All: Claire Labine Interview

[DRW50]

Claire was only at GL for about a year, even less with OLTL, and her other soap jobs were fifteen, twenty, thirty years back, so I don't know if her not remembering the names means she isn't invested.

[quartermainefan]

She's written for a lot of shows and some quite a few years ago though. I am a fan and can't remember the name of every character, so for her it must be even tougher because there are so many shows and so many characters and actors.

[quartermainefan]

But it is just natural to forget stuff. I watched OLTL faithfully, and just for example Gabrielle Medina had a mother played by "Tara" from THE AVENGERS. I see her face and red hair clear as day. Couldn't tell you her name though. There was a young blonde ingenue on the show who was in love with some guy named "Wade" and they lived in the guest house. I see her face just as easily as I see Tina or Asa's. Can't tell you her name.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Mo Garret is so underrated, I don't think she's ever been given the praise for her acting that she deserves. Glad to see Claire acknowledge her talent.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Didn't Crystal win her Emmy for material the Labine's wrote?

I do think establishing Olivia as a well-defined and layered character was Claire's biggest success during her GL stint.

Sounds like Claire still wants to write, I'd still love for some show to take a chance on her again.

[Dan]

It really is a shame because Claire was also responsible for one of the worst moments in GL history. Even worse than anything set in Peapack.

In early 2001, Maria Santos put a hit out on grandson Danny. Her henchmen fired shots outside the Bauer kitchen as Danny and Michelle huddled behind the kitchen counters. Seeing gunfire in the same set that Maureen and, earlier, Bert dispensed advice in was, symbolically, the worst moment in GL's history.

[Dan]

BTW: I'm wondering how much TPTB's reluctance to do the Billy/Holly/Buzz story had to do with Jordan Clarke and his, shall we say, problems? Probably not much. But it's a thought.

[CSF]

That's right. I forgot Agnes was back at AMC around that time anyway.

Although I'd probably have to wait for the final part of the interview to possibly understand more about this, but I suppose had NBC not been interested at all in Labine's project, Labine probably would have never left GH when she did. She stated they left to pursue that only for NBC to turn them down. Had NBC not been interested from the get go, Labine wouldn't have had to leave GH to pitch another soap to ABC. Even with it getting rejected, she still could have remained with GH. How things today at that show would have been so so different. Oh well...

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Wasn't the Labine to Guza's first stint transition at GH very successful? I recall GH's ratings actually going up with that transition, though Claire definitely left a lot behind for Guza to tap into.

[MichaelGL]

I think it was Lloyd Gold's material that got her the Emmy.

[CSF]

Labine sure left a lot to draw from. The transition certainly wasn't a failure, but it certainly paved the way for the downfall that was the come. IIRC, it was Guza who made Jason what he is today. Had Labine never left when she did, Jason wouldn't be a thug and I think Sonny would have been long gone and the whole Carly story would have been much different. I doubt Jax would even be around today.

[Ann_SS]

GH's ratings declined under Labine.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Yeah, I knew that, I meant to say I recall Guza's first stint giving GH a ratings bump over the final Labine year, which is probably why he's been rehired twice after that stint.

[DRW50]

There was a lot of hype when Guza started because the action returned, lots of blood and death returning to the show. It's ironic, looking back, that the moment which got him such praise was the violent murder of a pregnant woman. If only we could have known.

The L in Luza stands for Lucky. Just as his stories were starting to devolve into his usual crap, he left to go make a turd out of Sunset Beach (which only really improved once Luza and Pratt were gone and the camp factor was turned up to 11). Richard Culliton took over at GH and got all the backlash for bad story ideas Guza likely came up with.

Then after Culliton was gone, the interim writers took over, and it was all about waiting for GH's savior Guza to return. And what do you know, his first stories involved...brutality against women, and mob violence. Our hero.

Most overrated and sickest headwriter around.

[Ann_SS]

I can't remember what the ratings were like under Guza initial run. They may have gotten better.