Pat Falken-Smith

[SteveFrame]

Yes even with pulling Thaao Penghlis over who was a Cassadine on GH

[vetsoapfan]

Pat Falken Smith was an extremely gifted writer, very true to the Irna Phillips/Bill Bell style of storytelling, and who was probably the best head writer DOOL ever had.

After Bell left to concentrate on running his new soap, Y&R, in 1973, Smith continued working under his long-range bibles throughout 1976. She was able to fine-tune what could have been overly-melodramatic material (such as Trish Clayton's assault by her step-father, Jack Clayton, or Mickey Horton's breakdown after learning his beloved son, Mike, was actually sired by his brother, Bill), into poignant, engrossing, heartbreaking fare.

The trouble was, high quality does not always equate to high ratings. While adequate, DAYS' numbers were not as strong as the suits wanted, and so Smith was fired (she did not quit, as some say), and was replaced by former MARY HARTMAN (a campy, syndicated soap spoof) writer Ann Marcus, who ended up using a lot of Smith's story projections (which was the reason Smith sued the show).

The choice of Marcus proved to be a bad one. She did not understand the characters, and was more adept at writing short-term "action" stories or highly improbable melodrama than she was at writing layered, adult drama based on character conflict. DAYS went from a romantic, character-driven show to a cartoonish, action-packed train wreck. The only real success Marcus had was in her pairing of Marlena Evans and Don Craig as a couple. She did not last more than a few years before the suits realized another change needed to be made. At this point, DAYS began its unfortunate penchant for sending mediocre (Elizabeth Harrower) if not downright dreadful (Nina Laemmle) writers through a revolving door.

When Smith returned to DAYS in the early 1980s, she worked wonders with the garbage she inherited. At the time, daytime TV was caught in the "Copy GH!" mode, and everyone wanted to mimic the success of the Luke and Laura/adventure/mystery formula. Smith wisely incorporated the "new" agenda being foisted on the soaps (she created the DiMeras as powerful antagonists, and penned the Salem Strangler story outline), into conventional soap opera norms of multi-generational family conflict and star-crossed love. It was a perfect combination of the old and the new.

Sadly, it was not to last long. Residual conflict from her initial lawsuit several years before lead to Smith being asked to leave AGAIN. This was another bone-headed decision by TPTB, because upon her departure, the show was left in the hands of the dread Margaret DePriest. ((Shudder)) Ironically, DePriest continued the show using Smith's story projection (but without the grace, style, insight, and wit that Smith knew how to inject into scripts), which lead to more battles between the now-exiled Smith and DAYS.

Joe Moscolo (Stefano) said it best: "When Pat Falken Smith left, the quality of the writing went with her."

Amen.

The show never again achieved the critical/popular success it had during the 1960s and early 1970s, when Bill Bill and Pat Falken Smith were able to weave their magic. Viewers who only know DAYS as the campy, low-brow nonsense JER and his ilk turned it into have no idea that, once upon a time, this show was a literate, adult masterpiece.

[vetsoapfan]

"

Actually, Smith was the perfect follow-up to Marland at THE GUIDING LIGHT. She instantly 'got" the characters, and was able to weave multi-generational characters throughout complicated, layered plots. She had romance, comedy, family dynamics, and a strong sense of community on-screen every day. Unfortunately, this is not what P&G and the other suits wanted. They were going for the kids in the audience, not the adults. Towards this goal, they demanded an unending stream of FANTASY! CAR CRASHES! MURDER! SEX AND VIOLENCE! HORNY TEENS!

Smith's character-based, literate, adult style was simply none of that, hence her brief tenure with the show. Alas, after she left, subsequent writers decimated Springfield's core, and we lost many of its focal characters, and the style, theme, and tone that had kept TGL popular for decades. Like so many other soaps of the day, it was dumbed down to meet the campy/fantasy/teen-obsessed ideals of the 1980s.

[Paul Raven]

Great posts guys,putting past events into perspective.

Pat Falken Smith also planned to bring back Bill Horton.Edward Mallory confirmed in SOD that he had been approached to return,but Pat's departure ended those plans.

Stefano was going to go after Julie and Doug and Julie would fake a seperation to uncover his plans for Salem.

According to PFS,this would mean Doug&Julie having romantic secret meetings and almost being caught eg Doug having to climb out windows etc.It would be light hearted at times,but also suspenseful.

Ann Marcus was criticized by John Kelly Genovese in a review for many of her stories

Maggie's alcoholism

Bill&Kate

Marlena stashed in the sanitarium

and the pointless introduction of characters like Lorraine Temple,Amy Kositchek,Walter &Patty Griffin.

He said she relied on the'too much time spent at work' plot device to create conflict between couples.

He praised the intro of Chris Kositchek.

Some details from Bill & Susan's farewell interview in SOD Oct 84

Their last appearance was in mid March.

Their contract called for two appearances guaranteed and was due to expire April 85.

NBC,Columbia and Corday Productions had the option to terminate sooner.They contacted the Hayes and said they wanted to renegotiate-half the number of appearances and pay and no guarantee of a storyline.

They felt that since 1980 they hadn't been given much on the show and that it was at it's worst when Hope was introduced played by Kristian.

Doug & Julie were written as "the heavies of the Western world",becoming unpleasant to push Hope as the heroine.

They discussed it with producers and writers and it was hard on Bill as he had raised 5 children and felt it was not in keeping with character,was unpleasant and negative.

They stopped worrying about it and when it came to negotiations and they were offered more out time and vacation time,but their big request was for a story.They were told that there was little chance of D&J ever having a story again.

