Wendy Riche returning to daytime?

[bellcurve]

Well it IS a recession. And Julie owes Wendy big for giving her that EP job at Port Charles.

[DRW50]

These days, I think they are expected to make the show watchable, turn it into a program which makes some kind of sense, and has a working engine. I know there are fanbase issues and some people will never be satisfied but I think if the show just tries to make sense and has a good flow, then generally people will see it as being on the right track.

The problem with a "new" writer or producer is when the hype becomes all about them, not about the show. With Sheffer, the hype from early on was all about how he was lowering himself to do daytime, how ATWT was some tired old show which was lucky to have him, how he was such a wonderful interview and so hilarious and clever. This carried over to DAYS -- he was going to make them a huge hit, he was going to be their savior, and so on.

With Ron Carlivati, I think it was less about self-promotion and more about a lot of people who were angry over the Higley years sort of latching onto him because the show seemed better once he was promoted to headwriter. Expectations became higher and higher, especially when the strike meant he wasn't involved for 3-4 months. Add in the Nelson Branco stuff which focuses on perving over Ron and Frank Valentini, and it just became ridiculous, which made the comedown even harder when complaints about the show began to increase.

If a new writer comes in and does not become a huge object of hype, then they may face an easier time.

I think at one time a new writer would have been expect to be fresh and bold, but with daytime in such a sorry state, I think a lot of fans are now just happy to settle for something they can enjoy.

[Toups]

I hope it happens. Love Wendy. Now all we need is Francesca James and the mid 90's GH producers crew will all be back together.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Didn't Kubla Khan say Francesca will be directing for AMC: LA too? But we don't know if it's on a contractual basis.

[NYC123]

Man things are happening quickly at AMC.

If Wendy Riche is coming on board that would be a good pickup by ABC/JHC/AMC. IMO she did a good job at GH during the 1990's which is when I started to really enjoy GH.

It would really great to have so much talent at AMC, behind the scenes wise with Brodrick, James, and now Riche. Now things are really looking up now for AMC finally which hasn't happend.

[DRW50]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Felicia Behr being in the running for anything.

I think this was already mentioned, but do you think ABC is trying to put AMC into a position where it can replace GH (which has just failed them in a big way with the busted ratings for Franco and for JJ's return) as their main soap?

[marceline]

No. I think they see the GH "failure" as temporary. As do I.

[LoyaltoAMC]

Nah, I doubt it. Despite its ratings woes, GH is still the crown jewel of ABC daytime. It still beats AMC in the demos, which is all ABC cares about. When all is said and done, GH will probably be the last ABC show standing. I think that Frons is relatively happy with his buddy Guza and with JFP. Don't see them going anywhere as long as the demos are relatively healthy.

[JaneAusten]

I don't think they see JJ's return or Franco as failures and they are still ABC's best soap in demos

[EricMontreal22]

To be fair, this is nothing new in the soap industry. For every exception like Lemay or Gottlieb, since the 60s at least soaps have been revolving endlessly their "talent". One reason is, I guess how hard and complicated it is to train someone not involved.

This obviously sounds like Riche is being worked into AMC as EP--surely she wouldn't work UNDER hack JHC?

Behr was last talked about when she was uin the running for the job Frons got--I got the opinion she wouldn't work under him and EPing a show would be seen as a demotion from that or something.

[DRW50]

I think they might see Franco's story as a failure -- it got them lots of press attention and yet the ratings went down. It also implies that no matter what they do, GH may not be able to seriously make up ground. The demos are important but I'm not sure there's enough of a difference between AMC and GH to make a difference.

It's just strange to me that we are seeing so much effort with AMC. I know part of this may be to have more cover if/when OLTL goes but if they bring in people like Wendy Riche and Shelley Curtis, that's some heavy weight.

I guess some of this could also be about stopping the money bleed which seems to have caused problems for AMC in recent years. Did that start with JHC? Being so in the red?

[JaneAusten]

YOu really have't seen significant changes really until they announced the relocation and then Pratt's firing(still very perplexing). But it seems like they are at least TRYING to get back to some of the things that made AMC successful.

GH I have no clue. I hear time and time again how they only care about demos yet Days and Passions I thought maintained their positions and Passions while in last place, was still demowise doing well. Wasn't the same happening at Days with all the cancellation talk there? I realize being a network owned soap affords them more latitiude, but I can't see Frons being ecstatic but who knows.

[Ann_SS]

I don't think that ABC is thrilled with GH any more than it is with AMC and OLTL. Yes, GH has the strongest demos, but the network isn't blind to Days taking over GH as the no. 2 soap in the 18 to 49 women demo. GH's ratings are steadily declining which means less ad revenue. We know that there have been budget cuts behind the scenes at GH to compensate for the loss ad revenue; actors taking pay cuts, filming four days a week, and studio is having more dark weeks.

I think where the network parts ways with unhappy online GH fans is that it doesn't blame Guza or Phelps or Frons for the declining ratings because GH has done so well holding a younger demo for so long despite an aging decreasing audience. This is why GH doesn't have any turmoil in the headwriter and EP. ABC must think that Guza and Phelps are doing a good job. ABC may not be happy that there has not been bump in the ratings after spending the money to promote Franco, but I doubt that they blame Guza.

[JONNYSBRO]

I think Jill Farren Phelps has just given up. She does not care anymore. She's a lapdog for Guza's vision. Far far cry from her usual producing style where she has to be in control of everything. Her OLTL days she was a control freak power hungry biatch. Guza/Jill were friends before they worked together on GH. Guza hated Wendy so much because Wendy was never afriad to get in that man's face. She had no use for his ego and believe me there fights are legendary. Guza even quit because he could not work anymore with the woman he called a C&&T. Shortly Riche was fired for Phelps. I think her being second in line is just because she wants a lesser role. There has been interest from Riche to return, she just did not want a daytime return. Woman made ALOT OF MONEY on GH. She is very hardcore, demanding, commanding and very much a visionary. Claire Labine said Wendy would fight over every network exec to get their vision brought on. She was very tough. Julie is a sweet nice woman but she lacks vision. ABC is really going all out for AMC from massive promos, to the View show, to Kelly Ripa pimping it on Live and all this stuff. ABC is really backing AMC.

[JaneAusten]

Which is why the Pratt move at AMC still is confounding. AMC did recognize some ratings stabilization under him.Maybe not growth. And the growth the past month or two I attribute to the PR AMC is getting due to their move and anniversary. With AMC though this is being coupled with a writing and possibly production change some smart casting changes which may help. GH follows the adage if it ain't broke don't fix it. I feel at this juncture the same applies now to B&B and Y&R to an extent.