LML at Y&R, OTOH...that was a disaster waiting to happen. I could see that almost from the beginning.

OMG, I still would like to black out the years of LML at Y&R. I do not think she had any fans left at the end, in the cast or on the Bell side. That whole year could be called, "how to destroy the #1 daytime soap in 3 months or less." As bad as pieces of MAB's run have been, nothing compares to LML's reign of terror. Maybe that is why MAB's initial stories were so well received, viewers still had not erased the bad taste of LML.

MAB and LML at Y&R is so bad I continue to insist that the last 7 years were a horrible dream and that everything that's happened since then is non-canon.

Guza at GH, obviously, though I'm not sure about his previous work so it's hard too judge, really.

I have never see Jean Passanante write a single story I have enjoyed in my entire life. I can only assume she keeps getting hired because she's a doormat to execs and gets her work done without complaining.

Megan McTavish, even when writing good stories, manages to make every show she's on the most nasty, mean-spirited hour on television. Watching some old AMCs from 1994 are emotionally exhausting, the tone is so mean-spirited. I can't bear to watch. And the fact that she seems to take her temper out on the shows she's writing (I honestly can't explain the unabortion any other way than as a flippant "OH YEAH??" reaction to being told to make her stories more exciting and shocking). It's unacceptable, and for the long-term damage she's caused every show she's worked on, she's really the queen of hacks.

Edited April 7, 201213 yr by beebs

OMG, I still would like to black out the years of LML at Y&R. I do not think she had any fans left at the end, in the cast or on the Bell side. That whole year could be called, "how to destroy the #1 daytime soap in 3 months or less." As bad as pieces of MAB's run have been, nothing compares to LML's reign of terror. Maybe that is why MAB's initial stories were so well received, viewers still had not erased the bad taste of LML.

Dru's cheesy death scene still makes me cringe.

Seriously, unless the goal was to turn Y&R into an entirely different show (which I suspect was the case), why on Earth would anyone either at CBS or at Sony hire a writer whose style and tastes are antithetical to everything that that show stood for? And why on Earth would anyone risk alienating one of the few strong and devoted followings left in daytime just to turn the number-one show into something no longer resembling itself? I mean, you might get away with hiring Claire Labine, let's say, because she's all about exploring characters' inner lives, but part of the reason why the Lechowicks were so distinctive was due to their fast pace and sense of humor, two things which don't exactly characterize Y&R. It just makes no sense.

I have never see Jean Passanante write a single story I have enjoyed in my entire life. I can only assume she keeps getting hired because she's a doormat to execs and gets her work done without complaining.

There are writers who use "network interference" as an excuse to cover inept storytelling; and then there are writers who have a genuine and legitimate complaint against the higher-ups. Passanante belongs in the latter category. Don't ask me how I know that. I just do.

There are writers who use "network interference" as an excuse to cover inept storytelling; and then there are writers who have a genuine and legitimate complaint against the higher-ups. Passanante belongs in the latter category. Don't ask me how I know that. I just do.

Can you be more specific?

There are writers who use "network interference" as an excuse to cover inept storytelling; and then there are writers who have a genuine and legitimate complaint against the higher-ups. Passanante belongs in the latter category. Don't ask me how I know that. I just do.

One would wonder then why she would continue to work under circumstances that completely destroy the reputation of her creative output. But that's me saying that as a non-working starving artist who doesn't have mouths to feed other than my own.

Dru's cheesy death scene still makes me cringe.

OMG, watching that scene is like nails on a chalk-board. First, you are distracted by the terribly unrealistic set. Then, there was the cringe-worthy dialogue and over enthusiastic delivery. Finally, the CGI fall off the clip that looks like something you do at one of those pop-up "be in your favourite movie" green screen stands in front of Groman's Theatre.

Can you be more specific?

Well...

Have you ever seen a balloon become slowly deflated? That's pretty much how a certain, intelligent woman who actually has smart ideas looks when a certain, glory-hogging executive proceeds to tell her why her ideas are not sexy enough.

That's how it has been described to me in the past...more or less.

Well...

Have you ever seen a balloon become slowly deflated? That's pretty much how a certain, intelligent woman who actually has smart ideas looks when a certain, glory-hogging executive proceeds to tell her why her ideas are not sexy enough.

That's how it has been described to me in the past...more or less.

But she has written poorly on more than one soap, with more than one EP, and more than one network executive.

Dru's cheesy death scene still makes me cringe.

To me, its hands down one of the most hilarious death sequence, Ive ever seen on a soap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WdHX6y5EwM

Edited April 7, 201213 yr by Cheap21

OMG, watching that scene is like nails on a chalk-board. First, you are distracted by the terribly unrealistic set. Then, there was the cringe-worthy dialogue and over enthusiastic delivery. Finally, the CGI fall off the clip that looks like something you do at one of those pop-up "be in your favourite movie" green screen stands in front of Groman's Theatre.

To be fair, though, Dru's death looked so slap-dash, because the decision was very last-minute.

But she has written poorly on more than one soap, with more than one EP, and more than one network executive.

True. And your soap in particular was one where her hands were VERY tied.

True. And your soap in particular was one where her hands were VERY tied.

I could believe it. There is a reason why NO ONE ever wanted the AMC headwriter position.

Edited April 7, 201213 yr by AMCHistory

OMG, watching that scene is like nails on a chalk-board. First, you are distracted by the terribly unrealistic set. Then, there was the cringe-worthy dialogue and over enthusiastic delivery. Finally, the CGI fall off the clip that looks like something you do at one of those pop-up "be in your favourite movie" green screen stands in front of Groman's Theatre.

All of this right here. It was a horrible scene from start to finish and on top of that I'm subjected to Christel Khalil's signature crying scream. Really fighting over a cell phone at the side of a cheap azz looking cliff, really?That fake azz river, and the tumble over the edge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpN_Rkwszp4&feature=related

Edited April 7, 201213 yr by frequentsoapfan

If you want to know whether Passanante ever was a good writer, look at her work on OLTL when she worked with Josh Griffith, Susan Bedsow Horgan and Michael Malone. Those three (and later, just Horgan and Malone) might have had great long-term visions (and I'll admit they were...even if I didn't exactly believe they belonged on OLTL), but Passanante and Chris Whitesell were likely the ones who covered the day-to-day work. Heck, even what she wrote w/ Leah Laiman at ANOTHER WORLD appeared better than what came after. But daytime was a different climate back then. By the time AW was cancelled, network interference, which was always problematic, became unbearable. As a result, you had once-brilliant writers turning in half-baked material that was written solely to satisfy TPTB's demands for more salacious story. And when many of those writers couldn't deliver that kind of stuff any longer, we got the writers who could. (Yes, Dena, you're one of them.) It's THOSE writers who have the most blood on their hands.

Edited April 7, 201213 yr by Khan