She probably was...

OK I think I know what you mean--and I admit, like any regime, it's relative. I thougth Valentini and Hegley were overall so horrendous on OLTL that even some of the worse storylines (though not rapemance, or teenaged Jessica almost raped by her father), were preferable. But I'm curious, what exactly do you mean by OLTL had more traps?

OLTL had more female characters who could easily fit into the cheap, degrading "comedy" Ron Carlivati loves so much. GH doesn't. The older women don't fit that bill and most of the younger ones don't. That's why he had to dredge up Connie. Given GH's explosive history with sexytime rape, that type of thing is not as likely to be accepted by fans, which may be why that weird Johnny/Connie trash and the Joe Jr. trash was not given as much focus. GH has bleak, small, depressing, immobile male characters who have to be written around and can't be turned into OTT villains or prime studs - you can't really have Maurice Benard go all Clint Buchanan, because MB couldn't pull it off and viewers would just roll their eyes. You can't have as many campy, stale winks to the past because other than an alien or the Ice Princess, there just isn't the same level of camp as the Rauch years gave OLTL.

Although I did think he was going to use Faison the way he used Mitch... (I guess it could still happen). Your explanation makes sense though.

Although I did think he was going to use Faison the way he used Mitch... (I guess it could still happen). Your explanation makes sense though.

If KMCc was on more often he probably would, although I wonder if she would come back at all if he tries more of those sick Mitch/Jessica scenes that seemed to be written for viewers to get hot over.

Good point. I keep forgetting she's still around tied up somewhere...

Goutman/Sheffer should be on this list.

I picture these two circle jerking and feeding into each other's hyper-masculine self-images. Definitely a lethal combination. Nonetheless, Sheffer's first six months were really good. Almost everything else he ever wrote, including for other soaps, was either flawed or just bad. Were those six months a fluke? idgi.

Were those six months a fluke?

I tend to think so. And really, I'm not so sure whether Hoagy's first six months were that good. I think everyone loved them (and him) because Leah Laiman had taken AS THE WORLD TURNS down so low.

The odd quick use of the Corringtons at One Life always confused me (didn't Henry Slesar join them for their last months?)--and then going back to Sam Hall. It all seemed weird.

Henry Slesar was let go from Edge of Night in mid-83 when Sam Hall was OLTL's headwriter. ABC wanted OLTL to have more action and mystery and tapped Slesar as Hall's co-headwriter, but Slesar did not "collaborate". ABC led him to believe that after he settled in as co-headwriter, he would be promoted to sole headwriter. Slesar accepted the job. He told me that the atmosphere around ABC/OLTL was fairly toxic. ABC was not happy with the show's producer Jean Arley. They replaced her with Paul Rauch. Rauch wanted more violence, with every Friday ending in some type of gunplay, knifings, car crashes, etc. Despite his reputation as a crime writer, Slesar abhorred violence for violence sake and would not write that. Coupled with the apparent fact of not being promoted to the show's single headwriter, he left. This was around mid-84. Rauch replaced Sam Hall, too, with the Corringtons, whom he had worked with on Texas. I do not know the circumstances of their speedy departure, but within a few months, Sam Hall was back as headwriter, followed by Peggy O'Shea. O'Shea was headwriter at Capitol. She left to go back to One Life to Live and was replaced by Henry Slesar! Soap scribing was just as incestuous back then as it is now. I believe the associate writers were retained through the myriad changes, one of whom was the OLTL's second headwriter Don Wallace.

Personally, as much as I admire Slesar's talent and volume of work, he was not a good fit for OLTL, and I never cared much for Sam Hall either. I found their collaboration to be even worse. Some jewels had been stolen from the San Carlos banana republic and hidden in a piano. When David Renaldi played a certain concerto, a secret panel would open to expose the jewels. There was some guy named Hawk who kidnapped Jenny because he thought Renaldi had found the jewels, but they had been swiped by San Carlos' dictator's son. I can never think of the character's name, but the actor had a real-life personality disorder and was a hot mess, and they tried unsuccessfully to pair him with Cassie. It was all pretty bad for those days, though audiences would probably eat it up now.

Erwin Nicholson and Lee Sheldon on EON

Erwin Nicholson and Paul Avila Mayer on SFT

Erwin was lost without Henry Slesar. Erwin was great at casting theatre actresses and hot ex porn gay stars (Dennis Parker) and just hot gay men, Joel Crothers, Irving Allen Lee etc.

.

David Lawrence (who the fuk was he anyway?) on SFT with Pam Long/Addie Walsh....Great casting, but a stinky Ireland story for the McCleary family ate up the final six months of the show. Pam Long on maternity leave from GL was not a good thing for SFT. Pam replaced Gary Tomlin's second stint; he was actually doing a fine job.

