Daytime's Master Headwriters: Their Strongest and Weakest Work

[vetsoapfan]

I believe the Mr. Big material took place in 1982 and 1983. A slew of revolving-door writers worked on ATWT around that time, including the Dobsons (1979 through 1983), and Caroline Franz, John Saffron, and Paul Roberts, all of whom (if I can trust my memory) had on-screen credit at some point during 1983. I think the Dobsons must have created Mr. Big, but I'm not sure who else may have inflicted Mr. Bigness on the audience. Maybe another veteran viewer remembers for sure.

[victoria foxton]

How was OLTL from 1980 to 1984? i only started watching OLTL in the summer of 1986 when i was 11. Also did any of you guy's enjoy the Paul Rauch era of OLTL?

[DRW50]

1980 or 1981-1984 OLTL is generally seen as a period of huge malaise and a complete lack of focus - the real beginning of OLTL's lack of identity that would really plague the show for many writing and producing regimes to come.

 

Rauch's OLTL is certainly campy and cringey but also has a lot of pure emotion and strength amidst all the bad camp. Rauch also created a ton of great characters. So much so that it wasn't until the last few years of his run that the carnage he'd done to the canvas became readily apparent. 1991 and to a point 1990 seem very barren.

[soapfan770]

For the record, I believe K.C. Collier was behind the Mr. Big mess as well as the James Stenbeck/Conrinne Wilson affair as I believe they shut the Dobsons out for a bit before bringing them back. The Dobson's 2nd go around at ATWT was much better ratings wise and in critical acclaim than their first go around even if it wasn't considered traditional ATWT but this was during the Mary Ellis Bunim era of course so I think a lot of the blame gets blurred easily on different factors. 

 

Just a question, how was Pat Falken Smith at Days in her second go around compared to her first? I know she helped revitalize the show with the Salem Strangler story but its been hard too beyond on that. I know she created the DiMera's, but the Evan Whyland caper seemed pretty hokey after I watched a Sept 82 ep with Stefano being involved with Evan and Maggie's car accident. 

 

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With that said, Margaret DePriest's strongest work was either her early Where the Heart Is days or her first run at Days there 1983-1984, while her weakest work was when she was wheeled out of the nursing home for AW in 1996. Unless you want to count Sunset Beach's final year which for my own memory there's a year gap between Shockwave and the supernatural Rosario diamond to the final days on Derek alive on the loose and the finale. 

[Paul Raven]

Pat Falken Smith made immediate changes at Days that revitalized the show.

She introduced the Salem Strangler story,brought in the Di Mera's (as a mysterious powerful family,not the campy clan of later years),introduced Roman,Kayla and Abe etc. Such a pity that circumstances led to her departure.

[vetsoapfan]

I agree with Carl in much of his assessment, although as a OLTL purist, I did not find much strength in the Paul Rauch years. The early 1980s had brought something of a lull to OLTL. The show was not atrocious during that period by any means, but it was simply bland compared to what it had been in the late 1970s. My interest in the series continued, however, mainly because so many of the show's core characters remained on the canvas, and I tend to remain loyal to a show if its vets stay center stage, even through periods of weak writing.

 

To me, Paul Rauch's tenure was cringe-worthy. I loathe low-brow, cartoon camp, but particularly when it is artificially grafted onto a once-intelligent, once-plausible, character-driven series like OLTL. Along with losing many beloved, core characters around this time (it was hard to see Carla, Sadie, and Ed all go), the science fiction dreck made me turn off OLTL completely, even though I had been watching it for about 15 years. The carnage Rauch inflicted on "my" show was just impossible to stomach. It's been said that by the time he was replaced, the only thing Rauch had not destroyed was...the theme music. I would concur.

