Jump to content

Lorraine Broderick as AMC head writer


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 722
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

97 Was when I first started talking soaps online (one of the old Usenet groups I think) I remember cuz one of the first things I found out was my beloved The City had been canceled, but then I was thrilled about Daytime to Remember (this was before any video sites online--long before--and I seriously never thought I'd ever get a chance to see classic soap clips, let alone full episodes before). But yeah I remember TONS of gossip about JFP going to AMC and I had no diea who she was but just from the way people talked I dreaded that she would. LOL She did go to OLTL and gut it but, OLTL really was in an awful state--the last half of the 90s (with some good moments under the Labines) were really just a complete wash for OLTL, IMHO. In fact by the time McTavish joined OLTL and basically followed JFP's orders the show at least finally had momentum (it was much worse under JFp and Pam Long, and then really just a bizarre wash whern JFP was HW as well)

Aww gotta love Passanante's classic "Laure is suddenly, out of NOWHERE, a complete man obsessed psycho bitch now that she has Gillian's heart" story!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

HAHA I will agree with (and love) your last two sentences, but really the DID was the only way to responsibly go IMHO AND made great soap. By then it was known that DID simply didn't happen without serously traumatic, almost always sexual abuse and (not to make this too heavy) I know from real life with someone close to me that such instances really can be nearly completely blocked out and even invisible to people and only be revealed decades later. That kinda story is IDEAL to tell on a soap--so why not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It was quite odd because I remember some people enjoyed the Bianca/Leo friendship so much and talked about how if she would be with any man, it would be him, and imagine Greenlee's fury, and so on. Then a variation of that happened, but with Laura.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Oh I sooooo disagree. I'm with Carl--to give Erica longetivity they had to delve into this--it's also much more compelling to a modern audience to have an "anti hero" (not sure if Erica really has been one for a long time but I get the term for her) deal with these issues then to have the more traditional soap heroine. It adds a whole other elemenet. (Of course it's too bad that AMC, even before McTavish and of course this is a soap and indeed a storytelling cliche anyway does use the rape story element to absolve these character sin a sense, and often make them more boring afterwards, but I totally get why they use it at the same time).

I also think Agnes alwasy saw Erica with a dark even hopeless quality to her on some level--which is why nothing is EVER fully good enough for her--no man, no job, no success she always needs more to fulfill that problem in her--and I actually like how over the years they've slowly shown and resolved some of this. One reason the alcoholic storyline didn't really work (though I admit I loved the intervention overall)was it was an odd attempt to mix light/fun/camp Erica (she's a showgirl! With a wig! A drunk showgirl in Vegas!) with the serious aspect and, well frankly I dunno if anyone would abeen able to make those two stories and elements gel, but it just didn't work. (I'll admit I was just pissed off that we didn't get to see even ONE ridiculously campy performance by Erica as the showgirl--that would have almost justified it all for me)

The Bianca/Leo friendship (which I give Agnes credit for :P ) was great, but I don't quite follow--you mean Laura woulda been to Greenlee and Leo what Greenlee would abeen to Bianca and Leo?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That's never been my style, Eric [equally forced smile].

She has said plenty of times she used her own history of her parents divorce and her father leaving and the subsequent feelings of abandonment as part of her creation of Erica. What she's denied is that ERICA KANE is based on AGNES ECKHARDT and that they are one and the same. But the back story is the same. She's never painted her father as this evil, mean, loveless man who just up and left, but she does make mention of how his leaving had an effect on her. That's where I was going with my comment. That I don't think it was ever Agnes' intention to have Eric turn into this vile pimp who sold his 14 year old into sex slavery.

Again... that's another McTavish staple. On General Hospital, she had Edward Quatermaine sell off Skye as a baby as well. Taking the patriarch and demonizing him. If you remember back during the Purgatory stint of 2003-2007, there were quite a few "the sins of the father are visited upon the son" references. Chandlers, Cambias and even, apparently Eric Kane became a disgusting father.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I meant that some of the fans who weren't invested in Bianca as a lesbian liked her with Leo and hoped they could become more than friends. Part of that was also because of the Greenlee/Bianca feud. It wasn't intentional but I think the show ended up transferring some of that into the Laura/Greenlee/Leo story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I guess this is where we totally disagree. I respect what you mean, but I LOVED the G/M/G era and I thought Pam Long's era was perhaps the least watchable OLTL has been the past decade, outside of the worse of Higley (ok I actually tuned out huge periods of Higley) and some of JFP's solo era. And that says a lot (I think a good half of th epast 14 years of OLTL have been a complete mess) I really wouldn't want her even CLOSE to AMC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Isn't that a common soap plot device--some would pretentiously trace it back to Dickens and before--in general? though I agree McTavish took it and ran amuck.

