Maybe "seeded" isn't the right word, because seeding requires intent and I'm not sure that they intended to do this but that sequence on the evening of the anniversary party, where there is an awkward scene between Carlton and Eva where I wondered if there was some familiarity between the two of them. Carlton's concern toward Eva seemed strangely paternal. This was way before Eva started working in Ted and Carlton's office. Up until the anniversary party debacle, Eva had worked as a temp for Laura in Nicole's office. Ted would've known Eva through Nicole but Carlton had no previous interaction with Eva. Was it just basic concern for a young woman who appeared conflicted? Possibly. Did it come off as having some deeper subtext? I thought so.🤷🏾♀️ Piggyback on that, the paternity/DNA aspect with Eva's results was implied that it was made explicit but then there was that strange phone call between Leslie and some unseen person, along with Leslie's very quick handling of the DNA testing. Do we trust someone who put on a leather suit and helmet to go run someone off the road to be telling the truth? I don't remember Ted doing his own DNA test, I think he just trusted Leslie's word regarding the results. But that entire story thread still has me scratching my head, including why on earth Leslie waited two decades to tell Ted. It's not like she couldn't find him or wanted to protect Nicole, or Ted or their children...why. wait. so. long?? The only thing that makes sense is if there were another possibility for Eva's biological dad.
There is that idiom that says "too many cooks spoil the broth", and I have read (and heard anecdotally) of many a screenplay that ultimately became unrecognizable from its original pitch and concept because the screenplay changed hands and authorship one too many times. In an ideal world, you'd want one writer per story, from beginning to end but that's just not possible for a 37 page script (they used to have a longer running time!) for each episode, 5 days a week. Honestly, some writers did this in the early days of soaps and even some head writers like Douglas Marland did a year's worth of story projections and wrote what appeared to be the bulk of the stories during his tenure. And he wrote some brilliant stories. I am also convinced that doing so much of the writing on his own created enormous strain and might just have likely ruined his health. In some ways, the best writing tends to be done in solitude but television and movies tend to be highly collaborative enterprises, but it's easy to see why so many movies and television shows can flop because the more people involved in the creative process, the more things can go off-target. Miscommunication of ideas, especially if they are not carefully plotted out in advance, can happen. Also, depending on the production process, there can be script changes, right up to filming, which can make for a chaotic process.
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DramatistDreamer ·
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