Members kalbir Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 Michelle Forbes got nominated for Supporting Actress in 1990. It's been nearly 35 years since her GL run ended, and she's been working steadily for the better part of those years. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vetsoapfan Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 What killed me was that for so many years, the show treated Reva as The Irresistible Sex Goddess of Every Man's Desire. Um...no. Please register in order to view this content I found 1982 to be fascinating, with Pat Falken Smith's short tenure a breath of fresh air. She hit the ground running. It was clear she had studied the history of the series and had an understanding of the characters. I was relieved to see that the show would be in capable ands after Marland's departure, just as General Hospital had been when PFS assumed the writing reigns after DM left. Personally, I think Zimmer's own personality was too "big" and too "sassy" to be an effective Hope Bauer. If TPTB wanted to age the character (whom Don Stewart once said was supposed to be about 24 when Alan-Michael was born), they still needed to cast someone who could project the essence of who Hope was. I liked Elvera Roussel, but in 1983, if TGL didn't want to continue with her, I might have considered Jacquie Courtney for the part. Courtney was 36 that year (which was in sync with the SORASing Alan Michael), and Courtney had a solid reputation of playing kind-hearted, loving heroines. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 Sadly, I don't know if any of her episodes are available to watch, aside from Quint and Nola clips. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vetsoapfan Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 I know, and I consider that to be a major shame. With the glaring exception of Ryan's Hope, I found Pat Falken Smith's material upon assuming the writing duties to be exceptionally good. God only knows why her RH stint was so...tepid. I wonder if it came down to tepid production values and network interference at the time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BetterForgotten Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 Slightly off topic - but when PFS came back to DAYS in 1981, NBC ran a commercial promo about “having the writer from GH now!” I wish that was still up, and why did no one bother to tell NBC PFS started at DAYS? Oh, here it is. How tacky: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 If they were going for that approach you'd think it would make more sense to say, "We had her first." Still, it was probably a more successful ad campaign than those "I made the switch" ads in 1986. It's a shame she didn't last long at GL, for whatever reason. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vetsoapfan Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 (edited) PFS returning to DAYS was such a welcome event for me. IMHO, she and WJB had been the show's very best writers of all time. TPTB at NBC, however, probably just wanted to capitalize of the GH angle since under Douglas Marland and then PFS, GH had been such a hugely-popular cultural phenomenon. It was so weird that P&G signed a renowned writer of her caliber, who had already proven she could succeed Douglas Marland to great effect, and then dumped her so quickly. At the time, Smith acknowledged she was mystified. I wonder if cost-cutting played a role. Pamela Long was a novice scribe, with no proven successes under her belt, and very little experience. It's not like her run on Texas was a ratings winner, so I wonder if TPTB went with her because she was significantly cheaper than PFS. Or maybe Gail Kobe had a mandate from the suits to dismantle and gut TGL the way ATWT had been gutted a few years earlier under Mary Ellis Bunim, to pander to the youth market. Kobe might have wanted to work with a writer she already knew. Anyway, this is just speculation. The facts are lost to history at this point. But it's so disheartening that the show had continued success in the palm of its hand (heck, TGL had even done surprisingly well in the ratings during General Hospital's explosive heyday), and then threw it away. Pamela Long did improve over time, and some of her work was effective (Phillip and Rick's friendship, Bert's short story with Martin Brunner, for example), but she was no Pat Falken Smith. PFS was one of the few writers whom I followed around the dial, from show to show. I knew I'd always enjoy her work (again, with the notable exception of Ryan's Hope). Isn't it curious that some writers do brilliantly on some shows, yet just don't gel and/or fail at others? Edited April 27 by vetsoapfan 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 Michelle and Joe Breen were great. The story was a quagmire. Ugh...right? and none of them are really allowed to get over her. Even Billy. RME. She slept his way through his family 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kalbir Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 Of all soaps during the 1980s, I think GL had the most turnover among EPs and HWs. I might be wrong on some of the dates. EP changes February 1983: Allen Potter to Gail Kobe January 1986: Gail Kobe to Joe Willmore June 1989: Joe Willmore to Robert Calhoun HW changes October 