Need some help

[MarkH]

1. What were the most important lessons Bill Bell taught her?

2. What is her most memorably storyline and/or character from the early-mid 80s when she wrote. Back then, on Toronto's CHCH TV 11 with Vic Cummings, she said her favorite character to write for was Lauren. Has that remained true over time?

3. What inspired her to write that elegant memorial for Guiding Light?

4. Is it true that, in 2005, when she was hired as story consultant for Y&R, she was really competing with LML for the HW job? If yes, did she write a bible or long-story projection for Y&R at that time? If yes, and she can divulge, are there any things she would have done?

5. Is it true that she was instrumental in bringing Thom Racina to Y&R this summer? Is she still in touch with him? Is she sorry he's no longer at Y&R?

6. Does she think there'd ever be a role for her at the Bell soaps again?

7. How does she avoid "shop talk" about the show with her husband, supervising producer Anthony Morina? Or, in contrast, does she like being "connected" to that old workplace?

8. What, if anything, would she do differently about Generations if she could revisit it?

9. Having been a veteran of so many soaps, what does she see as the future of daytime, and what does she see more generally as the future of serial storytelling in the US? How does she feel about this future she imagines?

10. What are her personal feelings about her years at Days? Days is a show that has had a lot of chaos in the time since she left. Does she ever wish she could get in there and "fix things up"?

11. When can we next expect to enjoy something "written by Sally Sussman Morina"?

12. She's Canadian, right? Does she still get home to Canada?

[FrenchFan]

Questions have been asked, my friends. I used what you told me. Here are the questions I asked.

Richard Backus

- Let's begin with your acting career. I think your first soap stint was in NBC short-lived soap: "Lovers And Friends" / "For Richer For Poorer" in 1977-1978. You are one of the few actors who played in the original and the revamped version. What can you tell us about this? Why do you think this soap failed despite an apprition of very popular Mac & Rachel from AW?

- You moved to AW in the role in 1979. Your character, Tes Bancroft, was the first AW character to be "back from the dead". He was quite insane, wasn't he?

- Do you have any fond memories or anectodes from your time on "Ryan's Hope" as Barry Ryan in 1980-1981?

- Why did you leave acting for writing in the early-mid 80s'?

- You wrote for a long time for ATWT under the helm of daytime legend Douglas Marland? How was it working with him?

- Do you have a favorite storyline, scene or character from this great era?

- When Marland passed away in 1993, you became co-HW with Juliet Law Packer. What do you think today of your time as HW?

- Then you moved on OLTL? Was the show very different from ATWT?

- You left OLTL for a short time between 1997 and 1998 to write for AW? Would you explain what happened? Was it to save AW for cancellation, which arrived in 1999?

- What is your fondest moment from your time on OLTL?

- Why did you leave OLTL in 2004?

- You only came back on soaps as a script editor on DAYS in 2007? Why such a long absence? Was writing for DAYS a good ride?

- Would you like writing for a soap again someday? "Guiding Light" is getting cancelled. Can you see a future for daytime soaps?

Michael Laibson

- How did you come to soap-operas?

- You were first a producer for ATWT from 1984 to 1987. What was your favorite moment?

- Then, you moved to AW in 1988. You arrived, I think, just before the strike? Would you tell us how things went at the time? What are your thoughts on Harding Lemay's brief time as head writer, and on Donna Swajeski's stint? What did each writer bring to the table? What kinds of stories did you most like executing?

- There were some great sets at AW during yout time there that really made the show look different than just about any other soap. What were you going for with the set design and who was involved in that?

- Who made the decision to bring back Iris Wheeler? Beverlee McKinsey was at the time playing Alexandra Spaulding on “Guiding Light”. How was Carmen Ducan chosen?

-Were there originally different plans for what the character of Iris would be doing that got changed by unforeseen factors, such as the unexpected loss of Doug Watson?

- To what extent did Mac's death impact the show's stories overall? It was obviously a huge loss, and it happened when the character was more central to the stories than he had been in years, and Douglass Watson's passing seemed to hit a lot of his co-stars hard personally. What would have happened with Rachel, Iris, Paulina, and/or the 25th anniversary episodes had Mac been around?

- How did working at NBC when you were EP of AW differ from other shows you worked on? To what extent was NBC and P&G involved in the process?

- 1991 saw two main actresses leaving AW: Why did Anne Heche decide to leave the AW? Who's decision it was to drop Julie Osburn (Kathleen McKinnon) 6 months after she returned in 1991?

- Was there anything you wished you could have done at AW that never got off the ground?

