she was hired for the show, I HATED the whole neverending Margaret Cochran story (which did get its seed of an idea from Malone I admit), I hated how days went on for months, I hated how bad the dialog became, I found some creepy story elements like the whole Jess was abused as a little girl and Todd's rape were told in a kinda sleazy fashion that just made me feel icky, not moved or entertained. I dunno--jut a lot of crap and in hindsight it's pretty fuzzy--I think I fastforwarded thru 3/4 of all her episodes so maybe I missed some gems...

E

[RobynIsHere]

Eileen Davidson's exit storyline.

Kristen turned up dead in the Blake swimming pool, and immediately Laura Horton was a murder suspect. Eventually, the murder was ruled a suicide and Laura was cleared. But then it turned out it wasn't even Kristen who died--it was Susan's sister Penelope! And if that's not enough, she didn't kill herself, she drowned at the hands of Susan's lover Edmund who mistook her for Kristen!

Along the way, we were led to believe Susan was dead because Kristen impersonated her. Susan was actually sent to a harem in the Caribbean. Eventually she escaped, reunited with Edmund, got Elvis back, and sent Kristen to the harem in her place.

The story played out much better than the way I made it sound--there were tons of twists and turns and lots of good character moments, like when Stefano broke down after Kristen's death, and when Kristen got her just desserts at the hands of Susan. This was Sally Sussman's greatest story.

It's sweet revenge because even to this day, all of Salem believes Kristen is dead when in reality she's locked in the dungeon of the Caribbean fortress.

[Sindacco]

The teens actually had some scenes without the vets at the high school set when LB was still writing. I remember Shawn getting in to a fight with Jason (I think those were Jason and Jans first scenes, I could be wrong though).

[Sindacco]

That's one of the main reason I loved JER 1 so much. Great balance and I never felt that he tried to push a character down my throat.

And during JER 1 the show had the best villains. I loved everyone on this cover except Sami (my number 1 hate character)

[Toups]

That's a great cover, Sindacco!! JER 1's villains were so fun to watch. I loved his theme of good vs evil throughout his entire first run. Man, I could gush abut JER 1 all day.

[Steve]

ALL MY CHILDREN

Megan McTavish (first time)

I know I'm in the minority, but I loathed the Natalie in the well story because it dumbed down Trevor, who was a cop and should have seen through Janet's manipulations much sooner than 3 months.

The other major clunker for me was Ted Orisini showing up and looking just like Tad. I could by that Nola thought Tad was her son because she hadn't seen him in years and was holding onto the hope that he was alive but it made no sense to me that he actually was Tad's double. Then, that whole business of him wanting to kill Tad so he could be with Dixie, UGH!

Most of her stories were good, though, imo because both Agnes Nixon and Felicia Minei Behr were still around to keep her in check. The Who Killed Will? story remains my all-time favorite murder mystery.

Lorraine Broderick

I loved how Broderick brought depth back after McT's shallow plotting. Suddenly Brooke was involved with the homeless shelter again and adopting a homeless girl, which fed into Brooke's own history of learning her mother was a homeless woman in the mid 1980s.

ITA with Eric that Pine Valley started feeling like a community again. The Michael Delaney coming out storyline was so powerful because it involved the entire town.

I also loved how Broderick tried to reignite Adam & Palmer's feud by having Liza turn to Palmer to sue Adam for his faulty plane parts that caused her miscarriage. The story went nowhere when Broderick left, but it had so much potential and imo made up for the DAYS-style stories the network tried to force on this show.

Megan McTavish (second time)

It was a total mess, from Camille getting revenge on Adam for her heretofore unheard of mother's death to Mateo's psychic coma to Adam swapping his sperm for Jake's at the clinic to Brooke confronting Jim with a gun instead of calling her cop friend Trevor or PI friend Tad. Just one ludicrous storyline after another.

Agnes Nixon

What Eric said, basically. I loved watching Marian try to fit in with the upper crust. This was an important part of AMC's history from Phoebe's snobbishness (and constant reminders that her family, the Englishes, came over on the Mayflower) to a young Erica trying to fit in with the upper class to Enid Nelson looking down on Jenny as not suitable for her son Greg. The class element imo should always be a part of AMC.

