Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I don't take anything Robin Strasser says seriously, I think she was as much to blame for her dissmal as JFP was. JFP is not the only person Strasser has had conflict with. She's a pretty turbulent person herself. I can see how the two of them didn't get along. Erika Slezak has gone on record several times praising JFP.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MissLlanviewPA Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 RS actually left on her own in 2000. Paul Rauch fired her from OL in 1987, though. And whoa--I never knew until this thread that Scott Hamner was Earl Hamner's son. I'm a HUGE Waltons fan, so that blew my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 Both of her exits were mutual and ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vee Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 JFP and I go way, way back to the destruction of OLTL, which took years to recover from (and it never totally did). I actually found some regimes - Dena Higley's, to be exact - to be worse than hers. I know what she is and what she's capable of. But at the same time, she's not wholly untalented. She treasures certain longtime soap vets, like Rick Hearst, even when she doesn't know how to use them (see the writer's strike at GH - Jill forces a random storyline for Ric and some illegal immigrant or something). And I thought her run at GL was brilliant in the Curlee/Demorest years, until she ran that team off. She has some skill as a producer. When she becomes heavily creatively involved she destroys everything. And she's a misogynist. She's much more harm than good, but I honestly have to wonder what could be worse than the MAB regime at Y&R. You talk about bad ABC soap - Maria and Latham made Y&R into something worse than any of those shows have been in the last few years, and they haven't exactly been Oscar caliber. It is amazing to me, the complete disintegration of any kind of quality control. In record time, they've completely transformed the shape and structure and content of this program. It resembles nothing so much as the Pratt/Higley/etc years on ABC. I always compared old school Y&R to "an ornate couch" I had very little time for, but you knew who was running things there and that their system was inviolate. Nowadays Y&R is just chasing after bad soaps. It's literally like watching your grandma develop dementia and suddenly decide to join the cast of a VH1 dating show. It's like they're actually trying to get it cancelled as quickly as possible. I'm serious - the thought occurred to me. I don't know if Jill could be worse than MAB. She is bad, very bad for soaps, but MAB's team is completely inept and unsuited for their work. ETA: No, Jill ran Robin Strasser off. Robin can be difficult but she adores OLTL. Jill pushed her out, wanted her out, got her out. Erika begged Jill to bring her back. Erika I love and would never criticize, but she's sided with some real showkillers over the years because of the meaty story she was given in those years, and I can understand why. I liked the idea of Viki and Ben a lot, and Jill absolutely featured her - but the pairing itself I thought was a mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 People always said about JFP - until GH - that she has an amazing early tenure. I do think her GL run for the first year or two was great. I don't think her other soaps were as lucky. But like you said, Y&R is already so heavily damaged. At the moment it seems like The Love Boat making a snuff film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 Jill, like any EP, is as good as her Head Writer. When she's mixed in with an opposite like Nancy Curlee, some amazing things can happen. When she's mixed in with a Megan McTavish or Bob Guza? The less said the better. But, she is a visionary, whether you like her vision or not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 It would be interesting to see what she'd do if she had creative control, since she supposedly didn't for most of her GH run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vee Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 The problem with this statement is that Jill sometimes fires all the HWs (she pushed out Labine and Nancy Curlee) and begins writing the show herself using someone else as a figurehead. This is what happened at OLTL for a long stretch before she was forced by ABC to hire Megan McTavish, her BFF, who I frankly would expect to pop up at Y&R soon. They worked in tandem very "well" (and by well I mean terrible) together, until their double act at GH was so, so far below the level of what GH was tolerating for quality in those days that they were bounced the [!@#$%^&*] out and Jill was left as the proverbial figurehead herself for the rest of her GH tenure. She had, I am told, minimal power after Guza returned. And it's the kind of purgatory she deserved. Still, could she be worse than this Y&R team? I have my doubts. Her run at GH solo was amateur hour, a joke, her worst OLTL [!@#$%^&*] times 1000: Jensen Buchanan and A Martinez became the stars, Stavros and Endgame, Angel the woman in white. Terrible. But still not as bad as MAB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 If McTavish had the right producer I'd say she would be what Y&R needs at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vee Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I think Megan McTavish has only ever understood one show, AMC, and even then she was only capable of doing really good work under extreme supervision. Her left unbound led to a lot of terrible [!@#$%^&*]. I don't think she is remotely qualified to handle a show in the top tier like Y&R used to be, or that she could comprehend its historical characters even now. It would be like the Special Olympics, whereas the current regime is like they left the Jacksons in charge. You pick your poison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I think she had a few good ideas at GL (emphasis on few), and again, a producer who couldn't handle her. She knows how to do family and stunts, and emotional beats. That's what Y&R needs the most now, I think. She can't do what Y&R used to be, but that Y&R is gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JaneAusten Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I am just curious. What is it that folks think McTavish could not do that Kay Alden or Jack Smith could? If the consensus is Y&R of the past is gone, as the past for most of the soaps are, what magic could they instill? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DRW50 Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 I don't compare them because that Y&R is gone. I can't say that Smith's decisions ever impressed me though. I'm mostly interested in McTavish's own strengths, and if those can help the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MissLlanviewPA Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 Was Michael Laibson the only EP she worked with at GL, or did Paul Rauch work with her, too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Y&RWorldTurner Posted July 26, 2012 Members Share Posted July 26, 2012 Laibson, who was as clueless in interviews as she was at writing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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