Soap Writers Original Plans

[carolineg]

Why was SBu against it?  Robin and Jason were good, but not a supercouple or anything lol.  I assume that means it was something personal and that is pretty unprofessional.  I remember them chem testing Robin and Nik and Brenda and Jax being super fan girly about it and all for it and thinking it was a little bit of an extreme response to Nik and Robin having lunch at the Outback lol.   I was open to it.  It was becoming increasingly obvious Jason and Robin weren't compatible anymore.

 

I heard the Gia sister story.  I think that would have been good.  I loved MR as Gia.   But wasn't she recast around the time this would have happened?  I don't recall the new actress being very popular, but I don't think the show put much effort into Gia after MR left.  And, I guess ALW isn't really popular either, but Courtney was pretty decent when she was married to AJ.

 

I am not sure why they didn't have Zander be Carly's brother?  It really wouldn't have changed much except it would have been creepy to chem test them like they did with TB's Carly.  It would have made him more important to keep on the canvas though.

[watson71]

From his return in 1988, Donna Swajeski utilized the storyline projections that were written by Harding Lemay.  I wonder how much these storylines were changed with the death of Douglass Watson in May, 1989.  What storyline was planned to reunite Mac and his estranged daughter Iris?  Has any other soap, besides AW, have to make major changes to the storyline due to the real life death of one of the show's leading actors who was heavily featured in several storylines at the time of their death?

[ghfan89]

Why SBu was against it is anyone's guess. I've heard multiple things to it being personal, to him making comments that Carly was crazy and he didn't get why Jason would put up with her.

 

No it was earlier than that, when Riche was fired and Guza left at the end of 2000. Those were his plans for Gia and Zander retrospectively but JFP had other ideas, which included bringing on McTavish as head writer. Courtney she brought on cause she worked with ALW on AW. Guza was gone for over a year, and by that time JFP already created Courtney as Sonny's sister, and turned Zander into a sorta love interest for Carly.

Edited March 29, 2020 by ghfan89

[carolineg]

That's all super interesting thanks!   My memory about some of the 2000's is off.  I am much better at the 90's. 

 

I am surprised SBu was so powerful back then.  It was before Jason was the savior of upstate New York, but I guess this was probably back when MB was off the show and they needed a mob lead.

 

 

I don't think ALW or Courtney is the worst. They just made her out to be the most awesome thing ever.  She was fine with AJ.  Zander and Gia were just much more interesting but probably because they weren't shoved down our throats.  Gia being Sonny sister would have been such a fascinating dynamic.  I actually would have really liked to seem them play that instead of Sonny's blonde perfect sister.

[titan1978]

From what I can recall, SB was against any romantic storyline at that time except Robin.  He did comment in interviews that Jason would never truly fall for Carly because she couldn’t be trusted and acted too impulsively.  I know that several kisses were scripted over the period of time between her being with AJ and then Sonny, and they really only kissed like one time.  And then again when the PC Hotel was on fire and TB was in the role.

 

I always kind of assumed he thought Jason needed to be with a “good” girl.  Robin. Liz (when Lucky was dead).

 

Also- was there ever a plan to really pair Liz and Jason?  Again, it seems like at times they were going in that direction only to have it stop.

 

Also GH- Luke’s big last story was not originally DID.  It was Bill Eckert.  But Ron wanted to twist instead of have it make sense.

[carolineg]

Hmm.. that's so interesting he clung to Robin.  I wonder why?  Didn't Kmc say specifically she did not want Jason and Robin when she came back?

 

I think there was a plan to pair Liason in 2002 but then I think Guza became infatuated with the idea of Jason/Brenda and we got Courtney in the interim.  And what about Ric?  He was clearly supposed to be Lily's brother and they just completely changed that.  He had flashbacks of a car blowing up.  Never explained lol. Wasn't there always rumors of a Liason pairing and it got nixed by Frons?  Idk what's real or fake with the Liason/Jasam stuff though.

[ghfan89]

This goes back to power plays between the TPTB. Guza wanted Ric as Lily's brother, but since he was a FOJ, Jill wanted him as Sonny's brother to have more ties to the canvas. Jason and Courtney happened because Jill pushed for the idea, then Frons came aboard and agree with her. Guza was basically outnumbered. He did not care for Courtney and offed her the first chance he could.

[carolineg]

Well that really stinks that Guza was outnumbered.  It really was a quick drop of Jason and Liz that's for sure.  But I get the decision to change up Ric, not because he was a FOJ, but because the story probably would have been better with Brenda and then she left.  But in all these years I am surprised none of Lily's relatives popped up to get revenge. Besides the useless kid Migel and lily had and he just was as lame as his parents.

[Paul Raven]

Back to Pat Falken Smith and Days.

In addition to Stefano's obsession with Julie, Roman's younger brother Marcus was going to be involved with Melissa Anderson and there was a Di Mera sister Vanessa who would be involved with Mike Hortin I believe,

Edward Mallory said he was approached to return as Bill.

[Forever8]

According to the SON interview Xavier Toups did with Sara Bibel from 2008. Some plans for stories on Y&R were going to be different.

https://www.soapoperanetwork.com/2008/06/an-interview-with-sara-a-bibel

 

Victor's epilepsy was going to be more complicated. Also it was supposed to have him reconnect with Ashley and Nikki with Jack.

 

In 2005, when Amelia Heinle debuted as Victoria. She was supposed to work at Jabot instead of Newman.

 

Daniel and Lily were going to have financial struggles as a young married couple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Forever8

[AbcNbc247]

I wish we knew. 

 

In every interview that Lemay gave, he never really went into detail about his 1988 return and departure. The only thing I ever heard him talk about from that time was the human trafficking story that he wanted to do. Imagine how different AW would have been had Douglass Watson never died. Rachel never would have married Carl, Paulina would have been a completely different character, or might not have even existed at all, anything to do with Ian Rain and his father never would have happened, Justine, Hadley Prescott, etc.

 

So many things would have been different or wouldn't have happened at all.

 

As for other soaps, I know DAYS had to end Lee's storyline after Brenda Benet's suicide, but I don't know if any others soaps had one of their leads pass away right in the middle of a storyline that they were featured heavily in.

[Titus Andronicus]

 

They got as far as Roman mentioning Marcus Aurelius by name, but it's been years since I've seen the clip and I can't remember the context at all.

[pdm1974]

Out of curiosity, what characters were introduced in 2003/4 to replace the Forresters?

This would have definitely given Doug and Julie's characters a new lease on life, so to speak.

 

I feel like Marlena as a character has been completely lost at this point because of "Stefano's obsession."

[BetterForgotten]

I feel like Marlena in general sucked so much story out of the show to the detriment of core characters who had been much more prominent and vital to the show’s success prior to her arrival.

[Titus Andronicus]

I theorize that the 1985-86 Days Pawn storyline was changed when Drake Hogestyn was cast or soon after.

 

Was Robert Poynton always intended to be a transitional actor in the role? Hogestyn wasn't cast until, I think, November 1985, just as the story was starting to air. I think when they cast Hogestyn, they knew they had their Roman, though he didn't film until January.

 

If I remember correct, Steve saw the bandaged Pawn in Miami before surgery, but he sure didn't know who he was when he picked him up off the side of the road when he escaped from Victor a month or two later.