Members Sedrick Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 As promised in the Bill Bell on DAYS thread, here is my stab at yellow journalism as it relates to the subject of famed late writer Patricia Falken-Smith... Falken-Smith took the reins as HW of DAYS in 1973, although the longterm story was done by Bill Bell until his contract with DAYS expired in 1975. She subsequently turned the already-popular show into a critical success, and DAYS annually cleaned up in Emmy nominations, as well as the glowing review from TIME magazine in 1976. However, Falken-Smith quit in 1977 in a huge contract dispute with NBC, Columbia (original show packager), and Betty Corday. Ann Marcus, who had written LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING and SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, took over as HW with assists from her husband, Ellis Marcus. The following is taken from Ann Marcus' memoir WHISTLING GIRL: ...DAYS was a solid show, with a wonderful cast, and Pat Falken-Smith had left it in good shape. I'm not exactly sure why she left, but after she did, she sued everyone connected with it-including her ex-husband, NBC, Columbia, Betty Corday, and eventually Ellis and me. If I ever knew a litigious person, it was Pat, who went to court as often as some people go out for a frozen yogurt. "It's nothing personal," Pat told us. I'll follow up with more in a later post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sylph Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 Can't wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeliaIrisFan Posted July 31, 2008 Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 This is just fascinating...I can't wait to read more. Thank you! On what grounds could someone who willingly quit a job possibly be able to sue their successor? And how on earth did she ever get hired again (let alone back at DOOL)? I truly don't know what to make of this woman...especially since I am inclined to dislike her on principle because of Ryan's Hope. I've actually seen quite a few of the pivotal DOOL episodes from the Salem Strangler story, and as wrong as it was that ABC forced out RH's creators to replace them with a writer whom they specifically charged with turning it into a completely different show, PFK's RH should have actually been better than it was. A realistic, gritty serial killer story (the Salem Strangler may have been the only one in the history of soaps) would have actually fit with RH's NY setting (though I shudder to think which veteran characters PFK would have used it to kill off). And as soaps were getting larger than life in their storytelling scope in the 80s across the board and straining credibility to justify how such things seemed to happen in small, midwestern towns, NYC would have been a bit more believable as the setting for Fortune 500 business transactions and international intrigue. Too bad RH's stories at this point were probably even cheesier than the worst of DOOL and GH's spy stories. In PFK's defense, it seems as though ABC or somebody who was not a writer was meddling at RH in the 80s far more than the other ABC shows. Certainly Labine/Mayer's work in the early 80s was not what it had been in the first five years, and their 1983 return was off to such a good start and then somehow all of their carefully constructed initial stories were just dropped without any lasting impact by the time they actually left. Of course it was all still light years better than the 1984-85 episodes that can be seen on YouTube. I guess by the time Claire Labine returned for the last time ABC had forgotten that it was even still on the air, so she had a bit more liberty. Not that I have too much sympathy for what her RH tenure did to PFK's reputation - she should have known what she was getting into based on the way the show's own creators were treated. I should really read the Ann Marcus autobiography someday...of course, I still haven't read Lemay's, but in some ways I'm more curious about Marcus (probably because I've heard about most of what's in Lemay's). She sounds like a very underrated writer, and I think her time at Search for Tomorrow would have probably been the only time I would have ever been able to really get into that show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted July 31, 2008 Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 Pat Falken Smith is one of those writers that completely lost her way throughout her career, IMO. I mean she was Bill Bell's protege at DAYS, however, once she went over to GH and worked under Gloria Monty, she became totally corrupted. She carried Monty's action packed supercouple stories to about every soap she went to (including her subsequent stints at DAYS). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sedrick Posted July 31, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 During her first stint at DAYS, Pat Falken-Smith was the highest-paid writer in daytime... Falken-Smith's first tenure at GH ended rather badly too in 1981 after she and Gloria Monty had taken the show to unimaginable heights. Falken-Smith quit and said in an interview regarding her former boss: "Gloria is a genius--who runs a Gestapo operation." Ouch! By early 1982 DAYS was in serious trouble, and Falken-Smith was lured back, and she instantly created magic with the legendary Salem Strangler tale (TRIVIA FACT: it was Ann Marcus who created the character of Samantha Evans, Marlena's twin sister played by Diedre Hall's real-life twin)...but after a few months Falken-Smith clashed again with the brass at DAYS and quit, and once again she filed suit! Her 13 week tenure at GUIDING LIGHT in late 1982 (replacing Doug Marland, who himself had quit in a huff) was apparently too short a gig to result in lawsuits... In 1984 