- How did he feel about the show's direction when you left, at the beginning of Peggy Sloane's tenure as head writer?

- Did you watch AW after you left? What were your thoughts on the various directions the show went in?

- AW was probably in danger of cancellation before you was working there, and years later it was ultimately canceled. What are yout thoughts on what led to that? How could it have been avoided?

- You were a producer on AMC in the early 1990s’. What could you tell us about this?

- How did your GL stint come about?

- What were some stories/moments that you enjoyed producing at GL?

- What are some things you would have done differently at GL if you could go back and/or you had gotten to do them the way you wanted to in the first place?

- Were there any performers/characters at GL or AW that you wished he had been able to showcase more but, for whatever reason, could not?

- Do you have an opinion about the cancellation of GL?

- Is it true that P&G wanted you to come back on GL in 2004? If it is, why did you decline?

- You haven't been an executive producer of a soap since leaving GL over 10 years ago. What have you been up to? Would you want to return to the genre, and if so under what circumstances?

Sally Sussman Morina

- How did you come to soap writing?

- What did Bill Bell teach you when you were writing “The Young And The Restless”?

- What is your most memorable storyline or moment from the 80s’ in this show? You mentionned in a former interview (on Toronto’s CHCH TV 11 with Vic Cummings) that Lauren was the character you most liked writing for? Has it remained true?

- Can you tell us about the conception of your own baby, “Generations”?

- What would you do differently about “Generations” if you could revisit it?

- What is your opinion about the place of African Americans in daytime dramas today?

- What are your personal feelings about your time on “Days Of Our Lives”. The soap has had a lot chaos since you left. Do you fish you could get in there and “fix things up”?

- When you were hired in 2005 as story consultant for Y&R, is is true that you was competing with Lynn Marie Latham for the Head Writer job? If yes, did you write a bible or long-story projection for the soap? Would you agree to divulge it? Are there any things you would have done?

- Is it true that you were instrumental in bringing Thom Racina to Y&R? Are you still in touch with him? Are you sorry he’s no longer at Y&R?

- Do you think there’d ever be a role for you at the Bell soaps again?

- How do you avoid “soap talk” with your husband, supervising producer Anthony Morina? Or in contrast do you like being connected to that old workplace?

- Having been a veteran of so many soaps, what do you see as the future of daytime, and what do you see more generally as the future of serial storytelling in the US? How do you feel about the future you imagine?

- When can fans next expect to enjoy something “written by Sally Sussman Morina”?

- Last question, on a personnal note. You’re Canadian, right? Do you still get home to Canada?

Now, let's just hope they will all answer quickly. Thanks for your help

[DeliaIrisFan]

I think in retrospect 1996 was a truly bad year for daytime across the board. I mean, so much worse has followed, but I think all of the shows were trying to find their way after a drastic shift had taken place in the wake of several simultaneous events. We had (then) alarming drops in ratings due to the OJ Simpson trial, while at the same time JER's DOOL emerged as a de facto success story that everyone was being pressured to emulate; ABC was gobbled up by Disney and went from producing cutting edge, socially relevant, racially diverse drama to Cinderella-themed interludes; and the power structure at P&G shifted from Ed Trach to Ken Fitts while its flagship ATWT was still reeling from Doug Marland's passing and was no longer a successful model for what P&G soaps should be. After the dust settled, we saw flashes of brilliance on some shows from time to time in years since then (which have largely been overshadowed by dreadful story and casting decisions that make 1996 look like the golden era of soaps), but I think that was such a dark era because nobody quite knew what to do next. I have a hard time singling out Laibson, and even at the time I believe ATWT was being criticized even more; GL just did not have as far to fall in the ratings.

Honestly, the whole game of musical chairs that P&G played that year was truly stupid. If anything, Laibson should have been lured back to AW, with a mandate to recapture the best of his first tenure without the goofy, plot-driven excesses (and the timing would have been ripe...even his most controversial decision, recasting fan favorite Anne Heche with Jensen Buchanan, was finally somewhat validated as JB had developed a following and she earned an Emmy nomination that year). Sending JFP to another show, with which she had no history and clearly no interest in, made no sense; if they thought she was worth keeping, the logical thing to do would have been to keep her at GL, the show where she has earned widespread critical praise, record Emmy nominations, a (temporary) peak in ratings, etc. and try to figure out where she went astray. And transfering the guy who had been EP at AW for about 5 minutes to ATWT proved truly disastrous.

