ALL: Short lived Headwriter stints

[JAS0N47]

I only did main research on the head writers. I did research at some point on the staff writer birthdays, but I'd have to track down that file somewhere.

[Paul Raven]

General Hospital

In 1977, Irving and Tex Ellman had a 6 week writing stint but accomplished a lot- they wrote in Kin Shriner as Scotty and began Scotty/Laura, introduced Alan Quartermaine, David Hamilton and Nurse Dorrie Fleming. Also killed off Diana's  daughter Martha, thus paving the way to Diana adopting Steven Lars. and dropped Terri Webber Arnett (never to return) One misstep was the Lana/Lisa story which Doug Marland wrapped up when he arrived.

Then Richard & Suzanne Holland were there for about 10 weeks and killed off Mark Dante's wife Mary Ellen and introduced Lamont and Katie (Mark's next love interest)They otherwise pretty much continued the Ellman's stories.

Doug Marland arrived in January and pretty much tweaked what was already happening rather than make major changes immediately.

 

[JAS0N47]

WGA East directory lists him as deceased:

https://findawriter.wgaeast.org/member/michaelrdavid/

An article from 1974 lists him as 41 then, so he was born around 1933. But that's about as much as I can find on him.

Edited June 8, 2024 by JAS0N47

[Khan]

Thanks, @JAS0N47!

[Titus Andronicus]

Going through some newspaper archives, James Reynolds co-produced a play in 1986 with Michael Robert David, a comedy titled Untitled. Reynolds and Lissa Layng were set to star. 

One brief about Untitled mentioned David was a former Days writer. He had at least a couple of other plays in a quick search after leaving Days.

[Paul Raven]

Harding Lemay set a record for short lived stints I think.

He was the original writer of Lovers and Friends but after it's 13 week run, he didn't return to the revamped For Richer,For Poorer.

He returned to soaps with a stint on SFT beginning March 81, but it was short lived as a Writers Strike began in April. He was fired after the strike. Don Chastain who had been writing during the strike took over,

Then he was at The Doctors from Dec 81 -June 82.

Finally his return stint at AW from Sept - Nov 88.

[Paul Raven]

Love of Life

Jean Holloway's stint lasted from Nov 78- April 79.

The Doctors

Linda Grover May- September 78.

Edited October 1, 2024 by Paul Raven

[titan1978]

We have learned those timelines are a little off now though. Jackie Zeman has said Marland created Bobbie, and she aired before January. And there was that  article someone around here posted a few years ago with interviewing the former head of ABC daytime and they brought up another writer entirely for introducing the Quartermaine characters, even though none of us had ever heard of them and they were not credited.

I think soap credits and the comings and goings of writers are more complicated than we understand. Guza for example was shifting things into place twice before credited as HW during a couple of his runs, months before credits. Mulcahey was fired and credited for way longer than he was actually there.

Didn’t a strike interfere here too?

[Gray Bunny]

On GL, how long was Millee Taggart's run? Maybe around June 2002 to February 2003? Boy did she ever do some great work at that time, from Philip/Olivia/Alan, Alexandra's return with Joan Collins, Reva/Josh's wedding, Richard's death, re-energized teen/twentysomething crowd, Gus finding out he's a Spaulding, etc. It was a short-lived but wonderful era. 

[Liberty City]

Oh, such a beautiful one!

[VelekaCarruthers]

 

Jason: my recollection is that Anne Schoettle was co-headwriter with Laiman for most or all of her run. In fact, I seem to recall that they both got credit for "story" during the five month 1988 writers' strike.

[JAS0N47]

 

Based on the aired writing credits of 11/86-12/86, Schoettle is in 2nd position after Laiman. Maralyn Thoma is added to the credits on 2/27/87, before Schoettle. So, from 2/87-2/88 the aired credits list Laiman, Thoma, Schoettle. Then, during the strike, you are correct, it says Story By: Laiman, Schoettle. Then it's Laiman, Schoettle from end of strike to 3/89 when Anne Howard Bailey takes over. I would have to check the actual episodes to see if there is a space between the two names. I based the head writer lists off the ones confirmed in the soap books, as well as my research of the scripts. There is no space between Leah Laiman and any of the breakdown writers on the scripts (it just goes Laiman, Thoma, Schoettle, Breshears, Allen and then lists the dialogue writer of the specific episode). So, based on all that, plus the fact Thoma is in 2nd position for most of 1987 until the strike starts, I will keep them as breakdown writers.

[VelekaCarruthers]

I also vaguely recall one of the awards shows during that era in which someone on days won an award and specifically called out Leah and Anne. I feel like it was Ken Corday but I cannot recall the exact award/show etc.

[soapfan770]

I’ve often read this may have been one of the worst head writing stints of any soap of all time lol. I vaguely recall SOD making reference and criticizing that Holloway told basic soap plots not seen since the early 1950’s, a huge and significant downfall from the revolutionary Labine era just a few years prior.

Despite work on Peyton Place in the 60’s Holloway hadn’t written a daytime soap since The First Hundred Years and The Egg and I, which was certainly laughable by 1979 standards for sure. 
 

No wonder CBS jettisoned LOL from its traditional timeslot to a 4PM ET timeslot against Edge and disconnected from the other soaps to die a miserable death.

[Paul Raven]

Holloway made Bambi, a supporting character, pretty much the lead and introduced her mysterious past in a plot I've never understood from reading synopses. They wisely brought on Ann Marcus, who wrapped up the story but it was too late for the show by that point.

Search for Tomorrow

Robert J Shaw August 77-March 78. Search went through a number of headwriters in the mid to late 70's but managed to stay ahead in the ratings.