Recast the behind the scenes talent

[kalbir]

Y&R/B&B Bill Bell only. Kay Alden and Jack Smith tried but they didn't work, and all the outsiders (LML et al) didn't understand Y&R. As far as B&B goes, we all know Bradley did not inherit his father's talent.

Douglas Marland had successful runs at both Guiding Light and As the World Turns.

I wonder how the CBS primetime soaps would have fared with CBS daytime writers. Imagine Bill Bell at either Dallas or Falcon Crest, or Douglas Marland at Knots Landing.

[titan1978]

I think Kay Alden’s early years, before Jack Smith became her co-hw were the best Y&R had been since the early 90’s. But I am a huge Jill and Katherine fan, so making them major players again always works for me. The show had slightly modernized, the pace was quicker, but it was still very much Y&R.

[Franko]

The timeline doesn't quite work, but I've become fond of trying to imagine the insanity of Santa Barbara under the leadership of Bridget & Jerome Dobson ... and Gloria Monty.

[titan1978]

This is all fantasy for me so why not?  Although I can’t quite imagine them working well together.  I wonder what someone trained under the lush style of the Bell shows would do with them at SB.  The clash of modern storytelling and intelligent characters with lush production.

[Melroser]

After Texas ended at the end of '82, I wonder what could have happened if Pam Long was moved to AW. It seemed like Texas was just finally starting to come around with the younger cast. I personally loved Texas but AW was my show. AW was in such flux after the 90 mins/Texas characters/timeslot change debacle. I think Pam Long could have re-centered the show and maybe...just maybe...stopped the bleeding before it was too late. Maybe she could have tightened up the family units and won some of those Emmys for AW. 

(Then I think that this could have led to no Donna, Cass, Felicia in '83.)

[Soapsuds]

FMB would've stayed had she not made two major mistakes in firing ART and Liz. The writing by Lorraine didn't help her either.

[Faulkner]

Am I missing a John Conboy joke?

[Sapounopera]

Douglas Marland after the Corringtons on SEARCH in the late 70s. That show could have used some structure and some new interesting families.

Chuck Pratt on B&B. This would be an improvement from Brad Bell. There was a time when B&B seemed to love 90s primetime soap aesthetics. 

Ron and Frank taking over GL instead of working together on OLTL. They would bring the show back to life after Wheeler's dark, depressing and claustrophobic era.

 

[Soapsuds]

Marland would've been interesting on Dallas. His corporate stories with JR would've been good. I could see him writing good material for Pam vs JR. Lucy would've either married a poor farm boy JR hated who got work at Ewing Oil or she would've married a Barnes to stick it to JR. I also think he would've written Sue Ellen drinking problem very well too.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Soapsuds

[Planet Soap]

Given GH's emotional and humanist storytelling in the nineties, I wonder how Claire Labine and/or Bill Levinson under Wendy Riche would work on AMC.

I've heard a lot of controversial stuff about how Frank Valentini and Ron Carlivati handle shows. Who do you think is more so the problem between them?

Furthermore considering that Frank and Ron's OLTL got canceled, why would ABC consider them to save GH? (Which they did a decent job of in 2012).

Edited June 27, 2023 by Planet Soap

[Liberty City]

Ron Carlivati.

Except, they were not hired to save the soap. The plan was for General Hospital to go off the air sometime later in 2012, but the success of what led up to the 50th caused them to re-considering ending the soap.  Frank Valentini was able to tighten the budget, etc. and they got [some] veteran actors back, which brought some good press. But, their hiring was not to save the soap. It was to ride out the end of the soap.

Oh! That could have been good, except, I would remove the Dobsons.

At this point, ANYONE at The Bold and the Beautiful would be a damn improvement.

[Planet Soap]

Makes sense.

[DeliaIrisFan]

I believe Claire Labine would have done well at just about any soap prior to 1995-96, before the networks and production companies got scared and/or got taken over by people who didn't understand soaps and wouldn't give writers more than 10 seconds to tell a story and develop characters and build to an earned payoff.

The biggest what-if for me where Labine is concerned would have been ATWT when Doug Marland died, around the same time she came back to daytime after almost 5 years (to GH).  I know she was offered that ATWT job a few years later, but again I think she would have had problems after Trach had been replaced by Fitts (and then MADD), plus the ratings across the board had everyone spooked.

Anyway, the tone Marland had established—family drama and socially relevant stories—which seemingly would have been right up her alley, had already changed by the time she almost became head writer.  She had never written an hour show before so I'm sure she would have streamlined the cast post-Marland, but that probably would have looked a bit different than what happened, i.e., probably not Iva and/or Lyla.

AW in the early '90s would have been interesting for Labine.  I could easily see her writing for many of the characters, now that I think about it.  I just wouldn't think of the show as a whole being her cup of tea, structurally, by that point.  There was nary a strong core family intact, with most of the stories and couples islanded.  Not that GH was much different in that regard, but I think of the Quartermaines at that point as being more robust than even the Corys.

Maybe Labine would have introduced her own families in Bay City and/or rebuilt one or more that had been phased out.  I could see Emma coming back and having deeper conflicts with Frankie over their different world views, a la early Siobhan/Maeve.

Edited July 2, 2023 by DeliaIrisFan

[kalbir]

It's amazing that soaps survived past that era. Look at what was happening on and off screen.

Reilly's Days blew up in the aftermath of OJ.

Y&R off track.

B&B tanking.

P&G 1995 EP swap at all three shows.

ABC sold to Disney.

CBS sold to Westinghouse and Les Moonves arrives.

 

[cassadine1991]

Mal Young on any of the P&G soaps