RIP: Producer Joseph Hardy Dies at 95

[John]

https://deadline.com/2024/07/joseph-hardy-dead-1236003398/

Hardy Was Exec Producer of Ben Jerod, A Time For Us, Love is a Many Splendid Thing,  Ryan's Hope (1983-1988), Loving (1988-1989) & General Hospital (1989-1991)

Edited July 9, 2024 by John

[DRW50]

Sorry to hear this. I wonder which show he is seen as having the most impact on. I did not realize he was at RH so long. 

[Khan]

I'd love to know that as well.  Didn't he also work on LOL and LIAMST?  And then, of course, there was that year he spent as Supervising Producer on KNOTS LANDING.

[John]

Given he was at RH for 5.5 years I'd say that soap. 

[Khan]

But the fact that he was there for that long doesn't necessarily mean that's where he made the greatest impact, especially if RH fans appear to agree that his time there was, for the most part, poor.

I'd love to know what, if any, positive impact he had on any show he produced, or whether he was just someone who was more suited to working in the theater.

Edited July 9, 2024 by Khan

[DRW50]

Odd that IMDB doesn't mention this. Was that near the end of Knots? 

[Khan]

It was during KNOTS' abominable S13, with John Romano as Co-EP/Showrunner:

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I suspect that it was Michael Filerman, who had worked at CBS Daytime (first, under Fred Silverman and maybe Paul Rauch; then, later, on his own, I think), who hired Hardy to perform a lot of the same duties that Lawrence Kasha - like Hardy, a theater veteran - had before his untimely death in 1990.

Edited July 9, 2024 by Khan

[DRW50]

Thanks. I doubt most of that was Hardy's fault but the changeover couldn't have helped. This helps explain why those last few seasons feel so different to me.

The best thing about season 13 remains their going back to the old opening credits music and style.

Edited July 9, 2024 by DRW50

[Khan]

I agree.  Two things hurt KNOTS in S13: the fact that the Lechowicks and Stanleys had left the show in such a mess; and the fact that the team hired to replace them (Romano, James Magnuson, Donald Marcus, Rachel Cline, Lisa Seidman) had no prior knowledge of the show.  (IMO, Michael Filerman and David Jacobs were stupid not to guide Romano and his team at least initially, until they had learned how the show worked).

And you're right about Kasha's passing casting a bit of a shadow over the last few seasons of KNOTS.  IIRC, he died either right before the 1990-91 season or soon after it premiered, but they kept his name in the credits until the end of the season.  Either way, it does seem like the show began to spiral once he was no longer involved.  The latter half of S13 and most of S14 were improvements, but even they paled to "golden era" KNOTS.

[soapfan770]

May he rest in peace, but it seemed anytime in the later years of the Lorimar sops when Filerman got personally involved everything turned to $#!+. See what happened to Falcon Crest’s Season 8, yikes. Filerman made some very reckless decisions and poor choices on both FC and Knots, and earlier on Flamingo Road (I think?). He was better off collecting a check and just doing his minimum oversight as did for so many years before getting personally involved. 
 

Filerman later apologized for some stuff in some interview with a fan club in the early ‘00’s, which was interesting and added some perspective. After Four Corners flopped badly I don’t think Filerman ever worked again. 

[Khan]

True.  Between his creative meddling on KL, FC, etc., and all the reports of his abusive behavior BTS, Michael Filerman was a producer who never knew when to leave things well enough alone.

[Chris B]

I enjoyed season 12 of Knots Landing and I felt like the finale was more the new writers coming to set things up. I could be wrong though. John Romano was all wrong for the show and recently when re-watching Party of Five, I noticed in the 5th season I was really struggling to connect with the show. I checked the credits and surprise surprise, John Romano was the new showrunner. That man does not know how to write a soap.

Edited July 12, 2024 by Chris B

[Vee]

I forgot about the whole Party of Five mess. Was that the year they had Neve have a 2-minute lesbian flirtation with Olivia d'Abo?

[DRW50]

That was such a trend in general in TV in those years. 

[soapfan770]

Yes that was the season, and Romano was also heavily criticized for also trying make the Ned/Julia abusive relationship story look “sexy”.
 

The running joke online was the show went downhill after the cast’s Entertainment Weekly cover story in ‘97, but Romano’s tenure was the coffin nails like @Chris B had said.

Between the Knots and Party of Five stints Romano had been responsible for two very notorious flops, one being the disastrous Glenn Frey South of Sunset, the other being a failed David Caruso comeback drama made at the bottom depths of Caruso’s career. After Romano was fired at Party of Five, I don’t think he ever worked on anything significant ever again.