Backstage Mysteries: Forever Unsolved

[vetsoapfan]

For decades now, thanks to the advent of the soap press and then later the internet, daytime TV viewers have become accustomed to hearing about the various machinations behind the scenes of our favorites soaps. While many problems within the industry still remain hidden from the public, if a situation is dramatic enough, and particularly if it ends up affecting what we see on screen, information tends to leak out.

There are certain problems, circumstances, or peculiar decisions made by the powers that be, however, for which we never get an explanation, no matter how much their effect on our favorite shows baffles the audience.

The Eileen Fulton Degradation, AS THE WORLD TURNS

One aspect of ATWT that kept me scratching my head for many years, was how TPTB degraded the once-popular, one-vital character of Lisa Miller Hughes Eldridge Shea Coleman McCall Mitchell Grimaldi (Chedwyn, but we don't talk about him, LOL), and ended up treating her like a minor, almost irrelevant background player.

Here was a character who had brought fire, glamor, tension, and excitement to the series for many years. Fans loved to hate her, irate viewers wanted to smack her, and Eileen Fulton enjoyed both critical and audience acclaim.

Yet, in the final years of the series, producer Christopher Goutman and "writers" like Hogan Sheffer and Jean Passanante drastically reduced the character's importance to the point where she was...irrelevant. No storyline attention was given to Lisa. Weeks would go by where she would be unseen and unmentioned. When she was present, her scenes were generic, and her lines written as if they could be read by anyone, by any day-player, rather than by the unique individual Lisa had been in her heyday.

After years of neglect, Fulton complained about her lack of screen time to the press, but the situation seemed to get even worse. Lisa fell further into the background. As the show struggled for rating, endless vapid and often uninteresting newbies were paraded across the screen and rammed down viewers' throats, while increasingly disenfranchised viewers demanded to see more of the vets. Bob and Kim Hughes were occasionally thrown a minor bone, story-wise, and even Nancy Hughes had a few significant scenes now and then, thanks for her relationship with (gag-inducing) Katie, but Eileen Fulton and Lisa were still neglected.

In a filmed panel interview, with Goutman, Passanante, and various cast members, Goutman proclaimed that to him, Kathryn Hayes, Don Hastings, and Eileen Fulton were the core of the series. Fulton thanked him and Passanante for giving Lisa her 50th anniversary scenes, but then made a snarky remark about being otherwise ignored. (You could see Passanante flinch, although she ducked the comment.)

To me, the mystery here is, why did the show keep Fulton around for so many years, if they did not want to use her? I presume she was on contract, and had to be paid for a certain number of appearances, even during the weeks and/or months when Lisa was absent completely. So why not simply dream up a quick exit for the character, and have her leave Oakdale, thereby freeing up extra money for the production, and putting poor Fulton out of her misery?

If the reason they kept her around, albeit on the backest of the back burners, was because of her history with the series and her popularity with longtime viewers, TPTB should have understood that technically having the vets associated with the show, but barely using them, and only giving them scant, pointless material every once in a while, was more of an irritation and insult to longtime viewers than an incentive for us to stick around.

Or, maybe not. The powers that be proved to be relentlessly clueless, and never learned from their mistakes.

Once the show was gone, I wondered if Fulton (or anyone else, like Hogan Sheffer) would be forthcoming about some of the backstage goings-on, and explain Lisa's subjugation (among other curious decisions by those in charge), but we have not hear much of anything. I would love to get a tell-all series of interviews with the former cast and crew of ATWT, the way author Jeff Giles did for ONE LIFE TO LIVE, with his revealing Llanview in the Afternoon.

In the grander scheme of things, one actress' being stripped of her importance may not be the end of The World (ouch; sorry, bad pun), but I do believe that one of the principle reasons ATWT ultimately failed was its hacking away at its roots, core characters, and popular themes. Decades from now, once-loyal viewers will remember characters like Lisa, the Hugheses and the Stewarts, but who the hell is going to remember...Janet?

[cassadine1991]

Yeah seems like these soaps disregard some of their original core families

[juppiter]

I just don't think the last regime ever liked Fulton or thought she had anything to contribute to the show. Where fans saw a living legend unjustly cast off to the side, they saw an aging has-been soap diva whose glory days had long passed ranting to the media. And the truth was actually somewhere in between those two extremes.

