All: Claire Labine Interview

[Faulkner]

Wasn't AMC still on a creative upswing due to Behr/Broderick when Labine started at OLTL?

I definitely think Claire should have been (and might still be) a great fit for AMC, but, in many ways, she really should have been an even better fit at OLTL, the grittier, more urban soap. That she failed so badly at OLTL is still puzzling to me.

[NorrthCafe]

Ann_SS, you just reminded me of another reason why I loved Marland's work so much. Several years ago, BnB fans were up in arms about the relationship between Ridge and Bridget (he helped Brooke deliver her, for pity's sake, and they thought they were her parents, together. It was one of the most touching scenes in BnB history). Brad Bell told fans through an interview that if they didn't like what he was writing to tune out, because he was sticking with the storyline. One week after that interview was released? Ratings dropped like a rock! It was the last time he publicly said that fans could like it or leave it (that I know of, at least). I could never imagine a talented GREAT, like Marland, saying something so hateful toward fans.

MikeGoldy, I enjoyed reading about Kate Mulgrew's audition for Ryan's Hope. That was fabulous. KM reads as larger than life in that interview. Having read it, who else could have played Mary and made her so memorable?

[DRW50]

1997 was Francesca James/Broderick. They were on the way down and Broderick was replaced by McTavish late that year. I think at the time Labine was hired at OLTL, early 1997, AMC was still in the midst of the whole Erica kidnaps Maria's baby story, and Tanner Jordan, and Liza/Adam/Jake.

I don't really think of Labine as a gritty or urban writer, but I do think the one area she most thrived in at OLTL was Angel Square. Unfortunately the rest of the show wasn't a great fit for her. There were no Lucys or Delias at OLTL at that time, so instead we seemed to get a version of an RH story (Irish mob vendetta against Tom Desmond) that was never that great on RH, much less with Patrick and Todd in the Patrick wig.

[Ann_SS]

Of all Brad Bell's incest twinged stories, the Ridge and Bridget romance was the worse. It reminded me of when Bill Bell had Victor and Cricket hooking up. It was disgusting. I read that the audience went ballistic so the storyline was dropped.

Marland was never dismissive or disdainful about ATWT fans or if he did he certainly never put it in an interview that I read. He was committed to his characters and stories, but he never ignored the fans' perspectives completely. I wish that we had an archive of his interviews and work as a whole stored somewhere online.

As much as I found Claire's GH tenure to be a creative triumph, viewers tuned out in droves. Perhaps if she had taken some time to read some fan mail and consider some of the criticisms, she could have tweaked some stories and held on to some of those viewers. For example, the Stone story was sad and depressing, making Robin HIV negative might have given some viewers' a light at the end of the tunnel and kept them around. Her debacle at OLTL may have been avoided if she had taken the time to read some fan mail and get to know those characters better.

[LoyaltoAMC]

Wasn't Agnes still in the house at AMC when Labine was offered OLTL? Agnes accepted the best writing Emmy with Lorraine in 1998, so I guess she was very much part of things during that time period. Anyway, wonder if having Labine on board would've been a case of too many egos involved (a la Agnes's collaboration with Doug Marland on Loving), or maybe ABC decided to go with McTavish hoping beyond hope that she could duplicate her early/mid 90s success with the show? Of course we all know how that would turn out. OLTL was a meandering mess at that point, the least stable of the ABC soaps, so maybe they wanted someone of Claire's stature to give it some focus. I forgot...when did Felicia Minei Behr call OLTL unwatchable? Was it under Claire' tenure, or JFP/McTavish a little later on? It's all so hazy.

[DRW50]

FMB returned to ABC Daytime in late 1999/early 2000, so she would have made the comment when JFP and McTavish were in charge. I think that was one of the last interviews she gave, or at least the last where she was candid.

I wonder if putting Claire at OLTL, where she didn't have a lot of chance for success even if she was a better fit for the show, given all the cast departures and the mediocre producer at the time, was ABC not really wanting her around that much but feeling somewhat obligated since they had chosen PC over her Heart and Souls show.

[Vee]

Felicia Behr called JFP's OLTL unwatchable, which thrilled fans (me included) but made Erika Slezak very, very angry.

[R Sinclair]

She wasn't happy... atull!

[Sylph]

So, Sinclair, any thoughts on the interview? Anything that got your attention?

[MarkH]

I assume Viki was front and center during this JFP era? Was this with Mark Derwin? Why was Erika unhappy?

[juniorz1]

For once, I'm with Slezak. I enjoyed most of Phelps OLTL run and it was the last time I really got into the show. It helped me weather the loss of AW, since I wasn't impressed with ATWT at the time when I tuned in for the AW crossover. That Max Pretending to be Asa's Son/Brain Tumor storyline was a gold mine. Loved it.

[DRW50]

I can see why Erika was happy at that time. She got a lot of story. I personally did not like much of that story ("Blondie" getting a complete personality change and fooling around in an attic with cold/smug/suffocating Mark Derwin as her daughter battles stillbirth and mental illness), but I can see why she would.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

JFP's OLTL was one stunt after another with filler material in between, and I say this as a JFP fan. OLTL had to have been the best example of all of Jill's worse tendencies, her stint on AW was a prelude to it though. It took a lot of time to recover from the damage she did to most characters, and in a way, many were left permanently damaged.

Jill works best when she's paired with a very character driven and and strong Head Writer, like Nancy Curlee and they work they produced together at GL.

ETA: BTW, the latter part of the Labine era at OLTL overlapped with the beginning of Jill's tenure there. Allegedly, Jill wanted the Labine's out, but they were ready to leave anyway.

[Ann_SS]

All I remember for Phelps' stint at OLTL is the horrific Rappaports. The actress who played Jenn Rappaport was abysmal and she was on almost everyday. She was Phelps' own Carly. I had to laugh when a serial killer took out Jenn. I didn't know if that was Phelps, but it was her modus operandi for committing violence against women.

[DRW50]

Jen was one of those characters we heard about for some time before we saw her. She was supposed to be some type of hellraiser. Then she showed up and shortly revealed herself as a drip. I think she came in at the tail end of JFP's run, like the last six months. I remember how people assumed she would leave once Tomlin started taking out most of the trash of the Phelps era, but instead she stayed and stayed. And we got that horrible story where Lindsay put a camera in Cristian's apartment and put it on the Internet, which basically meant endless loops of Cris walking around in a towel. If ever a story seemed to be more at home in some sort of porn setting, that was the one.

I hated Sam Rappaport so much. For one of JFP's favorites she didn't seem to know how to showcase Kale Browne at all; Michael Hudson was also at his worst during her era (aside from the time he was with Stacey Wintrhop - yuk).