Greenlee's introduction was fantastic. Here was a character who taped herself having sex with random guys. A new diva who could become the next Erica some day with her blend of bitchiness and insecurity. Even better, she had twice the insecurity because she had been abandoned by both her parents!

I thought Brooke's romance with Elliot had potential as a story of redemption. I'm not certain, but I think if Agnes had stayed longer, we would have seen Brooke realize that her vigilantism in killing Jim was worse than Elliot/Josh accidentally killing Laura.

The tour-de-force storyline during this time was Bianca's coming out. Nothing else even came close.

Jean Passanante

She didn't use the vets from what I recall and her storylines were not only cartoonish, but boring. I still don't know what Brynn Wid was about other than a way to bring Anna Devane to Pine Valley along with that inane Dog Boy. There were also endless scenes of Leo & Laura, who were like a precursor to Ryan & Greenlee, a passionless, chemsitry-free couple that ate up airtime. Tad & Dixie imo had their worse story ever with David trying to drug him and loony Leslie Coulson.

Richard Culliton

I loved a lot of what Culliton did. He gave Opal & Palmer their last storyline when she briefly dated country singer Hank and Palmer paid to have Hank sent off on a world cruise. He also wrote really well for several couples: David met his match in Anna, Greenlee reunited with Leo (I still have her breaking up his rewedding to Laura on tape somewhere), Ryan stopped being a man-whore when he met Kendall, Tad & Dixie finally had an internal disagreement about her pregnancy rather than an outside force scheming to break them up. Also, Liza got her balls back when it was revealed she was siphoning funds from Chandler and planning to leave Adam.

I wish we knew more about what was going on behind the scenes because there were so many story stops and starts. I can't remember now if it was Beth or BearlyThere, but one of the former administrators of this board once told us that Culliton's stories were being shot down constantly and from what played out on screen, I believe it. Even so, Marj Dusay's performance as Vanessa and her supposed split personality Rosie was a riot to watch and I didn't mind the focus on Leo & Greenlee. I actually thought Culliton was leading up to the reveal that Leo was Vanessa's son with Eric Kane, but we'll never know.

Gordon Rayfield and Anna Cascio

Rayfield alone was just unwatchable. It was as bad as Passanante & McT; Edmund was suddenly drugging Maria/Maureen who went on the run with Aiden in a stupid spy plot that involved Aiden's ex-girlfriend from England. Adam & Liza became talk-to characters for JR & Laurie. Some Asian guy named Henry was dating Bianca's friend, Maggie, and we were supposed to care about them why?

However, as soon as Anna Cascio joined him, the vets came back into focus again and the stories weren't as bad. The introduction of Michael Cambias had promise, Liza was going after Tad, Anna losing her baby and David blaming the Martins played into their longstanding feud, Edmund & Mia were an interesting couple and could have been good in a triangle with Maria.

Megan McTavish (third time)

I thought she started out strong with Bianca's rape and the babyswitch, but I got sick of watching the same scenes over and over again where Babe almost told the truth. It stretched on interminably and since it was on 4-5 days a week with no movement in the storyline, it got kind of boring. Then, there was no payoff after all those months since Babe was forgiven so quickly by the entire town. It got even worse when Ryan suddenly had a "psychic connection" with his former stalker Greenlee and dumped Kendall to marry her. Suddenly, Ryan was an unbearable a-hole, Greenlee a smug bitch and Kendall their constant victim. Unfortunately, that pattern continues and these 3 characters keep dominating the show.

James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten

They started off strongly with the Crash storyline, but again like McT they had no payoff. We waited for months for Kendall to get back at Greenlee for causing Spike's deafness only to learn that it was a preexisting condition? Yeah, right. They did at least write for more characters than McT with Tad, Adam & Erica especially coming more to the forefront, but the stories have been lacking. Even Angie & Jesse really have no storyline now that the moronic Papel mess has ended.

I'm cautiously optimistic about what Chuck Pratt has planned for the future.

[Steve]

It wasn't a major story, but Laura stole some of Phoebe's medication and took it so Leo would rescue her. My memory is faulty on this but I think it backfired because he was off with Greenlee somewhere and Brooke found her instead. That was one of the last times Phoebe was on when it wasn't a special occasion.