she had adapted author Judith Krantz's SCRUPLES into a daytime soap for NBC, and the show was going into pre-production for a summer '84 debut when there was a sudden change in leadership in the executive offices at NBC Daytime. Brian Frons took over as head of daytime and promptly killed SCRUPLES and instead greenlit SANTA BARBARA...and you know how Falken-Smith responded---she filed suit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MarkH Posted July 31, 2008 Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 Sedrick, thank you! Gosh, I love these posts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PAsoapfan Posted July 31, 2008 Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 Thanks for the great read. Love this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paul Raven Posted August 1, 2008 Members Share Posted August 1, 2008 Pat Falken Smiths return to Days has been criticized by some,but I think she did a hell of a lot in a short time. I had an old article which detailed her thoughts and plans(now lost). At that point, Days had suffered through a few bad headwriters and had dropped to 10th place. She introduced the Bradys to counterpoint and complement the Hortons. Roman for Marlena Kayla was going to be involved with David Her plan was for Marcus Brady to be involved with Melissa Anderson,who she brought back to boost Mickey and Maggie. She disliked the Maggie surrogate story and said that Maggie would be the least likely character to carry another woman's child when she would have loved one of her own. The Di Mera's-Tony and Stefano at this pont would also become involved with established characters. A daughter Vanessa was mentioned,who would possibly involved with Mike Horton. The DiMera's were not the supervillians they became. Valerie Grant returned and Abe Carver was introduced. The Salem Strangler story was developed. She had Bill Hayes write her a letter,detailing what he believed were the good and bad ponts of thev show . She said Susan Seaforth Hayes was a sexy fabulous leading lady who should be front and center. Pat only had time to set up stuff before she left due to problems with old lawsuit. DePriest and Anderson stayed on but a lot was changed from her original plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted August 1, 2008 Members Share Posted August 1, 2008 Can someone expand on her GL tenure, what was so bad about it? I've heard it was a disaster, and I know Douglas Marland recommended her for the position, when he left due to creative differences with Allen Potter. Did Potter and Smith clash like hell too? In any case, after Smith was Monty-ized, as I said before, she tended to recycled storylines from show to show or at least Monty's over the top vision. That is not a good mix for shows like GL and Ryan's Hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted August 1, 2008 Members Share Posted August 1, 2008 Also, what led to Smith coming back to GH from 1986 - 1988? Was that stint any good? I thought she and Monty had hated one another too much during their first stint together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members heatherwebber Posted August 1, 2008 Members Share Posted August 1, 2008 Who was her ex-husband and what did he do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sedrick Posted August 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 1, 2008 Although I wasn't watching GL at the time, I can sum up the main reason why IMO Falken-Smith's tenure failed: Marland had created very intricate, complicated storylines, most notably the Mona/Mark mystery, stories that had only begun and/or were in the middle part. When he left, he took his outlines and ideas (as in, the resolutions) with him. As talented as Falken-Smith was, she was no Marland, and there was no way she could possibly have navigated the minefield that his stories turned out to be. The standout of her tenure was when she had a house being moved to crash into the Readon's home, which created the space for Company! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sedrick Posted August 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 1, 2008 ABC got her and Monty to patch up their differences basically. That stint involved the now infamous Laurelton mystery. She left along with Monty in 1987, and was replaced by...ANN MARCUS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SteveFrame Posted August 1, 2008 Members Share Posted August 1, 2008 I think even though Falken-Smith had changed from her former stint, she wasn't as out there different for Days as DePriest and even moreso Anderson were. The DiMera's really changed after Smith and DePriest left. Smith esp wanted to focus on Julie but DePriest and then esp. Anderson just wanted to get rid of Doug & Julie and did. I think that was while Sherri Anderson & Thom Racina were writing that they finally just got rid of them. I was so shocked that Betty Corday and Al Rabin allowed that to happen. I loved Betty Corday but she lost to me alot of her credibility as a producer when she lost H. Wesley Kenney in 1979 and started working with Al Rabin. She and Al allowed the big massacre to happen in 1980 where they fired many long time cast members. Then in 1984 they allowed the firings of the Hayes'. I know that Ken Corday has committed many faux pas but so did Betty Corday to me. She allowed many of the changes to begin taht forever plaqued Days and set up for the major excapism from reality that forever hurt the shows credibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted August 1, 2008 Members Share Posted August 1, 2008 Weren't the DiMera's fashioned after the Cassadine's, who Smith had created on GH? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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