To be honest though, I didn't even watch GL regularly enough at the time to speak to the shift in production values from JFP to ML. JFP's last days at GL were not something I cared to watch regularly, and nothing Laibson did made me inclined to tune in. It had been nearly two years since GL's heyday, and a lot had changed, but yes JFP's production values at GL when I watched were top-notch. I was mainly commenting on Laibson's production values at AW, which in hindsight was more brightly lit than JFP's GL but which I think worked for that show. It was nothing like Paul Rauch's modus operandi. I also loved Laibson's sets at AW, and he had some great location sequences.

I would have liked to see him have the chance to execute stories at AW that went above soap opera cliches more frequently. For the life of me, I don't know why Lorraine Broderick, who had years of head writing experience, was brought in to AW in 1993 under Peggy Sloane (had she ever been head writer of anything?) instead of as head writer. Broderick was an Agnes Nixon protege and a former college professor - it seems like she could have been the writer to finally strike a balance between AW's classic soap roots and the literature-like qualities it became known for in the Harding Lemay era. But, that was not to be, and when Laibson got to GL he was paired with McTavish, and the rest is history.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I actually thought AW looked its best ascetically when JFP joined. She really gave that show an aesthetic makeover, and finally a new opening credits. I never understood why AW kept that ridiculously 80's paint box opening until 1996. PGP was so neglectful when it came to that show, IMO.

As bad as JFP's GL was after Nancy Curlee departed, I still think it was a step above Laibon's tenure overall. As much as Rauch gets a lot of flack, I thought his GL tenure started off exciting (albeit a bit too plot-driven) and ended well when he had Taggart and Culliton penning the show.

AW seemed lost in the shuffle at PGP, ATWT and GL clearly got the most attention. Also, the renaissance eras ATWT reached under Marland, and what GL reached under Pam Long and then Nancy Curlee, were never duplicated at AW. Donna Swajeski might have been there for a while, but her AW was never as acclaimed as Marland's ATWT or Curlee's GL, and the show never really got much attention for the soap press or from the Emmy's for that matter. AW seemed to be in a much more rapid decline after its glory years under Lemay than most other soaps. It didn't help that the show seemed to get a new HW and EP almost every year, even in a climate where it was acceptable for there to be many behind the scenes turnovers.

[DeliaIrisFan]

Like I said, I can't compare JFP's last years at GL to Laibson's, because I watched neither regularly. As for AW's production values, I thought what JFP did went completely against the show. I've read all kinds of technical praise for her hospital and police station sets (I've also read that they crippled the show financially and led to many of the casting cuts that came even years after JFP left) but bottom line for me, AW was never GH or the Edge of Night. I didn't watch to see everybody showing up at the hospital or the police station for contrived reasons. The '80s opening was a bit dated, but it was kind of endearing and nostalgic, and it was there before Laibson BTW. JFP's opening was soulless to me, and was already getting to look dated by the time the show went off, and screams mid-'90s when I see it now.

Well, I won't argue with you there, and I'm certainly not saying Laibson/Swajeski's AW was on par with what ATWT and GL were doing during most if not all of that time. But Harding Lemay was willing to return to AW in 1988, and they cast him aside for a scab writer after he had about a month back on the job. They brought in JFP, presumably to do the kind of work she did at GL in its heyday, and made her embark on a vampire story line. Lorraine Broderick was a part of GL's head writing team in the early '90s and was hired by AW in some midlevel writing position, only to leave after a year or so when she got a better position at AMC. The talent was available, but they always seemed to be hamstrung, probably due to NBC's influence. But I don't think the lack of Emmys and press attention directly correlated to quality - I have never seen anything from Megan McTavish's first go-round at AMC that was any better than Laibson/Swajeski's AW (actually there were a lot of similarities IMO - consistently good actors playing likable, unique characters whose strong chemistry with co-stars made up for a lot of plot-driven, gimmicky stories) and yet AMC won many Emmys at that time and the soap mags always seemed to be sucking up to it.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The sad thing is, AW actually rose in the demo's during JFP's time there.

I didn't too much care for her opening, but that paint box opening was dated even in 1989, it was ridiculous for a show well into the 90's to still have something like that. It wasn't timeless, iconic, or nostalgic in the sense the opening for DAYS is for example.

ER-style opening wasn't that great, but the show definitely needed a revamped opening in 1996, at least she cared enough to make the show look a bit updated.

The sad thing is, by 1997, the show couldn't afford to update the opening, so it was slashed and no one new was added. But at the same time, GL and ATWT's openings were cut to like 14 seconds.

Letting Lemay go was one of the stupidest moves PGP/NBC ever made. To this day, I never got why they sided with Swajeski. I think by the mid 90's, NBC wanted AW to be more like Reilly's DAYS, and the mandate was certainly felt during JFP's tenure, and later with ridiculous crap like Lumina (sp?). The show never really found its groove again, sadly.

