Jump to content

Worst Executive Producer...


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 255
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Members

 

Both were horribly damaging

 

I loathed both of their runs a lot. It sucks too because MAB was the last one to really have any interest in bringing Nina and Olivia back, to name just two. I'll also never forgive her for botching the Phillip return. We haven't had Chance since, either. I also liked introducing Esther's daughter/ But so much of it was SO awful. Ugh. She was one of the biggest disappointments ever. Just awful. She also made a lot of petty moves (there's likely a reason she targeted and killed off the two characters named "Colleen" and "Brad" ... I so resent producers who damage shows by being allowed to let their warped minds dictate these kinds of things)

Edited by KMan101
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Yes, she was.  However, as @BetterForgotten said, she had a strong writing team (and HW), so GL was in a good place creatively.  Once that team left, though, things fell apart rather quickly, forcing Phelps' (and the network's and P&G's) hands in the matter.  Otherwise, had GL weathered the loss of people like Nancy Curlee and Ellen Parker, they might not have given bringing back Reva a second thought.

 

 

The truth is, Phelps' tenure didn't start out bad, because her predecessor, Robert Calhoun, had left GL in the best shape it had been since at least the beginning of the Gail Kobe/Pam Long era.  He's really the one who deserves credit for promoting Curlee to Co-HW and making the show less dependent on Reva/KZ.  All Phelps did at the start was coast on his proverbial fumes.

 

 

Yes, and yes.  LML (and her husband) did some incredible work on KNOTS LANDING, but they were a bad fit for Y&R.  And MAB...well, she was just a bad writer, period.

Edited by Khan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Thanks for the insight

Please register in order to view this content

 And yeah, I wasn't really trying to say it was wrong, per say, to be proud it wasn't the Reva Show anymore (it had been ...), but I think it just ultimately tells me how out of touch Phelps is that she didn't "understand" Reva's popularity. But I prefer my soaps to be an ensemble. I definitely feel like later years after her return it was once again 'The Reva Show' I mean they literally threw EVERYTHING at this woman. God bless Kim Zimmer for never checking out and always chewing that scenery. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

To me, KZ is like Ilene Kristen: her appeal lies in her ability to MAKE you watch whatever she's doing at the moment, no matter how ridiculous the story.  You might love her, or you might hate her, but either way, you're never gonna be bored with her.

 

That's why, in the later years, TPTB believed they COULD throw [!@#$%^&*] at her like cloning, time travel, and psychic visions.  They truly believed (at least, from my standpoint) she could take those stories (and others) and make them work through sheer will.  And who knows?  Maybe, if the writing had been halfway decent, or if KZ hadn't dialed up the theatrics to eleven, she might've made them work, too.  (In the past, I've said she almost needed to UNDER play those more over-the-top stories, since they were just too absurd to be taken seriously.  I still feel that way.)

 

However, they never understood that, when it comes to Reva Shayne, it's her EMOTIONS that are larger-than-life, not the circumstances that trigger them.  Reva worked best whenever the show stuck to basics: married to H.B., but getting too close for comfort with true love Josh as she helps him recover from paralysis; miscarrying her and H.B.'s baby after Vanessa knocks her down with her car; in love with Kyle, but having to contend with Maeve and little Ben's presence in their lives; and so on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Kim Zimmer only seemed to overact on GL...she underplayed her role on SB..and her first stint as Echo had a more regal vibe (I got shades of rhony luann).

 

Maybe she ove3played it cause she knew most of the stories were bad..and the actress said she never complained to the writers cause she said they had such a hard job..why add to it by complaining.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Christ on a cracker......where do I start.

 

I Know.....Chris Goutman.  That's where I start.  He was a malignant tumor that finished off one of the best and most intricate dramas to ever grace the television screen.  If he had simply been worthless, it wouldn't have been so horrid to endure.  The man proudly decimated daytime's crown jewel. 

 

Then you have Frank Valentini, a man so shockingly clueless his theme song should be "If I Only Had A Brain."  I wish I could have been the least bit shocked when he had Colonel Sanders arrive in Port Charles with his secret recipe.  Sadly, it was just another day in his toxic tenure.  That man should have been fired when they mercifully let go of Carlivati.  

 

Finally, you have Gary Tomlin.  He's had some success, and all of it by accident.  Days was hardly sleek when he took the helm, but it didn't look like high school play thrown together by some village idiot.  The way production values fell apart was staggering to behold, and it never recovered at all.  Say it was the budget cut....but no matter the budget the lighting didn't have to make the show look vagina pink. 

Edited by DaysFanatic777
grammer
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

One thing about Jill Phelps - she was lucky to have some amazing writers at SB and GL. SB was dominated by some great staff writers who would often ignore what recycled HW was on the show at the time, and GL had Nancy Curlee and team during the first half of JFP's run. Staff writers like Patrick Mulcahey and Courtney Simon were dominant on both shows during her tenures.

 

After GL, JFP never worked with the same quality of writers on the other soaps she EP'd again, so it was difficult to mask some of her more damaging tendencies. GH did have some amazing scripwriters under Guza though who helped write against much of the material, but that wasn't enough. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think Kim is very candid but also fair to Ellen. More fair than I'd be, tbh. She unloads, but also readily admits that she didn't fully appreciate Wheeler's position or stresses as an EP at the time and wasn't always fair. She still says she feels EW's GL was unwatchable. She was right, IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

What I never understood was John Conboy's hiring at GL. He had been out of the industry for over a decade before MADD plucked him out of obscurity to take over GL from Paul Rauch. It's baffling she went out of her way to get him.

 

Talk about a disaster... 

 

I also remember around this time, it was said Francesca James was also under consideration. I thought her AMC was uneven, but she would have been a better fit...

 

 

Edited by BetterForgotten
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

John Conboy's hiring baffled me as well.  As someone who watched CAPITOL and SANTA BARBARA, I knew Conboy's penchant for lavish sets and "atmospheric" lighting would feel out of place on GL.  However, I think MADD was attempting to bring back old-school (soap) glamour, as well as hire someone who would match Paul Rauch's OTT aesthetic with their own.

Edited by Khan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy