I think they were afraid to do humor. There were still some cherished comedic moments (Palmer and Myra's bickering, Tad's quips, anything with Cecily, Phoebe and Langley, though the characters' importance and airtime began to severely reduce by the late 80s), but it was tough to mine humor from all the dark stuff they were suddenly doing a lot of. There was just too much seriousness.

Unfortunately, seriousness was the buzzword for the 90s, and the Claire Labine school of writing was seen as more grown up and respectable. But was it fun? All the soaps started to become more and more alike and it seems like this culture developed that unless a soap was serious and humor free it was something to be ashamed of.

Who in their right mind could have ever plotted this crazy storyline happening behind the scenes at ABC Daytime/Disney Corporate? SOAPnet not going away after all? This is some crazy shit. So the revenue from the channel that the soaps were bringing in would have still been there for possibly years to come? Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This is clearly a PR nightmare that won't go away.

That was more likely the effect of Passover.

Fran Fine: "It's the miracle of Passover! THE MESSIAH IS COMING!!!"

Sorry. :-D

Hershey is taking calls, names, zips and ages and passing them along to their marketing department. Even if they don't pull their ads, that is some crazy sh*t.

#abcsoapactor: I sure could use a candy bar right about now....

Hershey is taking calls, names, zips and ages and passing them along to their marketing department. Even if they don't pull their ads, that is some crazy sh*t.

Yes. Usually they have to pay someone for your personal information.

Who in their right mind could have ever plotted this crazy storyline happening behind the scenes at ABC Daytime/Disney Corporate? SOAPnet not going away after all? This is some crazy [!@#$%^&*]. So the revenue from the channel that the soaps were bringing in would have still been there for possibly years to come? Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This is clearly a PR nightmare that won't go away.

Deadline.com (I am sure you know) had a piece up about this and now they are going to run a soapnet just featuring GH

I find Anne Sweeney's vision of a network called CARRIE fairly ridiculous. Did she really think wealthy, professional, upscale single women living in the West Village and Upper East Side of Manhattan were all going to crowd around their sets to learn how they should be dressing? If they needed the network's help, they wouldn't be a real Carrie in the first place. I know some Carries, and none of them are home at 1 pm.

Yes. Usually they have to pay someone for your personal information.

lOL, I didn't call. But hey, who knows at this point. If people are willing to give them that, so be it.

Unfortunately, seriousness was the buzzword for the 90s, and the Claire Labine school of writing was seen as more grown up and respectable. But was it fun? All the soaps started to become more and more alike and it seems like this culture developed that unless a soap was serious and humor free it was something to be ashamed of.

IMO, Claire Labine's writing worked best on Ryan's Hope. There is a seriousness and depth to her writing, but I think it's better suited to a show like RH that took place in a real city with gritty ethnic character types. The seriousness worked there because the whole structure and framework of the show were reality-based. Plus there was always Delia for a health dose of character-based comedy that was never seemed sitcomy or campy, at least in the early years of the show. I know I'm one of the very few thinks this, and will probably need to enter the witness protection program, a la Frons, for stating this, but I never thought her brand of writing transferred well to GH. GH found its niche years earlier as a show dominated by fantasy and action adventure with healthy doses of campy comedy. The hospital was its only real connection to reality during those Gloria Monty years, and even that was slipping away a bit. So for Labine to come on and do the BJ transplant story, Monica's breast cancer, the Stone-Robin AIDS story, etc...even though these stories were very well written and garnered them all types of awards, on one level they never worked for me because they went against the identity the show had very successfully established for itself 15 years earlier. It was just one PSA story after another. Maybe if they had been staggered better, they would've worked more for me, but the doom and gloom seemed to be relentless. When Labine was hired at GL, I thought for sure she'd be a great fit. GL, for all the fantasy crap it had done over the years, was still essentially an old-fashioned show with strong family connections. Whether it was the Rauch issue or something else, something went totally awry there. She could've written GL's renaissance, but it just went all haywire. Labine was not a good fit at OLTL, and I could predict from the moment I read the news about her being hired there, that it would be an unmitigated disaster. I would love to have seen her Heart & Soul come to fruition. Not sure how this thread turned into a discussion about Claire Labine's writing LOL, but I think we need to steer it back

Edited April 19, 201114 yr by LoyaltoAMC

Who in their right mind could have ever plotted this crazy storyline happening behind the scenes at ABC Daytime/Disney Corporate? SOAPnet not going away after all? This is some crazy shit. So the revenue from the channel that the soaps were bringing in would have still been there for possibly years to come? Jesus, Mary and Joseph. This is clearly a PR nightmare that won't go away.

Yes, and for a network that seems to hate soap operas, their mismanagement of all has created a new one in of itself.

lOL, I didn't call. But hey, who knows at this point. If people are willing to give them that, so be it.

Sorry, I didn't mean you personally, I meant "you" general. Those people are just dumping themselves on a list for datamining. But its not like that doesn't happen everyday so its no big deal. It's interesting to see how these companies are using this situation to their advantage.

Don't be shocked if you call Hershey's and later get this letter:

Dear [Your Name Here],

Allow us to extend our sympathies over losing your favorite ABC soaps by offering you this coupon for 20% OFF YOUR FAVORITE HERSHEY'S PRODUCT.

Signed,

The Hershey Corporation

Deadline.com (I am sure you know) had a piece up about this and now they are going to run a soapnet just featuring GH

I find Anne Sweeney's vision of a network called CARRIE fairly ridiculous. Did she really think wealthy, professional, upscale single women living in the West Village and Upper East Side of Manhattan were all going to crowd around their sets to learn how they should be dressing? If they needed the network's help, they wouldn't be a real Carrie in the first place. I know some Carries, and none of them are home at 1 pm.

Thank you, Quartermainefan. I was dumbfounded, when I read that part of the article. They seriously underestimate their current and (in their minds) potential viewing audience all the time.

Hershey is taking calls, names, zips and ages and passing them along to their marketing department. Even if they don't pull their ads, that is some crazy sh*t.

LoL, what better way to get direct contact information from their key demographic while simultaneously saving money than by following Hoover's equally opportunistic lead?

What Hoover's doing is smart. By boycotting ABC, they're getting tons of free press they wouldn't have otherwise gotten if they continued paying for ad space on the network, and no matter what happens to AMC/OLTL, Hoover is going to come out smelling like roses. Not to mention the boost in sales they're going to get. Brilliant!

I would not be surprised to hear some positions being shuffled soon.