I do think that Sawjeski borrowed from Lemay's story bible that contained several years worth of story.   Some things she did were great: the annual Snowflake Ball; the murder of Jason Frame and the sensational murder trial where Iris was revealed as The Chief, Sharlene's past as a prostitute, and Felicia's backstory and that Derek Dane murdered her father in self-defense, the 25th Anniversary episodes; the death of Mac Cory; Cecile's 1989 Halloween return; the introduction of Lucas; the introduction of Paulina; the introduction of Ryan; the Who Shot Jake? story; the return of Kathleen and Carl Hutchins to Bay City; the Valentine to Singles episodes; the Kathleen/ Cass/ Frankie storyline; the reveal that Carl's girl Friday- Lorna- was Felicia's daughter; the battle for CEO of Cory Publishing after Mac died; beginning Felicia's alcoholism storyline

 

 

The not so great: the ruining of Nicole Love; having the original Alice and Steve appear in the 25th Anniversary episodes, yet not having them appear in any scenes together; the Red Swan (I'll cut her some slack with this because I'm sure they had to rewrite months of story since Mac passed away); Ken Jordan; Dean and Jenna's Ladykiller video; Sharlene's multiple personalities and Dr. Taylor Benson; writing out Mitch with little fanfare; making Josie and Olivia sisters then having Russ quickly leave town right after the revelation; giving Rachel little to nothing to do in the early 90s; the mysterious Asian girl who showed up on John's doorstep and disappeared quickly ; Paulina's ward Hannah Moore

I liked the Ladykiller video.

 

I do feel like the "not so good" stuff was mostly minor and even dropped stories.  Even the Red Swan basically got dropped, didn't it?   I did feel bad that Rachel sort of languished in the background for a while after the Red Swan storyline, but it was a confusing time and who knew where they were going to take Rachel without Mac?   I liked that she went there with Evan/Vicky, I LOVED that she started an Amanda/Vicky rivalry (that rivalry was brilliant and had SUCH potential), Cali Timmins' Paulina was such a different, interesting character for AW, she brought back and completely revitalized Jake- she did so much GOOD, solid work with the characters.  AW in the 80s was a constant revolving door.  What people fail to give Swajeski credit for is stabilizing the canvas and providing AW with the cast of characters that would carry the show through all the way to its finale.  The Swajeski era did that.

If Swajeski's AW so well-received why were her GL and AMC not so great

14 minutes ago, cassadine1991 said:

If Swajeski's AW so well-received why were her GL and AMC not so great

 

Because I believe she was burnt out by then (in both situations), and she had that piece of deadweight (Kreizman) tied to her. 

She was a co-head at both soaps.  At GL, under Ellen Weston and then with David Kreitzman at AMC.   When she was on AW, she started by working under Lemay and then had a very close working relationship with associate writer Peggy Sloane.  But she was the sole head writer there and TBH, not only did she get free reign, but she got to cherry pick AW's history and bring on both old and new characters of her own creation.  As I said, she was given leeway to re-invent the entire canvas and the results were solid and often well above average.

 

It makes me wonder how she'd have been had she created her own soap.

46 minutes ago, watson71 said:

Dean and Jenna's Ladykiller video

 

I didn't watch AW until the last year, but having watched tons of it on Soapnet/YouTube/tapes I loved Dean and Jenna and that horribly 80s video story. I know it was the early 90s but omg that thing screamed 80s to me. Had I been watching in 91/92 (when I was 13ish) I am sure that would have hooked me. 

12 minutes ago, juniorz1 said:

She was a co-head at both soaps.  At GL, under Ellen Weston and then with David Kreitzman at AMC.   When she was on AW, she started by working under Lemay and then had a very close working relationship with associate writer Peggy Sloane.  But she was the sole head writer there and TBH, not only did she get free reign, but she got to cherry pick AW's history and bring on both old and new characters of her own creation.  As I said, she was given leeway to re-invent the entire canvas and the results were solid and often well above average.

 

It makes me wonder how she'd have been had she created her own soap.

Surprised to hear she wrote for B&B and Port Charles

My only problem with Ladykiller was that the writers made Dean into this rock star, but he sings  for about 30 seconds of the song lol 😂 

 

 

I know dean/jenna was her idea...she patterned their courtship after her and her husband's with certain liberties.

 

What I liked with her writing of Olivia was that she wasn't some psycho obsessed with Dam.  She had a career as a dancer plus was good friends with Jenna..even helping her and Dean out when they had fights.  It was a shame that future writers d idnt bring Olivia back..since she had a child with dennis...a Cory.

I've always wondered about Swajeski's capabilities as a HW. Her early 90s AW was pretty good, but since AW she hasn't served as the sole HW of any soap. Kind of sucks because I'm curious as to how it may be. 

 

I've often wondered how Nancy Curlee and Donna Swajeski might have been as a team. 

44 minutes ago, MichaelGL said:

I've often wondered how Nancy Curlee and Donna Swajeski might have been as a team. 

 

I think that would be a dream combination. Throw in Linda Gottlieb as EP and we've got a soap to watch.

Interview with Donna Swajeski in early 1991..

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-03-31/entertainment/9101290167_1_soaps-victoria-wyndham-donna-swajeski

 

I f orgit about michael/stacey...grand romance it wasnt...and she explains the Red swan story suddenly ending

1 hour ago, juniorz1 said:

 

I think that would be a dream combination. Throw in Linda Gottlieb as EP and we've got a soap to watch.

 

2 hours ago, MichaelGL said:

I've often wondered how Nancy Curlee and Donna Swajeski might have been as a team. 

That would be a great soap.

10 hours ago, watson71 said:

 

My only problem with Ladykiller was that the writers made Dean into this rock star, but he sings  for about 30 seconds of the song lol

 

 

It took me a really long time to realize that haha! He sang more of some of the other songs thankfully, but yeah his "big hit" was mostly that 80s blonde lady.

 

Anne Heche was such a class act.