Lorraine Broderick as AMC head writer

[SFK]

Oh wow, I had no idea that they were toying with the idea of making Miles Palmer's son, I would have LOVED that. Roger G. Smith did a great one man show about Huey P. Newton (also directed by Spike Lee) that was taped and shown on PBS a few years back. He also had a very short-lived HBO series set in D.C. called K Street.

[ghfan89]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember Skye flirting with Nico some during the Depriest period. I believe she was a singer at his nightclub and was accused of kidnapping Junior at one point. They also toyed with the idea with her and the original Will, Lonnie Quinn.

I think Depriest was the one to do the Eric Kane as the clown story.

[LeClerc]

I'm glad I got the chance to see him in a few other things as well because, based just on his run on AMC, I would never have imagined he was such a great actor. Miles was dull dull dull and made Smith look very green as an actor.

I wonder if Megan got her idea for Adrian being Opal's son from Broderick's plan to make Miles Palmer's son.

Since it's being discussed this is what Victor Miller writes in the autobiography on his website regarding his time co-headwriting with Broderick and then DePriest coming in:

[David V]

I won't argue that Broderick is a very good writer. It's also hard to argue that Felicia Minei Behr was a major driving force behind AMC's success in the first half of the 90s, and McTavish was very fortunate to have FMB reining her in during her first stint- it's telling that when MMT returned for her second spell, the show's ratings and quality both sank. That fact and her third stint just confirms that McTavish has ultimately been a destructive influence on AMC. And I still can't figure what made Passanante employable on ATWT after her AMC debacle.

However, Broderick this time will have a much tougher task on her hand.

A lot has been made on FMB's time at ATWT and the year Broderick was HW. I will say that FMB and Broderick had a very difficult job at ATWT, as there had been about two years worth of stink to clean up, such was the damage done to the show during that one dark, horrible year 1996. P&G, to their credit (and it doesn't take away the fact they've criminally mismanaged their shows since the mid-90s), were quick to realise what was happening to ATWT and fired Fitts, Valente and Black and Stern. So when FMB arrived there was to be a transitional period under interim HWs. FMB brought an initial spike in ratings, but then came the whole Connor Walsh fiasco- the new PTBs didn't think there'd be a backlash if Connor was recast, and boy were they wrong.

Anyway, next under FMB came Jessica Klein, and she failed to improve things much and didn't last. The last couple of months in 1997 was again a time of interim HWs, but there seemed to be an improvement in things, and there was the tear-jerking moments involving Kim being visited by Jennifer.

Broderick had tried to get things back on track when she became HW in 1998, and though she had her flaws, didn't do badly in comparison to the absolute garbage that was being peddled out the previous two years, or Leah Laiman after that. The ratings had been hemorrhaging the whole time but Broderick stabilised it, even rising above AMC (but so did GL).

Then Broderick's very short-lived tenure on Days. Sussman-Morina left after disagreeing over the direction of the show with Langan, regarding the newly aged teens, and Broderick did the same. In hindsight, it was an absolute disaster for Days.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

That's how I felt about her time at ATWT, it was certainly better than the Black/Stern and then Klein dreck that came before it, and miles better than the crap Leah Laiman was passing off as soap after it.

The show was very strong in the day to day sense and the dialogue improved greatly. I also felt she better fleshed out Carly and Molly.

[Soapsuds]

I thought Jessica Klein was writing during John Valente's time as EP. Am I wrong?? I thought FMB and Lorraine came together as a package deal per say. The show was better under Broderick but was so boring. Denise and Andy were boring. They had zero chemistry but the story did feature the Hughes. I actually started to like ATWT until the whole Connor fiasco began. I still remember the day reading it in the news stands. I was one pissed off guy....lol. After that Broderick and FMB didnt have a chance of surviving on the show.

Edit..add the Connor fiasco and Elizabeth Hubbard being fired...well....they were cooked!!

[Vee]

I vaguely remember Miles! At the time I was struck about how weak and anemic the guy seemed, and like others, I thought him a real stiff. Later I came to know Roger Guenveur Smith for his roles in Spike Lee's films, where his approach and appeal are very specific. I love him in those films - he was way too good for daytime - but the character was weak as well. What a pity AMC wasted him.

[DRW50]

Richard Culliton and Carolyn Culliton were around early on with Valente. The show was actually good then. By late 1995, Richard was gone, and the headwriters were Black and Stern, best known for writing a softcore porn soap, Eden. They wrote the show from the time of the plane crash that "killed" Damian to somewhere around the time that T. Jones died in Mark's arms. Then FMB arrived and they all left. I'm not sure who was in charge in her first 5-6 months. That was when it started off good, with Holden's return and with Diego's murder and Kim's heart attack,, but soon fell apart, with the awful murder "mystery", with James's return which was a big mess, LunaConnor dusting blinds, on and on. And this is when all the newbies showed up (Molly, Jack, David Allen, Camille, among others)

Jessica Klein took over in summer 1997. She wrote for the John/Barbara pregnancy storyline, she wrote the beginnings of the Jack/Carly storyline in Montana, stalker Molly, she wrote the racism storyline with everyone at the church singing "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand."

She was let go or mutual reasons or whatever. There was another interim period, around the time of the church fire and Barbara's miscarriage/Kim's near-death experience, until Lorraine Broderick started in early 1998.

And yes, I had such hope for ATWT again, until they fired A R-T and I had to read those awful interviews which basically said Susan Batten got a job because of her old friends from ABC. The whole thing was so arrogant and just ridiculous, and a start to the tone deafness which characterized a lot of major decisions.

