Soap Writers Original Plans

[soapfan770]

To answer your questions:

 

1. Yes the Marones were apart of that, but also the characters of Sam Kelly, Priscilla Kelly, and the Ramirez family. Priscilla was played by Linda Gray, and the show apparently  went as so far to nearly (of did, I can’t remember) film an unaired cameo of Larry Hagman(as either Sam’s father or random stranger) meeting Priscilla. Thudley got scared of the backlash from interview with Michael Logan and changed  course, but it was also hinted by Thudley he wanted the Lolita story with Eric and Caitlin Ramirez.

 

2. It would have been a nice connection to both GL history and continuity viewers already knew about as opposed to Alan having some random child out there with a nun. 
 

3. That tidbit I remember from a Sally Sussman Morina interview she gave right after Latham had been fired in 2008 to which she aired a LOT(or too much!) of dirty laundry about Latham. Given her husband worked for the show, apparently SSM was in hot water  and ending up having to ask to retract it. I wish I could know exactly to dig it up at, it was quite tawdry!

[Aback]

 

Thanks!

 

Yeah, I was never a fan of Gus's so I guess I never saw the point in his parents' storyline in the first place.

 

I'd love for that SSM interview to resurface someday! Fingers crossed.

[MichaelGL]

Would there have been a possibility of Gus's paternity being in question, him being either Alan or Ed's son? I would've liked to see that angle play out a bit, reviving Ed vs Alan. 

[AbcNbc247]

I'd love to know too.

 

It's clear that originally, everybody was supposed to be dead. Whether Marlena was always supposed to be the killer, and what was supposed to happen had everybody stayed dead is a mystery. I guess Corday knows, but if you asked him he'd probably say that what played out on screen was what always was going to happen.

[soapfan770]

The most I remember about that was Michael Logan back in 2004 writing something that the deaths were to be permanent but Stefano was behind the murders using witchcraft. Remember Matt Ashford got himself a gig on OLTL or something lol? I almost feel sure by the time Marlena was revealed as the killer they had changed course, most likely after the swift backlash the show got for Maggie and Caroline’s murders or the infamous bloody piñata scene on Thanksgiving (It was made fun on Passions a year later

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[carolineg]

I always thought some of that Cassadine stuff got pushed back because of Genie Francis and her maternity leave that lasted really long. 

I heard about Miranda being a Cassadine, but wasn't there a lot of stuff just dropped back then that wasn't Cassadine related also?  Like Mac having some backstory with Jax and the family? And the entire Dr.Dorman murder, drug stuff that lead to Lily's father could not have been the original plans. 

 

I feel like the show was really messy for a bit and Guza probably didn't even know where he was going with it.  Also most of this stuff happened when PC premiered so I am not sure if GH got all the attention it should of.

 

I think they were going to pair Jason and Brenda before Vanessa left, but I don't think it was going to be endgame or anything.  I think Guza wanted to do it since 1998-they interacted a ton after Sonny left. 

 

I have heard this story for years-I don't know if its just on other boards or if it originated with a KeMo or Guza interview or if it's some S&B fanfiction- Sam basically just took Brenda's place in the story he had planned.  Brenda sleeps with Sonny, there's a who's the daddy with Jax, Brenda ends up with Jason and they fall in love.  I would think a S&B baby would have probably made it and in the end S&B would be together.  I mean, it makes a lot more sense with Brenda in the role.  

 

I definitely have an old SOD or SOW somewhere that Guza said he did not expect Vanessa to leave and he had a ton of story planned and had to change a lot.  So knowing Guza, he just thought I'll hire another petite brunette and no one will know the difference as was his MO in the late 90's and early aughts.

[titan1978]

Yeah all this was after Guza left for Sunset Beach.  The GH writing team and new HW Culliton used the outlines they had which got the show about 5 or 6 months of story after he was gone.  
 

Then Culliton had one issue after another.  Genie went on maternity leave and didn’t want to return Because the writing had declined so much and she wanted to be with her kids.  Geary and Culliton fought over where the story was going.  Robin went away to college, KM only appearing during breaks, disrupting her andJason’s story, Maurice Bernard quit.  Riche was distracted launching PC.  The show had about a year and half of terrible stories and dropped characters and plots.  The only thing I remember starting with Guza and him having a hand in finishing it after he returned was Carly’s reveal as Bobbie’s daughter.  The rest of his OG plots all dissolved.

 

What strikes me all this time later is how much of what was so good during that time came from other stories and he just adapted them.  Genie Francis wanted to have a secret and tie it to her missing years (Nikolas).  The bone marrow story had been one of the rejected ideas to bring Luke & Laura back to town (which was deemed not big enough/enter Frank Smith part 2).  Jason’s accident and Carly and Jax were set up by Labine.  I’m not saying he wasn’t talented, but he got that show at the exact right time.

[Khan]

RE: DAYS's "Salem Stalker" storyline -- I'm not 100% sure, but I think I've read somewhere that James E. Reilly not only planned for Marlena to be the culprit, but also for her to be put on trial for the murders and possibly sentenced to death for them, too.  But, as has been intimated here on many occasions, Ken Corday panicked when viewers balked at the number of core characters being killed off and asked Reilly to rewrite the entire story.