 

My memory is vague on the specifics of who wrote what on ATWT during its campy period, so perhaps Collier did indeed pen the Mr. Big mess. There were so many writers coming and going on the show during the early 1980s, they are blurring together in my mind. Mary Ellis Bunim's destructive qualities are certainly memorable, however. We were lucky that Robert Calhoun replaced her and repaired much of the damage she had wrought upon Oakdale.

 

Pat Falken Smith made great improvements to a listless DAYS upon her return. As Paul Raven commented, as written by Smith, the DiMeras were not originally a cartoonish, over-the-top set of caricatures. In an interview at the time, Smith admitted that GH had been in much better shape when she replaced Douglas Marland at its helm than DAYS was upon her return, and that it was going to take her some time to whip DAYS back into fighting shape. She acknowledged that if the show were still bad in six months, then it would be her fault, because she was doing the overhauling. Sadly, Smith left the series again (commenting to the press that there were issues stemming from an old lawsuit she had filed against the show), and the quality of the writing went with her.

[robbwolff]

Falken Smith was gone by the time of Evan and Maggie's accident. She left around April 1982. 

[BetterForgotten]

What about Falken Smith's return stint to GH in the later part of the 80's? Was the show just too lost in Monty's ego by that point to significantly change?

 

I believe the reason she left GH in the first place was due to constant clashing with Monty, but she did return later to work with her. 

[soapfan770]

Ah gotcha, for some reason I thought Falken Smith had wrote Days into early '83, I didn't think she had left so soon after doing so much. 

[zanereed]

Absolutely correct.  For example, P & G had wanted the Bauer family diminished as the centerpiece of the show since around 1981, I believe, yet Marland managed to keep them in play during his tenure (granted, as more supporting players than the frontburners that they had been during the Dobson years) and Smith was an extension of that.  P & G also wanted to eliminate a lot of the vets and bring in new characters (which eventually happened the following year in 1983).

I'm not certain if Smith actually had any conflict with Allen Potter or not.  I believe Smith was still writing for GL when Potter was replaced with Kobe, wasn't she?

[titan1978]

She cleaned up a few messes, and introduced Anna, Robin, and eventually, Duke.  Lucy Coe was hers as well, and I think Felicia and Frisco's wedding was during her second run.  I was a kid but this  period made me a die hard GH fan.

 

From what I have read, it was considered a great time for the show and stronger stories and characters.  But Monty always wants it her way only and I'm certain they did not get along as both of them are incredibly opinionated.

 

She had a third tenure at GH but I don't remember how long it was or what characters she introduced.

[MissLlanviewPA]

 

I think the Rauch era of OLTL is a case of two competing shows within a show, actually: the OTT stuff like the Heaven  spaceship and Eterna, and the more traditional soap stories involving characters like Gabrielle (admittedly I'm biased). There are definitely things during that era that would seem out of place elsewhere, but stuff like Gabrielle and her struggle to believe in God, for example? THAT could fit in anywhere and still work. Yes, Fiona Hutchison is a strong enough actress to carry it on her own, but I think S. Michael Schnessel, despite writing stories like Eterna, also truly GOT a character like Gabrielle and made some classic soap with characters like her. I really do believe that had Fiona and Gabrielle's story been on during a more "realistic" era for the show, she would have gotten a LOT more attention from the soap press and the Daytime Emmys (the scene where she denounces God in church? Come ON!), so that atmosphere, to an extent, had to hurt stories like hers in regards to getting attention. But not ALL of the Rauch era was focused on ridiculousness or camp.

 

YMMV, of course.

[soapfan770]

This is a first time I believe that I've seen Thom Racina get some heavy criticism. I knew Santa Barbara was weak while he was writing there along with Long and Days in '85 was a rough year but then they turnaround 1986 was a banner year for Days before he left for AW. 

[DRW50]

vetsoapfan I was curious - what is your opinion of Peggy O'Shea?

[Soapsuds]

What damage did she do? I was a viewer then but really didnt pay attention to detail. And exactly when did Calhoun replace her? I know it was 84..but any specific date?