Who is/was the biggest hack writer on soaps??

[Soapsuds]

I thought this deserved a thread after reading the awful news that Jean Passanante was once again hired to write for another soap.

[DRW50]

Hogan Sheffer.

[juppiter]

This.

[Quent]

Passanante certainly ranks right up there. Unlike some others, I think she actually started out strong on ATWT, with the excellent baby switch storyline. That s/l was strong with a great umbrella tale that involved most of the cast. Unfortunately, it was downhill after that. Except for a few bright spots (Jack kills Brad WAS very good), JP pretty much speeded up ATWTs decline and her role in creating the horrible Cicconne Family is her all-time low point.

Still, as bad as Passantante was , the all-time worst ATWT writers had to be Stern and Black from the late Nineties. These clowns, who created Zoe, Sarah Kasnoff, ModelPaul Ryan, T. Jones and others, were the absolute bottom of the barrel.

I don't really know her work, but I've never seen any writer savaged as much as Megan McTavish. Posters REALLY seemed to hate this woman, calling her "McTrash", among other nice names.

[Mr. Vixen]

Bob Guza.

[darraholic]

Higley

[DRW50]

McTavish is an extremely volatile writer - some of the best I've ever seen on soaps was from her pen, and some of the most rotgut bile I've ever seen was also hers.

I would put Passanante over Sheffer solely because she gave me "my" Lucinda and Barbara back in ATWT's last year. That's about it. I don't want to think about her AMC run, or I will get angry.

[AMCHistory]

Gordon Raysfield, if the man comes in contact with a pen again he should be tried for murder.

[Soapsuds]

Passantate just copied a baby switch story that had already happened on another soap. I am still surprised to this day that the story did so well with the audience. I thought for sure it would fail. As for Black and Stern....I like T Jones but she was a Connor redux...we didnt need two Connors on the show. No one seemed to like Model Paul....I think I am the only one that did. Sarah and Zoe were boring as hell. Zoe was such a disliked character.

[Cheap21]

[juppiter]

ATWT's baby switch shouldn't have worked as well as it did, but after years of no humanity on the show it was welcome to see so much genuine human emotion on ATWT. Jennifer Ferrin really stepped up to the plate and Jennifer Landon was an unexpected hit as a newcomer. Gwen was such a cliché and never should have worked as a character, and the pacing of the storyline was ridiculous with Jennifer giving birth 3 months after Craig knocked her up, but it all seemed to come together in spite of itself.

[DeeeDee]

Lynn Marie Latham.

[VirginiaHamilton]

By far and without a doubt:

Anyone who has the gift of running what was once my favorite soap into the ground to point where I am actively wishing for its cancellation deserves to walk away with the gold (even if he isn't there anymore).

[VirginiaHamilton]

This bootleg Janet from Three's Company was a writer?!?!?!?

I was under the impression that she was a music director from the show that had the temerity to replace Wendy Riche as executive producer.

[Khan]

Ellen Weston. BELIEVE IT.