GH: O’Connor/Van Etten OUT! Mulcahey/Korte IN!

[Liberty City]

Maybe; Jill Farren Phelps was at One Life, so maybe you're thinking about that tenure?

[janea4old]

Unimportant who I was confused about. I was in error regardless.

[YRBB]

Exciting and thrilling. I already find GH the most decent of all four soaps (of course, that may not be saying much). There's hope for something even better. I'll be watching.

[DRW50]

Didn't he also want to pair David and Bridget romantically, which was vetoed, or was that someone else?

GL had a real revolving door of headwriters at this point. Soon after this was when Douglas Anderson took over briefly (someone should probably write more about him too).

[BetterForgotten]

When he was on Twitter, Mulcahey talked about how disheartened he was at this time. I think GL was the soap he considered “home” and loved the most writing for. He said that after Curlee left, it became unbearable working there. In the final few months of her tenure, Curlee did make him a Co-HW before she officially resigned.  He then stayed on with another revolving HW-ing team for a few months after that.

I think he mentioned being shot down constantly and never being able to get anything he wanted on the air during this time. Apparently, he really wanted to make Bridget and David more than best friends, and when he couldn’t because P&G/CBS wouldn’t allow it, he quit. 
 

 

Ha! We just said the same thing! 

Edited January 24, 2024 by BetterForgotten

[Vee]

Never heard that name before.

[DRW50]

At the time there was some notice because he was a playwright (whether he was a respected one, I had no idea). I think he may have been responsible for the Fifth Street Fire which was supposed to rejuvenate the show (spoiler: it didn't). If he'd had more time he might have had an impact though. 

[Mitch64]

Yes, as others mentioned, he wanted Bridget and David to be together...but they shot it down. Which is weird, McTavish wrote a scene where David told Bridget he loved her (recast David so it doesn't count) and Bridget just blew it off because McTavish regressed her into chasing after Hart and being intimidated by Dinah...Bridget, even if she didn't return the feelings would never blow off David's feelings like that.  It is sad as at that time they brought back Nola (who he originally wrote for under Marland) and he was great with Bridget and of course the Coopers, and got Ed and Ross and Holly and Roger. If only they brought him back post JFP.

Anderson was brought on with great fanfare by JFP and was supposed to be a "GL historian" which may be but he never got to write that as JFP was in control of the writers room and must have brought him on as she could control him.  I would love to see an interview with him.

[Taoboi]

As I am sitting here formatting, THIS is some news. 

 

Patrick??? WOW. And Korte knows her history so I'm looking forward to it. 

 

 

[Khan]

He was.

Like @Mitch64 said, GL, and specifically JFP, made a big to-do over Douglas Anderson becoming the show's latest HW, even though most had not heard of him before in any capacity.  Anderson wasn't around for very long, however, which tells me that either he realized what a mistake he had made in coming aboard and bailed quickly, or P&G realized right away that he wasn't suited to writing for soaps and cut him loose first chance they got.  Who knows?  Maybe the decision was mutual, lol.

Much of Megan McTavish's writing for GL was bad, but what she wrote for the Grant family, with Gilly unwittingly falling for her biological father, was particularly horrid.

[Liberty City]

Patrick Mulcahey's views on new characters (via The Locher Room)

❝ [t]o have the character hang around and not do anything too definitive right away, until the audience gets used to seeing the character and is interested in the character. ❞

This, right here, is a problem in daytime in past ten years. A new character comes on and is usually thrust right into the spotlight and given an immediate storyline, and it is off-putting. I cannot wait to see how Mulcahey handles the new blood he may bring onto the canvas.

And one of his first eight episodes was the infamous clink-boom episode:

[Vee]

I will say I think a Lulu return (Berman or otherwise) is probably nigh. It's been rumored for awhile, Dante and Sam are doing absolutely nothing of note and I suspect PM will want more of Laura's kids on canvas. I wouldn't be shocked if we finally get another Lucky recast either, but I suspect they'll still hold it open for Jonathan. (Who could accept, who knows?)

[BetterForgotten]

So, looking through some credits. The GL credits from 1994 are so damn messy with all the behind the scenes turmoil that year and revolving door of writers. Anyway, there was a period in March 1994 when Mulcahey was the sole HW (after Nancy Curlee left and Stephen Demorest was on a sabbatical for a few months before being fired entirely at the end of that year).

Looks like this could be Curlee/Demorest’s last credited episode (Mulcahey is by this point part of their HW-big team):
 

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By this episode, Mulcahey is listed as the sole HW, though later that month, Nancy Williams Watt is listed as his Co-HW:

Glad the person who uploaded these episodes kept the end credits in…

[BoldRestless]

Darrin Brooks was just on Michael Fairman campaigning for the role of Lucky..

[Faulkner]

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