It was the Marlena Delacroix / Critical Condition article, "General Hospital is Boring" (and it was), that set Corday on fire around late 1999 / early 2000. Mimi was gone in Fall of 2000; Connie / Marlena left several months later. Beyond the GH/Corday/Days drama, in Primedia's opinion, they weren't a fit with Primedia's mandate to angle the magazine toward more reality / prime time programming and make it stylistically a bit more tabloidish. There was also a direction to make SPW more distinctive from SOD (also owned by Primedia), which to some extent came out of SOD's inclusion of features that SPW had originated.

SPW was already very distinctive from SOD at that time - they just blurred them together.

Thanks for reminding me of the GH column. I guess Corday was just looking for an excuse. For some reason I thought Mimi left after Marlena.

She was right - GH was mindnumbingly dull throughout most of 1999 and 2000. If anything Marlena was subdued about it.

I think the magazine was already fading away, mostly because I just didn't see a lot of passion in Torchin's work by then and Marlena's columns had also lost some of their fun and spirit. But gutting the magazine just made it irrelevant.

SOD and SPW died in the late 90's - SPW was sometimes a pretentious magazine, and at times biased, and as time passed, strangely removed from the subject (Mimi Torchin seemed to start writing about everything but soaps in her last few years at the helm) but also intelligent and detailed. They did some incredible issues about "where are they now" and "110 Greatest Soap Moments Ever" which taught me so much about daytime worlds I'd never been able to see.

The criticism from Corday and others probably did most of the job killing SPW. SOD was already on that path by that point.

Yes, SOW is especially the one that tumbled far and fast (so has SOD but it seemed more gradual). For a long time now it truly is just a rag repeating story synopsises, some actor profiles and maybe a paragraph of criticism. These magazines are dieing not just because of the fall of soaps, but because of the Inetnert where people can get all that stuff--so if anything you'd think they'd try for some more detailed and critical soap reporting to appeal to something that still can be hard (even with blogs) to find online.

Re-reading these articles, so many little details. Like I never knew McTavish was on GL's writing team earlier--which gives her even less of an excuse for seeming to know the show when she became HW. Ironic that the interview was probably done just a month or so before she was let go of AMC

I'd also love to know when Nixon officially stopped being "Exec Head Writer" at AMC. Was she still there during McTavish's second run (I wouldn't be all that surprised, even with how hated much of it was). Of course she came back in '99 as HW and we've seen her at story meetings when Culliton was there--and then it was implied that Frons started liking her around the set more and more when he joined ABC and seemed to re-brand AMC as Sex and the City with Rayfield, although many actors mentioned that Nixon started sitting in on story meetings again when McTavish soon came back--but I guess she became far lessinvolved (and has now all but said, in her manner, that Pratt wouldn't let her in on story meetings often or take her advice, so...)

Anyway I do love articles like this.

Well no one during McTavish's first stint as a GL writer seemed to care about history either...

JER himself said once that the only show he never wrote for was OLTL.

I don't suppose you have the quote or where it from come? I always thought Reilly would be a good fit for OLTL - all the crazyness and campiness.

Toups, Stephen Demorest and Nancy Curlee were head writers at GL til around March 1994. They departed and Nancy Williams Watt and Patrick Mulcahey became head writers. They last just a few months and then were joined by Demorest, Sloan, Taggart, and Anderson. So there were six head writers, though for some reason I don't think Mulcahey lasted long. Over the next few months, writers left and Demorest was the sole head writer by November 1994. Douglas Anderson then took over in December 1994. I remember criticism of him as Ed Bauer suddenly started spouting dialogue and musical references that were not consistent with the character. Anderson was responsible for the Ghost Reva story, which started around April 1995. Anderson was out by May when McTavish took over.

Alright, let's try and figure this out. LOL Okay, so here's the updated list:

1993-1994

Nancy Curlee and Stephen Demorest

1994

Patrick Mulcahey and Nancy Williams Watt

1994

Patrick Mulcahey, Nancy Williams Watt, Stephen Demorest, Millee Taggart, Peggy Sloan

1994

Leah Laiman, Stephen Demorest, Patrick Mulcahey, Millee Taggart, Nancy Williams Watt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OURMyD3oOtc

1994

Leah Laiman, Stephen Demorest, Millee Taggart, Nancy Williams Watt:

1994

Stephen Demorest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0wVpmy7lU4

1994-1995

Douglas Anderson and Nancy Williams Watt (Co-Head Writer)

1995-1996

Megan McTavish

I think Mulcahey quit because they dropped the Bridget/David pairing.

and Broderick was there at least until mid-september wasn't she? of 93 i meant!

Edited January 25, 201213 yr by glatwt

According to Wiki, Peggy Sloane was GL's associate hw from 94-95. I do remember her in the credits with Anderson and Williams-Watt. Maybe she served under them?

Peggy Sloan is one of those people I wonder why any soap hired her as a HW again (like her awful era at OLTL)

Peggy Sloan is one of those people I wonder why any soap hired her as a HW again (like her awful era at OLTL)

Sloan's AW work is admired (although it obviously didn't bring ratings up).

Peggy Sloan is one of those people I wonder why any soap hired her as a HW again (like her awful era at OLTL)

It been one of those perplexing questions to withstand the test of time lol, well after her AW stint. I don't really consider her stints on OLTL and GL a real example of her strengths as a writer considering I don't believe she was the sole HW when she wrote those shows.

Seeing as how she effortlessly continued AW's golden era after Swajeski departed, she should have been a shoe-in for solely replacing either Nancy Curlee and Co. at GL or even taking over the reigns at ATWT after Marland's death.

I've never thought highly of Swajski's run of the mill writing at AW, or Peggy Sloan's era there.

In fact, though I loved PGP soaps, AW was the one I felt least affection towards when I started watching soaps. I admired the cast and some of the characters, but I thought GL and ATWT had much more appealing/lovable qualities and when their stories were strong, they were STRONG. Even if they had their misfired as well.

With Swajeski's AW, I can understand it was a consistent era for some, but I never got the feeling I was watching a particularly strong show or a definitive era.

I often wonder why PGP was intent on making GL a continuation of Texas in the mid-80's, and not AW. Not only was it AW's spin-off, but Pam Long was more equipped at telling stories about friendships, rather than families. By the 80's, AW was a show that was built exclusively around the friendships between characters. I think she would have been a stronger fit at AW.

I don't know if I can see her understanding characters like Rachel or Felicia or Cass. Felicia is probably closest to her type. I think what stood out most with AW was characters who seemed "real" - that's something Long's writing doesn't translate. But I would have liked to have seen some of her ideas for new families, since AW was a disaster with those.

I think GL had a lot of life and loudness, which AW never really had - but it seems like they did neglect AW throughout the early 80's, for reasons I don't understand. Thinking about how much upheaval the show went through from 80-83 alone is shocking.

Edited January 25, 201213 yr by CarlD2

thats what i think. OLTL was alway's considered the red headed stepchild of ABC and i feel AW was just that to P&G! as far as the CBS shows go they were always getting witers the likes of the Dobsons, Marland, Long, Curlee&team and and AW just kinda got lost after Lemay! even the overhaul of 1996 gave the CBS P&G shows producers such as Behr and Rauch, who were considered 'big name' producers and AW was given Savitch, not really a bad producer but someone with not so much producing excperience day to day, although they did try with giving her Malone as HW!

SPW reported that Harding Lemay was hired as a consultant at GL at this time to assist Douglas Anderson in becoming familiar with the demands of writing the soap opera form.