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.

It seems like Lemay consulted everywhere in the 90's and each show still sucked.

I think that McTavish started later, perhaps late July, early-August. I have credits from July 7, 1994 that credit Anderson.

It seems like Lemay consulted everywhere in the 90's and each show still sucked.

I was gonna say--as undoubtedly great as much of his 70s AW was, his work as consultant at other soaps always seemed value-less.

I think it's because he wasn't a soap writer by heart, and I also question how much these consultants had to say. There was some romance novelist consultant at AW in 1996, and the show was about as romantic as Mother Teresa.

The only thing I remember Lemay saying was he tried to get ATWT to drop some of their corporate jets.

I just remember his comments about The City which seemed to fail, IMHO, to address what was working so well at the show. He disliked that it didn't have a traditional soap set up which on paper I agree with him on, but by the time he was quoted (1997), the show managed to overcome that.

But you're right, I do wonder how much consultants actually get listened to as well.

Thank you for posting this. I love this kind of stuff!!

I'd always wondered who the heck Douglas Anderson was as he never had another soap credit before or after his GL run. Now I know.

JER wrote for AMC!?

RIGHT Would love to see episodes hes written for any of these shows esp GL between 90 and 92. JER was going to take over ATWT? Wow. JER was good at families..

If anyone wants to see Douglas Anderson's work at GL, a Youtube uploader has been putting up chunks of late 1994 and early 1995.

http://www.youtube.com/user/bandstandmike

...and the show was about as romantic as Mother Teresa.

Oh, please. That slut?!

If anyone wants to see Douglas Anderson's work at GL, a Youtube uploader has been putting up chunks of late 1994 and early 1995.

http://www.youtube.c...r/bandstandmike

Eww. Was Anderson the "brilliant" writer who paired up both Fletcher/Holly and Matt/Vanessa? Sure the show still felt like Guiding Light on some level, but the pairings were horrid. Wasn't it after that particular episode of Josh saving Marina from the fire, that Annie was introduced as a nurse treating Josh?

Matt and Vanessa predated Douglas Anderson. He just wrote the material when everyone found out they were dating.