SERIAL SCOOP: SOAP OPERA HISTORY: Bill Bell & Claire Labine on Writing Daytime Serials (1997)

[John]

Yeah at GL Claire was battling not Only Paul Rauch who is known to be tough but also P&G. In fact they fired her after 3 months but no one wanted the job so they asked Claire to stay which she did for a year

I loved her OLTL as most of the acting company but Disney was pissing aon all her stuff. However, loved Mel/Dorian/Mel's family Tea/Todd, Viki, Cassie/Kevin/Andrew etc

[titan1978]

It jus amazes me what she was capable of at GH. Right producer, right actors, right network head for what they wanted to do. I love the Monty era, all that action, intrigue, and humor. But those first five or so years under Riche were just wonderful, heartfelt drama.

[amybrickwallace]

Kind of a bit off the topic at hand but did Claire have any published opinion on GH's take of Ilene Kristen's Delia?

[John]

I asked her Son Matt on Twitter and he never responded. I know Roger of We love Soaps was gonna ask her and I never heard anything

Id like to know. That was the question I put here and DC and especially at DC was told who cares what Claire thinks she sold RH to ABC its up to them not her. Ughh

[amybrickwallace]

Maybe someone should remind Roger of this question. Now I'm really curious!!

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah, her and her son Matt (I believe) were actually co-HW, though people only mention Claire, on OLTL and the Clown College was one. She really didn't get much time at OLTL, and then JFP came in as EP and replaced her... She has discussed in a different interview about some of the reasons her time at OLTL was unsuccessful, but yeah, it was a bad fit. Although, the show previously (with Jean Passanante I believe as coHW and... Leah Laiman?) was such a dull mess, the first month she came back the show was like a breath of fresh air (and filled with quirky stuff--Carlotta's fantasies of Hank, I believe, etc.) Todd's parrot (she liked quirky animals,) etc.

I do sometimes wonder--I know her son and others helped at GH too, but, Paul AVila rarely gets much credit (though she always mentions him) for Ryan's Hope--maybe the team was overall better than her solo.

I forgot that Casper was one of Luna's brothers right near the end of Gottlieb's era of OLTL. Good stuff. (I recently stumbled on TV upon the recent horror/action version of Sleeping Beauty which is pretty horrendous and Casper directed, and cast himself, his wife and nearly all his children in as well as the guy who plays Loras Tyrell on Game of Thrones as the Prince...)

[EricMontreal22]

It's interesting what an impact she had on GH considering she was there... 3 years? Less?

[John]

July 1993-January 1996

Claire had support of Wendy Riche and full support of ABC Daytime (Pat Fili-Krushel) at GH. This was before Disney bought out cap cities in February 1996. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Cities_Communications

[amybrickwallace]

Also before every single ABC sitcom in production of the time made trips to Disneyland and/or World. Blah...

[cuzIsaySo]

To me Claire LaBine is synonimous with GH's second golden age (i know i sound like i actually witnessed the first one under GM but i didnt but i would be a total tool if i disregard her work )

Claire knew how to weave plots and characters together so that you wouldnt wanna miss anything because so much over-lapped with the other.

And she never neglected the characters that came before her. I came at the same time Lois was introduced and Lois wasnt just one half of a popular couple she interacted with so many people and she would help new viewers get to know the old folks while still focusing on the old guard.

Nobody was left fiddling their thumbs up their asses while new people were taking over ad nauseam.

[titan1978]

The thing I loved about her time on the show was it still felt like GH even if her approach and the types of stories she told were vastly different than the era before her. She really respected that canvas.

[JONNYSBRO]

I think Wendy Riche being there at GH was a visionary they needed. OLTL they didn't have a very strong exec producer. Their first month was great they never really went anywhere with anything. It was cute situations but no real exciting story. I wish they had written better for Viki. I loved Dorian and Mel but that was about it and the Todd and tea storyline. The ratings were falling and then by end of year they hired JFP who fired them. They are not the kind of writers she likes. She went with Pam Long but then eventually fired her for no head writer for a year. Labines IMO got more of a chance at OLTL then at GL but it shows sometimes it doesn't always work.

[Vee]

The Labines were waiting out the end of their contract at OLTL.

They had planned to do the GH spinoff they had set up - Heart & Soul, set (and shot?) in Brooklyn, focusing on Ned, Lois and Lois's family, a la Ryan's Hope but with Italians.

It was looking good for a while, supposedly, and then Wendy Riche did an end run around them, proposed a more cost-effective spinoff - Port Charles, shot in L.A.(?), utilizing, I think, some of the existing sets from GH. ABC said no thanks to H&S, and the Labines had a year left on their contract with the network. Hence OLTL, which I was told they were never that enthused about, that they were more down about losing their new show. But I thought they did some good work at OLTL and some not so good. For the most part they succeeded in preserving the lingering traces of branding, tone and community which Malone, Gottlieb, Susan Horgan, etc. had left behind, which the last couple mini-regimes prior to them had also done in 1996. But by 1998 OLTL was running on fumes from that era that ended in '95-96.

[John]

Yeah I agree about OLTL when Claire was HW. Maxine Levinson who used to be an ABC Exec and then became OLTL EP but was not capable of the job

[EricMontreal22]

Wow, a Jonnysbro post I actually agree with?