The Paul Rauch and Jill Farren Phelps Scorecard: Their Shared Soaps (Who Did Better/Worse?)

[MissLlanviewPA]

Everything that is currently going on with JFP at GH had me thinking about her versus Paul Rauch. It's interesting to me how these two most controversial producers have actually had quite similar careers in the soaps they have produced. With that in mind, I'm interested in finding out how you guys would compare these two EPs with the soaps they BOTH produced at one time or another, and ultimately, who was better and who was worse at each.

There are four soaps in the running:

Another World

Santa Barbara

One Life to Live

Guiding Light

[juppiter]

Now this should be interesting. I haven't seen any of these soaps under BOTH EPs, but I believe the consensus is:

Another World : Rauch

Santa Barbara : JFP

One Life to Live : Rauch

Guiding Light : JFP?

Would like to see opinions especially about GL though, because I think I liked Rauch's tenure more than the consensus did. Would like to see what people who saw both JFP and Rauch have to say.

[Mitch]

Wow, Guiding Light is a toss up as JFP's reign was both my favorite time for the show (Curlee, Demorest, Reilly, pre Buzz Cooper) and my worst (post Mo's death, the obscuration of the Bauers and the focus on Buzz Cooper and Justin Deas self indulgent acting.)

I actually think that in the beggining Rauch tried to be true to GL and actually for a lot of his reign it WAS entertaining. He tried to refocus on the Bauers (think he would have used Mary Stuart more if she handnt been sick) and while his emphasis was on Jeva, the show was still an ensemble (and he lessened the focus on Buzz Cooper and the rest of that clan.) While it was stupid, I didnt mind the clone that much either (which was a story he says was forced on him.) It wasnt until the mob, which could have worked, and the Fairy Princes of San Crud (which never would have worked) did the show seriously suck. I do give him credit for the resurgence the show had in his last year and half with Taggert (who he fought with constantly) and the return of PS as Ed and the return of a strong, confident but still ruthless Alex in Joan Collins. The show went to [!@#$%^&*] under Conboy and Weston.

I would have to give Phelps the crown as she friggen killed Maureen Bauer and brought in Justin Deas to eat every set!

[Khan]

No question: Rauch trumps JFP where ANOTHER WORLD and ONE LIFE TO LIVE are concerned, while her GUIDING LIGHT bests his (although, in Rauch's defense, JFP had better writers and a more supportive sponsor and network). For me, therefore, the real contest is over SANTA BARBARA. Granted, JFP was there for that show's so-called "golden time," but I actually think Rauch, in tandem with the Dobsons and Pam Long, helped to stabilize what had been, for much of its run, a very unstable show. Their efforts weren't enough to save the show, of course, but I think there is something to the story of how someone (forget who -- maybe that dreadful Susan Lee?) told Rauch that NBC had cancelled it at least a year too soon.

[juniorz1]

Santa Barbara is no contest Khan. Rauch's SB was A MESS and the "refocusing" he did with Pam Long was all wrong and they pretty much stripped the show of its identity. Rauch managed to make Conboy's SB look like the Dobsons! Frankly, I thought Conboy was a FAR better EP than Rauch at SB. People forget that Conboy restored the Lockridges and while his SB wasn't perfect, it certainly wasn't dreadful like Rauch's was. IMO, Rauch's SB looked cheap too, especially since Conboy made the show look so lush. Yes, I didn't agree with Conboy's screwing with the Capwell mansion set, but my GOD did his production values make SB look expensive, moreso than under any other EP.

My scorecard still strays from the norm though (as I'm a JFP fan and pretty much can't stand Rauch, save what I've seen of his Another World).

AW: Paul Rauch

SB: Jill Farren Phelps

GL: Jill Farren Phelps

OLTL: Jill Farren Phelps (I'm in the minority but I LOVED JFP's OLTL)

[DRW50]

AW: Rauch

SB: JFP

GL: Rauch did more than his share of damage to GL (minimizing and trashing Holly, humiliating Maeve Kinkead, focusing so much on stories that ran too long, like the mob and San Cristobel, shunning minorities, among other issues), but when he left the show was in a relatively decent place, with potential. JFP's last year or more of GL was extremely barren, full of going nowhere stories and characters. If you were lucky, like Vanessa, then you got a romance novel plot that happened to get big viewer reaction. If you weren't lucky, you got a half-hearted, depressing story (Dylan, David, Eve, Ed, Gilly) or you sat around looking pensive and waiting for your contract to expire (Nick, Tangie, Mindy, Nadine). The best story of 1994 for me was Julie gone wild.

The pivotal role of Alan was poorly miscast, the Roger/Holly relationship, which had been rebuilt over several years, was trashed in a tacky way, and the only thing which really made the latest "we love Lucy" story work was the work of Frank Beaty and what he brought out in Sonia Satra. Not even getting into the days with Buzz shouting on a roof. Frankly I'm still a little amazed GL was not canceled.

OLTL: Rauch left behind a mess, and again you can say he damaged the structure of the show long-term. However, he also left some very strong characters and relationships to build on. JFP turned the show into romance novels for pet characters (Lainie/Bo, Ben/Viki, Rae/John, Kevin/Kelly) and had zero storylines to build on. It was just stalling, more stalling, boring murder mysteries, and Todd and Blair doing the usual Todd and Blair stuff.

[bboy875]

As a longtime GL fan, I preferred JFP's over PR's. Not only did she have a great writing team (91-93), but P&G and CBS seemed to want the realistic, character driven, ensemble show the writers wrote back then. It wasn't until 93 that TPTB (could've been just Phelps as I suspect) began interfering with the writers-Maureen's death, too much Buzz, the stunt casting of Marcy Walker & Joe Lando (which caused the writers to throw together their characters, stories, and possibly throw out carefully plotted stories already written for established characters). But 93 still delivered some great stories, especially the saga of Roger, Holly, and Ed following Maureen's death, and I loved the way Mo's death and giving her baby up finally caused Bridget to grow up. The show completely fell apart after Nancy Curlee left in early 94, so just because I liked GL better under Phelps than Raunch, doesn't mean I give her all the credit for what to me was the show's last golden period. By the time Raunch took over, TPTB wanted gimmicky stories and the big youth shift (which began under Mctavish & Laibson & didn't end until the show's last ep), so I don't know what all to blame him for. There was too much focus on San Cristobal, the mob, triangles with a psycho (Annie, Dinah), and too many pregnancies (Annie & Dinah miscarried, Harley (2x), Cassie, Beth, Vanessa, Blake, Jenna, Michelle delivered). And there were too many ridiculous stories, (Clone Reva, Princess Reva, time travelling Reva, Holly the Nursey Rhyme Stalker, Fletcher kidnapping their daughter Meg, hell, to make it easier, the only stories I really enjoyed before the show started bouncing back under Taggart were Annie throwing herself down the stairs, Who Killed Carl, and Lizzie's leukemia causing the reveal that Phillip, and not Jim, fathered James. Most of the stories for me lacked heart & real emotion because characters were written to fit the plot, and not drive it. Again, don't know how much of it was Raunch or TPTB, but I spent a good deal of his tenure waiting for him to get fired (oh yeah, did I mention Nola stalking Buzz?).

[EastMA2]

To me, it's a tie at 2 each. AW - Rauch. GL - Phelps. OLTL Rauch and SB Phelps.