I am both Harding Lemay's biggest fan, and his harshest critic.
Harding Lemay did not understand the importance of the traditional middle-class core family to many soap operas. He didn't understand that the core-family was intended to be permanent to those soaps, neither did he understand the role of the soap opera matriarch and patriarch and how important they were to both the audience and the structure of the show. With not much knowledge of nor appreciation for the genre, Lemay wanted the freedom to write whatever he wanted to write, even if it meant altering the structure of Another World. He wanted the freedom to experiment with new characters, many of whom did not work and were written off within six months of their first appearance (believe me, there were dozens and dozens of these characters during his eight years at AW). If he found a long-term character boring, he expected the authority to write-off that character, or if he didn't like a particular actor, he expected the authority to simply stop writing for him/her -- eventually writing-off or killing-off the character. All the other soaps survived with the understand that there are certain characters we want to remain central to the show, so they will get screen-time and they will not leave the show. Lemay either was unaware of this, or his ego just would not all him to care. And Paul Rauch was not a strong enough executive producer to tell Lemay "NO."
On the other hand, Lemay was a master of character driven drama. He wrote very few identifiable plots (storylines with a beginning, a middle, and an end) while he was at AW. Instead me wrote situations and conflicts that allowed the audience to get inside the heads of his characters, to grow to love them, and to feel that they were real believable people. Another World was very imperfect during the Lemay era, but it was certainly compelling drama. And I tried never to miss an episode. While Lemay was at AW, I complained that there weren't enough formal storylines, and I complained that the Matthews family was being sidelined -- but I was totally hooked on Lemay's characters. I could not stop watching as long as Lemay was writing the show.
By
Tisy-Lish ·
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.