so i dont know if kenney's vision would have been better than what we got? im not sure of what he had planned.....although i guess it didnt matter who, him or tomlin since i believe they were there in name only. it was defiantly spelling's show with one of them there to help him get the daytime grind imo.

another thing i find wierd is guza's involvement! so he helped create the show, wasn't sure if the show would be picked up, went to GH, when the show was picked up and he was already in a contract had to go back to SB, then left to go back to GH some months later! what the hell was up with that? seems he would have wanted to stay with a show he helped create and, one wonders why griffith or pratt jr. or both didn't take on the HW duties once guza left? that whole situation was always confusing to me! smh

I didn't get why Griffith didn't take over on SUBE either (he was a creator wasn't he?) Not that I'm a fan of his daytime work at ALL, but they did want a daytime Melrose--and Pratt was I believe in charge of Melrose by then, had created Models Inc, etc. (I still wonder why nobody tried to get him to headwrite the Melrose reboot, he probably would have at least made it interesting).

I actually loved SuBe for big periods too, which is weird as it's not my style of soap at all--but it was fun, ireverent, and fast moving. The early months were creaky, though some problems are common to soaps in their early days (green actors, etc), and they did try to be diverse back then. But it didn't really catch on till it went campy--I loved DePriest's era. Really it's what Passions IMHo should have been but wasn't--Passions was a bit of a soap satire like SuBe but it ws ham fisted, and worst of all it was fu$king slow and repititve with next to no momentum or clever dialogue.

I didn't get why Griffith didn't take over on SUBE either (he was a creator wasn't he?) Not that I'm a fan of his daytime work at ALL, but they did want a daytime Melrose--and Pratt was I believe in charge of Melrose by then, had created Models Inc, etc. (I still wonder why nobody tried to get him to headwrite the Melrose reboot, he probably would have at least made it interesting).

I actually loved SuBe for big periods too, which is weird as it's not my style of soap at all--but it was fun, ireverent, and fast moving. The early months were creaky, though some problems are common to soaps in their early days (green actors, etc), and they did try to be diverse back then. But it didn't really catch on till it went campy--I loved DePriest's era. Really it's what Passions IMHo should have been but wasn't--Passions was a bit of a soap satire like SuBe but it ws ham fisted, and worst of all it was fu$king slow and repititve with next to no momentum or clever dialogue.

I always found it odd that Reilly's consulting on SuBe was its best time (late 1997-mid 1999...Terror Island, Shockwave!, Rosario Jewels), but he couldn't muster up the same pace of storytelling for his "baby", Passions. If Passions had kicked it out of the gate running, with the same flavor of SuBe, I think it could have done better than it did.

I've always wondered how much him consulting really was. That said, if it just meant he suggested some story ideas and sorta said yes, or no to others--than I can kinda see it. That wouldn't mean he was in charge of pace, but in charge of a "wacky" plot idea leaving the writers to do with it what they want. But story consultant on soaps often seems to mean vastly different things--I'm always confused by the term. Agnes Nixon was a consultant for ABC Daytime for a long time, she was consultant at The City (where she did apparently help change the show into what it became after an iffy, fragmented start), Gillian Spencer of all people was a consultant at AMC in the late 80s, etc.

didn't gottlieb get alot of credit? i seem to remember after her leaving, people complaining that OLTL just fell apart! i wonder what it would have been like had she left and went to another show if she would have done her magic twice?

I know that she did get some criticism within the soap community for perceived arrogance, i.e., Big Ms. Movie Producer gonna show these soaps how to do it right. Gottlieb had the flash and great taste of a Conboy and the social-mindedness of a Nixon. She had great taste and a marked appreciation for gorgeous production values, yet the style never trumped the substance. I think she would have brought depth to, and legitimized any number of "glamor soap" projects... imagine her Capitol or even The City. I would have also liked to have seen Another World and Guiding Light in her hands. Just judging from her relatively short time at One Life, I think she was an EP who was capable of delivering the depth and beauty of a Y&R without being a Bell soap. Something Rauch and Lemay's Another World had going for it years ago. Like other successful producers, she allied herself with great writers, but I sense from her a sharper point of view and a greater hand in the ideas that made it to the page... other producers I've mentioned in this post have really sunk without the excellent writers who in many ways made them the big names in daytime that they became.

Edited October 29, 201114 yr by SFK

Unfortunately she made it quite clear that she's a woman who likes to try her hand at something and then get a new challenge.

Erika Slezak On Her Emmy Legends Interview said she didnt think Linda was good for the show. She was all about editing & nothing else

She also gave some of Viki's airtime to other characters and made her an adulteress. I saw that interview too and was surprised ES would say that. About just as surprised as her praise of FF.

ES Liked JFP, RS Didnt

RS Liked LG, ES Didnt

Speaking of Josh Griffith, I think Y&R would be in a much better state right now had he stayed on as HW (sans MAB and with a more competent co-HW of course).