[Soapsuds]

Oh ok..thanks for the info Carl. Richard wrote the whole Orlena trying to kill Lily story right?? The story was good until Claire Bloom left and Lynn Milgrim replaced her. Orlena went from a devious character to a cartoon one. I thought Richard did a good job at writing the show and should have stayed put. The Black and Stern stuff was a nightmare. But i think I was the only one who like model Paul....John Howard. I also liked T. Jones. The actress was very pretty and had talent. Too bad she wasnt kept and written better for. I remember Holden's return. That's when the ratings for ATWT started rising again and ranked in the top 4 of soaps. The murder of Diego was nicely done but the fallout was awful. I remember Elizabeth Hubbard saying how she hated the pairing with James. That the storyline was stupid. LunaConnor...dear gawd...was just awful...no words to describe how bad it was. The newbies didnt help either although now I do miss Camille.

Jessica Klein didnt last long. I recall being at the grocery store and reading of her firing. The whole racism story was dumb...lol. Everything else she wrote was ok. It wasnt bad but it wasnt good either.

And I also remember reading those interviews and how ART had been blindsided by her firing. She was in total shock.

[DRW50]

Yes. Richard wrote the Orlena stuff. He also wrote the Lisa/John lawsuit, which was probably the best story ATWT had had in several years, and was a lot better than anything to be on the show for many years to come.

Black and Stern did write for some of the vets, mainly Lisa and John. That's about all the good I can say there.

I do think Broderick had a difficult task on her hands. I just feel a lot of mistakes were made in key areas, but then I guess that's already been gone over. I never know who is to blame for what. It does show that there is a certain flavor at each network, some don't translate as well to another network.

I had mixed feelings with some of her AMC run too but I'm hoping she can save AMC. I'd love for the soaps to return from the brink, they have before after all.

[juppiter]

I believe Eileen said that LB came into a meeting with 19 story ideas and all 19 were rejected by P&G!

I thought LB's ATWT was very good. WAY too many new characters & focus on those characters only, but the show was well balanced plot-wise and had great day to day dialogue.

[juppiter]

Carly scheming to marry the father of her baby and have it before midnight, and then her 6 months as a millionaire trying to hide the truth was one of my all time fave storylines. Carly under Lorraine Broderick was such a better character than she is now.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

It's funny though, Broderick's tenure at ATWT was the last time Lisa was featured regularly. Someone posted the episode counts for 1998 a few years ago, and Eileen was in over 100 episodes that year. That would never happen now.

[David V]

As The World Turns had to recover from the shock of Douglas Marland's sudden death in 1993. Caso was still EP at the time, and Packer and Backus were placed in charge as co-HWs- they worked under Marland, had the task of finishing off his storylines or starting up new storylines and new characters that Marland had planned prior to his death. So ATWT was still doing OK for a couple of years, and ratings were still decent.

Culliton took over as HW in 1995, and he wrote the John/Lisa medical malpractice storyline that led to an Emmy nomination for writing, and is regarded as one of the best post-Marland storylines. Granted, the show 1993-95 was not quite as good as when Marland wrote it, but I think it was generally expected at the time because of the colossal shoes that had to be filled. The show at least didn't deviate too much from his vision. Marland had planned the introduction of the Kasnoffs and, apparently, of Carly as well.

1995 was the real start of the troubles, though, because Caso was replaced by John Valente in P&G's big reshuffling of EPs where JFP went from GL to AW. It was disastrous for all three P&G shows from which they have or could never recover, even though P&G was back then quick enough to react after the damage had been done. But all that's happened since tells you P&G treated its soaps as an afterthought like they wanted out of the business.

Valente got rid of some beloved actors, most notably Patricia Bruder (Ellen Stewart) who'd been on ATWT since 1960. Then Culliton was replaced at the start of 1996 by Black and Stern, who were better known for their time on Falcon Crest and for the pornographic show mentioned (actually called "Return to Eden"). It's really frightening how bad things went, even though there was only one good thing on ATWT in 1996- the conclusion to John/Lisa where John humiliated Lisa on the big screen (look it up on youtube). But there were stupid storylines, new characters nobody cared about, etc- and all this in ATWT's 40th anniversary. At one point, the critics said it was the worst show on TV! You really wonder how much of it was sabotage, to this day many people believe Valente sabotaged ATWT in reaction to his removal from AW.

I think it has to be remembered that Daytime wasn't quite as bad then as it is now, even though the shock value and wackiness of Reilly's Days was all the rage at the time much to the detriment of the entire genre. The most disturbing thing is that the crapness of ATWT in 1996-97 is no different at all from the garbage being passed for Daytime in the last 5 or so years.

[Faulkner]

I loved most of Behr/Broderick's work on ATWT. I can see why many ATWT fans did not like the influx of new characters, but most of them seemed well-drawn to me. I liked Eddie/Georgia a lot; they seemed to me like the real, authentic street characters that soaps tend to condescend to nowadays. Camille, of course, could have developed into an iconic soap heroine, and I'm flabbergasted that another soap hasn't snapped Lauren B. Martin up. She just had a sort of pure, unfussy beauty and just watching the play of emotions on her face was a pleasure. Even though I hated how she played Ben (the black guy is always cuckolded), she and Nick Kokotakis (the first Brad Snyder) had such an easy chemistry that I couldn't help but root for them. And I LOVED LOVED LOVED Lonette McKee (another frequent actress in Spike Lee's work) as Camille's overbearing mother, Sara Ruth.

And wasn't that the last time we really saw Tom Wiggin as Kirk?