13 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

Is RC a good writer or a mediocre writer? I remember he received so much praise for his work on OLTL. But when Rebecca and Greg asked him what his favorite story was, he chose the Viki in Paris, Texas storyline. As he described it, I found myself a little underwhelmed. Is that really considered one of his best stories?

I think he's a mediocre writer who got praise for his work on OLTL largely because he came after Dena Higley's three year run (and I think she was, frankly, one of the worst writer's on that show) and he knows his history, which for OLTL was mostly the Rauch era of OLTL. When he first came on (I think technically credited as Dena's co-HW) the show finally was watchable again. But I mostly hated his final years--with a few exceptions. I did follow him to GH because of the OLTL connection, but gave up after so many "rubber mask reveals," (funny enough, OLTL is called out for that in a 1989 SOD review.)

I don't know much about his DAYS except that he said in that Soapy interview he didn't know the show, and still seemed keen to revisit the storylines he had heard of (possession being the obvious one.)

Edited 44 minutes ago44 min by EricMontreal22

I just had a flashback and went down a rabbit hole. Two words: Burton Armus.

If you know, you know. 😂

Here's a thread from 20 years ago. (I can't believe we've been here this long.)

Sadly, Mr. Armus passed away in 2024.

On 6/27/2026 at 9:43 PM, DRW50 said:

Thanks!

Funny that ABC took her advice (I doubt they were taking her advice, it was probably going to happen anyway) about bringing a younger generation in, and viewers gave two thumbs down. I'd say she may have done a better job, but based on her views of Kelsey and Kevin, I don't know.

Interesting to hear Janet had such little fan support. I'm not surprised as the character was not written with a great deal of sympathy, aside from having a horrible mother. Broderick put in a great deal of work on the character.

I didn't know she had planned to kill Del. That would have just been more misery for Dixie, but he was just a lump anyway. (was the second Del around when Dixie returned and "died" in 06-07?) The best I can say about him is Winsor Harmon was a solid enough support for SMG in her last months as they had so brutally isolated Kendall for various reasons and she had no one else.

I think Hal Corley (and Robin) deserve a lot of credit for making Janet work--for me, at least.

Del was always a dud of a character from what I remember. I find WW back then terribly attractive (maybe I'm just attracted to Marlboro Men) and I actually like that his exit was with Kendall, but the character never worked. And it was a mistake to bring him back (with one of the soapstar reality contest winners)--not only did I think the new actor didn't even have the looks for the role (I feel mean saying that,) but there was no place for him on the canvas. From what I recall, briefly he was part of a McTavish (during her third regime) idea to have Wildwind be a sort of new Myrtle's--a place where characters who didn't have a home could live, and I think Julia (in another character return that went nowhere) was sort of in charge. I liked the idea of that, but it went nowhere.

6 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

I just had a flashback and went down a rabbit hole. Two words: Burton Armus.

If you know, you know. 😂

Here's a thread from 20 years ago. (I can't believe we've been here this long.)

Sadly, Mr. Armus passed away in 2024.

Oh jeesh I forgot about that! I remember the gossip when Mal Young was hired (?) by Frons to consult on AMC, apparently. And I thought that might be a good fit because of the UK soaps he had overseen--well we know what happened when he went to Y&R

3 minutes ago, EricMontreal22 said:

I think Hal Corley (and Robin) deserve a lot of credit for making Janet work--for me, at least.

Del was always a dud of a character from what I remember. I find WW back then terribly attractive (maybe I'm just attracted to Marlboro Men) and I actually like that his exit was with Kendall, but the character never worked. And it was a mistake to bring him back (with one of the soapstar reality contest winners)--not only did I think the new actor didn't even have the looks for the role (I feel mean saying that,) but there was no place for him on the canvas. From what I recall, briefly he was part of a McTavish (during her third regime) idea to have Wildwind be a sort of new Myrtle's--a place where characters who didn't have a home could live, and I think Julia (in another character return that went nowhere) was sort of in charge. I liked the idea of that, but it went nowhere.

Do you mean WH? Not WW. Or is that a Freudian slip and you secretly were also attracted to Walt Willey. 😁

I hated that Wildwind became a boarding house of sorts during that time. It was very lazy writing. Or maybe necessitated due to budget cuts and the show was only allowed a finite number of sets to work with?

On 6/27/2026 at 10:22 PM, Jonathan said:

I really enjoyed the 1999–2000 period when Agnes returned full-time. One thing Agnes did exceptionally well—and I've said this here before—was her use of foreshadowing. She was great at planting seeds that paid off later, and she also re-injected the show with a sense of mystery.

