Daytime's Master Headwriters: Their Strongest and Weakest Work

[robbwolff]

Nope. Smith was gone by December 1982 and Potter was there until around February 1983. In an interview on the AW Home Page, L. Virginia Browne, one of the scribes who replaced Smith, talks about being fired as soon as soon as Gail Kobe replaced Potter.

[vetsoapfan]

Marland was on board for firing Mart Hulswit as Ed Bauer, however.

 

In the early 1980s, after Hulswit was replaced by Peter Simon, Cosmopolitan magazine did an article on the soap opera genre, and interviewed Marland as one of its celebrated writers. Marland said that although they had great chemistry on-screen, Lenore Kasdorf (Rita) did not like working with Hulswit, and begged Marland to separate their characters. Marland referred to Hulswit as a "dodo" who was supposedly ill-equipped to play romantic scenes convincingly, hence the need to get a younger, sexier Ed in the guise of Peter Simon.

 

While I believe Simon is a good actor, I always found his portrayal of Ed to be morose and listless, while Hulswit exuded warmth and a certain sweetness. I did not care that Hulswit carried a few extra pounds. Physical perfection is not the sole criterion for sex appeal. For the next 27 years, I always thought of Simon as "the new Ed," whom I never completely accepted. (Richard Van Fleet, who was even a worse recast, was the "hair-model Ed.")

 

The next few years brought devastating blows to the Bauer family, with Bert, Bill, and Hillary Bauer being killed off, and Mike and Hope being written out of the story. Having a relatively new, replacement actor playing Ed Bauer made it feel like Springfield was devoid of its core family. Having a bunch of newbies and a loud-mouthed Reva hogging the air-time made the situation worse.

To be fair, I had to flee Llanview in horror after seeing the damage that was being done to my show, so I missed a huge chunk of Rauch's later contributions to OLTL. I'll take your word for it there was was gold among the coal, since I stopped watching the show completely until I knew that Rauch was gone, and therefore cannot assess any material--good or bad--that aired during my hiatus.

I thought she was a capable writer who did well on OLTL. She later gave an interview to the soap press, lamenting what happened to OLTL and its characters after she left. It must be hard for decent writers to see hacks butcher the characters and history of their former shows.

[vetsoapfan]

Bunim's tenure on ATWT was from late 1981 to October, 1984, at which time Calhoun replaced her.

 

No doubt with P&G's approval, Bunim wanted to completely revamp the show. She told Eileen Fulton (Lisa) that she planned to make the audience forget about beloved veteran characters by bringing in (supposedly) exciting characters and storylines of her own. Many of the vets were pushed so far into the background, they almost disappeared off the stove at this time. We lost Helen Wagner through lack of use during Bunim's reign. Don McLaughlin (Chris Hughes) was also taken off contract. Don Hastings (Bob) later remarked that under Bunim, vets like him stood around on the outskirts of party scenes, but it was only when Calhoun replaced Bunim that things improved. He said that Calhoun, "gave us our show back." When Harding Lemay took over the writing reigns of SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, he said that Bunim (who was producing that show at the time) was completely impossible, and undercut everything he wanted to do. I don't think her vision worked well for daytime dramas with long histories and veteran characters and actors, although she did have great success with the MTV docudrama series THE REAL WORLD, which focused on various groups of teenagers in various cities around the country.

[cassadine1991]

Thoughts on OLTL under Gottlieb, GL under Phelps then Laibison and GH under Riche?

[zanereed]

vetsoapfan,

Agreed - "younger" and "sexier" are not really two words that I would equate to Peter Simon, especially as Simon was only 3 years younger than Hulswit. I'm surprised that Marland was that harsh on Hulswit, but I have also read that Hulswit was critical of the writing once Marland took over. I never got used to Hulswit, either, and Van Vleet was SO wrong for that part.

Speaking of Marland, what did you think of his time on GL after the Dobsons?

[vetsoapfan]

I was so relieved that Rauch was fired from OLTL, I was ready to accept ANYONE at the helm of the show. At first, I was afraid LG was not going to "get" Llanview. I was afraid we would be in for short-term story arcs featuring newbie characters in whom we had no interest. But after the initial kinks were worked out, Gottlieb produced some wonderful material. I must say, however, I hated the new opening that we had to suffer through around that time: generic face and body models moving to stimulate-the-bowels music. I called this opening, "Bedsheets in the wind." What a comedown from the popular and enchanting Peabo Bryson theme!

 

She infamously killed off Maureen Bauer (allegedly to free up money to hire Justin Deas as the grating Buzz Cooper), but I believe that her tenure at TGL was JFP's most successful reign on daytime TV. A large part of it had to do with the writing, and for me personally, I was grateful that Springfield was Reva-free in the early 1990s. Phelps actually produced good shows while she was at TGL, which is hard to believe for people who have only seen her work elsewhere. After she left, Laibson and subsequent producers until the end of the series did not impress me. I hated Reva's return and all the campy, STOOPID stories they foisted on her for YEARS. Reva the Ghost. Reva the Amish Amnesiac. Reva the San Cristobelian Queen. Reva the Clone. Reva the Time Traveler. Reva the Illegal-Immigrant Savoir. Reva the Blind. Reva the Portly Sex-Goddess Who Enraptured Every Man in Springfield. Vomit.