Ken Corday is quoted;

"Basically,what happened with the upsurge of GH four years ago was,and I think it went hand in hand with the fact that more young people were watching in college and hugh school,that the producers got wise to it and started telling much younger stories.ABC was the first to get on the bandwagon with GH and AMC followed suit.We,in the last two and a half years,have really re-adjusted our storylines and brought in characters under 20.It's proven to be a great success to tell the young storylines as well as the storylines for those over 20,30 etc."

He maintains that Doug & Julie's appearances were just as regular but the focus changed,becoming the focal touchstone for younger characters and taking on the matriach/patriach role,but were not happy with that.

He says the expansion of the show from 25-30 players,doing faster paced shows and 3 or 4 stories a week meant that their high guarantee wasn't feasible any longer.

Susan says that TV always imitates success but wonders if it will attract long term loyalty, as young viewers get jobs etc and are not steady viewers.What about the steady viewer who is more settled -not 8 years old but maybe 25? This is more the backbone of the show, she states.

She goes on to say that constantly creating a new hot couple means audiences end up with no-one to root for.

They talk about how much the show has meant to them and don't rule out a return if offered a 'good story'

Ken Corday said that the door is always open to return and right now they are testing the waters to see how Salem floats without them.There might come a time when either party might instigate a return.

[SteveFrame]

I remember that article and hated that I lost that copy of SOD a few years back.

Susan is so right in there. The soaps pushed away the audience of older folks who are most loyal in their viewership in exchange for that younger audience. And it is no criticism to young people but having 3 children I know that they are very fickle in the programs they watch. Not jsut the TV programs but they are not even brand loyal that much.

I never did figure out why they let Ken Corday do all the quoting in that article. he was just a producer at that point - Betty Corday and Al Rabin were the Execs. at the time. It was Al's last year - so maybe he was letting Ken take more of a lead role.

They really treated the Hayes' like crap - esp. considering all that the Hayes gave to Days.

*******************************

As to the criticisms of Ann Marcus, I found her period on Days to be better than much of Sherri Anderson's period. To me Sherri Anderson is one of the most overrated writers Days ever had.

I know that she was criticized for Maggie's alcoholism story but I thought the story was one of her better ones.

And the intro of Chris Kositchek was one of the better things. He was wonderful. I still miss the guy today as well as all the Anderson family.

[kalbir]

So ABC started the whole supercouple/action/adventure craze and Days copied it. Funny thing is, I didn't know any young people in the 1980s who were into the ABC shows. General Hospital and All My Children were "mom's" shows and the "young ones" loved Days. Anyone who was school-aged from 1983-1990 knew about Days even if they didn't watch it. Everyone in school would be talking about Bo/Hope, Stefano, Marlena, Steve/Kayla, et al. (As a CBS fan, I got made fun of for liking "grandma shows", although I would hardly consider Y&R, B&B, Marland era AtWT, and Curlee/Demorest era GL to be "grandma shows").

[SteveFrame]

That is weird that you didn't know anyone. yes from 83 on, Days became popular with the young folks, but at our school it was a toss up between GH, OLTL and Days.

And from 1979 to 1983 it was then that it became hip as a high schooler to be a soap fan. Before Scotty & Laura and then Luke & Laura on GH, if you were a young person and liked soap operas you usually kept it secret. If you didn't around here you got picked on. But when Luke/Laura esp hit - everyone in my junior high and high school watched soaps and talked about them - both boys and girls. Everyone knew who Luke & Laura was.

And then in 83 AMC really picked up popularity too with Greg & Jenny and Jesse & Angie. Many of us young folks had earlier been fans of Phil & Tara and then Cliff & Nina but it wasn't popular to watch or talk about an AMC couple until Greg & Jenny.

GH is the one who created the big super couple phenomenon and big adventure stories. the first was Luke & Laura on the run from Frank Smith and then was the Cassadines trying to freeze the world.

As stated above all the shows worked to copy GH. As I said somewhere else, Search For Tomorrow even went so far as to have their leading actor Rod Arrants at the time don a perm just like Luke's. I remember Soap Opera Digest and Daytime TV pointing that out and really criticizing it.

They even pointed out that Days had gotten her own Luke when she cast Wayne Northrop as Roman Brady. They talked about his curly hair when he first came on.

At that time every new big couple was the new Luke & Laura. The magazines ran that story or who is the next super couple stories as often then as they run the plan to save Days articles today.

[Paul Raven]

I can't find any confirmation(as yet)on the net,but I recall that Pat Falken Smith returneed to Days in 87 as consultant.

She was responsible for the return of Bill Horton and Janice Barnes(both characters from her 70's stints).

Does anyone know any more about this?

[Sylph]

Will there be a sequel?

[DrewH]

I love all of this information. Please, keep it coming.

[theherowithin]

The Salem Strangler storyline was not Pat Falken Smith's idea, according to what Sheri Anderson said in the SOD Days special edition 25 years of romance magazine. Sheri said that when PFS came back she thought the SS storyline was wonderful and wanted to expand it out further than what it was originally planned. Also as somebody that watched the Ann Marcus era 1977-1979 , I'll say I definitely thought it was better than PFS's 1976 year by a long shot.

[Gray Bunny]

It's interesting to hear people discuss the "good eras" or good years of DAYS, or other soaps, in the 70's and 80's, because usually you'll hear people say a show was either all good or all bad back in the day. In more recent years, there's always debate and discussion about the ups and downs of shows, sometimes the "ups and downs" of a show change every other week it seems, and people are so specific about who's writing what...

On that note, here's another historical trivia to discuss... At what point did soaps begin playing musical chairs with their headwriters and executive producers? And did you notice these effects without the knowledge of backstage changes?