we all give producers and writers we love alot of praise but what about those who have done tremendous work but are not always appreciated? let's give an opinion of some!

allen potter(aw, gl)

robert calhoun(atwt, gl) probably one of the best imo

laurence caso(atwt)

francesca james(amc)

jeanie dadario burke(lov, the city, amc) one of my personal favorites

teri gurrianari?(aw)

paul rauch(aw, oltl, sb, gl, y&r) another of my favorite's although he was all wrong for SB

john conboy(y&r, cap, sb, gl)

haidee granger(loving)

jaquelinne babbin(amc, loving)

gail kobe(texas, gl)

Tom Langan. He did great things for DAYS before he decided he also wanted to write. He did a great job producing DAYS and should have stuck to that.

Tom Langan. He did great things for DAYS before he decided he also wanted to write. He did a great job producing DAYS and should have stuck to that.

Very good point.

Yes very good point Robt. Calhoun came on ATWT in 1984 because ATWT was all over the map with story veering from what ATWT was about and it was not balanced during 1978-1984 it had 4 EPs and 23 HWs during the same period!!! Robert came and stabilized the the story-telling and Harding Lemay also came in as Story Consult which leads in my opinion as good if not better to Gail Kobe. In early and into mid-eighties GL was P&Gs most stable show in direction because of Pam Long and Gail. Robert started changing ATWT when he begin to thin out the canvas all McCalls, Meggie & Frank, Cal #1, Marcy & Stewart fired Frannie actress recast with JAM, help position new characters that would fit on canvas Lucinda Walsh and knowing who to sacrifice and reeling in the writing was the start. It took him over a year for the clean up and lined it up with Doug Marland to step in and bring it back to core family members and creation of Snyders...ATWT entered into golden era. Robert at one point stepped in and being the EP of both ATWT & GL and moved to GL after Gail Kobe had left in '86, GL had lost steam because the last 2 yrs. the current of EPs of GL was producing the kind of drama which it had...Robert into the position EP on GL in '88 and his HWs with Pam Long, Nancy Curlee, JER and GL had quickly got back on track.

Caso, moved into EP of ATWT by '88 and didn't miss a beat and produced along with Marland wonderful soap opera was there for 7 years. Caso, very much forgotten, his watch had so many wonderful stories with the Snyders, Scott Lisa's son, Margo's rape, Susan & Bob's affair, Lisa's lawsuit on John, Sierra & Craig. Doug Marland was one lucky SOB to have 2 wonderful EPs during his tenure. They as a team produced some ATWT and GL's beloved periods in their histories.

I am glad Robert Calhoun is getting some respect in this thread. Very underrated and definitely the best EP both ATWT and GL had in theiir last twenty years or so on the air.

I thought Calhoun did some great things with ATWT. As for his GL stint, I remember some of the actors saying he was asleep at the wheel there.

I know Calhoun clashed a lot with Pam Long at GL, which in part led to her quitting in 1990.

He was instrumental in bringing Zaslow and Garrett back too.

I wasn't all that crazy about his GL run but I would give Michael Laibson some credit for his AW work. AW finally seemed to move away from its state of permanent transition during his run. He had a rough time thanks to the death of Douglass Watson, but still kept Rachel in a fairly prominent role. He also attempted, with varying results, to bring back some of the Matthews family and to remember the show's history. He brought in Ryan Harrison, one of the best younger leading men AW ever had, and other good to great new characters such as Lorna, Jenna, Dean, Frankie. The stories for characters like Jake during this period were bang-on drama, fascinating to watch.

Edited October 17, 201114 yr by CarlD2

i agree about langan and he also did some good stuff at y&r too!

couldnt say much about laibson cause i can only base him on his gl work which is a mixed bag! him and mctavish seemed to be producing/writing two seperate shows, and i was too enthralled with atwt at the time to switch over and check out his AW!

speaking of calhoun, do we have any confirmation as to why he was fired from gl? and did long quit or was fired?

calhoun's gl was on fire during 89-jan91. roger, holly and beth's return. phillip and blake. gary swanson. reva's "death". josh and harley. the beginning of roger and mindy! damn the list can go on.... his 91 meh! the early mallet stuff with francesca was horrid! phelps totally rode on his storyline coat tails right thru 91-92! after everyone of those stories ended she completly failed!

I thought Joe Willmore brought Maureen Garrett back. Anyway, Long has said that she was the one who wanted Holly back on the canvass.

I think Pam Long was fired, although it was probably fairly mutual. I'm pretty sure it wasn't entirely voluntary because when she left she said it turned out to be for the best anyway because she now had more time to plan her wedding.

thanks carl! pam long will to this day go down as my favorite HW. not so much SB but, i even loved her OLTL tenure and thought she wasn't given a fair chance to the much then favored phelps ugh!

was blake and phillip's wedding in 88 or 89? cause if it was 89 then wilmore was gone and calhoun was in but im not quite sure which brought garrett back? i do know calhoun had some pretty damn good recasts! and, was calhoun responsable for the mass exodus quittings in 1991 ft. newman, alexander,chamberlin, o'leary and terral anthony or was that phelps? i know she had her own problems with numerous cast members leaving in 92-93!

The wedding was in spring or summer 1989, I think.

Phelps wasn't responsible for any of those departures.

I'm almost positive Roger and Holly were brought back under Willmore. I remember an interview where Long said she thought it would be a good idea to bring Holly back for a visit after Blake was exposed as Christina, but when she saw Maureen Garrett on screen, she sat up straight in her chair, immediately thinking Garrett was the sexiest woman on daytime (in a SOD interview). Along with that, there was a big story going on here in New York, where Joel Steinberg beat his I believe illegally adopted daughter, Lisa to death. His wife Hedda Nussbaum I think her name is, was arrested for doing nothing, and her lawyer argued she suffered from battered wife syndrom. Long drew a parrell to what Holly went through with Roger and wanted to explore the effects the abuse/rape had on Holly all those years later, which is why she wanted Holly back full time. Btw, I also remember her saying in an interview that with all he did to Holly, she would never put them back together in a romantic sense. I wish I had those SOD's still, but I remember because I was a big fan of Long, who got GL the second time around and made it fun to watch again. Also, I remember the announcement that Robert Calhoun was named GL's new exec came after the announcement that Elizabeth Dennehy was being let go and replaced. I had hoped Calhoun would step in and reverse this decision as I liked Dennehy (but grew to love Stringfield), so Roger & Holly definitely came back under Willmore.

Robert Calhoun is my favorite EP because of the work he did at both GL and ATWT. Laurence Caso is another favorite. With the P&G EP roulette in 95, I don't understand how he was the one left without a job (wonder what he would've done if he was given GL over Laibson). Allen Potter is another fave thanks to his work at GL. I remember the late 70's in bits, and know most stories from reading up on them. It amazes me that in 1975, Potter, along with The Dobsons were supposed to modernize the show in hopes of gaining a younger audience. Had the show used their blueprint in the mid 90's, as opposed to using JER's DOOL, the show might still be on the air today!.

bbboy u r right about long's comment about holly. i believe it was mentioned in that radio interview of her's about two yrs ago and i agree how much she got GL her second time around and made it enjoyable again. it's almost she revitalized the show again putting more emphasis on characters like roger, holly and ross and little less on reva.

another honorable mention would be ed scott. yes he get's lots of praise from y&r, but people seem to complain about his DOOL! he helped that show in many way's and i just dont think hogan was a writer he wanted to work with. how i wonder the show would have been given a different writer!