IIRC, Rayfield killed Chris Stamp almost immediately. They had that hilariously awful 'location shoot' in the woods where he was killed to the blaring, ill-suited strains of Moby.

I was under the impression doubling down on Vanessa came from Agnes. But I loved it so I didn't care.

he also got rid of Sam Page's Trey. Kendall's brother. I remember Sam coming out & saying that the new writer hated his character

No new HW should replace anyone for at least 4 months plus he was fired very quickly from his HW job. He was horid.

Edited February 20, 201411 yr by John

On paper, DAYS' Melaswen/Captive Island story could've been good. Maybe. If the story idea had been done in 1984 instead of 2004, I'm sure people would've ate it up.

The serial stunt, I mean serial killer storyline on Days just before Melaswen wasn't much better. It was exciting to watch but ultimately a dud, and a dud that made no sense. Not to mention we will never know how it was supposed to turn out.

The serial stunt, I mean serial killer storyline on Days just before Melaswen wasn't much better. It was exciting to watch but ultimately a dud, and a dud that made no sense. Not to mention we will never know how it was supposed to turn out.

How many times was it rewritten

I liked Alex on AMC and loved her with Edmund. I wasn't too big on Anna in PV. The character was such a mess early on and I hated her with David

he also got rid of Sam Page's Trey. Kendall's brother. I remember Sam coming out & saying that the new writer hated his character.

I don't blame Culliton. I thought Trey was a dud of a character, played by an even bigger dud of an "actor," and making him Vanessa and Richard Fields' son did NOT help.

How many times was it rewritten

I don't think the story was rewritten that many times, but I do suspect it had been JER's plan for all the victims to remain dead and that that part was changed b/c Ken Corday panicked.

Culliton didn't dump Trey - he used him heavily. It was Frons by way of Rayfield and Cascio that cut him, and I thought it was a huge waste.

Corday did panic, and Melaswen was a huge rewrite.

Edited February 20, 201411 yr by Vee

Culliton didn't dump Trey - he used him heavily. It was Frons by way of Rayfield and Cascio that cut him, and I thought it was a huge waste.

Corday did panic, and Melaswen was a huge rewrite.

Yep Cullition liked Trey. It was Frons & Rayfield.. IMHO Trey had tons of potential

IMO, no matter what Culliton would have been allowed to do in year two, could have possibly been worse than the poison pen of Rayfield & Cascio from the Fron's inkwell.

The show was absolutely horrid during their headwriting regime, which is one of the reasons that Megan McTavish, who starts out strong was a welcome change, even from viewers like me, who have real issues with her storytelling.

Rayfield and Cascio was the first time the show became completely unrecognizable to me. The cutting, the direction (split screens, four screens in one, weird digital FX when the teens phoned or IM'ed each other), the new characters, the random stories, everything was bizarre. There was nothing like it before or even after that - it was as though space aliens with a median age of 14 had re-imagined AMC and then beamed the show in from their brains direct via Planet Jupiter.

It was, IMO, the most overt Fronsian makeover of any of the ABC soaps shortly after he took over - he wanted to turn the show into "Sex and the City" meets some sort of teen soap, referenced the parallel regularly in press at the time, and while he certainly put his stamp on OLTL and GH, nothing was nearly as shockingly foreign to its existing show as what he did to AMC for those few months. Carlos, the men of Fusion, Michael Cambias, the insta-characters of Lena and yes, even poor Reggie, who I liked, but appeared overnight - he caught on because Michael B. Jordan was so good, but their initial storytelling with him was lame as hell.

Rayfield and Cascio's run - which was really Frons's run, IMO - was absolutely unwatchable to me.

Edited February 21, 201411 yr by Vee

They were so horrible I even forgot about them. Like forgot their entire tenure until Vee just reminded me with that post.

On Y&R, Phillip III being alive, revealing he was gay and having both a love life and a bond with his son. Never happened.

Similarly on B&B when they brought Caroline and her two moms, that was a wasted opportunity. They could have shown what a family like that is like and their interaction, both women as business women and the daughter also becoming someone respected in the fashion industry, etc.

On Y&R, Phillip III being alive, revealing he was gay and having both a love life and a bond with his son. Never happened.

Similarly on B&B when they brought Caroline and her two moms, that was a wasted opportunity. They could have shown what a family like that is like and their interaction, both women as business women and the daughter also becoming someone respected in the fashion industry, etc.

I wonder if this was network interference or laziness on the writers' part

I think the Caroline Has Two Mommies story was abrupt because Joanna Johnson isn't available to film. Crystal Chappell has all the time in the world, though.

On Y&R, Phillip III being alive, revealing he was gay and having both a love life and a bond with his son. Never happened.

Sadly, I have to lay blame on TB for his horribly wooden performance. I don't think MAB's crew realized the limitations of TB's acting. While he seems like a nice person, it was just painful watching him on screen.- especially since the bulk of his work was opposite JW, JC and TC. I was willing to suspend belief, but I just couldn't watch it after a few episodes. Undoing an onscreen death that impacted the fabric of Y&R for years with the excuse that he faked his death because he was gay AND a weak actor to carry it was truly one of the great disappointments of the past decade.