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

[BetterForgotten]

Demorest was last at AMC as a breakdown writer between 2005-2008. He hasn’t worked in daytime since. He was at OLTL as a scriptwriter for less than a year during Malone’s (who he and Nancy were personal friends of) ill-fated return.

Many of the folks PM worked closely with are elderly, retired, happily slugging it out at B&B, or dead, so it will be interesting to see what happens with that team. 

[Vee]

My mistake! I suspected it was the Malone II period but wasn't sure how long, so much of that time runs together.

[Liberty City]

Karen Harris' last credited work was as a writer for one episode (S03E01) of The Bay in 2017. Perhaps, if persuaded, she could return to the writing team?

[titan1978]

It was posted earlier that she appears to have retired and is living outside of the the country.

I would love for her to return though.

I also remembered him being at OLTL longer than he was, thanks for the clarification!

[Khan]

Instead of recycling writers, I say bring on some fresh talent.  Not necessarily younger writers, but maybe writers who haven't worked in daytime before.

[Lye-C]

New-to-daytime writers don’t know the history of the show or its characters which leads to continuity errors and flat-out inaccuracies. That’s why Days’ breakdown writers, script writers, and script editor need to be shown the door ASAP. 

[Liberty City]

I'm half and half on this; I'd love for it to happen, but, at the same time, we've seen this happen before with both producers and writers, and it just... does not usually work out in the longrun.

[Darn]

You don't want daytime exclusively written by 70 year olds??

Those very familiar with daytime do the same shït (my forcefulness is not directed at you, just the recycle center that is daytime). May as well take a chance on unknown rather than the same old writers who largely get hired because they can handle the insane workload and not because they're good for the genre.

[Lye-C]

I’m tired of dumb scriptwriters making egregious errors because of their incompetence. An example at Days would be anytime the dialogue suggests Patch and Kayla were around in the 90s and 00s for big events like the possession, Susan, Salem Stalker, etc. Do some research or don’t have a job. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Two examples brought in from outside: Pete Lemay & Hogan Sheffer. Both had good & bad points, naturally, but both were ... fresh, different, etc. And both created at least one Renaissance, Lemay at AW & Sheffer at ATWT. Also, Michael Malone was an outsider & his first go round with Gottlieb and Griffith was insanely brilliant, although he was never able to repeat it. (OLTL) 

Have there been other outsiders? And, I don't mean network people who crossed over like Rauch & Swajeski. 

[Lye-C]

Maybe Sheffer was good at ATWT, I don’t know, I didn’t watch that soap, but he was toxic for Days.

[Khan]

I want daytime written by people who can write, regardless of age, and who have the freedom to write characters and stories as they see fit to write them, too.  

Edited February 7, 2024 by Khan

[Vee]

I think you can and should have a mix of old and new talent. I'm not gonna twitch if PM somehow unearthed Harris or got MVJ to defect. Some people are just solid gold. But new talent, voices and attitudes are also essential if this industry is ever to evolve. I remember being quite pleased with the all-new (and diverse) names on the writing staff at OLTL and AMC on Hulu; I think many went on to get subsumed into the network shows.

[Lye-C]

Soaps are in their twilight years so I’d rather they go out written by people who understand their shows. That’s why Griffith needs to be replaced immediately, lol 

[Khan]

I agree.

Again, I'm not suggesting I'd want to see exclusively younger writers, because I think that would be a rather ageist attitude to take, and I think there's enough ageism going around in H'wood already.  But why can't daytime look and see whether there are any primetime writers out there who might take soaps in new directions as well?

Edited February 7, 2024 by Khan