The Grant family certainly dissolved under Rauch. Dahalia hooked up with Sugar Hill and they both left town, Marcus and Griffin both disappeared. David and Vicky both had off-screen exits, and Vivian was poisoned by Holly and then never seen again while Charles only appeared for the next few years every once in a blue moon. Worst exit had to of course be Gilly, which occurred under McTavish.

BTW, here's another article about the hiring of Lloyd "Lucky Gold" for GL:

Writer Roulette

It was about this time last year that I wrote to you of changes in the writing teams of Procter and Gamble’s two surviving shows, As the World Turns and Guiding Light. What has happened to those two shows since then has equaled the difference between night and day. ATWT’s Head Writer, Hogan Sheffer, is new to the genre. As a newcomer, Sheffer was apparently unaware that once you break into the soap writing biz, it doesn’t really matter how well you do, because you can bounce from job to job. Accordingly, Sheffer has been writing ATWT as though he could actually get fired and never work again. In other words, he’s doing a good job, and actually seems to care and put some effort into his work, unlike many of his fellow has-beens and never-wases that work alongside him. The results have been staggering: Renewed vigor among the cast, a large increase in audience satisfaction, positive reviews, and Emmys, Emmys, Emmys! In fact, the only thing ATWT is missing is a giant increase in ratings!

Guiding Light, however, remains in the dark. Their head writer, Claire Labine, temporarily dazzled the audience, but their awe of Ms. Labine soon vanished. It wasn’t long before GL’s viewers remembered the old axiom: “Man can not live by witty dialogue alone.” For whatever reason, Labine could not get any real momentum of her own going. Instead of wrapping up the previous team’s storylines, Labine seemed to just coast on them as long as she could. Indeed, the two stories that stick out like a sore thumb, San Cristobel and the Springfield mob, spin on and on, with no end in sight. With few genuinely entertaining moments, (and most of those unintentionally so), Labine was soon dissed and dismissed.

Taking Labine’s place, is Lloyd “Lucky” Gold. Gold was touted as a newcomer to the soap Headwriting biz, a man from Hollywood, sent to deliver GL’s Springfield, much the way Hogan Sheffer played messiah to ATWT’s Oakdale. This was all technically true; what wasn’t mentioned right away was that Gold had previous scriptwriting experience on Another World (1982-85), and One Life to Live (1985-97). During both tenures, he worked with Guiding Light’s current executive producer Paul Rauch.

But, don’t be worried, says Rauch. In Michael Logan’s June 16-22 column for TV Guide, (the one with Fox News Channel’s battling Bill O’ Reilly on the cover), Rauch tells Logan: “[Gold] is not some superannuated hack who has been head writer on 18 different soaps.” (Apparently, it is okay to be a superannuated hack that has been executive producer on many soaps.) Rauch’s quote is just the beginning. The entire article, which composes about 75 % of one page, has caused no end of controversy, skepticism, and bickering on Guiding Light Internet message boards. (Of course, what doesn’t cause those things on GL message boards?) Just the briefest hints of Gold’s story plans were in the article. They include:

A reduced focus on San Cristobel.

Danny going straight.

A Reva plot that Logan describes as “a sweeping, metaphysical story rumored to involve past lives and time travel.” Rauch describes the Zimmer showcase as “extremely innovative. It will really push the envelope.”

Reaction from GL’s viewers has been swift and wide-ranging. From one side declaring that Gold will be the man who cancels GL, (just as Labine, Esensten and Brown, and McTavish were going to be the ones to cancel GL), to the other side chastising people for daring to discuss the proposed stories until they air. (This is the same side that holds the philosophy, “If you don’t have something nice to say about GL, drop dead!”)

Now it’s true that no one knows what Gold’s Light will be like until it airs. And long-time readers will note that I expressed much skepticism about ATWT’s Sheffer when was first hired, only to eat my words a million times over later on. Indeed, we have that famous saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, right. Well, we also have another famous saying: “If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and acts like a duck, it’s a duck!” And despite many attempts by GL and other soaps to pass off a duck as a swan, I still know my ducks. A reduced focus on San Cristobel? How about an end to San Cristobel? Danny goes straight? Like he was a real mob boss in the first place? I’m more frightened of GH’s Sonny! Yes, I’m aware that several longtime performers are going to be involved in this story. So? It just sounds like a bunch of veterans are going to be window dressing for Danny, the dull don. And the clincher? Another wacky storyline featuring GL’s “star”, Reva. When is somebody going to wake up? Reva doesn’t grab the audience like she used to, and putting her front and center in asinine, time-hogging storylines, isn’t going to help. The only going thing about Reva’s idiotic blindness story is that the writers themselves seem so ashamed of it, they’re hardly putting mentioning it at all! For the first time in about five years, Reva is a part of Guiding Light, instead of The Guiding Light.

