I really liked Ron's interview, which contained a fascinating story of being in the right place at the right time to get hired as a writer's assistant for OLTL. And I was glad he sounded contrite about his Twitter feuds.

I'd agree that by the end of his DOOL stint, he was running on fumes. But I think he does have a lot of good qualities, including a love for shows' veteran actors and old storylines, as well as a penchant for shocking twists that keep the audience engaged. That said, I think he benefits when he has strong EPs who are willing to veto some of his more self-indulgent ideas, and he also needs scriptwriters who are able to ground his campier plots in dialogue that still feels authentic to the characters (in the way that the Cullitons and David Kreizman were on DOOL).

1 minute ago, prefab1 said:

I'd agree that by the end of his DOOL stint, he was running on fumes. But I think he does have a lot of good qualities, including a love for shows' veteran actors and old storylines, as well as a penchant for shocking twists that keep the audience engaged. That said, I think he benefits when he has strong EPs who are willing to veto some of his more self-indulgent ideas, and he also needs scriptwriters who are able to ground his campier plots in dialogue that still feels authentic to the characters (in the way that the Cullitons and David Kreizman were on DOOL).

All true. Though he was running on fumes before he got fired from GH. It was also a fatal mistake dumping almost all of the longtime GH dialogue staff.

The thing that annoys me most with Ron is it is always about him. Any discussion. His work tends to be secondary, because past 2008 or so most of his work just isn't very good and can't speak for itself.

8 minutes ago, Vee said:

All true. Though he was running on fumes before he got fired from GH. It was also a fatal mistake dumping almost all of the longtime GH dialogue staff.

Oh yeah! I think the dialogue writing has gotten better in the past couple of years, but every time I tried to tune into GH in the late 2010s, I was always struck by how leaden the dialogue seemed; it was mostly exposition, and while a few of the show's veteran actors were able to find some nuances in it, most of the younger cast just seemed to recite it flatly.

But back to Ron's Soapy interview, another thing I liked was learning what a fan he was of some of the actors he brought onto the shows he was head-writing (including Jackee Harry). He tells a funny story about getting to watch from the production booth as Erika Slezak and Robin Strasser acted out one of the first scripts he wrote, a scene where they get trapped in a locked room and rehash old arguments, and producer Jill Farren Phelps turns to him and asks, "Why am I watching two old ladies in a basement?" and he tells her, "Because it's amazing."

He also recalls the increasing budget pressure he was under at DOOL; when he started, he had permission to use up to 13 characters in each day's script, but that number kept going down, to 10 or 11 characters per day by the time he left.

3 minutes ago, prefab1 said:

producer Jill Farren Phelps turns to him and asks, "Why am I watching two old ladies in a basement?" and he tells her, "Because it's amazing."

Classic Jill.

The story about the DAYS budget does not surprise me.

I didn't know Viki and Dorian even had one of those scenes during Jill's run.

Well... The Agnes Nixon stuff was news to me, and simply shows what an utterly classy woman she was ;) (I DO find it fascinating that Nixon stayed knowledgeable about the soap world, at least at ABC, until the end, despite her memory and health issues if she phoned Ron when he was fired from GH which was just a year or so before she passed away.)

I didn't know how he got the job in the first place, so all of that was interesting to hear--even if it makes me a bit jealous (not that I'd want to be a HW but...) I think coming in, in 1996 too he was just there at the end of the soap era where it was possible to come in as an assistant and quickly work your way up to the top. It's a bit like how you hear how Lorraine Broderick or Kay Alden got involved in AMC and Y&R essentially from writing fan letters to the creators (that's simplifying things, but...)

I guess I give him some credit for at least acknowledging that he did not handle Twitter well?

Edited March 24Mar 24 by EricMontreal22

1 minute ago, DRW50 said:

I didn't know Viki and Dorian even had one of those scenes during Jill's run.

I'd forgotten too but I'm pretty sure it was in '98. The 30th anniversary.

8 minutes ago, Vee said:

I'd forgotten too but I'm pretty sure it was in '98. The 30th anniversary.

Oh right. Thanks. I don't remember caring for any of that period of the show so that's probably why I forgot.

Just now, DRW50 said:

Oh right. Thanks. I don't remember caring for any of that period of the show so that's probably why I forgot.

I don't recall it either, so much of that time was taken up with the gross Georgie Phillips climax with Todd. It was not a great period.

33 minutes ago, Vee said:

I'd forgotten too but I'm pretty sure it was in '98. The 30th anniversary.

Absolutely was. I sorta tuned out a lot of that era of OLTL (I'd watch but only half pay attention) but I did tape and rewatch several times that episode. In fact wasn't it kinda built around them being trapped together (the anniversary episode I mean?)

2 hours ago, EricMontreal22 said:

In fact wasn't it kinda built around them being trapped together (the anniversary episode I mean?)

Many anniversary eps were, for all sorts of contrived reasons lol. I don't remember the one from '98 at all but I know it happened.

5 hours ago, Vee said:

It was also a fatal mistake dumping almost all of the longtime GH dialogue staff.

I agree! They made even the worst of Guza's stuff palatable.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

Many anniversary eps were, for all sorts of contrived reasons lol.

One of the most annoying things about OLTL's final years, IMO. Every time I turned around, there were Dorian and Viki, trapped together. Again.

And it's not as if the first time they were trapped together (during the Malone I era) was all that great, ya know? In fact, I still remember agreeing with Marlena Delacroix that those scenes (in the ruins of Victor's secret room, when they were trying to rescue someone who'd been trapped underground and realized they needed to drill through one of the walls or something) were nothing more than Erika Slezak and Robin Strasser getting sloshed on warm champagne and tossing bitchy one-liners at each other like every shitty episode of DYNASTY. Yet, for whatever reason, the show thought it was such a smash that they had to do it again (...and again...and again...and again...).

21 hours ago, prefab1 said:

I really liked Ron's interview, which contained a fascinating story of being in the right place at the right time to get hired as a writer's assistant for OLTL. And I was glad he sounded contrite about his Twitter feuds.

I'd agree that by the end of his DOOL stint, he was running on fumes. But I think he does have a lot of good qualities, including a love for shows' veteran actors and old storylines, as well as a penchant for shocking twists that keep the audience engaged. That said, I think he benefits when he has strong EPs who are willing to veto some of his more self-indulgent ideas, and he also needs scriptwriters who are able to ground his campier plots in dialogue that still feels authentic to the characters (in the way that the Cullitons and David Kreizman were on DOOL).

It was meant to be; really about a person meeting their moment/destiny.

He came across well, and really does benefit from having someone to put some guardrails on his ideas.

13 minutes ago, CrazySexyQ said:

He came across well, and really does benefit from having someone to put some guardrails on his ideas.

If he'd just knock off the nudge-nudge-wink-wink in-jokes, stop airing out his latest grievances against certain actors and TPTB in his scripts and on social media and dig deeper into his characters' psyches, he might be a more captivating storyteller. (Heck, that's my wish not just for Ron Carlivati, but for pretty much all TV nowadays. Dig deeper! Show more layers! Your audiences will thank you!). But he just seems content on penning Sean Kanan fat jokes and making show-eating meta commentaries on DAYS' already sorry state.

Edited March 25Mar 25 by Khan