Worst Executive Producer...

[John]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiding_Light#Head_writers_and_executive_producers

[danfling]

Joe Ainley and Carl Waster both co-produced The Guiding Light  with actor David Lesan.  (Mr. Ainley from 1936-1952, and Mr. Waster, I assume, only on the radio version).     I have never heard of them.   Does anyone know anything about these two men?  I do see that Mr. Ainley was an actor as well as a producer.

[You're Soaking in it]

 

The originally planned ultimate outcome was, how it ended... except it wasn't initially envisioned to wait an entire decade.

 

Case in point: All My Children with Francesca James & Broderick in 1997....  then James & McTavish in 1998. Wow, was that an awful "WTF" year.

[Emma1420]

 

How in the heck did McTavish ever manage to keep being rehired as a HW?  I don't think there is one soap she was the HW on that I thought she was a good fit for.  Okay, her brand of over the top stuff might have worked a  little better on Days, but her stints on GH, AMC, and GL weren't very good. 

[Khan]

Megan McTavish and Dena Higley were two HW's who kept getting re-hired, because they knew how to pitch ideas to the network (or, in GL's case, the sponsor) that sounded terrific, but needed strong day-to-day writing to make them work.  That is always where they (and others) fell down.

[Emma1420]

I get why she was hired at GL in the 90's, her first run on AMC wasn't bad.   But, everything else after that I don't get.  Because to me that tenure on GL was pretty terrible, although I do think a lot of that was decent ideas that weren't executed well.  I mean there is no pitch in the world that could make Josh, the walking abortion, seem like compelling storytelling.

 

 

[BetterForgotten]

If I'm honest, some of her first AMC stint was quite ridiculous too - because it sure as hell wasn't Wisner Washam or Agnes Nixon's AMC. However, I think Felecia Minei Behr, Agnes Nixon, and a team of wonderful scriptwriters were there to save her ass for a long period of time. If anything, her other stints at AMC and on other soaps proved that when she no longer had superior talent to cover her, she quickly went off the rails and there was little innate talent there. 

[Khan]

 

Thank you.  I've felt the exact same way for decades.  IDC how "riveting" Kendall's introduction or Natalie-in-the-well was for many.  To me, those storylines were sooooo not AMC.  In retrospect, it was all too indicative of how much the network and others had begun to interfere.

[danfling]

This thread seems to be turning into one about the writers of the shows, not the executive producers.   If one wants to recognize a soap opera creator/writer/actress who was often hired but later dismissed and not asked back again, look at Margaret DePriest.

[Khan]

Except, Maggie DePriest was asked back at ANOTHER WORLD.  It was during her second HW'ing stint, in fact, that she (and then-EP JFP) killed off Frankie Frame.

[Contessa Donatella]

At AW at the end Goutman almost saved the show. He came so close to doing so that the Head Honchos moved up their deadlines & cancelled AW before they had said they would. Even before the show celebrated its annual fan club & anniversary! By the time Goutman had done his best, AW had better ratings than did Sunset Beach. But, Susan D. Lee, from NBC, gave Sunset Beach a 6 month extension & cancelled AW outright with only a month to finish things up. This was something no one could understand. Goutman wept. So did everyone else at the show. However, something different happened at ATWT. Someone I know who was on the team at both shows at the end said to me that around 2004-2005 Goutman went over to the dark side whatever that means. That is also when he gave that Q&A to Digest where he said he knew full well what his show needed & he didn't want or need fan mail or calls to the office. Then, of course, he burned Martha like crazy.

And, Susan D. Lee, who also had part to do with the murder of Frankie. I think that it was about 4 months after that when NBC fired Susan D. Lee. Served her right! Some of us had a party!

Edited September 26, 2019 by Donna B
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[Contessa Donatella]

If I recall correctly Chris Goutman & Marcia McCabe got their divorce about then & personal turmoil always seems to add into conflict.

[John]

I thought they were still married

[Contessa Donatella]

At the end of AW, both Charlotte Savitz and JFP were miserable, terrible EPs. Goutman was a good one. (There was a  mess of HWs.) At GL & at OLTL JFP was a miserable terrible EP. At ATWT Goutman was a miserable, terrible EP. It's very hard to rank Paul Rauch. Very early on, he was great, but he didn't maintain that. Great at AW but a mess at OLTL. And, then, at the end of his life, he was working avidly to find a new venue for GL! John Conboy was awful & hired the terrible Ellen Weston as HW & overspent his budget leaving a deficit for Wheeler. Me, everyone knows I love Wheeler. She gave us 2-4 years we would not have had otherwise & she gave us Otalia & Jammy. She solved the money problems that Conboy left behind. She gave us Kreizman, Lucky, Dunn & Jill Lorie Hurst. She went along with CBS & what they wanted her to do with the new production model. She did a way better job than Goutman did at ATWT. If it is true that Barbara Bloom loved Wheeler as some people say, well, some people also say that GL was Bloom's favorite soap. If those 2 things are both true, I can only wish that Bloom had done more to save GL. And, like I've said that at the End Days of AW, everyone was crying. At GL, in the End Days, everyone was crying there, too. Zimmer just wanted to be derisive of Wheeler's crying in her book, but Wheeler was too classy a lady to write a book. Maybe someone else from the team will write theirs because Zimmer cried at the drop of a pin!  She still does cry like crazy even if it's just someone from the soap press or pre-production.

Edited September 26, 2019 by Donna B
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[Contessa Donatella]

from the IMDb:

Mini Bio (1)

Christopher Goutman was born on December 19, 1952 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a producer and director, known for As the World Turns (1956), All My Children (1970) and The Prowler (1981). He was previously married to Marcia McCabe.

Spouse (1)

Edited October 11, 2019 by Donna B
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