What about Chris' story did they disagree on?

Ann Marcus sowed the seeds of Chris' past in Vietnam. Shortly before Marcus left, Mary Anderson discovered that Chris was a Vietnam vet, but he refused to talk about what happened to him during the war. Marcus planned for Chris to have fathered a child during the war, and when she came to Salem, he would be forced to face his past. Marcus felt very strongly about the story. She was willing to write most anything that Corday and NBC wanted, but she was bored and burnt out and told them that she needed to write one story for which she was truly passionate and challenged. After the plot began onscreen, Betty Corday phoned Marcus and said it had to be truncated. Marcus refused. Corday gave her ultimatum: the story or her contract, and Marcus walked.

That does seem like a juicy, challenging story. Shame on Betty Corday for giving Ann Marcus such a ridic ultimatum (sp?).

I have always said that Hogan Sheffer did great in his first year or so at ATWT with Christoper Goutman but it seemed something in 2002 changed. I think it may have been time for a executive producer change in 2002 for ATWT and maybe Hogan's stories would have worked better.

Christopher Goutman and Jean Passassante should have never been a combination. It just ruined the show in the end. At least for me when I watched the show and notice a storyline not working; Hogan would go and try to fix the story but he also claimed a lot of network and P&G interference around 2002/2003.

When P&G did away with the executive in charge of production position and left it up to the EP's to deal with the network and them, that is when both ATWT and GL went down hill fast. At least with someone running interfernce between the two, you had a chance to keep the shows on track.

Ellen Wheeler/David Kriezman were and the worst combination for any show in history. Lets put two people who have never had expereience being a executive producer and headwriter in charge of the show and keep them in place until the end and wonder at the sametime why the ratings keep falling by millions.

Ellen Wheeler/David Kriezman were and the worst combination for any show in history. Lets put two people who have never had expereience being a executive producer and headwriter in charge of the show and keep them in place until the end and wonder at the sametime why the ratings keep falling by millions.

Yet, somehow, she won a Best Show Emmy and he won a Best Writing Emmy. One of the great mysteries of life! LOL! I agree with you that those two were the worst combo ever (of any show that I have ever watched, at least). It's pretty obvious that nobody at P&G or CBS was watching that mess or cared about GL otherwise, those two would have been given the hook. I still have the bad memories etched into my brain - "Look! Dinah's setting up folding chairs in a field for a Spaulding Enterprises press conference!" "Look! It's Cassie's run down dilapidated farmhouse that looks like it was abandoned 20 years ago!" "Look! A church set with three pews!" "Look! Another scene that goes nowhere!" "Look! Another episode with no narrative!" "Look! Ricky Paul Goldin and Beth Ehlers running for their lives!"

Peapack never should have happened - at least not with Wheeler and Kriezman at the helm.

I think GL had been so gutted by many hands that Wheeler and Kriezman mostly just were there to do what they wanted and if the show went too far into the pit, it would be canceled. I thought a lot of their tenure was crap, and Jonathan alone helped convince me to stop watching until GL's last year. I don't know if I'd call them toxic, in that there were so many others I hated (I had a lot of anger over the Rauch/Labine period, McTavish/Laibson their last six months, Weston/Conboy for what they did to Ben), but I would call them hacks.

Labine and Mayer had wrapped up that dreadful Merit Kara adventure story with an exciting conclusion. Then they made a 180 change in EJ's characterization. I love Maureen Garrett, but I found her perky, overzealous reporter to be completely obnoxious. She and Roger became engaged, and then it was revealed that she was a liar with a very dodgy past, including a dodgy husband from whom she was not divorced. Maureen really bit her teeth into those scenes as EJ agonized over whether or not she should continue lying, walk down the aisle with Rog, and commit bigamy. It was also somewhat deliciously ironic as Roger was typically the lying, cheating, scheming character in the story. Right before the wedding, Randall Edwards left and was replaced by the original Delia, Ilene Kristen, who had hysterical scenes as she hated EJ's guts and seethed as the Ryans planned a big family wedding. EJ's ex-husband was Ox Knowles, played to perfection by Will Patton, who had amazing chemistry with Garrett. Along with the Roger/EJ/Ox story, they returned Siobhan and Patrick to the canvas. Although Helgenberger was more successful than Clarke, having two Ryan kids back was a blessing. Helgenberger had the fire her predecessor lacked, and focusing on Siobhan attempting to stay away from Joe had so much more drama than being with him as a clueless wife. Labine and Mayer's final act was to bring Hollis Kirkland into the story. Hollis was a great character. Actor Peter Haskell's chemistry with Louise Shaffer trumped all in my opinion. The fact that he was actually Kimberly's father and part of a past Rae rejected set up so much conflict to be played out. The problem was that Barrett and Munisteri backburnered everything to feature Hollis practically every day as some type of New York Blake Carrington. All of the other plots took a back seat to Hollis' desperation to win Rae's love and later all of the problems with daughter Amanda. The story began to be more about his wealth and power than playing out the conflicts inherent in situation. In other words, the problem with the Kirklands was in their execution after Labine and Mayer left. The characters absolutely should have worked. Patton and Garrett were also quickly dispatched too, which left Roger without much story. Failing to recast Frank left Jill and Faith in limbo. Barrett and Munisteri did not have a clue what they were doing, and even the slow Labine and Mayeresque plot of Johnny's jealousy over Maeve's dance marathon fell flat.

Thanks. I had only read about the Ox/EJ story and wondered if it was bad (the synopses didn't do much for me). I'm glad to hear it was better than EJ's early material, and had a lot of potential. I wish I'd seen some of that - I felt like the show ended in a bad place with Soapnet (I had enjoyed the soap within a soap story until it became about Barbara faking paralysis).

I think Labine said Mary Ryan Munisteri was the writer who most closely resembled her RH, so most of the changes must have been network mandate.