ALL: Bad Moves by Well Regarded Soap Writers/EPs

[Planet Soap]

We all revere scribes like Agnes Nixon, Bill Bell, Douglas Marland and Irna Phillips, and Executive Producers like Gloria Monty.

Are there any story lines, tropes, or actions that they took that you did not like??

[Chris B]

I know for Bill Bell, he always regretted changing Ashley Abbott's paternity. I also personally felt he made a mistake by eliminating the entire Foster and Brooks families. They could've found room for at least a couple people per family.

[Liberty City]

Not necessarily a storyline or trope, but [per Genie Francis] Gloria Monty remarking that it didn't matter if Francis lived or died, because Tony [Geary] was the star of the show. That's downright nasty behaviour.

And storyline-wise, turning Laura & Luke into a love story. Never should have happened.

[watson71]

The mess that Paul Rauch made out of Another World once Harding Lemay left as head writer.  In 1980, the 90-minute AW was airing from 2:30-4:00.  When that wasn’t working, Texas was created, taking Beverlee McKinsey to Texas.  There were two problems- The 2:30, then 2:00, start time for AW was the first time in 15 years that AW did not air in the 3:00 time slot.  Removing McKinsey from AW did not help either.  When Texas debuted, it should have aired at 2:00, then AW at 3:00.  Once McKinsey left Texas, P&G should have moved heaven and earth to bring her back to AW.  It also did not help AW that the storylines were all over the place in 1981-82.

[Contessa Donatella]

On DAYS as HW Bill Bell had Bill Horton rape Laura Spencer (or Horton) & then had her be in love with her rapist, marry him & have a second child with him. He commented that the original sex was consensual at one point. 

As noted & known for being a genius Irna Phillips was equally well known for being a tyrant. There were times when she had actors fired for absurd reasons.

Agnes Nixon removed Douglas Marland's co-creator credit off of LOVING. No matter what happened he was a bonafide co-creator who deserved that credit.

Douglas Marland wrote this credo on How Not To Ruin a Soap that was only found after his death, when nothing is known about its context & which he did not even follow himself.

Gloria Monty also well-known to be a tyrant, refused to nominate Jane Elliot for the Emmy she won when a secretary helped Jane nominate herself. Indirectly Monty caused the genre to move from character-based writing to plot or action-based writing. 

[Soapsuds]

Douglas Marland changed his mind midstory and did not make Darryl the killer in Caroline's murder on As the World Turns.

[titan1978]

I appreciate Genie either giving zero f’s or just being older and not willing to protect people that she told this story again without protecting Gloria here. The first time I saw her tell it she didn’t specifically name Gloria or they edited it out of her Lifetime Portrait.

Gloria Monty learned her lesson about that rape. Unlike let’s say DAYS, that was the only time she told that story. And her instincts were right in 1991- the show needed to be more grounded. The problem was she didn’t like strong writers and it was almost always to the detriment of the show during her first run too. Riche accomplished what Monty thought she wanted to do. Monty’s GH was best when written by Marland and across two runs by PFS. 

Bill Bell hanging so much story on Nick and Sharon right away, including marrying them that fast was a huge mistake IMO. At least he was smart enough to surround Cricket with fan favorites like Nina and Danny, Paul, etc.

 

[Liberty City]

I feel like outside of this interview she's already refrained from naming Monty or that it was a female producer... she'd always go "Did you hear what they're saying?" or what a producer said. Here, she didn't hold that back.

[Planet Soap]

But I question where GH would be today without Luke and Laura. I think the rape should not have happened, but the pairing should have.

It  amazes me how badly Genie is treated despite being one of the most popular actresses in Daytime. Why was there so little regard by Monty and other regimes for the person who helped define supercouples and soar GH into pop culture?

Tony was not the whole show. The AJ paternity and Heather Webber stories helped elevate GH as well. At least today Laura finally has somewhat of a matriarch status.

Edited November 17, 2024 by Planet Soap

[Contessa Donatella]

Since we know that she threw a week of show out I have always wondered why she didn't repeat that & toss the rape & have some other path to the love story be written & taped. It makes NO sense to me. If I could be granted the capacity to ask one dead person one question, I think this would be my choice. 

[DaytimeFan]

And yet I don’t think Ashley’s paternity damaged either Ashley or John Abbott. John loved her, he raised her, she was his “beauty” and Ashley adored her father. 

[kalbir]

Bill Bell admitted in a 1996 interview that he regretted writing the storyline where Malcolm took advantage of an over-medicated Dru.

[Contessa Donatella]

Going by what I read in the Michael J. Maloney (sp?) book, Bell was absolutely sure he made the right choice when he did that. You may very well know that. Disagreeing with the gods of the business is of course allowed. 

Which leads me to one thing I did not think to post earlier. I disagree with Pete Lemay on one thing but I disagree so strongly & that is the firing of Jacqueline Courtney who was the original Alice Matthews Frame. He so strongly disliked her acting style that he considered that she could not act. Pete won't be considered as belonging in this group except by AW fans but to many of us he is that important to ANOTHER WORLD. 

[Chris B]

Something I realized after reading the recent oral history on Ryan's Hope is that Claire Labine had more to do with it's demise than I originally thought. Yes ABC could be a disaster at times, but so could she. She had a habit when leaving the show and returning of throwing everything out, even popular stories and characters to try and bring the show back to her original vision. She couldn't evolve. 

Her biggest mess up is in the early 80s when the show was booming in the ratings and ABC wanted to expand the show to an hour. She turned them down and GH ended up going to an hour and the rest is history. It's crazy to think how different things could've been had she agreed to that. Of course the show was ultimately displaced by Loving and put in a timeslot it could never be successful in. Had she allowed them to expand the show to an hour that would've never happened.

[DRW50]

I will always believe the one-two punch of keeping Todd around and the sexual abuse story with Viki were big mistakes that cast a shadow over OLTL's remaining time on the air. 

I believe by that time ABC owned RH, so you'd think they could have made the move if they wanted to. I don't think RH suited an hour. I think she was right that no soaps needed to be an hour.

Claire Labine was a wonderful writer, but there are so many mistakes made on the show starting in 1978 and 1979, partly through her and Mayer, partly through ABC.