Lorraine Broderick as AMC head writer

[SFK]

Oh cool. Years ago when MD was let go from GL, I thought she'd be great for AMC as a Goldie Kane recast. I was so happy for her when she booked Vanessa who was in the same vein, though considerably loonier.

[sonyab1974]

It was very odd. Opal and Palmer divorced because he had paintings and didn't tell her about it. It was dumb.

[You're Soaking in it]

It's so interesting that you mention that, because my mom - who was a longtime viewer and watching at that time - thought that Vanessa might be revealed to BE Goldie Kane. The origins of Vanessa, and her connections to Erica's past, certainly were interesting ... at that time, the way she was written was "classic" AMC-style. Those references, and Vanessa's overall character, seemed to lose their way once Nixon left the fold. Over time, she became much more cartoonish. (To no fault of the wonderful Marj Dusay, whom I love and adore.)

[Jonathan]

Honestly, I don't think they've ever stopped putting her name up for nomination. I haven't seen the actual Emmy nominations for this last year, but I have a hunch, had the writing team won, she would've gone up there and she would've gotten an Emmy. She was there in the audience. Out of deference, I think they still submit her name even in recent years where she's gone uncredited.

I remember when the show did press for the 35th Anniversary, Agnes was credited as a consulting producer as well. ABC released some photos of her, together with JHC and I believe Frons and the caption said consulting producer. If you can find the link to the ABC daytime press area under the producers section, her bio is also there. Her ranking and position is a bit obscure.

[Jonathan]

I thought the same thing too! I swear they were going in that direction, because there was a lot of foreshadowing (no one does it better than Agnes) that somehow Vanessa was related to Erica. Is it too late to go there?

Marj Dusay + Susan Lucci = awesome.

[DRW50]

I thought the breakup made sense because Opal was so different from him, and while that may have been charming at first, after nearly a decade of Opal still hooting and hollering, he may not have been as enchanted. There were some good scenes where she overheard him basically dismissing her as beneath him.

I enjoyed a lot of Opal's material during McTavish's 1998 run. Jill Larson gave a bravura performance through every bit of craziness, and Opal finally became a real person. The scene where she talked about having Adrian was one of the best I can remember from AMC in many years. I was sorry, if not surprised, when her airtime dried up again. I still don't know how she did not even get an Emmy nomination.

The Kit Fisher stuff, was that the last straw with ABC? That was a potentially OK idea, but as soon as the rape started, it went to hell. Even McTavish said that her biggest mistake was saying Kit had once falsely accused Tad of rape.

[LoyaltoAMC]

The show had pure gold in PalmNess and, of course, they were quickly shunted aside. They really could've been a force to be reckoned with, but the show never seemed interested in them after Leo was introduced. Maybe the unexpected phenomenon of Leo and Greenlee somehow eclipsed whatever plans they had for Palmer and Vanessa. I wonder if Agnes had plans for them. They were really amazing together. As usual with AMC, just so much wasted potential. I'm pretty sure she was created during that gray period when Agnes was ghost writing while Megan was still listed as HW in the credits.

[LoyaltoAMC]

Ok this is about to get even more interesting. Wikipedia is saying that Lorraine and Karen Lewis are going to be co-HWs. Another message board has already picked up on this, and they are intimating that Lorraine is coming on for a few months to train Karen to eventually fly solo as HW. She dates back to the old Wisner Washam days. Who knows how true it is. All of this is supposedly happening, yet an announcement about Lorraine hasn't even been made yet LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Lewis

[You're Soaking in it]

Wikipedia is totally user-driven, so who knows? It's possible... though, whatever the case, I hope Lorraine sticks around for a LONG time - even if it's to be in a consultant (as in a real, active consultant) capacity.

[You're Soaking in it]

I honestly don't know what was the last straw... or if there was one. There was just SO much off about all she'd done that year. And what's funny is that what gave away that Megan was no longer writing was that the show started becoming interesting again at the start of 1999. And everyone was like, "HEYYYY. This doesn't smell like McTavish anymore!"

Kit Fisher was a total bomb. Camille Hawkins and her dad, and that whole boring backstory with Adam, another bomb (literally, when he BLEW UP the coffee house!). The implausible and pointless resurrection of Erica's "true love" Mike Roy, whose death was supposed to have life-altering effects on her character in the 80's... to bring him back as a nuisance, and mostly for laughs? Total failure. She did write Dixie's re-entrance, but even that she somehow made far less interesting than it could have been... as if she were relying purely on Cady McClain's appeal. She gave Janet & Trevor a goofy, too-soon-for-storyline wedding.. She was pissed that Janet had been redeemed in any way by Broderick, and was inclined to backburner them (and she was not longer a fan of Robin Mattson, who had years earlier, gone to the network and successfully stopped McT's plot to have Janet BOMB Trevor & Laurel's wedding). When she was pressured to give the Dillon family a story, she killed their dog... And we've already covered her awful story for Brooke in this thread.

I don't think any of these things went over too well... In hindsight, AMC of 1998 was pretty much a hot mess.

[DeeeDee]

The way AMC wasted Mitchell & Dusay was horrible.

They had ties to everyone, SO much chemistry & them Vs. Opal was HIGH comedy.

They weren't the same after the Paolo debacle tho.

[LeClerc]

Karen Lewis? That would be an odd move given that she has only ever done scripts. Even the best scriptwriters (and I would say she is one of them) don't necessarily make good headwriters (e.g. Patrick Mulcahey).

Sounds like fake user-generated Wikipedia stuff but I'd actually be interested to see what Lewis could do.

[LoyaltoAMC]

I usually don't trust wikipedia entries either, but if someone wanted to impart false info, why choose Karen Lewis of all people?

[R Sinclair]

Oh, come on! Karen Lewis is going to come out of retirement to do an 80 hour a week job?! This reeks of that troll z9z9z9z9z9/rurururururur or whatever.

[You're Soaking in it]

Well, something definitely smells weird about that Wikipedia entry. I checked the history of the page's alterations, and the part about Lewis being made co-headwriter was entered at the same time as the part about her being 3rd choice for the position in 2008... and that Soap Opera Digest reported it. Now, not only do I not recall this being reported, it's also just not something that would normally get published - even if it were true. The magazines don't just do stories, or even blurbs, about who "came in third" for a job.

I have no idea whether or not there's truth to it... I just wouldn't invest too much into it unless a more reliable source gives its take. For all I know, it could be someone deliberately putting out false information in order to force ABC to confirm what's really happening.

ETA: And if Lewis was third (to Pratt, I assume), then who the hell was runner-up?