Richard Culliton: Yea or Ney?

[DRW50]

Thanks for the transcript. I remember some of that. Their rivalry was fun because neither was good or bad.

I remember the change in dialogue too, especially for characters like Anna, who now had more of a sense of humor. I remember when she told David around Christmas that he and Dixie could "hang each other."

[Adam]

One thing that did really tick me off with Culliton was how he portrayed Brooke during the Maria/Maureen mess..... that was wrong. I am grateful he was the last writer to truly give her something to work with, but it was totally out of character for Brooke to hide the fact Maria was alive from Edmund just to get him down the aisle..... It just never washed with me. Maria's whole return never really washed with me, and in the end was a complete and utter waste of time for her fans, the show, and Eva LaRue herself....

[MichaelGL]

I couldn't stop laughing after reading that line.

[dragonflies]

I thought I remembered reading once that it was intended for Kendall to be raped, but McTavish pitched the Bianca rape instead. I'm guessing she felt it would have more "impact" or something

[R Sinclair]

I swear I remember her bargaining her soul to keep Edmund hers after tearing apart that Las Vegas motel room after realizing Maureena was alive. I was like, "Brooke, is he really that good in bed?"

[Vee]

I loved most of Culliton's AMC. I hated to see him go. I even loved most of the crazy Proteus stuff.

I thought Brooke was hilarious in the Maureen storyline and it's just another shining example of why I've sort of rolled my eyes at her character as some big female lead. She constantly had this "oh [!@#$%^&*]" look on her face like a whipped dog or a con in solitary, ready to drop a deuce at any moment if anyone found out she had found Maria but wasn't saying anything. I just did not feel for her at all but I laughed the whole time.

Culliton has had to live down his GH tenure for years and it's unfair, IMHO. Tony Geary gave countless interviews insinuating about how he either beat Culliton down or almost beat him up or whatever "for the good of the art" but in years since Guza has done far worse things to the show.

[Soapsuds]

I enjoyed his HW stint on ATWT after Marland's death. He had the whole Orlena/Damian/Lily storyline which was good but got sidetracked when Claire Bloom left and Lynn Milgrim replaced her.

[DRW50]

Culliton also wrote what was probably the last really strong and powerful multi-generational story on ATWT, Lisa suing John for malpractice over Eduardo's death.

Vee, you're right about how long Culliton was criticized for his GH stint. Looking back, it was not even that bad, just dull, and some moments were not bad at all. Tony Geary and his ego, he is so gleeful about the moments which have made Luke a laughingstock.

[EricMontreal22]

yeah that's what I meant by dropped stories. It was almost like eveyrthing on the show would get dropped--I love the Amanda idea (though would that mean Janet would be a psycho who disapproved of her lesbian lover and went after her witha crowbar? lol)

I liked the idea of Krystal being bad--I still remember her first scene was Babe callign her with some trauma and Krystal was with some random in a motel acting concerned and then basically hung up on Babe to go back to sex, etc. I was kinda bummed they dropped that SOOOO fast.

[EricMontreal22]

Well yes, that's the point isn't it? As much as I don't really approve, I get the thinking behind it. "Well if Kendall, who is still something of a villainess, is raped so that she and her mom can bond... how will that affect others? I know, let's have our beloved, angelic, pure lesbian character raped, they can still bond over that, and it will affect THE WHOLE TOWN! C'mon Fronsie, don't you love that we can use the term UMBRELLA story all over the media??"

And I admit a part of me gets that--it does give more payoffs and it does make for a story they can run with longer (they prob were itching to give Bianca a baby to focus on instead of a lover, anyway). I admit I didn't find it quite as in bad taste as some just cuz I found the initial scenes--the rape, Bianca's trauma over it, so riveting to watch, but I really get the disdain for the story and the cynical plotting behind it. But again, that said, I do completely get how they would see it giving more story impact and payoff.

I think most of your points are on the ball, but I'm weary of when people say omments like this--it makes me think of when they credit Agnes with suddenly ghostwriting anything they actually like So we KNOW that McTavish fought it "tooth and nail" and if so, how? Or is it just conjecture? The initial twist--to piss of Ethan, etc, seemed pure McTavish to me and then I just suspected they saw what chemistry Zack and Kendall had (which, it's hard for me to remember, they actually did at first) and went with it...

[EricMontreal22]

Sinclair is spot on about the dialogue. He almost made me wanna watch Laura--but really i disagree with you Carl, Passanante made Laura such an instant psycho (after flirting, much more interestingly with her lesbianism) that it was very hard to root for her at all--without Brooke boohooing behind her she would have had absolutely no sympathy at all. (I don't even remember what happened--did she just come to her senses and back down and slink out of town?)

[EricMontreal22]

Spot on and as a Brooke fan(atic) this may be why I have such mixed feelings to his return. In hindsight it is funny/awful how they made Maria/Maureen come back for the love of her life, Brooke left, and then Maureen didn't even really want Edmund and (under Rayfield) he had to go psycho and LOCK HER UP to keep her with him while she mooned over dull as dirt (but pretty) Aiden... If I was Brooke that would piss me off even more lol.

Was Aiden a Culliton invention?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Savitz was such a poor man's JFP, it wasn't even funny.

However, I was surprised to find that she had a long soap history. I was recently looking at some GL end credits, and I found that in 1975, she was listed as a producer as Charlotte Savitz Ciraulo. She did leave at one point to become a producer at Santa Barbara and was apparently worked at NBC in some form though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ZlCc0YOYU

[R Sinclair]

On the day of Leo and Laura's vow renewal at the Valley Inn, Laura locked Greenlee in the supply closet. Greenlee set off the sprinklers, dousing the ceremony. Leo came to his senses, left Laura at the altar and she had a (poorly acted, cartoonish) melt down. Afterwards, she realized she needed help and Brooke sent the horrible recast and deaged bitch out of town.

[Adam]

Yes, he most certainly was. Debuted in the spring of 2002...... who thought then he'd almost last 8 friggin years on this show.