2 hours ago, VelekaCarruthers said:

Don Chastain was the head writer who decided to blow up HH under Bunim's final few months as EP before she moved to ATWT

I don't think SFT was ever as good after they destroyed the Hartford House. The show lost its gathering place.

4 hours ago, VelekaCarruthers said:

Don Chastain was the head writer who decided to blow up HH under Bunim's final few months as EP before she moved to ATWT

The claims that he was out to destroy Search for firing him as a cast member may have some credence...

2 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

I don't think SFT was ever as good after they destroyed the Hartford House. The show lost its gathering place.

What did you think of the apartment building setup in the last year? I wonder how long that lasted. So much I've seen doesn't even seem to make use of it.

Don was doing what most soaps at the time were doing - trying to copy cat in some fashion Monty's GH particularly her Thom Racina strike craziness storyline (freeze the world) and general Luke and Laura adventures

52 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

What did you think of the apartment building setup in the last year? I wonder how long that lasted. So much I've seen doesn't even seem to make use of it.

I didn't think the apartment building concept worked. It seemed so contrived -- moving most of the cast into the same building. It was a gimmick. It might have worked better if the building itself had been more interesting. For example, if the apartments had been lofts. Or if the building had been an old apartment building with lots of urban character. But the sets were generic and boring. It was very 1980s plain and simple. Plus the writing was not compelling. it seemed no one knew how to write SFT after the Corringtons who were extremely successful in my opinion. The show still had moments of greatness, but it was never again a great show after the Corringtons left.

6 minutes ago, VelekaCarruthers said:

Don was doing what most soaps at the time were doing - trying to copy cat in some fashion Monty's GH particularly her Thom Racina strike craziness storyline (freeze the world) and general Luke and Laura adventures

You mentioned Chastain was the head writer who got rid of the Hartford House. Although I was unaware of that, I do recall him being criticized for some of his other decisions. I remember posters on another message board mentioning that he had written several things that practically destroyed the show. I was not watching regularly at that time. Do you recall any other damaging occurrences that took place while Chastain was writing?

Wasn't it Don Chastain who explained Billie Lou Watt's departure by writing that Ellie had run off with some cook off-screen?

17 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Hartford House was an old mansion that they turned into a country inn for short and long term stays. There was a dining room.

It was the perfect meeting place to connect characters who lived there/ stayed short term or just visited. And as @Tisy-Lish said, it kept Jo and Stu in the mix.

The Inn was blown up in late 81 in another of those 'adventure' stories they kept foisting on the audience and Stu later started the Riverboat.

Maybe it was a budget thing? Did SFT move studios at one point and the Hartford House set was too big?

Because it was a foolish move and another plot that disconnected the show from the past.

It was definitely a studio space move that got rid of Hartford House. While still on CBS, P&G moved the show out of the CBS Broadcast Center into a tiny studio on West 81st St, Reeves Teletape studio. I got a glimpse at their soundstage from an actress on the show at the time. Very small studio.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by TEdgeofNight

I seem to remember a summer 1981 Don Chastain plot about a wrestler. It seemed to have queer undertones. I remember it was a lot different in tone from the prior few years but the clips I've seen recently it looked well lit, produced and acted. Don had never written a soap and Bunim was crazy to put him in charge. The other issue is that Harding Lemay's material had only been airing a few weeks when the strike material started in spring/early summer 81. SFT suffered from a series of head writers similar to The Doctors and I've wondered this before: was Mary Stuart behind many of the writer changes? I think all the shows lost their footing during the 1981 strike. But Chastain's SFT had some high ratings but the show did start to slip.

Does anyone else remember Mary Stuart's one episode stint as Kate, the madame of a bordello in Louisiana who also happened to be Jo's doppelgänger? And I believe Kate was Martin Tourner's former girlfriend. I happened to see that episode when it originally aired, and the idea was quite intriguing. Nothing ever came of it, and no storyline was built around Kate. But I assume the Corringtons were toying with the idea of somehow getting Jo and Kate together -- ala Kathryn and Marge on Y&R. (I believe the Kathryn/Marge plot took place in the 1990s.)

I'd love to see that episode again, but haven't found it on YouTube. Kate is mentioned during Martin and Jo's first meeting scene, which is on YouTube. When Martin first meets Jo, he thinks she is Kate. This particular scene was available on YouTube as late as about a year ago.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Tisy-Lish

I believe Don Chastain wrote the show during the strike and like others before and after was kept on. Wasn't his character of Max Taper written off so he could concentrate on writing?

But I assume his inexperience at structuring a soap came into play and Ralph Ellis/Eugenie Hunt replaced him in Dec 81.