All: Claire Labine Interview

[LeClerc]

There was only one story during Labine's GH tenure that made me tune out and it wasn't one of the "depressing" ones: the god-awful story with Lucy and Madam Maya. Those two had the same scenes every single day for months. Eventually I I couldn't take it anymore.

[bellcurve]

I haven't read the interview yet, but didn't Karen Harris create Sonny?

[Sylph]

Read it.

[SFK]

Hey, is there audio of this too like the Lemay interview, or just print?

[juniorz1]

I'm pretty sure she'd been gone from AMC for at least a couple of years before returning to GH.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Tony Geary needs to sit his ass down and grow the f.uck up. I understand he likes the adventure and flawed character stuff, but Luke became a real person under Labine, and she didn't entirely whitewash the character. He was allowed to still be Luke, but he was a loyal family man and trusted citizen in town. That Luke was a lot more likable and complex than the Luke we have now and the Luke Tony Geary encourages.

Labine brought Luke and Laura and GH into the 90's. The show needed to mature and move away from those hyper action/adventure stories of the 80's, which were out of style and not helping GH any by 1993 anyway. The show managed to shed the very dated and fluke identity Monty had imposed and developed into a more mature product that kept up with the times.

[CSF]

I didn't see her name mentioned in the interview, but Labine stated he was there for several weeks before she arrived.

Well said!

[Dan]

I'm not gonna lie. I'm most interested to hear about Ms. Labine's tenure at GL. I think that her tenure there is perhaps where she experienced the most interference. I know that Mickey Dwyer Dobbin loved her on GH but her and Rauch must have made her miserable in that year. After all, she was hired, fired, and rehired in the span of six months and then fired again in the spring/early summer of 2001.

[MichaelGL]

I found Labine's tenure on GH quite balanced. It was either dark or soapy drama balanced with a bit comedy/or light fluffy material (Sigmund, all the pets, etc.)

This comes from a person who despises her tenure on GL to this very day, and ranks it under David Kreizman and Weston's tenure as one of the worst the show has ever had.

[DRW50]

I never knew how much of that GL run was her fault and how much was creative interference, as it seemed like from the start of her tenure actors were let go and they would go and tell the press it was all her fault and Paul Rauch was wonderful. I know she just worked with what she was given (the mob and San Cristobel), but I really hated those stories at that time. I especially hated seeing Danny become like Sonny Corinthos.

I wish we had seen more of some of what they apparently had planned, like Holly/Olivia. And I loved how much we got to see Meta. And I liked Sam, although both he and Tony would have been so much better suited to a gay storyline, with Marah outing them at the country club for cheating on her, then a few months later, telling them the three of them could all go shopping.

I'm sorry I don't have happier memories of her work at two of my favorite soaps, GL and OLTL. Unfortunately my main OLTL memory was when Blair became a racist and also was painted as a bad person for being upset that her cousin ran her off the road and nearly killed her and did kill her near full term child. That was the Tea rules/Blair sucks era. Apparently those days are having a big revival...

[SFK]

Though I really enjoyed her time at GH, and though Dorian has historically been my favorite OLTL character, I cannot say that I enjoyed CL's time at OLTL nor the Canton s/l. I don't think RS really did either, I mean, I'm sure she enjoyed working as much as she did, but she's said in print that if she had it her way that crazy lady in the attic was not the real Sonya Cramer.

The texture of the show changed in a way that I didn't feel was a good fit, or put simply, I just didn't like how I felt the show was changing. In some ways I feel like CL's tenure laid the ground work for the OLTL we know today. It was a departure from that dark, brooding, primetime feel of the Malone era. In a way, I feel like something as simple as Todd and the talking parrot made it possible for all of the zany David Vickers stuff to be possible. That just was NOT the world of early/mid-'90s Llanview. Speaking of pets, I remember CL gave David and Tina a kitten too.

ETA: And yes, Canton was "dark", but almost campy, really. I mean, Mrs. Stonecliff??

[DRW50]

I don't think Tina and David were at OLTL when Claire was writing. She did give Bo and Nora a dog.

I thought there was some bad camp at that time, like Todd wearing the Patrick wig. In some ways it does remind me of RC's tenure...wasn't Ron hired during Claire's time as headwriter?

They also share the Tea worship, and the wacky comedy Todd.

There were some positives, I liked Hank/Carlotta and the Eli storyline, and some of their material for Andrew. I liked Dorian/Mel until his annoying relatives descended and we got all the Mel showpieces and Mel acting morally superior to Dorian. I kept waiting for them to put him with Viki, since Viki's only story at the time was the counseling with Clint. I liked some of the ideas for Bo and Nora.

I thought the Canton wrapup was poor (although they were forced to wrap that up I guess), I hated what they did to Blair, didn't get most of the decisions they made with Maggie, never knew why they had to bring in all the mob stuff with Patrick/Marty and give a bloodbath wedding. I also began to really loathe Kelly at this time.

I thought the show was generally forced and hollow.

[SFK]

I meant to ask, what was with Blair being a racist? Someone jog my memory, seems like something impossible to forget!

I'll take your word for it, but I could have sworn David and Tina were cuddling with a little tabby when Todd had that damned parrot. Ugh, Todd/RH seemed so prickish and self-satisfied during that period.

I didn't care for Mel's family either, was just mentioning them in the one-hit blunder thread. I appreciated HG and the whole RH connection, but...

I remember liking Hank and Carlotta too, and Carlotta and Clint for that matter. Charming stuff. Didn't someone walk in on Hank and Carlotta naked, doing it in the kitchen once? Please say yes, otherwise why on earth is my mind making something like THAT up?

[DRW50]

David and Tina may have had a kitten, I can't remember; they were both gone at the time Claire was the headwriter. David left at the end of Malone's first run and Tina faded away by the end of Passanante/Sloane/Laiman.

Todd was hard to take at the time. I remember him picking at his food with his fingers. Apparently he had devolved so much he could no longer even use a fork. They were trying hard to reinvent Todd.

Blair made a racist comment about Tea. I can't remember what. It came out of nowhere, as if someone wasn't very secure in us remembering who the real heroine of the story was. This was also when she was fighting with Kelly over the stringy haired whale lover Ian because she needed Ian's money (since she and Dorian apparently could no longer afford a lawyer...).

I love Helen Gallagher and I'm sure she liked the challenge but why did she come on as a nag who went around asking people about their sex lives?

I can't remembr who walked in on Carlotta and Hank, but I do remember the scene. I also remember a very hot fantasy involving an ice cube. All of this is ironic given PM's recent departure over moral values.

[quartermainefan]

I hated what they did to Tiffany in the early 90s. Might as well turn Amy into a crack whore while they were going for serious drama. Tiffany was the bright character you were always happy to see because she could make any scene happier. What they did to Sean and her was just horrible, not enjoyable on any level. Maybe these same geniuses can pitch a concept to Mary Tyler Moore where Mary Richards tries to commit suicide. It's the same thing more or less.