 

Of course, we know already that Douglas Marland planned (on ATWT) for Darryl Crawford to be responsible for his wife, Carolyn's, murder, but changed his mind, because he didn't want Frannie Hughes to fall in love once again with a killer.  Unfortunately, in rewriting the denouement of the "Who Killed Carolyn Crawford?" story, he dragged it out for an almost interminable length; and by the time her killer's identity was finally revealed, few, if any, viewers cared.

 

Meanwhile, I'd still love to know what GL's then-HW Pamela K. Long had in mind originally for Sonni Carrera and Blake Lindsay.  It's clear the '88 WGA strike derailed her plans for those characters considerably; and in the case of Sonni (and her alter-ego, Solita), it's also clear that by the time Long had returned to duty, even she couldn't make heads-or-tails out of the story.

 

And even though @Vee and I disagree to this day on this particular issue, I still believe that OLTL's then-EP Gary Tomlin, along with his HW's Lorraine Broderick and Christopher Whitesell, intended to reveal that Alison Perkins had switched Jessica and Natalie shortly after their births; that Natalie was Clint and Viki Buchanan's real (and sole) daughter; that Jessica was Walter and Roxy Balsom's; and that any on-screen reveals to the contrary were because the audience was already way ahead of TPTB.

[titan1978]

With Brenda there would have been so much more emotional investment.  I wonder if they would have had the miscarriage or let her have Sonny’s baby? Jason had already been saddled with one kid that was not his to raise.

 

Also another intention that never happened- Guza clearly wrote Jason and Carly as a couple.  And even back then, I watched Steve try to play against it.  But it would bubble up as a place of contention between the three during sweeps.  I always thought it was because of Sarah and not necessarily the character.

[titan1978]

I remember reading somewhere that turning her into Holly and Roger’s daughter happened after the fact.  By Curlee maybe?

[Khan]

 

Most likely.  Pam Long hadn't watched the show before she began writing for it.  Ergo, she had no way of knowing about Roger and Holly.

[BetterForgotten]

Curlee mentioned that Long didn’t even have any idea who Roger and Holly were. Perhaps Long did some research, or others like Curlee or EP Rober Calhoun (was he there by that point?) had a hand somewhere in it.

[carolineg]

 

This is purely my speculation, but I think they would have let an S&B baby live.  And Jason and Brenda would have been a minor thing and in the end S&B would end up together.  I think Jason and Carly could have ended up together too.  Him and TB's Carly had good chemistry. And Michael would have been just raised by them.  Sonny and Brenda having a kid would have negated needing Michael to be the child that ruled Port Charles.  Although a Sonny and Brenda child probably would have ate the show even more lol

 

.I always thought it was so obvious and odd SBu played against him chemistry with SJB.  I don't know what that deal was but wasn't he super invested in his pairing with KMc?

 

 

Yeah casting was rough at that time.  Didn't Rena Sofer leave rather abruptly too so Ned wasn't doing a whole lot either?  And I am sure it didn't help when VM quit then unquit screwing up the S&B happily ever after.  Thanks for breaking my teenage heart so you could have your nervous breakdown story, Vanessa!  And I am sure it didn't help that the girl that played Miranda didn't work out and neither did the girl that played Gina Cates.

 

The thing about Guza is he was really good at big events but stuff did fall into his lap.  The Sonny, Lily, Jax, Brenda stuff.  The Laura/Nik stuff, some really good casting finds in SJB and TC.  But he also did tweak things right like moving Jax to Brenda when Rena quit and I think he paced things pretty well.  And honestly the Carly/Bobbie story was the best story at the time. The baby Michael stuff was by far the best stuff to come out of 1997.  I am not defending him because he spent years ruining GH but I think Guza was okay until 2003.

[Paul Raven]

On GL Johhny Bauer was scheduled to die of cancer but Pam Long returned and went with the miracle cure storyline.

[ghfan89]

What I heard was that SBu complained to Wendy Riche about the Jason/Carly plot, but when she wouldn't listen he went to Shapiro to get it changed. I think Guza wanted Carly with Jason and then Robin with Nik. There was a blurb in the magazines about a possible story with Nik and Robin falling in love only for Robin to find out The Cassadines having been holding Robert hostage the whole time he was "dead". 

 

I read when they brought back Lesley there was talk of Rick and a recast Mike Webber.

 

Speaking of Cassadines, Tony Geary's Endgame plot line was butchered, and the end of it had to be rewritten because of 9/11, there were going to introduce a biotoxin, instead we got Stavros falling into a bottomless pit. From what I've read, Tony's script didn't even have Stavros coming back and was more focused on Luke and Stefan coming to terms.

 

Another big one dropped was Gia as Sonny's sister. Gia and Taggert's mother, Florence, was suppose to have this huge past with Mike. Gia was suppose to be the half sister of both, caught in the middle in a similar manner her love interest Nik was between the Spencer and the Cassadines. All this rich development was dropped because JFP wanted Courtney.

 

Zander was suppose to be SBr Carly's adopted brother. There was even dialogue with Zander and Emily early on about how he grew up in Florida.