What headwriters would you like to see create a new soap?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

From what I've seen and heard, I think Karen Harris's year long stint at PC was the most consistent and best written part of PC's history.

[jfung79]

Yeah, I've heard good things about it too. Too bad they didn't keep her on.

I think if Karen Harris created a soap though, it'd be more action-y since that is her background (which I was surprised to read about in the interview with her here), even though she is great at character-based writing too. Is she still doing that web soap about the behind the scenes of a soap?

amLCproduction, yes, I loved Culliton's AW! My favorite story was the Shane/Michael car accident aftermath, with Donna playing on Vicky's guilt, making Vicky keep her being in Shane's car that night a secret so that Jake wouldn't leave Vicky and Michael's death wouldn't be in vain. "I killed my own father ... I killed my own father." Jake questioning Vicky in court as she confessed she visited Shane that night, in order to prove that Jake warned Shane about the icy roads and save Jake from going to jail on a charge of negligent homicide. "If this is being loved by you, I'd rather be Shane [dead]." OMG! I also liked Embers in the Snow, Joe and Paulina struggling with trust after the fire and coming back together, and Cass/Lila.

AW the TV show may be gone, but Another World Today is here, and Richard Culliton hooked me on Bay City for life.

[SOAPSFOREVER]

I'd like to see Fred Johnson have a shot at creating or headwriting a show. He was at AMC during its heyday, and he's had a lot of experience. He also worked closely for both Bill Bell and Agnes Nixon. I think he could do a bang-up job.

[Sylph]

Yup.

[MichaelGL]

I think Richard Culltion is just one of those writers who never get enough credit in this industry. I rather enjoyed his tenure on AMC.

Ron Carlivati and Lorraine Broderick could team up for a soap. Yes RC does camp, but at times he can tell serious stories as well, I think Broderick would help with that.

Here's an interesting idea; what about the protégés of Agnes Nixon and Bill Bell; such as Wisner Washam(Nixon) and Kay Alden (Bell). I would like see what both would create on their own and if their former bosses rubbed off on them any.

A Karen Harris soap? I would tune in to see that.

What about a soap created by Peter Brash and Paula Cwikly? A talented male/female pairing always reminds me of the great Bridget and Jerome Dobsome, though they were husband and wife. Though I could imagine that B&C would excell at coming out with a soap like Santa Barbara.

[bellcurve]

It's so obvious that Riche created PC for a.)The Money and b.)To cockblock Claire Labine. I don't think she cared about the Cullingtons per-se. Maybe Guza and Latham were forced upon her by the network.

And Y&RWorldTurner is absolutely right. Karen Harris' PC has a few mistakes, but for the most part, the show was so consistent, well-written, and always had some sort of humore element. The Cullingtons PC was good, but it took FOREVER to get the action on the ramp. I think Latham was brought in to bring more plot.

[aMLCproduction]

I SO LOVE BRASH AND CWICKLY. Their tenure at Days was the best since JER 1.0. Too bad Corday fired them.

Oh the AW memories. SO great.

Good idea about Washam and Kay Alden

[ClassicsSoapFan]

Husband and wife Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest.

I know she has said she wouldn't want to write again. Their GL tenure - first with Jim Reilly and then Lorraine Broderick - was very good. Pamela Long doesn't do soaps anymore but she would be good as a consultant on their show.

I liked Richard Culliton's tenure at ATWT. His latter tenure as a script writer was good. I always knew when I was watching a Culliton show before the end credits rolled. He is good at DAYS now. I'd watch a show created by him and his wife Carolyn. It would be good if they were partnered with Millee Taggart.

[DRW50]

I know he's supposedly better as a scriptwriter, but I thought his tenures as headwriter at ATWT, AW, and AMC, all had as much good as bad. They all had balance, humor, family drama, and respect for history. He wasn't right for GH but that was bad timing more than anything else, as he came right after 3-4 highly regarded years.

I remember how the soap press lambasted him and couldn't wait for their hero Guza to return.

[Jonathan]

Concur.

[MichaelGL]

It really sucks that we have people like Higley and Shaffer recycled over and over again on soaps while people like Fred Johnson slip through the cracks.

[EricMontreal22]

Malone has said before that he wouldn't want to do a soap without Griffith and it's true whenever Griffith leaves his side (liek the last year of his OLTL comeback and the last year of his first OLTL run) the shows run off the rails.

I get what you mean re people liek Whedon but it is a bit diff--i'm not sure a modern headwriter of a daytime soap could get away with having the "fight" someone liek Whedon does for his shows. there's just too much in their way

[EricMontreal22]

To be fair RIche also easily convinced ABC how much cheaper it would be tofilm a West Coast GH spin off than a loser spin off in the East Coast--when I heard that I knew she hadit in the bag.

[Toups]

Great choices! I'd love to see soaps written by Fred Johnson, Karen Harris, or Brash/Cwickly. My personal choice would be Tom Casiello. Maybe pair him up with someone he knows and worked with like Fred Johnson or Paula Cwickly. But saldy, I think their talents would be compromised by TPTB. Just look at Ron Carlivati at OLTL - worked his way up to HW, knows OLTL's history, likes to write for vets, has great ideas, but isn't allowed to fully flourish under Frons.

And he fired them for Dena Higley! That was one of the biggest blunders in DAYS history because we went from a creative high to a creative low so quickly.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Michele Val Jean, Patrick Mulcahey, Stephen Demorest (along with his wife Nancy Curlee if she ever wants to write again).

I'm also interested in seeing how Claire Labine's children Matt and Elanor would be on their own. They've written with their mother on various soaps, it would be interesting to see how they are without her.

As for the crazy side of things, she's not a writer, but I'd be interested in seeing JFP create her own soap and how it would really be. She's controversial, but I've always believed her heart is always in the right place. I wonder what type of soap she'd create on her own.