1998 was really the start of regressing Erica as a character in terms of maturity. Even the Maria baby story showed Erica acting like an adult with an attempt at providing some motivation for why she did what she did (abandonment issues)... but the return of Mike Roy and another go around with Jack was really the start to her decline as a character.
I remember when Mike first showed up, they styled Erica's hair and wardrobe like it was when they were together in the mid 80s... but she ended up islanded off into her own story.. no longer interacting much with Janet or Opal during that year (though the scenes of Erica and Janet trying to hire a fake Axel were funny).
I think the Glamorama might have worked if the writing was a bit better.. though I did like that we got a lot of the women in one place, a bit of gossip, and even had a quirky blonde associate that worked there. And you had the snooty bluebloods getting their hair done as they judged those beneath them with either Janet or someone else throwing a bit of shade toward them... and it did lead to the introduction of Greenlee since her grandmother was one of the blue bloods getting her hair down there.
I can't really fault Nixon for struggling during her brief return as head writer in 1999/2000 because it seemed like she had a lot of pushback and a lot of interference from people that didn't understand how to write a soap and/or create a character.
Her interview back in the day with Dick Cavett really highlighted her thought process for how to create/mold a character. The writer that creates a character needs to know those characters like they're real.. what they like, don't like, what their pressure points are, why they like or do the things they do. It's why writers like Bell, Nixon, Labine, Marland, Lemay, PFS, Long, and Curlee were so good.. because they loved the characters they wrote and created.
I don't think McTavish liked any of the characters she ever wrote and/or created... I think Broderick and Winser loved the characters in Pine Valley.. but I don't think McTavish did.
By
Soaplovers ·
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.