Hogan Sheffer dies at 61

[BetterForgotten]

Sheffer, along with Guza/Pratt, and yes, Megan McTavish - the late 90's/early 00's certainly wasn't the era where anyone was conscious that the main audience for soaps were and are women first. 

 

I always wondered what Sheffer's relationships with women were like in his personal, and if like Reilly, a lot of that just bled into his work subconsciously. 

[Soapsuds]

Not good...he didn't last long. Read @BetterForgotten comment about multiple wins. Only the first one he truly deserved. After that it was purely based that he was fresh and still new and his first year on the show.

 

I started to loathe/hate his writing after the first year and a half on ATWT and other soaps he joined.

[Faulkner]

The thing is, when I watch, say, episodes of ‘70s/early ‘80s GL or AMC, the men never lacked for agency or complexity or masculinity yet the shows still recognized that soaps were a feminine genre. Go figure.

[beebs]

See, this is the stuff that bugs me. Because, yes, the men shouldn't ALWAYS be weak. But when that's your main objective is that NONE of the men can EVER be weak...well, that's just pathological. I appreciate that Sheffer would amplify the female writers' voices in the writing room, but his particular concern with the strength of the men was always offputting to me.

[titan1978]

Same with GH in the 1980’s era.  Anna and Felicia could be strong without robbing Robert, Duke, or Frisco of any of their masculinity.

[Vee]

He had a point, even if he didn't always handle it well in practice. Look at Ron Carlivati's GH. 90% of the men were clueless, shambling dick apparati, which is the reason Dominic Zamprogna among others eventually left.

[BetterForgotten]

CBS was so damn happy for that Emmy recognition. If only they had cared more about the show beyond surface accolades...

 

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[P.J.]

And God Bless Tom Casiello for his grateful attitude and shedding some light on HS's kindnesses----but I don't agree with a lot of his assessment of the writing in that period. 

 

His version of Craig Montgomery was an abomination.

[BetterForgotten]

Casiello has openly tried to belittle fans opinion on the writing for Craig on Twitter in the past, even as he's openly admitted to never being a regular viewer of ATWT prior to being shifted there as the writer's assistant after the cancelation of AW.

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

This!  That was unforgivable in my book.  Many people will claim that the writing was simply returning Craig to his roots but even when Craig was was terrible, you saw the that it was grounded in his rampant insecurities and his need to try to control situations in order to hold onto to the people around him.  There was no such complexity with Sheffer's version of Craig.  It was all smarmy smugness, hectoring and one liners.  And I wanted to smack Craig every time he'd call Barbara Ryan "BarBar". 

 

 

Many of the men on ATWT during that period were so hopped up on testosterone, they'd easily fail any test for an Olympic trial. I was just discussing this in the ATWT thread a few days ago, that I really couldn't stand how Dusty Donovan was re-written to look like a basic thug during Sheffer's tenure.  It showed total disregard for what a striver Dusty was and how earnest and ambitious he was about carving out a meaningful future. Also, Dusty went to Harvard, once interned for Walsh Enterprises and worked for Fitzgibbon in London.  All that was thrown out the window in later years. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Tommy had to write the aftermath of Bryant's death -- and doing so was not pleasant. If I recall correctly, he got satisfied with it & then wished he'd written it differently. Bryant haunted him.

 

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Tommy Casiello

 

 

 

[BetterForgotten]

‘Tommy’ defended Bryan’s death for years until he had to ultimately admit it was a mistake on behalf of the show he wrote for at the time.

[DramatistDreamer]

I truly am sorry for what happened to Sheffer.  I am. I don't know what the cause of death was but 61 in this day and age seems like an awfully untimely death.  However, I am not going to lie and claim that I liked his work on ATWT because that would be disingenuous.  Yes, some of it was amusing but very little of it was true to the show's identity.

I have no doubt that Sheffer, especially compared to some of the known ogres in the business (I have met a few) was likely an agreeable guy to work with, I would definitely believe and accept that and that does count for a good deal in any industry.

[Paul Raven]

The consensus seems to be that Hogan was strong in his first year then things went south.

Maybe because he (and a lot of other modern writers) forget that soaps go on and on and what might be a great story for the here and now doesn't work over the longer term.

Hence the many retcons and past events being ignored because they contradict or repeat what went before.

I remember Dena Higley expressing frustration when she presented a storyline to TPTB and being asked 'then what happens?

[BetterForgotten]

That was also the question Agnes Nixon asked Michael Malone after he asked for her thoughts on Megan’s death from lupus on OLTL.