OK I get more what you mean about Agnes and her dad--though of course she relates in All Her Children she had a close relationship with her real father--he never abandoned her (close in terms of proximity, I don't think he was a very emotional man what with his funeral garment industry)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I know you grew up with soaps, like me (except, sadly, I grew up watching them alone not with parents or grandparents lol) but if you don't mind me asking, how old are you? I thought you were maybe just a bit older than me--but you talk about the day to day storytelling being important and how much you loved early 80s AMC and OLTL so I assume I was wrong...

LaGuardia's a hack (his Monty Clift bio actually just makes up stuff and presents it as fact) though his soap books are great as a time capsule, and Waggett basically just regurgitates facts and things from otherboks--Schemering's where it's at people :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • GH 1976 . A transition as the show went to 45 mins and the revamp continued. From the Daytime serial Newletter  PT 1 Since 1963 General Hospital, the story of the staff of the seventh floor at General Hospital in the town of Port Charles, has endeavored to show the personal problems and emotional conflicts faced by the members of a medical team, who must at all times be ready to save lives. Dr. Steve Hardy, his staff’s source of emotional support and advice as well as their professional chief, is increasingly upset by the marital problems of Dr. Jim Hobart and his wife, Audrey, Steve was once married to Audrey and still has strong although concealed feelings for her, and he resents Hobart’s futile efforts to stop drinking and straighten out his life, as his failures are dragging Audrey down with him. Dr. Leslie Faulkner is married to business tycoon Cameron Faulkner, who recently financed a free clinic for her at General Hospital. But Leslie’s professional life has been overshadowed by the shocking discovery that her illegitimate child, born when Leslie was a college student, didn’t die at birth, as she had been told, but rather, on her domineering father’s instructions, was substituted for the stillborn child of a Mrs. Barbara Vining. Cam has helped Leslie locate the child but is definitely resentful of the intrusion of another focus for Leslie’s love into their lives.  Young med student Bobby Chandler has just married nurse Samantha Livingstone but is concealing his recent discovery that his life-insurance application was rejected because of a suspicious blood-test result. Psychiatrist Peter Taylor has reconciled his emotional upheaval at the discovery that Martha, the child of his wife, Diana, was fathered by the late Dr. Phil Brewer (by rape) and that Diana will not be able to  have another child, as a hysterectomy was necessary after Martha’s birth. Diana suffers feelings of inadequacy, believing she is beneath Peter socially, as she was a waitress before successfully completing nurses’training. Nurse Jessie Brewer, who was married to Phil years ago, has tried to show Diana that her present accomplishments have overcome her disadvantaged origins.   Dr. Leslie Faulkner, driven by the recent knowledge that her baby daughter was taken from her at birth, has learned that thirteen-year-old Laura Vining is that child. When Laura’s mother expresses concern at the attention and gifts that a total stranger is showering upon her daughter, Laura points out that Leslie is not really a stranger—the news magazines are always carrying articles about international business magnate Cameron Faulkner and his doctor wife. Barbara is even more upset when she realizes that Cameron Faulkner is having his employees check on them. Cam himself is upset by Leslie’s preoccupation with the girl, and warns Leslie that many lives could be irreparably harmed if Laura finds out she’s illegitimate. Leslie retains an attorney, Curtis Baxter, whose reputation doesn’t stress ethics. He advises her to sue for custody if a personal appeal to the Vinings to relinquish the child doesn’t produce results. Barbara’s fears are more than realized when she returns Leslie’s extravagant Christmas gift to Laura—an electric typewriter—and Leslie, pressed by Barbara to explain her interest in Laura, reveals that she just recently learned that her own father bribed her nurse to switch her newborn daughter for Barbara’s stillborn child, to “protect” his unwed daughter. At home, Barbara tells her husband, Jason, that she didn’t see their baby until the day after she was born, as the delivery was long and difficult, and she now remembers that Nurse Roach was somewhat reluctant to hand her the child. But the biggest fear they  face is that Laura might somehow learn that her parents weren’t married when she was born, as Jason was on military service in the Pacific. Baxter serves the Vinings with a writ of habeas corpus, requiring them to have Laura in court on the specified day. Cam assures them he will make sure there is no painful press coverage and that all efforts are taken to prevent Laura from being emotionally upset. The Vinings then find that they must submit to blood tests to determine whose blood groupings match Laura’s. In court, Leslie again painfully explains the circumstances of her birth and the recent revelations by a dying Nurse Roach which led to her search for Laura. The Vinings are horrified to learn that the blood tests have revealed that neither of their blood types matches Laura’s. Medically this means that Jason can’t be Laura’s father—but Barbara could still be her mother. But Barbara has assured Jason that he is the only man she has ever been intimate with. Faced with this incontrovertible evidence, the Vinings realize that Leslie’s claim has basis; and since Barbara is too emotional to tell Laura what they have learned, Jason tells her. Laura is told she will have to decide whether she wants to make her home with the Vinings or with the woman she has just been told is her real mother. When Laura level headedly replies that she doesn’t know Leslie well enough to make this decision, the judge rules favorably on a one-month temporary custody order for the Faulkners and explains that Laura may decide then. Cam is upset at the way Leslie uses this month to give Laura a whirlwind introduction to the jet-set life, managing to quickly arrange a round-the-country tour with parties and social events including movie stars and other celebrities. He warns that Leslie is trying to win Laura by the material things she can give her and that she is obviously counting on Laura’s deciding to live with them.  At the end of the month Laura is still unable to come to a decision, so the temporary custody is extended for another month. But Laura is now torn between the glamor of the Faulkners’ life and her love for the Vinings, who are forbidden by the court order to contact her during the decision period. Leslie is spending so much time with Laura that her medical career is suffering, but she tells Cam it doesn’t matter, as she is planning to leave medicine to devote her full attention to her daughter. Cam warns her that she’s risking heartbreak by assuming she will get permanent custody of Laura, and again suggests she is trying to buy the girl’s love with possessions. Leslie retorts that Cam’s objections seem to stem from the selfish desire to have their life return to the glittering comfort they had when there were just the two of them to consider.  But when Laura falls ill with influenza meningitis she deliriously calls for her “real mother,” rejecting Leslie’s presence. Leslie is horrified when Barbara shows up, summoned by Cam, and demands to see her daughter. Leslie tells Dr. Steve Hardy she’s going to lose Laura and it’s Cam who is taking her away. In Laura’s best interest, Barbara and Leslie join forces to help the child’s recovery. But her doctors are puzzled when her symptomatic fever and convulsions continue after the meningitis is overcome. Leslie’s emotional condition isn’t helped when Cam insists ‘that her constant vigil over Laura is obsessive and she’s neglecting him. He makes it clear that she is going to have to choose. Needing help with these pressures, she consults psychiatrist Peter Taylor, who helps her see Cam’s side, and they make up. But Peter’s probing has made Leslie face another truth that Laura’s illness may be psychosomatic, due to the choice she must make. As Leslie faces the growing realization that she is the cause of her daughter’s illness and she may have to give her up to make her well, Cam secretly visits the judge and asks that he decide to return Laura to the Vinings in order to save Leslie from the guilt of giving up her daughter herself. :
    • 1976 Part 3 Peggy Brooks, the youngest Brooks daughter, upset over her parents’ recent marital trouble, has turned to her college teaching assistant for help with her studies, and then for emotional support. Jack Curtis is deeply attracted to her but tries to warn her not to get emotionally involved. But Peggy confesses she’s fallen in love with him, and he knows he returns her feelings. Jack, whose real name is Johnny Kryzynski, a name he feels is too difficult for professional use, is married to Joanne, a waitress at the Allegro, Leslie Elliot’s restaurant. Joanne, who is very overweight, is on another of her frequent reducing diets, hoping to regain Johnny’s love and attention. She is encouraged by Brock Reynolds, who manages the Allegro for Leslie. Sympathizing with her problem and her need for her husband’s love, Brock tells. her she must feel beautiful herself before other people can see it. One night, while discussing Joanne’s previous, fruitless attempts to diet, Jack asks her a question he’d never actually asked ‘before: Why had she gained all  that weight? Joanne painfully tells him that she found out a year after they were married that she was pregnant. When she sounded him out about children, he had made it clear they couldn’t have a child until he’d finished school, so she secretly had an abortion, which left her feeling so empty that she ate to fill the emptiness. For the first time in a long time, Jack put his arms around her and kisses her. Feeling that Johnny really cares now that he knows about the abortion, Joanne’s trying very hard'to stay on her diet. But Peggy, having lunch at the Allegro, confides in her friendly waitress that she’s in love, and the man’s name is Jack Curtis. Joanne is heartsick, not only for herself but for Peggy, who obviously has no idea that Jack is married. Knowing that Peg’s sister Chris Foster works for Legal Aid, Joanne consults Chris about a legal name change, explaining that her husband, Johnny Kryzynski, uses the name Jack Curtis professionally she may as well make it their legal name. Chris makes the connection and tells her father about it. Stuart confronts Jack, demanding to know how he could do this to his wife and to Peg, and what he is going to do about it. Jack asks for time to let Peg down easily. When Peg learns that her father has seen Jack, she furiously informs him to stay out of her relationship with Jack. Peg later apologizes for her angry words, but she and her father cross swords again over Jack, and, backed into a verbal corner, Stuart blurts out, ‘For’ God’s sake, he’s a married man!” Disbelieving, Peggy goes to Jack, who tries to explain he’s started to tell her many times but, not wanting to hurt her, kept hoping for a better time to do it. Peggy, in shock, goes to the Allegro to think this out. Seeing the pain Peggy’s suffering, Joanne goes over to her and gently tells Peg she understands the hurt she’s going through—they are both in love with the same man, because Jack Curtis is her husband. Jill, having decided she must have revenge on Kay, has liquor delivered to her daily. When this doesn’t drive Kay back to alcoholism, Jill embarks upon a campaign to'convince Kay that Phillip is still alive. Jill slips into the Chancellor house each evening, after Liz has left, and leads Kay into reliving incidents and conversations which occurred over a year ago, when Jill was Kay’s paid companion. In this way Jill shakes Kay’s acceptance of Phillip’s death and has her convinced that Phillip is only away on a business trip. But Liz and Brock discover Jill’s grisly charade and begin to help Kay back to reality. Faced with the enormity of what she’s been doing, Jill realizes how wrong this is and decides to end the hostilities.
    • Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, and Knots Landing episodes for the week of October 24, 1983.
    • I really don't want to see some old P&G actors on the show. To me Lindstrom and McLain have brought nothing special. The show needs to find new talent, so it has it's own identity,which overall they have. Timon, Tricia, Ambyr are breakouts. Most of the others are fine .We all know the exceptions.
    • I would wager that was because it was a new character for the likes of Devon, Lily and Nate to interact with. Watching the likes of Billy fall in love again-Phyllis, Chelsea,Lily and now Sally is repetitive, especially when he is no prize. Josh doesn't really do long term couples. So every year or so they swap partners. It diminishes them as characters as they don't seem to grow or learn from the past. We know those characters so well and they've been through just about everything, so the only solution is to involve them with new characters and have them react to the newbies drama. They tried with Ashland and the Rosales but Josh dumped the latter and wrote so badly for Ashland who could have been a long term antagonist. All we got was another short lived marriage for Victoria and another accidental killing. And Josh thinks having them sit in restaraunts for the whole episode talking business, mergers, takeovers and job switching is interestring. It's not. I feel sorry for the actors who must know they are serving shite.
    • If I were to cast a Soap Opera veteran as Jan.. I would have picked Krista Allen (of Days and B & B fame) since she did move to the Atlanta area in late 2023... and knows all there is about the Soap opera way of filming.  And I could see her playing Ashley's mom.
    • Is the set for Lulu's new house an updated version of the set used for the childhood home of Luke, Bobbie and Pat Spencer?
    • I feel like AMC would be the easiest of their soaps to revive but a reboot seems cursed at this point. I wish we had more insight on what was pitched for the primetime reboot as well as these movies. That would give us a better idea of why it keeps getting shot down.
    • Mansion of the Damned sure is a "talkative" horror movie.  In the past when I've watched those episodes, I was paying attention to The Edge of Night characters and not really zeroing in on the rehearsals/blocking/filming of the actual movie.  This time I've been following the plot of Mansion of the Damned pretty closely, and all I can say is Hester Atherton and Nicholas Harriman are about the most chit-chatty Witch and Devil I've ever heard in my life!     
    • Ashley and Derek have been so isolated that I need the show to develop something, anything to justify their presence. It's not that I think Joey being her father will be the greatest story ever told but at least it would be something and connect her to more characters. I just need the show to move forward with them. Out of all the characters, these are the only two with no storyline/development. We have recurring characters who are better used with less screentime. If the show is going to keep them on contract they need to do something with them.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy