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

[juppiter]

I buy it. She did come across as intelligent when interviewed about ATWT, and she clearly gave the impression that she gave a [!@#$%^&*] about the show. Then again, I do not find her ATWT tenure as bad as most do.

[Khan]

And she wasn't awful at ATWT...at first. But all those rumors about Chris Goutman being the show's real HW weren't just rumors.

[EnglishTea]

While I could enjoy some of McTavish, she hurt AMC the most with her mean spirit. That, and her willingness to do whatever Frons and Disney requested.

[AMCHistory]

Isn't this the argument that got Ed Scott fired from DOOL. How did Goutman not get censured for violating WGA rules?

[Skin]

Why isn't Pratt on here? Like first mention? He destroyed anything that AMC was and destroyed everything it could have been in less then a year and completely cannibalized the canvas to the point where all that was left was the bare bones of a show.

[AMCHistory]

Even LaLucci turned on him! She could not believe that he was given so much freedom to destroy the show.

[Darn]

I can't believe JER hasn't been mentioned. For my money he helped destroy all of daytime.

He's the Stephenie Meyer of daytime.

[juppiter]

I can't understand this sentiment. DAYS in the 90s was the last time a soap went significantly UP in the ratings. DAYS during JER was borderline mainstream, the last time a soap has been anything close to mainstream. And probably 90% of teenage girls who watched soaps in the 21st century were watching Passions. Soaps are dying now because the audience is aging and they have failed to find the next generation of viewers. Well, Passions found them.

[sungrey]

I'm going to say Reilly, but with one caution:

I'm talking about JER take two. I thought Reilly 1993-97 was good Days. Yes, you may not have agreed with the story direction at times, but he knew how to write plots with one hell of a payoff.

Reilly 2.0 nearly destroyed the show. I honestly believe Days would have been canceled if the dead characters had stayed dead. As it was the fabric of the show was being ripped apart and the viewers were clueless. I'll stop right here because talking about SSK makes my blood boil.

To answer the question for real: Ellen Weston. Without a doubt. Nearly destroyed GL with her plots. McTavish... may she never darken a daytime drama again.

[Khan]

Simple: Dena Higley wasn't writing AS THE WORLD TURNS (thank God). To this day, my theory holds that Dena blew the whistle on Ed Scott, because she found it insulting how he would urge actors to rewrite her godawful scripts.

Plus, there's a difference between what happened at DAYS, where ES, in accordance with a certain performer or performers, rewrote Dena, and ATWT, where Goutman had the ideas and Passanante merely took dictation.

[Khan]

Lucci had the same problem with Pratt (and Brian Frons, by extension) that virtually every other AMC actor had: she felt that not only were Pratt's ideas for the show not working but also that he held more than a little contempt for the show, the cast, and everything they stood for. IOW, it's tough to work with someone who doesn't think much of you no matter what you do or how hard you do it.

[juppiter]

The SSK was flawed, and since it ultimately ended being reversed it probably never should have happened. But honestly I have so much respect for writing a HUGE storyline like that with such a clear vision/direction. NONE of the current crop of writers could/would do it. In many ways it was the last true umbrella storyline.

[Khan]

On purpose. Remember that.

[DRW50]

What about the people in charge of DAYS in 1979-1980, when the show basically went to hell even faster than Marlena in that cheesy CGI coffin scene? Or was that not any writer's fault?

[juppiter]

You're so vague. You MIGHT think this song is about you