As I said, if Gold dazzles me, or even beats my expectations, I’ll break speed records jumping to my keyboard. But, I hold out no hope. At this point, the Light is in need of a bigger energy infusion than California.

Hogan Sheffer, is new to the genre. As a newcomer, Sheffer was apparently unaware that once you break into the soap writing biz, it doesn’t really matter how well you do, because you can bounce from job to job.

He's certainly aware of that now.

Danny going straight.

This made me

A Reva plot that Logan describes as “a sweeping, metaphysical story rumored to involve past lives and time travel.” Rauch describes the Zimmer showcase as “extremely innovative. It will really push the envelope.”

Yeah...

On aside they did change their minds on Sheffer early as evident by their review of ATWT in 2002:

Something is rotten in Oakdale. Actually, several things are rotten, like villains run amok (I loved Annie two years ago; now I NEVER WANT TO SEE HER AGAIN), idiotic “adventure stories” that failed on every level, trivialization of rape, by-the-numbers plotting (Carly sleeps with Mike. Carly sleeps with Jack. Say it with me now: WHO THE DADDY?), failure to learn from mistakes (more island idiocy, too much time spent on a boring teen couple played by unseasoned actors--hello, Abigail/Chris!), and the backburner of core characters. (Coming up with a good story like Margo’s health problem, and making about Simon/Katie, then jettisoning it altogether? WHAT?!) Yes, Sheffer gives a great interview, and there may be something to his “too many women on the staff” comment. More likely, there’s too many cooks in Aunt Emma’s kitchen; the recipe that made Sheffer’s first year great has gone rancid. Still, no transplanted embryos, and the Rose/Lily reveal still makes lots more sense than the Natalie/Jessica REVEAL THAT WON’T END.

That was pretty much how I felt about the show by sometime in 2001, but then I was so judgmental because of his awful, awful interviews and obvious contempt for the vets.

At least they were ahead of the soap magazines, which I think continued to hype Sheffer and his ATWT all the way into 2004. SOD even told us how hilarious it was when Julia raped Jack.

Thanks so much! Didn't they write more of Dynasty than just the last season? The last few? Not that I know anything about Dynasty except its first few years (except that most fans don't think much of the later years lol...)

I've always been a kinda defender of them, just because I thought their time at Loving was very good (but they of course had the focus of the Serial Killer storyline, which apparently we now know was largely EP Burke's idea anyway--and of coming in after nearly a year when Agnes Nixon had returned to the show and helped get it on a very strong path), and, despite a shaky first 8 months or so, I'm a true blue The City lover which was their show (even if Nixon was a consultant it doesn't seem she did all that much, this time). The last 6 months particularly were really quite strong all things considered (and this was when my other two ABC soaps, AMC and especially OLTL were starting to massively slip, which made it look all the better).

So, even though I knew people felt they ran both GL and PC into the ground (I never knew they worked at DAYS), I was optimistic when they joined AMC. Their main prob at AMC is it was DEAD boring. Maybe we should have had a cloned Erica. NOTHING happened except the endless repeated Zendall "Crash" storyline with bits of intriguing other stories (Richie Annie's bro, etc) sorta happening on the very peripheral backburner. The show wasn't anything really offensive (except shoving Zendall down our throats) but it was just... very very blah. (They also did Ghost Dixie right? And... I can't even remember much else).

Yeah, I believe they're the ones that did Dixie's ghost. That seemed to come out of viewer complaints that the Kate/Kathy story had gone on too long and lacked Dixie's presence. It seemed like a grudging, token response to viewer discontent.

B&E are not the worst HWs I've ever seen. They did a handful of good work over the years, and a lot of very bad. I thought some of their early stuff at AMC could have worked but they ran it into the ground. And I liked PC until Caleb - they managed to tell some interesting supernatural stories later, but ended up eventually disappearing entirely into random coupleswaps and mysticism, to the point that Kevin and Lucy were forever broken up and almost everyone on the show was a vampire. And even before Caleb it was no bed of roses; every "mystery" ended up being blamed on Greg Cooper. Then there was that Scott/psychic spies story.