[FrenchFan]

Sally thinks our questions are very good. She will send me an email with her answers by the end of the week

Jill Hurst also agreed to answer my questions next.

[juniorz1]

Anne Heche quit the show- Laibson didn't let her go and recast the part. Because of the mark Anne Heche made, Vicky became an indispensible character and therefore had to be recast. Oh and FYI: following or no following, Emmy nom or no Emmy nom, Jensen Buchanan sucked total a$$ as Vicky.

Peggy Sloane was either Assistant Head Writer or Co-Head with Swajeski and therefore was promoted. I agree with you in your thinking that Lorraine Broderick would have made a better head writer- Sloane's tenure wasn't nearly as good as her predecessor's.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I totally agree, she's extremely overrated and one-note. Heche brought so much dept and complexity to Vicky (and it wasn't just the writing), there was only so much Buchanan was good at.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Oh, that should be interesting. You must ask her if they had to re-write a lot of stuff because of the cancellation news.

[JackPeyton]

and here i was hoping she would become tolerable or good sometime soon. (im watching on hulu)

[MarkH]

I'm glad the questions might get an answer, FF. I've followed Sally for a while...

Jill Hurst! What a roll!

[MarkH]

Buchanan got so much good press. For me, Heche was great, but Wheeler was luminous. She created that role. I remember, back in the mid-80s, she played the milquetoast Marley for some time. Marley was kind of fragile and kind of sweet. And then, one day, Victoria burst upon the scene, and Wheeler's ability to own that opposite side was surprising and breathtaking.

Heche later came on and ramped up the pain and dysfunction in Viki, but Wheeler created something original and showed her own remarkable range.

[DeliaIrisFan]

I didn't think that AH was let go from the show, though in re-reading what I wrote I can definitely see how it could be construed that way. Controversial was probably the wrong word (although passing over Ellen Wheeler for the roles she created, if she did indeed audition as I've heard, could certainly be seen as controversial). I just meant that Vicky/Marley drove so much story at that point, that for the role to go from being played by an actress who embodied those characters so well and had gotten to a point where she commanded so much airtime in part because of her immense popularity (though I would argue no one actor should be that pivotal to a daily, hour-long soap in the first place) to an actress who a lot of people did not warm up to (at least at first) had to really hurt the show and must have undermined Laibson's standing as EP. The fact that, as you said AH was leaving anyway, so it's not like he chose one over the other, and JB was ultimately more accepted in the role after a few years, might have vindicated Laibson, had he returned to AW instead of taking over GL.

As for JB, she was Vicky by the time I started watching AW on a daily basis, and I fondly remember her in the role. Seeing Anne Heche's run on SoapNet, it was clear that I was watching a phenomenal actress in a magical moment where the stars had lined up or something because the talent and the material and the chemistry with so many co-stars were all there. I would certainly say Anne was the seminal Vicky/Marley (though I never saw Ellen Wheeler except as Marley at the end, and I liked her too though I hated the story that made Marley the "evil" twin and Vicky and Marley no longer identical) but I would definitely argue that Anne too grew a lot as an actress when she first came on. The big difference, I think, is that AW was very different in 1987 than it was in 1991. AH debuted on an AW that was pretty boring and poorly focused and as she grew into the role(s) she emerged as a bright spot. Vicky and Marley had been off the show for nearly a year at the time, and she slowly became involved in storie(s), plus Anne was only playing Vicky for her first year or so before Marley came back to Bay City for good. Whereas JB joined an AW that was still flawed but on an upswing and really better than it had been in years, and Vicky and Marley were an integral part of the most important stories. She really had to hit the ground running, and when she did not immediately take off it really hurt that momentum. (It also didn't do her any favors that her first stories involved both twins simultaneously casting aside the love interests with whom AH's Marley and Vicky had only recently been so happy in favor of men who were themselves played by recent recasts.) My sense is that JB had become very popular in her own right by the time Ryan died, and as I said she was nominated for the Emmy. For me, she was the actress I associate with Vicky completing her transition to a grown-up that Anne's Vicky began, and I thought she had a great rapport with Anna Stuart, Paul Michael Valley, Tom Eplin, Barbara Berjer, Kale Brown, Judi Evans Luciano, even Mark Pinter (as ill-conceived as the Vicky/Grant relationship was, and became more so with each story as Grant became more and more cartoonish). To each their own.

[juniorz1]

Were the answers to these interviews ever posted? I'm dying to see what they had to say, especially Laibson.