Lynda Hirsch talks about Paul Rauch

[DRW50]

She anchored major stories even in her early time on the show, so the show must have trusted her from very early on.

This "hair model" stuff always seems so convenient. It's the same idea that says Vail Bloom is somehow a huge drag on the show, while Eva Marcile is not. Or that MTS somehow learned to act, while others, who are not mentioned, and who barely make an effort half the time, are not judged as harshly.

[MarkH]

I agree. I really feel we should not validate this "hair model" term. Like any label, it is convenient but prejudicial, and ignores nuances between individuals.

[Vee]

Like Maeve Kinkead? Let's ask her about Paul Rauch.

And his OLTL and GL looked like [!@#$%^&*].

[CSF]

I agree! Everything on his GL was pink and salmon colored and way too bright!

[Aback]

That's what I think too. I mean, you have a guy who's been in the business forever. Who would know better than him? C'mon!

It's not like they hired him to do all the heavy-lifting. I can't imagine Super-Rauch being busy coordinating production, putting up with the actors and taking care of contracts, divas and stuff at the age of 75. Guys, he's new there. It's not like he's the boss. He's not.

Yeah, tell me about it. Whenever I see someone praising PR's 'superb production values' my eyes start rolling uncontrollably. I'd like to see them for once. His GL looked good at the beginning, but then sets, direction and production became embarrassing. I'm afraid the same is happening with his Y&R. Camera angles are often so bland. You want a classy and visionary EP? That's Ed Scott IMO.

[SOAPSFOREVER]

I agree. Rauch ruined both OLTL and GL. And he was a horror to work for according to writers who have worked under himon both of those shows. Talk about actors in playpens. Rauch is equally guilty, if not more so. His AW was so successful because of Pete Lemay, the superb, if difficult, headwriter during the 70s. Soaps are a writers' medium. If soaps succeed, they succeed because of a strong, talented headwriter, not because of a strong EP. Prior to the 70s, soaps were all about the writing, then the power began to shift. Production companies and netrworks began to place more power in the hands of EPs, many of whom tried to micro-manage. The headwriter because secondary almost. It's even worse today (are you listening Chris Goutman and Ellen Wheeler??? JFP??? KC???) I don't think Rauch brings anything to Y&R. It's MAB's baby. He may run things "on the floor" day to day, but she guides the ship. Final decisions will ultimately be hers. I think that's a good thing. Like MAB or not (I happen to. I think she knows what good soap opera is, and it's not the crap we see on ABC where plot drives story at the expense of character and history. I'm not syaing her Y&R is perfect, but at least it embraces the classic soap elements, and instead of apologizing for them, or trying to make soaps into primetime dramas [they're not, and never should go there again -- hear that, Barbara Bloom and Lynn Latham!?), she's giving the audience more of what I believe attracts people to daytime soaps: interesting, well conceived characters in plots that intrigue and engage.

[vetsoapfan]

It amazes me that Paul Rauch continues to enjoy any credibility or success in the daytime field. His one, real success was producing ANOTHER WORLD...three decades ago. And, I truly believe that he was only regarded as successful for that, because he initially continued using the themes, characters, and storyline threads that had already been introduced to the show by Irna Phillips and Agnes Nixon. Harding Lemay's fine writing (well, from 1971 to 1975, anyway) concentrated on core characters and structure created by the great Phillips and Nixon, and everything on AW went well. But after Lemay quit and Rauch was left on his own, with a revolving door of hack writers, it became clear that he had no clue about the heart and soul of the show, what had made it popular to begin with, and what the audience wanted to see from it. With continued years of incompetence behind the scenes, the show's ratings sank like a stone.

Don't even get me started about how he took the fine, intelligent, character-driven ONE LIFE TO LIVE, hacked away at a huge number of its important, core characters, and turned the series into a low-brow, sci-fi crap fest. Or how he decimated THE GUIDING LIGHT. His putting himself into the final scene of the once-fine SANTA BARBARA (stomping out a cigarette) was tackiness in the extreme. The three series he launched on his own (LOVERS & FRIENDS, FOR RICHER FOR POORER, and TEXAS) were all disasters. (TEXAS actually improved vastly after Rauch was replaced, which led Kin Shriner to remark at the time that there had been seven major areas of production which were problematical under Rauch, and the new producer coming in immediately fixed four of them).

I certainly hope he does not have the same power and authority at Y&R that he used to decimate his previous soaps. In today's soap-unfriendly environment, the show cannot afford to be crippled with the same mistakes he wrought on his other productions.

[MarkH]

Because of his legend, I was very afraid of what he would bring to Y&R.

I cannot say I can discern that he is doing any harm. Even if he is behind the MTS-ouster, that's not unique to this regime...she (and others) have been having brinksmanship-negotiations like this for a decade, with each regime from Alden to Smith to LML to MAB. The show looks beautiful, and I suspect his power truly has been limited.