Edited February 19, 201015 yr by Vee

I wish I'd gotten to see more of the Labines' work at the show; however, some of the stories they did (like Reva, immigration crusader) were unfortunate, and the planned Holly/Olivia thing Labine alluded to sounded a lot like something antiquated straight out of The Children's Hour.

I know this is blasphemy, but I wonder about their work by this stage anyway. OLTL was unwatchable immediately before they came on--and they made it watchable, and fun the first few weeks (even if we were suddenly overwhelmed with those fantasy sequences, and other flights of forced whimsy) but their year as a whole was hardly brilliance, to me. I was a OLTL watcher though and not much of a GL one so I can't comment there...

Don't credit them for the greatness that is David Paulsen (the HW of Dallas for it's first 8 years) who took over Dynasty during it's brilliant final season. Those two were only scriptwriters. The PC stint was probably their best. They executed the novella/supernatural idea well during many of the arcs. As I currently watch the show from the beginning, I do prefer the hospital based stories, but their PC made me a fan.

Their OLTL was a real mixed bag. I loved some of it, hated other parts but it still felt like OLTL. The Labines did not want to be there, however. I think they could've been wonderful at GL despite some crap, but Rauch clearly had it in for Labine for some arcane reason and would have blocked them no matter what. To her credit, Labine said she fought for a major story with the Buzz/Holly/Billy triangle (which I, at least, liked) and was stymied by the network despite positive focus testing. I do think her Holly/Olivia story was supposed to cast Olivia as the lonely dyke crushing on straight Holly, though - ugh.

Edited February 19, 201015 yr by Vee

Yeah, I believe they're the ones that did Dixie's ghost. That seemed to come out of viewer complaints that the Kate/Kathy story had gone on too long and lacked Dixie's presence. It seemed like a grudging, token response to viewer discontent.

B&E are not the worst HWs I've ever seen. They did a handful of good work over the years, and a lot of very bad. I thought some of their early stuff at AMC could have worked but they ran it into the ground. And I liked PC until Caleb - they managed to tell some interesting supernatural stories later, but ended up eventually disappearing entirely into random coupleswaps and mysticism, to the point that Kevin and Lucy were forever broken up and almost everyone on the show was a vampire. And even before Caleb it was no bed of roses; every "mystery" ended up being blamed on Greg Cooper. Then there was that Scott/psychic spies story.

Ghost Dixie gave us a handful of good scenes--tormenting Adam (well at first), the Tad/Dixie dream episode but like much of their stuff at AMC at the time, it kinda went nowhere till it just ended. It's funny, because after their run at The City I probably would have been happy with the news they were coming to AMC (though maybe worried about some elements--of course Burke came from there instead and her run as EP at AMC was utterly useless).

(And yes I think Ghost Dixie was meant to give T/D fans closure--in hindsight they prob wish they hadn't bothered, but I know the dream episode was well enough regarded it seemed)

Don't credit them for the greatness that is David Paulsen (the HW of Dallas for it's first 8 years) who took over Dynasty during it's brilliant final season. Those two were only scriptwriters. The PC stint was probably their best. They executed the novella/supernatural idea well during many of the arcs. As I currently watch the show from the beginning, I do prefer the hospital based stories, but their PC made me a fan.

So the repeatedmentions of them being HWs at Dynasty at some point are largely exagerated?

You prefered their work at PC over Loving or The City?

That dream episode was nice, but I couldn't shake the vibe I got off it of "there, are you motherfuckers happy now? Back to Tad and Krystal."

Their OLTL was a real mixed bag. I loved some of it, hated other parts but it still felt like OLTL. The Labines did not want to be there, however.

No it did and it definetley was an improvementon Leah Laiman or whoever was there right before. I guess they were let down by the fact that they didn't get their own soap, as it seemed they might.

That dream episode was nice, but I couldn't shake the vibe I got off it of "there, are you motherfuckers happy now? Back to Tad and Krystal."

+1

Two reasons I hated the B&E era of PC:

1. Rafe/Allison. Hate hate hate. Stuttering angel and squeaky voiced woman. Jamal thrown to the wolves.

2. Kevin goes nuts because he's pricked with a needle. Lazy, shameful storytelling.

Before Rafe I thought their work on PC wasn't too bad. Carolyn Hinsey panned "Time in a Bottle" but I actually liked that.

I thought the Labines had some interesting ideas on OLTL but I was blinded by their bizarre loathing of Blair and their endless propping of Kelly and Tea. All of which has come back to haunt the show in the past few years.

Edited February 19, 201015 yr by CarlD2

I just never cared for Todd's parrot.

wrong thread

Edited February 19, 201015 yr by Vee