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

[John]

She started HW in Late July. Her material began end of August Early September 93

[John]

Claire herself has said that ABC was gonna cancel Loving in 1989 it had bad ratings and bad Writers but Agnes lobided them and because of her success with AMC & OLTL, ABC kept Loving & ditched Ryans Hope even RH was better recieved creatively

[cuzIsaySo]

Thats probably what i read too

Which is why i figured CL wouldnt go to Loving even though a half hour show was far more suited for her

[John]

Oh yeah she perfers the half hour show

[quartermainefan]

Mistakes to the audience are not the mistakes to the network micromanagers. Lets be cynical and honest, if they didn't tinker with shows they would be out of a job, so therefore they will tinker as much as they can. These are the networks that passed on The Walking Dead, the highest rated demo show on the air now with no other show coming close. You think these are the people to trust to make sound decisions about what will attract viewers?

[quartermainefan]

And to whoever asked what makes Labine a "mixed bag" see this point right here. It was a bad decision, the character ruined the show and Labine has 15 years of Sonny being the star to answer for. It's not like there was any upside to this character, considering how his entire tenure witnessed a steady ratings collapse. His mere presense was a cancer on the show as it foisted this whole moronic notion of "good gangters" and stories told from their POV on Port Charles. If I had to weigh which impacted GH more, BJ's death or the fact Sonny lasted thanks to her writing, Labine comes up a huge net negative.

[John]

I disagree, I loved Sonny under Labine. Yes there was the involvement with the mob via Frank Smith but that was about Sonny & Luke bringng him down which they did in late 1994. Then the whole next year 1995-1996 was his relationship with Brenda and the Stone & Robin story which made Sonny Human IMHO. Sonny didnt really become a mini Soprano til Guza returned in 2002

[DeliaIrisFan]

Labine preferred the half hour format, yes. But I think she did great work at GH for a couple of years or more, and especially after a year off to rest up, she could have had an equally good run at OLTL.

She also told just about every type of story successfully at one point. But the climax of any of her best stories almost always had more to do with the characters and relationships than it did with the trappings of the plot. When she started at a show, she could be adept at utilizing existing history to create that kind of drama, but one way or the other, the characters had to hold their own for it to work.

That's why I think she was especially vulnerable to the kind of micromanaging that Disney ushered in at ABC. I have no doubt that just about everything they thought was boring or expendable and forced her to cut or change was building to something or explained something else. Labine never really adapted to writing a show that just treaded water in between gimmicky events that may or may not have had anything to do with each other.

I for one would take the kind of storytelling she was capable of when she was empowered to do her own thing in a heartbeat, though.

[titan1978]

I think there is some validity to criticising some of her work. She isn't a plot and umbrella storyline kind of writer. She is a character and community writer. When she is out of steam it does show, because characters meander until she and her team can refocus them. She was running out of steam at GH except for the Stone storyline, but then brought on Jax and started the Carly story and I think set the wheels in motion for the Jason storyline and was kind of resetting the decks after months of holding pattern. But her holding pattern is so good it's hard to hate it!

What I miss most about her on GH was her climaxes really mattered and the major stories led to more story.

Laura's house led to the Ward's and Edward Q secret son.

Lucy's bet broke Bobbie and Tony just as their daughter died, letting Maxie live.

Monica's cancer led to Emily.

The shootout that hit Luke's, Laura's house, and Sonny's apartment led to Stone's HIV story.

It was a great couple of years!

[John]

Agreed 100%

[Vee]

What I will always remember about the day to day of Labine, beyond the animals and the kids, is something I was reminded of during the marathon last year - the long dialogue scenes where people would sometimes just spin yarns, get into bits of business between two or three people talking about the minutiae of life. Mac and Felicia and Robin arguing about women drivers, Laura trying to plant her garden, Luke and Laura trying to explain to Lucky the birds and the bees. I remember that stuff well and it was always so comforting and warm as a young viewer, amidst the bigger, more exciting stories. OLTL was my top show, the edgier, grittier show that appealed to me more as a tween, but GH (and AMC) were different but complimentary experiences. OLTL was the fire, GH was fresh baked bread.

Later on that did begin to wear on me somewhat after a couple years of the same - as you become more and more of a surly teen you get a little tired of the folksy family scenes, and so I did welcome the Guza run which was darker and edgier, more overtly 'adult'. I think it was the right thing at the right time. But I appreciate even more of Claire Labine now, years later.

[amybrickwallace]

At least under Labine/Riche (and through much of Riche's tenure as EP), Sonny wasn't the thing that ate Port Charles. There was much more balance.

[titan1978]

Oh I totally dug Guza round one. He gave Laura some great stories, and that car bomb was a great twist for several characters. It was exciting, but I did notice the characters did start to get stupid, and nobody does just plotty stupid stuff under Labine.

[BetterForgotten]

But let's be real, Labine always had a fascination with the mob. Maybe not to the extent of Guza, but there there was a mob fascination even dating back to Ryan's Hope, and they returned in a big way during her interpretation of GH.

That shootout in Luke and Laura's house during the Labine era set the precedent for what Guza/Riche/JFP exploited for many years to come.

[John]

But under Labine the Mob was the bad guys and even Sonny didnt want to be a part of the Mob. Yes she did Mob with Joe & Max on RH. Joe fell in love wanted out and in the end, ended u dying. Mob was never focus under Labine on any of the soaps she was HW at