1982: Douglas Marland to Pat Falken Smith November 1982: Pat Falken Smith to L. Virginia Browne February 1983: L. Virginia Browne to Richard Culliton and Pamela Long September 1983: Pamela Long becomes sole HW January 1986: Pamela Long to Jeff Ryder February 1986: Mary Ryan Munisteri becomes co-HW September 1986: Co-HW change from Jeff Ryder to Ellen Barrett October 1986: Mary Ryan Munisteri and Ellen Barrett to Joseph Manetta November 1986: Sheri Anderson becomes co-HW July 1987: Joseph Manetta and Sheri Anderson to Pamela Long Yes, the Potter/Marland era held its own vs. General Hospital but I can't help but feel that the ratings success was helped by Y&R being in their post-expansion slump. Remember prior to the 1 hour expansion, Y&R was CBS highest-rated soap and was challenging General Hospital and All My Children for #1, but then all their momentum was lost post-expansion. Y&R rebound during the second half of 1982 overlaps w/ GL dropping post-Marland and by 1983 Y&R was back to being CBS highest-rated soap. Pamela Long set in motion characters and storylines that would carry GL through its final 25 years: Lewis family expanded and elevated to a main family, Phillip/Beth, Reva, Alexandra. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Contessa Donatella Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 (edited) What I was told by a soap journo who covered it at the time is that old story. There were things she wanted to write but they did not want her to write them. In similar fashion they named things they wanted her to write but she told them that they were impossible & no one could write them. At which point they said that was why they hired her because they thought she could write these stories that no one else could. So they were stuck. The elusive green light. Edited April 27 by Contessa Donatella more info 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vetsoapfan Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 Whether that ended up being an asset or a detriment depends on each viewer's point of view. Please register in order to view this content Aside from Trish, whom I liked a lot, I never grew to care about any of the Lewises. I disliked Beth, under both actresses. Reva's eating of the show became unbearable to me. Alexandra was marvelous while BM was there, but once Marj Dusay took over, I felt the character became an abrasive and one-dimensional irritant. Not to be a Negative Nellie (I know, I know: too late, LOL!), but IMHO, of the show's final 27 years, I only found about about five of them to be worthwhile. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reverend Ruthledge Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 That commercial is cringe-worthy. Everybody has different perspectives but that would make me NOT want to watch Days. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members P.J. Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 Of all the actresses that got shoved aside for Reva, I think Rebecca Holland is the one that surprises me the most. She's talented, gorgeous, and the most practical Lewis...and yet fades into the background. Trish and Vanessa should've been teaming up to keep Reva in check from day one. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Contessa Donatella Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 Similar to this, another period of network upheaval in the late 90s P&G/NY soaps AW EP 1995-1996 Jill Farren Phelps AW EP 1996-1998 Charlotte Savitz AW EP 1998-1999 Chris Goutman AW HW Aug 1995-May 1996 Tom King & Craig Carlson AW HW May 1996-Jan 1997 Margaret DePriest AW HW Jan 1997-Mar 1997 Elizabeth Page, Tom King & Craig Carlson AW HW Mar 1997-Apr 1997 Tom King & Craig Carlson AW HW Apr 1997-Dec 1997 Michael Malone AW HW Dec 1997-May 1998 Richard Culliton AW HW May 1998-July 1998 Richard Culliton & Jean Passanante AW HW July 1998 Jean Passanante AW HW Jul 1998-June 1999 Leah Laiman & Jean Passanante ATWT EP Laurence Caso Oct. 1988-1995 ATWT EP John Valente May 1995-Nov. 8, 1996 ATWT EP Felicia Minei Behr Nov. 11, 1996-June 1999 ATWT EP Christopher Goutman July 1999-Sept. 17, 2010 ATWT HW Richard Culliton 1995-Jan. 31, 1996 ATWT HW Stephen Black & Henry Stern Feb. 2, 1996-1996 ATWT HW Stephen Demorest, Mel Brez, Addie Walsh* 1996-1997 ATWT HW Jessica Klein May 1997-late Oct. 1997 ATWT HW Stephen Demorest, Mel Brez, Addie Walsh* late Oct. 1997-Jan. 1998 GL EP 1996-2002 Paul Rauch GL EP 2002-2004 John Conboy GL EP 2004-2009 Ellen Wheeler GL HW 1995-1996 Megan McTavish GL HW 1996-1997 Victor Miller, Michael Conforti, Nancy Williams Watt GL HW 1997-1998 James Harmon Brown & Barbara Esensten (RIP) *Interim co-HWs 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kalbir Posted April 27 Members Share Posted April 27 (edited) There's a gap in the 1990s changes I haven't filled yet. EP changes July 1991: Robert Calhoun to JFP May 1995: JFP to Michael Laibson 1996: Michael Laibson to Paul Rauch HW changes January 1991: Pamela Long to Nancy Curlee March 1994: Nancy Curlee to ? 1995: ? to Megan McTavish The rest of the 1990s were posted above. I think it was posted here that March 1994-May 1995 there was a writing committee and no designated HW. Edited April 27 by kalbir 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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