Y&R: TV Guide Confirms JG is out and his replacement!

[vetsoapfan]

Oh...no.

Dear God in heaven, NO!

Not Paul "Soap Killer" Rauch.

Who has more experience "producing" soaps into the grave than he does?

He's only been "successful" once, and that was at ANOTHER WORLD, where he inherited a wonderful ensemble of actors, characters, themes and stories conceived by other people. With an (initially) strong headwriter in Harding Lemay, the Rauch years were a critical and commercial triumph. Once Lemay left, however, and Rauch exerted more of his own influence and ideas, the show collapsed into an unwatchable, heinous mess. He decimated AW's core the way he would later destroy OLTL and TGL. His LOVERS & FRIENDS; FOR RICHER,FOR POORER, and TEXAS were all unmitigated failures (ironically, as soon as he left TEXAS, it improved 100%, but the Rauch curse hung heavy over the serial's head and it was axed, anyway). Let's not even "go there" about how he butchered SANTA BARBARA!

This is dreadful, dreadful news.

[AMCGio83]

This is terrible news for Y&R fans. I'm soooooo sorry.

[S&BFanForLife]

Wasn't he EP during the Santos, Reva/Josh/Annie, and Dinah/Hart/Cassie s/l? I thought GL was good during that time.

[AddictedToSoaps]

I think so.

[Ann_SS]

Wait a minute, didn't Nelson Blanco claim several weeks ago that Paul Rauch had been fired from Y&R? Now we find out that Rauch actually got promoted. Further evidence that Blanco doesn't know squat. Next time people get into a tizzy over one of Blanco's ridiculous false rumors, I plan to remind everyone how often he is dead wrong.

[AMCGio83]

He was but there was also Blind Reva, kidnapper Holly, Stalker Nola... and a whole lot of san cristobal. By 99-2000 GL was a bloody mess.

[DaytimeFan]

And he was also at GL for Joan Collins' sublime run as Alexandra.

I think he's a strong EP, which I can't say for Griffith. I gave up hope of ever getting back the Y&R of yesteryear a long time ago, I've made peace with it. I am now excited to see how Rauch fares, he may surprise us, I hope he does.

[S&BFanForLife]

Thanks for clearing that up, AM. I was back and forth between GL and GH during that time. From all the present GL talk, it seems that the show was much better back then compared to how it is today.

[ReddFoxx]

This is great news. I might be in the minority here, but I think Paul Rauch is a great choice.

[MoTheGreat]

I'll keep a eye open tosee what he does in the next couple of months.

[YRBB]

Oh, you mean nothing like classic Y&R was!

[YRBB]

I don't know what I was thinking hoping that Ed Scott or David Shaughnessy's name would be on there!

[Dan]

Paul Rauch is one of those producers who needs to be paired with a strong-willed writer. Harding Lemay was one such writer and that partnership produced one of the greatest soap stints. By 2002, Rauch had to contend with Millee Taggart, who brought back some of GL's heart, but also had to fight tooth and nail to get anywhere with both Rauch and MADD. The fruits of that effort made 2002 one GL's best years since Millee Taggart (not to say that the quality was THAT good, as much as the quality had become that bad during the intervening years).

The one factor that actually helps the situation is the writing team that Y&R has. We have Maria Arena Bell, who has the Bell-family clout to back her up and Hogan Sheffer, who doesn't get steamrolled over like some of Rauch's former collaborators. Not to mention the fact that that she-devil Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin (Rauch's partner-in-crime at GL) is nowhere to be found.

[JONNYSBRO]

I Adored Rauch's 80's OLTL run. It was so campy, fun, so highly budgeted and so entertaining. The difference between the Rauch era when he did those campy stories he had the budget to match them. The show was very highly rated and very good. I loved it bigtime. His AW run which I never saw is known as his best soap. At GL I will say Rauch was a mixed bag for me. I loved his first year at GL with Cynthia Watros. Lets just say this when Rauch took over GL in 1996 the soap was near cancellation. It looked terrible, it was badly written, and a joke in the industry. He improved the show's sets, lighting, brought back some vets and the soap took off. The week of Annie's trial were massivly great GL numbers. It was about in 1999 when San Cristobal and the mob took over the show went south for like two years. Then in 2002 during Rauch's final year with the soap, he brought Millie Taggart onboard and GL was the best it had been in ages. Once Rauch quit the soap, then Taggart left and GL has been bad ever since. I will say this I would take Rauch back at GL over Wheeler's GL. Rauch no matter if you love or hate him is old school soap and that is what Y&R needs to return to is old school soap. Latham tried to change Y&R into fast paced plot driven primetime soap that tanked badly all over the place.

[Dan]

Another good thing about Rauch is that although he is stubborn, eventually he does get the hint. He allowed San Cristobel to be written out in February 2002 (after only 3 years of domination; I didn't say he works quickly) and let the mob get downplayed.

Also, he may let alot of vets leave, but he knows who the most important ones are. He stated in interviews that neither Jerry verDorn nor Maureen Garrett (GL's then-two longest-running performers) would be fired on his watch. And they weren't. Sure the writers sometimes had no idea what to do with them, but they were always there. Almost the second after Rauch quit in 2002, Maureen Garrett got bumped to recurring.