[applcin]

I don't know if this is considered a backstage mystery so much as just a bit of personal history that I came across a few months ago. I remember the original Stavros Cassadine on GH, John Martinuzzi (now goes by John Morrissey), and that he and Genie Francis were a couple back in the day (which, btw, as a young fan, was just a weird thing to know she went home with this guy who terrorized her onscreen but, hey, I went through the same thing with Matthew Cowles and Kate Dezina from AMC, lol). Anyway, they had a very bad breakup (he was an alcoholic, she left) and whatever they did against each other still bothers her years later. He said he's friends with his exes but not with her. He never really followed GH so he found out about the Stavros recast much later and he said Genie would have opposed his doing the role.

This is the interview: http://www.authorsden.com/categories/article_top.asp?catid=30&id=40542

[SoapDope]

Y&R was bad about not using characters to the full potential.

Patty Weaver rarely was used in any major storylines and was mostly seen singing on special occasion and asking "Table for two " ? After several decades, they burned down Gina's and Patty soon disappeared from the show.

Casey Reed and Brock Reynolds rarely had any meaty storylines or love interest that amounted to anything.

[titan1978]

This seemed to hit every single soap in the late 1990's and into the 2000's. As the actors got older, the shows pushed them off the stove, not just onto the back burner. if they weren't sweet or salty grandmother types for the younger women to ask advice, off they went.

I still think ATWT missed an opportunity by not putting crazy Barbara and Lisa at odds with Carly over fashion, and Lisa discovers too late how far Barbara had truly fallen and switched sides. I could plot 1 year of stuff just for this one idea!

[NothinButAttitude]

I did it on the fanfic that I was doing this site but I wish that they would've actually paired the trio up and had them run a fashion house together. That would've been a riot. I would've wanted Babs and Carly to be at odds--Barbara wanting to stick to tradition while Carly wants to make their lines more youthful, and for poor Lisa to be trapped in the middle. I actually even imagined Janet, who despite my personal hatred for her, being involved [a ploy via Babs] as she helped them do a domestic line, which would've further drove Carly crazy.

I agree that a fashion story between these three, all who were known to be vixens, would've been comedic gold!

[Scrapple]

I have mixed feelings about Fulton. On the one hand, I don't believe she was the greatest actress. She always seemed like a butterfly in heat, just fluttering aimlessly in scenes, often forgetting her lines. She was once supposed to be the nemesis of Lucinda Walsh, but La Walsh towered above her in every scene they shared. On the other hand, Fulton could rise to the occasion once in awhile. Her acting in the "John Dixon malpractice suit/ John's revenge" storyline was a complete revelation to me.....I didn't know she had it in her!

What's not debatable is how she was treated when the show ended. Love her or hate her, Fulton was crucial to the early success of ATWT. To have her given a few meaningless lines , and being a subject of mockery on the final episode, was contemptible. But then most of what producer Chris Goutman did at the end was contemptible.

[antmunoz]

The real mystery to me was, why didn't she QUIT? Why stick around to get shat on? She'd quit twice before! Somebody ask her THAT.

[YRBB]

[robbwolff]

Likely for health benefits coverage.

[vetsoapfan]

True. Goutman was clueless and/or insensitive, with no understanding of the show or its audience. So much time towards the end of this beloved drama was devoted to irrelevant, often despised characters, or newbie actors (even in familiar roles like Craig) in whom many viewers simply had no emotional investment. Not having Martha Byrne back as Lily, even though Noelle Beck made the offer to step aside, was inexcusable. Not having at least Rosemary Prinz and Patricia Bruder return as Penny and Ellen, for Nancy's funeral, was really disappointing. Why was Nancy's death so much about...Katie?

Even a brief 30-second scene focusing on Lisa, during the series finale, would have been a nice gesture. She could have gotten a phone call from her ex-husband Grant Coleman, informing her that he was returning to Oakdale with something very important to ask her about. Fans could fill in the blanks of the mystery for themselves, and hope that perhaps Lisa and Grant might rekindle their romance.

So many opportunities were missed by the clueless producers and weak writers.

[Soapsuds]

Goutman was just awful and gave all the fans of ATWT a big f uck you.

[vetsoapfan]

I imagine that even Fulton realized the writing was on the wall, so to speak. As an older actress, how many other job opportunities would have come her way? As previously mentioned, very possibly keeping health coverage played into her decision to remain with ATWT, but aside from that, at least on this show she had history and a legacy to stand on. Newer viewers, writers, and producers may have found her irrelevant, but devoted longtime fans respected her contribution to the show.

Like Emily McLaughlin (Jessie Brewer) of GH, Michael Storm (Larry) of OLTL, Susan Seaforth and Bill Hayes (Julie and Doug) of DOOL, viewers continued to care about them long after producers made their presence on their shows irrelevant.

To be fair, he also screwed up the final days of the beloved ANOTHER WORLD.

[teplin]

Don't get me started with that damn gorilla.