I know the Phantom Erica story wasn't everyone's favorite, but I loved it. The audience never actually saw Erica's face, yet characters like Adam and David did. Watching their horrified expressions and reactions to whatever they saw made me incredibly intrigued. It left so much to the imagination, and I thought that was far more effective than showing everything. I love that kind of storytelling.

I did like that period of Nixon from 1999-2000--she also seemed to work hard to return the show to a sense of Pine Valley. I know others here didn't like Enid Nelson and others shaming Marian, but... I did.

And I mostly liked the Phantom of the opera Erica storyline too--probably the only idea from McTavish's second run that I did like, but I also liked Agnes Nixon's Gothic stories on Loving, so what do I know :P I think it worked for Erica and also did give the show a DAYS element without going too far (like bleeding psychic tattoos, would...)

4 minutes ago, EricMontreal22 said:

Oh jeesh I forgot about that! I remember the gossip when Mal Young was hired (?) by Frons to consult on AMC, apparently. And I thought that might be a good fit because of the UK soaps he had overseen--well we know what happened when he went to Y&R

I don't think Mal Young was ever hired at All My Children. Do you mean Daran Little? He was eventually hired as a writer for the show but I didn't really see any improvement.

3 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

Do you mean WH? Not WW. Or is that a Freudian slip and you secretly were also attracted to Walt Willey. 😁

I hated that Wildwind became a boarding house of sorts during that time. It was very lazy writing. Or maybe necessitated due to budget cuts and the show was only allowed a finite number of sets to work with?

HA I meant Winsor Harmon not Walt Willey (who I've always found attractive, but not in a particularly sexual way lol. Weird story, I remember when I finally got my mom hooked on AMC -- I was 15 and she said that I should pay attention to how Jack always pulls his trousers up when he sits down. :S

I think I just thought that it was a good idea to join all these younger characters together in a living space, and the empty Wildwind made sense. Anyway, from what I recall they basically dropped the idea after a few months.

3 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

I don't think Mal Young was ever hired at All My Children. Do you mean Daran Little? He was eventually hired as a writer for the show but I didn't really see any improvement.

Just now, EricMontreal22 said:

HA I meant Winsor Harmon not Walt Willey (who I've always found attractive, but not in a particularly sexual way lol. Weird story, I remember when I finally got my mom hooked on AMC -- I was 15 and she said that I should pay attention to how Jack always pulls his trousers up when he sits down. :S

I think I just thought that it was a good idea to join all these younger characters together in a living space, and the empty Wildwind made sense. Anyway, from what I recall they basically dropped the idea after a few months.

You're right, I was thinking of Daran Little! I think there was hope that he would be an AMC HW. I guess I just associate all of those Brits together :P

1 minute ago, EricMontreal22 said:

You're right, I was thinking of Daran Little! I think there was hope that he would be an AMC HW. I guess I just associate all of those Brits together :P

There was hope, but it kind of went nowhere. He basically became a breakdown writer and other head writers came and went and he was retained on staff.

On 6/28/2026 at 4:45 AM, Jonathan said:

Gosh, I actually didn't mind Becca and Scott as individual characters. But the casting—especially with Scott—was all over the place, and I think it took away from the story. 😬

Did Shane McDermott's Scott ever actually cross paths with Becca, or was it only Forbes March?

I really liked Shane McDermott as Scott. Then they seemed to take the character in a completely different direction, I guess to give him more sex appeal, but I just never bought Forbes March in the role.

A triangle with Rebecca Budig's Greenlee, Forbes March's Scott, and Abigail Spencer's Becca? I'm not sold. Abigail Spencer was fine. So was Rebecca Budig. But Forbes March as Scott? That casting never worked for me, so it was hard to invest in the Greenlee/Scott/Becca triangle.

(I'm going through these messages that I missed when I had no power--so this is probably addressed...)

March's Scott was later:
Shane McDermott (1995–96)
Daniel Cosgrove (1996–98, 2010–11)
Forbes March (1999–2000)

When I spoke to Corley the original intention was to make McDermott seem like the gay high school student, and eventually do a bait and switch with Kevin. But execs didn't like that, and felt no one would like a gay character so Scott was introduced already infatuated with Anita.... At many instances they were worried about just how "gay" the characters of Michael and Kevin would seem (it's amusing to watch the 1995 Pluto TV episodes and just how many women they seem to have flirting with Michael...)