I agree with this. I think the infrastructure was just too messed up even by 2000 and certainly by 2010--maybe infrastructure is the wrong word, but increased network interference, less trust in the creatives to do their job as ratings started to fall, etc. As we know from the McTavish correspondences I've posted bits of particularly from her 1998-1999 pretty disastrous run, but even earlier than that, weekly demos were watched VERY closely, there was still a lot of desire to try to emulate Days of Our Lives (one of the few shows in the 90s to see a notable ratings increase,) etc. Even firing Lorraine Broderick (who IMHO should not have been fired even if in 1997 she definitely had some misfires) and replacing her with McTavish purely because McTavish had written the show the last time it was number 2 in the ratings shows that "easy fix" mentality without really understanding the issues.
Agnes Nixon coming back as (co) HW in 1999 for a year and a half did help in many ways bring the AMC show back to form (I know others disagree with me on this :P ) but really then it kinda quickly became a mess when Passanante took over solo HW, Richard Culliton's two years felt shapeless, Gordon Rayfield... At the time I was glad to have McTavish back because at least it felt like it had some direction again but... Well you know how everything went (and Frons increasingly micromanaged everything by then.)
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EricMontreal22 ·
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