What Happens When There Are Too Many Changes To A Soap?

[Contessa Donatella]

 

Upheaval & Changes in TPTB

 

in some of the soaps on the air between 1996-2003.

 

HER STORIES p. 212-213.

 

Changes in EPs, HWs & network heads; creative types at NBC uneasy with network insistence that violence against women be used even as if it were a ratings enhancer. Also during this time period, P&G explored possibilities of new business models and/or mergers, etc. if not downright sale of shows. Included for example two Hollywood production companies or studios. Paramount & Columbia Tri-Star. Columbia Tri-Star was already in place with soap opera content since they owned parts of DOOL & Y&R. (That's really incorrect. DOOL is correct as it is jointly owned by now Sony & the Corday family corporation but Sony is the show distributor so that is a special deal, too. Y&R is owned 99% by now Sony with 1% belonging to the Corday family corporation. Details of that can be found in Lingering Questions that have answers.) Back to the upheaval because of personnel changes. Between late 1996 & early 1998 all 3 NY soaps replaced EPs & HWs at least once. In 2001, ABC shuffled 3 HWs between & among their 3 primary soaps. Between 2000 and 2003 all 3 networks changed their heads of daytime. The biggest factor in all of this is INSTABILITY. There were 2 soaps at the time that experienced STABILITY & they were the Bell family soaps - Y&R and B&B. Bell Sr. conveyed a sort of immunity to network meddling. When he died in 2005, those two shows lost that immunity & were subject to network meddling just like the other soaps.

 

The 3 NY soaps

1996, 1997, early 1998

Chgs in HW & EP

AW EP 1995-1996 Jill Farren Phelps

AW EP 1996-1998 Charlotte Savitz

AW EP 1998-1999 Chris Goutman

AW HW Aug 1995-May 1996 Tom King & Craig Carlson

AW HW May 1996-Jan 1997 Margaret DePriest

AW HW Jan 1997-Mar 1997 Elizabeth Page, Tom King & Craig Carlson

AW HW Mar 1997-Apr 1997 Tom King & Craig Carlson

AW HW Apr 1997-Dec 1997 Michael Malone

AW HW Dec 1997-May 1998 Richard Culliton

AW HW May 1998-July 1998 Richard Culliton & Jean Passanante

AW HW July 1998 Jean Passanante

AW HW Jul 1998-June 1999 Leah Laiman & Jean Passanante

ATWT EP Laurence Caso Oct. 1988-1995

ATWT EP John Valente May 1995-Nov. 8, 1996

ATWT EP Felicia Minei Behr Nov. 11, 1996-June 1999

ATWT EP Christopher Goutman July 1999-Sept. 17, 2010

ATWT HW Richard Culliton 1995-Jan. 31, 1996

ATWT HW Stephen Black & Henry Stern Feb. 2, 1996-1996

ATWT HW Stephen Demorest, Mel Brez, Addie Walsh* 1996-1997

ATWT HW Jessica Klein May 1997-late Oct. 1997

ATWT HW Stephen Demorest, Mel Brez, Addie Walsh* late Oct. 1997-Jan. 1998

GL EP 1996-2002 Paul Rauch

GL EP 2002-2004 John Conboy

GL EP 2004-2009 Ellen Wheeler

GL HW 1995-1996 Megan McTavish

GL HW 1996-1997 Victor Miller, Michael Conforti, Nancy Williams Watt

GL HW 1997-1998 James Harmon Brown & Barbara Esensten (RIP)

*Interim co-HWs

 

HWs at the ABC soaps

 

AMC

Nov 1999-Jan 2001 Agnes Nixon & Jean Passanante

Jan 2001-May 2001 Jean Passanante

May 2001-June 2001 Jean Passanante & Michael Conforti

OLTL

Sep 1999-Mar 2001 Megan McTavish

Mar 2001-Jan 31 2003 Lorraine Broderick & Christopher Whitesell

GH

Jun 2001 Michele Val Jean co-HW stepped down

Oct 2001 Megan McTavish

(Jan 2002 Michele Val Jean back as script writer)

 

Network Heads of Daytime Programming

 

ABC Jun 4 2000 Felicia Minei Behr, Sr. VP of Programming for ABC Daytime

CBS 2000 Lucy Johnson Sr. VP of Daytime, Children's etc. Programming

NBC 2000 Sheraton Kalouria Sr. VP of NBC Daytime Programming

Edited July 9, 2022 by Tonksadora
Typo.