Best/Worst Soaps to Work on(through the years)

[DRW50]

It's great to see your posts again.

[Vee]

Kim's book is great. It also is relatively even-handed on Ellen Wheeler vs. herself, but leaves me with the impression that Wheeler was simply not competent or stable enough to be running that show.

Re: AMC and OLTL, everything I've seen out of the PP season was that those casts and possibly crews were very, very tight-knit - partying together, etc. It seemed as though it was like summer camp, and they were finally being treated well. The problem is the guys higher-up were shysters.

[YRfan23]

Agreed! we need more Deeedee in our lives!

[John]

Totally agreed. It seems the producers and crews that ran daily ops for AMC & OLTL were much loved & the stars enjoyed their time. However it was Rich & Kwaintez who were ill prepared

[amybrickwallace]

I agree. It mentioned that Ellen Wheeler would often break down into tears. I think she had to know she was in over her head, and the people on her watch knew it too.

[Vee]

I don't think she did know. I think everyone else did.

[John]

I do have to say Ellen was very passionate about GL but just didnt have the new format planned that well

[amybrickwallace]

And in her defense, she didn't exactly have much support from CBS and P&G.

[Khan]

She didn't have ANYTHING planned that well. That was the problem (to me). She simply had no business running a daytime drama. Passionate or not. I felt as much BEFORE Peapack, and by the time we said goodbye to Josh and Reva and the Pickup Truck of Happiness, I was sure of it.

[DRW50]

In some ways that turned out to be for the best, as she did things like bring a lot of cast members back for the last months, some of whom hadn't been around in years. Producers who were supposedly more professional, like Goutman, never gave a damn.

[will81]

Jon Michael Reed in his column in January 1977 talked about Janice Lynde when she left the show. He said she had a back injury and was off the show for a month, then the medication she was taking made her ill and she was missing work. Apparently TPTB weren't happy and thought she was grandstanding and this seemed to sour the working relationship. Janice did say in the beginning she had more opportunity to get leave from the show and do other things, but by the end Y&R was consuming a lot of her life. I often wonder if Bell was involved in the decision to have Lynde taken off the show or if Conboy did it behind his back.

It sounds a lot like Brenda's exit where she was stating she was sick and they didn't believe her. Granted Brenda had a reputation for being difficult so who knows.

[DRW50]

I remember reading that they had been looking for a replacement for her for a while, and then she had the pilot which wasn't picked up, etc. Either way it seemed to end unhappily enough to where SOD wrote about it. I'd be surprised if Bell was involved in any of this as it seems like he liked writing for her and his writing for VM's Leslie steadily declined.

[juppiter]

Gloria Monty's second reign at GH seems to have been hell on earth. The network stuck by her for a while even as fans and stars balked, but eventually she was fired and replaced by Wendy Riche. There is a great article kicking around the net, I think from EW if someone wants to look it up, giving a good in depth look at her trainwreck of a reign. I find it fascinating, because you also have to see it from her point of view. Somebody who was so successful the first time, who completely changed soap operas forever, had to believe that her mission was right and her opposition were standing in the way.

[Vee]

I think I remember reading that a while back, after catching the episode from '91(?) during the SN anniversary marathon.

It was a fun show actually, you could see all the connections and roots, the big ideas - I liked the long opening scene with a chagrined Anna trying to order an incredibly amused Frisco about in the wake of her passionate night with Robert, and I actually liked the whole PC docks/ELQ ship setup with the environmentalists protesting at Kelly's, the boat skirmish, the Q's weighing in back at their mansion, and Mac's big entrance. It was big ideas, but unlike Linda Gottlieb at OLTL later in the year and in '92 there was no big return. It seems like it must have been an old master trying to reconnect with her turf and then mishandling the landing in a number of ways, including running some people off (not to mention the Eckert opus).

[DRW50]

Monty seemed to want to cut out most of the show, even what had worked. I think she just didn't understand how GH's audience had changed and needed multiple levels of material she didn't care about continuing. It's ironic, since Monty was the one who created the hybrid GH fanbase (action-adventure, hospital vets, romance, camp, etc.) in the first place.