I agree about Nicholson. He should have been replaced in the 70s. Edge's production values were dreadful, and despite excellent writing and acting, the show's look was a turn-off to many viewers. Gail Kobe came on in a supervisory capacity and improved the lighting, sets, and makeup. After she left, all of that went downhill again. Slesar was the fall guy for poor management on the part of Nicholson, ABC, and P&G. Edge needed a dynamic producer who could get the look the show needed and who would run interference at the network/sponsor level for Slesar.

At SFT, I did not care for the Nicholson/Paul Avila Mayer pairing either, though Nicholson was always intended to be short-term until P&G could hire an appropriate permanent producer. In my opinion, Claire Labine is a much better writer than Mayer ever was. His leaving the business for counseling was a smart move.

I disagree totally regarding David Lawrence and Pam Long. Lawrence was a longtime producer with Procter and Gamble, having worked with them since the early 1960s on their primetime series and TV movies. Lawrence did the sort of thing Joanna Lee had promised to do which was overhaul the series and get it back on track. Under Lawrence and Long/Walsh, the community of Henderson became more solidfied. Jo had been without a family for too long, which was a mistake. Bringing back Patti and tying her and Jo to the McClearys gave Jo a larger family unit in which to interact. That in turn meant more story and screentime for Mary Stuart who had been largely relegated to babysittng Jonah. They increased Stu's prominence with a love interest in the form of Wilma, and added David to the mix for a very adult romantic triangle, almost unheard of in those days when everything was becoming youth-oriented. A love interest was also in the planning stages for Jo when SFT was axed. I did not find the Ireland story creaky at all. I loved that it was a mystery tied into the Henderson mystery surrounding Judge Henderson and his family. To me, Long and Walsh tightened the plotting and wrote a more balanced series with mystery, romance, adventure, humor, and familial conflicts. Search was warmer, friendlier. and had more of a family feel to it than in years past. Also, the Ireland story aired for the last six weeks, not six months.

I thought the Corringtons were behind all the San Carlos, Alex Crown/Rob Coronal/Laurel Chapin mob family schlock. I know they tried to hook them into the show by pairing Rob with Cassie and marrying Laurel to Larry. And I know they were the ones who brought back Ellen Holly.

I know Henry Slesar created Echo diSavoy. She was such a EON gothic-type character and story, right down to the name. I was stunned when she returned, because I thought that character was such a weird moment out of time on OLTL.

Edited January 12, 201312 yr by Vee

Actually, I would give Sheffer his first year-and-a-half. The fallout that started with the break-up of Hal and Barbaras marriage gave a huge jump-start to the show, garnered attention from those who hadnt been watching, and gave material to the previously backburnered (notably Colleen Pinter). After that first year-and-a-half, his stories were pointless, and he kept getting Emmys based on his earlier work.

I thought the Corringtons were behind all the San Carlos, Alex Crown/Rob Coronal/Laurel Chapin mob family schlock. I know they tried to hook them into the show by pairing Rob with Cassie and marrying Laurel to Larry. And I know they were the ones who brought back Ellen Holly.

I know Henry Slesar created Echo diSavoy. She was such a EON gothic-type character and story, right down to the name. I was stunned when she returned, because I thought that character was such a weird moment out of time on OLTL.

Henry Slesar did not create Echo, despite her Slesarian sounding name. Echo was created by Sam Hall. Slesar was still writing Edge of Night when Kim Zimmer started on OLTL.

The Corringtons did write mob stories, but I mean before they wrote the show, Hall and Slesar had the story of the San Carlos jewels. The character I refer to as Cassie's love interest was not Rob Coronal, who was played by Ted Marcoux. I refer to the character played by Tim Hart in late 83/early 84. I will have to look for the name. It escapes me currently.

Kim claimed it was Slesar in her book, I believe, and the dates line up. If I have it wrong, my bad.

There was also apparently a period where both Sam Hall and Slesar co-wrote. And Echo and Giles and that whole mystery scream Slesar.

Edited January 12, 201312 yr by Vee

Kim, and many soap stars, are not correct in their memories, and she is wrong about this. Slesar was still writing Edge when Kim started in the spring of 1983. Slesar joined OLTL that autumn in late October. Zimmer left for Guiding Light about the time he started. I will not argue the point, but I will provide a link to a newspaper article announcing Slesar's appointment to OLTL. You can check the date. I know my memory is not faulty on this.

By the way, Cassie's love interest was Simon Warfield, whom Slesar did create.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UKc_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=uVYMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1450,5931381&dq=one-life-to-live+henry-slesar&hl=en

Henry Slesar will one day be crowned the best soap writer of all.

Only when and if we discover he also wrote under the names "William J. Bell" and "Agnes Nixon."