[EricMontreal22]

Steve I gotta agree that when Ted Orsini came to town and hunted Tad in the woods of Canada it was early signs of one of McTavish's nuttier stories. One of her last stories I believe which was quite nutty too was the whole guy dressed up as Will that I think Del brought to gaslight Dixie... (I believe it was one of these stories that got FMB to think she was losing it and replace her with LB, too bad FMB was out soon herself) Still I think, like I said (and I think Steve you agree on this point) that McT DOES deserve some credit for that first tenure--though you're right that the Natalie/Janet story dumbed down Trevor--it prob bugged me less cuz I was 11 and cuz I was brand new to the show. The clincher for me though was the whole, granted ott, Wildwind/Budapest long story.

I do kinda remember that Phoebe story. I had forgotten about that airline/Liza's miscarriage story--I agree it had potential and was just dropped. I appreciated that the Michael Delaney storyline--as shocking and big as it was didn't just drop the gay thing after. Yeah Michael himself, the actor never seemed fully comfortable with the role (his BF, a doctor always was way more appealing I felt) but that was parlty cuz they still were afraid to write a gay guy who was anything less than 100% masculine--but I understand that. But they then carried it on with Kevin Sheffield--a character at 17 I related to a lot and while they also shied away from a relationship with him I think the Kelsey storyline with her crush on him was realistic and well played. And of course then he disappeared. (Actually Broderick was prob the last time AMC had a completley successful teen set--although Agnes Nixon's intro of Greenlee, etc in 99 wasn't bad)

I don't want to give McT too much credit, but with her late 90s stint, I kinda wonder if it was so wacky partly because ABC was still asking for stories to compete with DAYS. I mean McTavish leans towards that stuff anyway but she also seems to liek to please the bosses--and I can see them planting the idea in her head to go for outrageousness (ie the first week she came I believe we got that "ghost" at the ball and the tatoo). Doesn't excuse it though--like I said one of the few good things about the period was we DID see vets, but...

I agree 100% with what you said about Agnes' brief return. I remmeber I still didn't pay a lot of attention to the credits at that point and suddenly saw that Agnes was HW--and realized that's why the show was so much better. The true pity is Agnes didn't have someone worthy to trainand guide as her successor since her return was always meant to be shorterm. I agree that the Eliot story--though I get why some found is misguided--woulda worked better if Agnes had been allowed to play it all out. And I agree, that class/snobbism is really lacking. Now on AMC you can't even really tell who's of waht financial class anyway... Everyone seems pretty wealthy even the non wealthy characters.

I forgot all about Leslie Coulson. That story struck me as almost mysogynistic--and she came BACK. And don't forget Jean suddenly making Laura a psycho. And incrtedibledreams.com

I agree that something musta been ahappenign with Culliton. We can't blame Frons, but it was def a weird time.

Anyway I agree with a lot of that--well said.

[cct]

Boy, you guys are bringing up some stuff that I had totally forgot. Definitely the whole "Gay Teacher" storyline is in the top ten of favorite AMC stories for me. Everything and everyone surrounding it was well-played. I can still remember that Graduate-like moment before Laurel was shot on Tad's (?) talk show. There were close-ups of all the townspeople (like Enid Nelson) and their lips were moving but no sound was coming out. And then to link it to the Sheffield coming out. I don't remember how he was written out. P.S. Loved Kelsey. She was a breath of fresh air. ;-)

The gaslight with 2nd Will was totally erased from my memory until you mentioned it. I remember thinking around the time that it was all getting a little ri-dick with everyone having a twin (Natalie/Janet, Adam/Stuart, Tad/Ted...) Like everyone here has mentioned, McT starts out so strong and then blows out.

Let's face it, after the ectopic pregnancy (McT or Broderick?), Brooke never really had a decent storyline. Pierce started out OK, but really devolved through the numerous casting changes. And then in the 00s, she really had no storyline at all (until that botched Maria returns storyline...ugh) It was as if they gave Brooke's storylines to Liza.

And I liked Myrtle and Santa Claus.