 

After the dismal 1980s' camp bonanza, I was certain GH was forever crippled beyond repair, so I was pleasantly surprised (actually, SHOCKED is a better word) when Wendy Riche and Claire Labine ushered in another golden era of literate, adult, compelling drama for the citizens of Port Charles. Riche understood the show and what it was supposed to be (IMHO), and I was thrilled that we no longer had to put up with Ice Princesses, freezing the world, space aliens and the like. Riche made GH feel like "home" for me again, which had not been the case since Pat Falken Smith's first departure in the early 1980s. To me, the last time any soap on daytime TV provided viewers with consistently good, engrossing material was when Riche and Labine were doing GH.

 

I miss intelligent soaps.

[cassadine1991]

Thank you very much for your thoughts

[Soapsuds]

What year did Bunim and Lemay work together on SFT? I loved SFT but lost total interest in it when it moved to NBC. I am assuming CBS got rid of it because of it attracting older viewers. And as to Marland…I noticed during the transition between Bunim and Calhoun/Marland the ratings deep for ATWT for the first year and then went back up after Marland had a whole year to make changes.

[vetsoapfan]

I would love to hear yours, as well!

[vetsoapfan]

A poster named FrenchFan posted this comprehensive list of SFT writers, in the cancelled Soaps forum here on SON, indicating that lemay wrote the show in 1981:

 

Agnes Nixon (1951)

Irving Vendig (1951-1956)

Charles Gussman (1956-1957)

Frank & Doris Hursley (1957-1963)

Julian Funt & David Lesan (1963-1965)

Leonard Kantor & Doris Frankel (1965-1968)

Lou Scofield (1968)

Robert Soderberg & Edith Sommer (1968-1969)

Ralph Ellis & Eugenie Hunt (1969-1973)

Theodore Apstein (1973-1974)

Gabrielle Upton (1974)

Ann Marcus (1974-1975)

Peggy O’Shea (1975-1976)

Irving & Tex Elman (1976-1977)

Robert J. Shaw (1977- April 1978)

Henry Slesar (April 1978 – August 1978)

Joyce & John William Corrington (August 1978 – May 1980)

Linda Gorver & John Porterfield (May 1980 – November 1980)

Gabrielle Upton (November 1980 – April 1981)

Harding Lemay (April 1981 – July 1981)

Don Chastain (July 1981 – December 1981)

Ralph Ellis & Eugenie Hunt (December 1981 – July 1982)

C. David Colson (July 1982 – September 1982)

Gary Tomlin (September 1982 – April 1984)

Jeanne Glynn & Madeline David (April 1984 – June 1984)

Caroline Franz & Jeanne Glynn (June 1984 – March 1985)

Paul Avila Mayer & Stephanie Braxton (March 1985 – October 1985)

Gary Tomlin (October 1985 – July 1986)

Pamela K. Long & Addie Walsh (July 1986 – December 1986)

There were some gems among the writers, and some real duds. Don Chastain, who took over the show after Lemay, once complained that TPTB never cared about what was best for SFT's own individual style, tone, history, and characters. The mandate was to copy what GENERAL HOSPITAL was doing, in hopes of cashing in on that show's success. Typical stupidity from TPTB.

 

Marland quickly repaired much of the damage that had been done to ATWT, upon his return, but I think it took longtime viewers a while to be lured back to the show, after being burned by its previous mediocrity. He really revitalized that show the way he had GH.

[DRW50]

Didn't Bunim have some issue with Maree Cheatham as well or am I wrong? 

 

Was she ever at RH? 

[Soapsuds]

SFT did have some great HWs….I noticed that during Lemay and Chastain years the ratings for SFT dropped…probably interference in the writing? Isn't Don Chastain the same person who appeared on ATWT during the whole Lily and Simon stranded story during Hogan's run? He also script wrote for ATWT.

 

I never knew Don Chastain had been a HW.

[DRW50]

Was Chastain the one who was supposedly an actor who'd been fired by the show and then took over during a writers strike?

[vetsoapfan]

I remember Maree saying she had had issues with a producer, but I cannot recall if Bunim was the one.

 

As far as I know, Bunim worked on SFT, ATWT, SB, and LOVING, but never on RH.

Chastain played Dr. Taper on SFT in 1980 and 81, before taking over the writing reigns during the strike, yes.

Yes, Chastian also wrote scripts for and appeared on ATWT. His only credit as headwriter was on SFT, as far as I know. He also wrote a screenplay for a film called THE MAFU CAGE., for which he won the Best Screenplay award at the Paris Film festival. He even won a Grammy Award in 1963 for his NO STRINGS.

[cassadine1991]

I have a question was Agnes Nixon's writing style the same on all the soaps she was Head Writer or did it change?