Khan, I don't recall Tomlin being at Guiding Light.

I agree about Brash & Cwickly on DAYS. That was the last time I truly enjoyed the show as a whole. Replacing them with Higley was the biggest mistake Corday ever did and the show never recovered from it.

Pat Falken Smith returned to Days after several years away and in that time the show had been through several headwriter changes after years of stability under Bill bell and Smith herself.

She saw that the show had been damaged and that the Hortons were being marginalized and suffered with some poor storylines,and she set about returning them to prominence.

She also realized that there needed to be new families to freshen the show and intermingle with the Hortons to provide them with new story possibilities.

Thus the Bradys and DiMeras came to be.

Stefano was going to be intrigued with Julie and to uncover his secrets she was going to fake a separation with Doug.they would hav secret meetings and close calls.

Melissa Anderson was going to be involved with a younger Brady brother named Marcus and Mike Horton was slated to hook up with Vanessa DiMera,another of Stefano's children.

So there would be a mixture of old and new as well as traditional stories mixed with 80's style mystery and adventure.

Pat Falken Smith returned to Days after several years away and in that time the show had been through several headwriter changes after years of stability under Bill bell and Smith herself.

She saw that the show had been damaged and that the Hortons were being marginalized and suffered with some poor storylines,and she set about returning them to prominence.

She also realized that there needed to be new families to freshen the show and intermingle with the Hortons to provide them with new story possibilities.

Thus the Bradys and DiMeras came to be.

Stefano was going to be intrigued with Julie and to uncover his secrets she was going to fake a separation with Doug.they would hav secret meetings and close calls.

Melissa Anderson was going to be involved with a younger Brady brother named Marcus and Mike Horton was slated to hook up with Vanessa DiMera,another of Stefano's children.

So there would be a mixture of old and new as well as traditional stories mixed with 80's style mystery and adventure.

Cool! I would have loved Julie as the Queen of The Night. We need more Hortons now!

Khan, I don't recall Tomlin being at Guiding Light.

I didn't either, until I rewatched the denouement of the Mona Enright saga; and lo and behold, Tomlin, along with the Cullitons, was listed as HW.

Frankly, I think Pat Falken Smith sometimes gets a bad rap. Her work at GUIDING LIGHT wasn't up to par, but the stuff she wrote for DAYS, for GH, and even for RYAN'S HOPE (although, plenty of RH fans will disagree) was often very good.

Probably not popular opinion, but Rayfield/Cascio on AMC. Rayfield by himself was disastrous, but when they moved Cascio into the co-HW spot, the show improved dramatically. For the first time in ages, the show had a contemporary feel. No, they were hardly perfect and still finding their way, but I think if they were given more time, they would've really clicked. Unfortunately they were dumped for McTavish, and the show degenerated into a cliche-riddled, plot-driven mess.

What writers do you think were shortchanged in turning their shows around? Which eras of soaps do you feel were short-lived and should't have been?

For me, the major one was Millee Taggart on Guiding Light in 2002. I think she made GL the best it had been in years, the best on CBS daytime (though B&B also had a great year), and perhaps the best in daytime. I was really saddened when she was given the boot and Ellen Weston came in and everything went to [!@#$%^&*]. Maybe GL would still be around had she been given more time.

Another one is Brash & Cwickly on DAYS. Tom Langan brought the most successful soap of the 90s to hell and kept it there for 3 years. B&C made some questionable decisions but a lot of what they did was very intriguing. To me, DAYS thrives on innovation and they definitely innovated. They didn't blow me away but I think DAYS still suffers today for not giving them more time.

These were the 2 (Taggert at GL; Brash/Cwikly at DAYS) that came to my mind instantly.

Brash and Cwickly hands down at Days.

Also Guza and Bennet from SuBe.

Lorraine Boderick also from Days

Josh Griffith, Y&R.

This is a good one too.

Lorianne Broderick at Days

Richard Cullinton at AMC

Great topic. Culliton was not given a fair break at AMC, although he was very frustrating on there--either due to his own faults or outside sources (I suspect both)--the number of dropped storylines were legendary for that era. Still, I guess Frons wanted a complete about face and to replace most of his teams, but Rayfield was not the way to go...

Oh I totally forgot about Lorraine Broderick at DAYS. Without a doubt she would have been much better than Tom Langan. He totally killed my interest in DAYS and it never FULLY recovered to where it was in the 1990s.

Probably not popular opinion, but Rayfield/Cascio on AMC. Rayfield by himself was disastrous, but when they moved Cascio into the co-HW spot, the show improved dramatically. For the first time in ages, the show had a contemporary feel. No, they were hardly perfect and still finding their way, but I think if they were given more time, they would've really clicked. Unfortunately they were dumped for McTavish, and the show degenerated into a cliche-riddled, plot-driven mess.

Well I think McTavish's first year certainly was a vast improvement--I do agree the show picked up when Cascio joined Rayfield, but I didn't see the sweeping improvement you, or others (your opinion certainly is not alone) did. But they weren't given much time as a pair, I agree (Frons seemed to have them as seat holders while persuing Broderick, who turned him down and McTavish).

I loved Sally Sussman Morina's time at DAYS. I can't recall if she was fired or quit, but I thought her run was interesting, a good mix of Reilly and Bell style fun.