That's different and it's very rare. Only he and Brad Bell had that level of power.

Regardless. He was both.

For the last damn time, a head writer cannot, I repeat CANNOT, fire an actor. They don't have the firing or hiring position. They can suggest a character being wrote off or killed, but the Executive Producer is the only one that can make that decision. Why can't people understand this?

Fine. JER didn't want to write for Ashford. He told Langan who let him go. Merely a formailty. Feel better?

Same thing with John Aniston in 1996. If I had the ****ing interview still, I'd post it - he said almost verbatim that the head writer told him that he didn't want to write for him and thats why he was off contract.

So JER went through the process of getting Langan to fire Ashford, put Aniston on recurring. It was a formality and nothing more. If JER didn't want to fire them, they would have stayed. Langan bought Ashford back and featured Aniston heavily in his writing tenure - the opposite of Reilly - but of course Langan fired them both earlier because he had the power over JER

For normal situations, the EP hires/fires, but it wasn't the case with JER at DOOL. Normal writers can delicately suggest, as you wrote, but JER told, not suggested.

Tom Langan wasn't responsible for the cast and crew "massacre" of the early 1990s. Those were times when Ken Corday was actively, actively involved in the business of the show. It seems like since Wyman came on-board, Corday has become more a "figure head" position and is letting Wyman do all the heavy lifting. Of course, the buck stops at Corday, but Steve gets to run the ship with his supervision.

Of course, Corday prob. had Langan do most of the "firings" from day one - meaning call in the actors and crew and tell them to to their face they were being let go. Heck, MOST EPs are too !@#$%^&*] to fire people to their faces. There is JFP, with her infamous notes, letters, and faxes to agents and managers, Paul Rauch, who had Bobby Kochman carry out his work whilst he was at "GL," and Frank Valentini who lets John Tumino do it these days, and Ellen Wheeler who has Alex Johnson and/or Maria Macina to break the news. I would say that Chris Goutman and Julie Carruthers are the only producers working today who consistently call an actor/production member to their office for a meeting, face-to-face, and tell them their time is up.

The show needed Ashford in 01 to get Reeves. He only returned after her because he had exisitng commitments that delayed his return. I think both Langan and Corday would have brought back Missy on her own if it was possible. As recent events suggest, Corday only values Matt as a bargaining chip to hold onto Missy- hence the new contract followed by the firing when Missy refused to take the bait (all my speculation, of course )

Reilly probably agreed 100% with Langan in 93. However, Matt has stated in interviews that he does not think the decision was made by Reilly...but by those above him.

PS: Thanks for the scan. I'm glad they settled in NY so well.

But when Matt came back he wasn't on contract initially - He was booked for a few shows only and then went contract, so dunno.

Tom Langan wasn't responsible for the cast and crew "massacre" of the early 1990s. Those were times when Ken Corday was actively, actively involved in the business of the show. It seems like since Wyman came on-board, Corday has become more a "figure head" position and is letting Wyman do all the heavy lifting. Of course, the buck stops at Corday, but Steve gets to run the ship with his supervision.

Thank you for posting this. On all DOOL boards, no-one ever criticizes Wyman except for his special effects - they all blame Corday for whatever they don't like, which isn't always fair.

Tom Langan never wanted MA back in 2001. When Missy contacted Corday that she wants back, Langan agreed to write her in, but only her. He even started that huge international casting for the part of Colin, as a new love interest for Jennifer. Of course, J/J fans started to ask where is Jack, so Corday asked Langan about it and he finally agreed to bring Matt for a limited run, as a closure to the J/J relationship and to show that J/J are really split and will never get back together. Original plan was to show Jack as the bad guy, who returns and tries to get a full custody of Abby. Some remnants of this original storyline are still visible in the Coronation J/J scenes. Colin was supposed to appear as this white knight savior sweeping Jennifer off and helping her to fight for Abby, but that casting hadn´t go very well so they had to postpone his first airdate.

Meantime Corday registered that there is still a huge fanbase for J/J, so he decided to extend his run, to try if Ashford/Reeves chemistry still works. Because that, the custody storyline was scrapped. Finally, almost 6 months after Jack´s return, Corday finally put Ashford on a contract, almost against Langan´s will, and he was forced to rewrite all his already prepared Colin/Jennifer romance. But he had never stopped his quest to try and get Jack off the show. See, Jack is a gay storyline.

Tom Langan never wanted MA back in 2001. When Missy contacted Corday that she wants back, Langan agreed to write her in, but only her. He even started that huge international casting for the part of Colin, as a new love interest for Jennifer. Of course, J/J fans started to ask where is Jack, so Corday asked Langan about it and he finally agreed to bring Matt for a limited run, as a closure to the J/J relationship and to show that J/J are really split and will never get back together. Original plan was to show Jack as the bad guy, who returns and tries to get a full custody of Abby. Some remnants of this original storyline are still visible in the Coronation J/J scenes. Colin was supposed to appear as this white knight savior sweeping Jennifer off and helping her to fight for Abby, but that casting hadn´t go very well so they had to postpone his first airdate.

Meantime Corday registered that there is still a huge fanbase for J/J, so he decided to extend his run, to try if Ashford/Reeves chemistry still works. Because that, the custody storyline was scrapped. Finally, almost 6 months after Jack´s return, Corday finally put Ashford on a contract, almost against Langan´s will, and he was forced to rewrite all his already prepared Colin/Jennifer romance. But he had never stopped his quest to try and get Jack off the show. See, Jack is a gay storyline.

Well, your version makes sense, although it conflicts with Ponz who implies Ashford was a dealbreaker to get Reeves back. But again, most of this is speculation. It took them more than 6 months to cast Colin and then he was quickly recast, lol, so changes in the storyline existed from early on. Also I don't believe Langan's aim with "Jack is gay" storyline was to get rid of him but rather to provide a source of comic relief (to Langan at least) on the show - the show had been criticised for being too serious and lacking humour since Vivian's departure in early 2000, and this was Langan's feeble attempt to fix that - he probably got his inspiration from Reilly's writing of Jack circa 1993 with Ashford in the role then, except this time his ditzy sidekicks were Greta and Harold rather than Billy and Vern. (As an aside, the show was also slammed for its lack of romance among the vets, something Langan thought Chlo-me and friends were capable of doing...)

Everything I have written in this thread is from the mags or a friend that used to work in PR in LA and gave me the dirt (she's still in LA, but not in PR anymore - so no more inside scoop for me:(...) - Since I have tossed most of the mags (when SOU went under, I stopped with the others - and when I moved, dumped the rest it seems), I'm relying on memory, so if I forget something or get some facts mixed up, I apologize - brain ain't as good as it used to be...

As an aside, I kept some mags from June/July 1999 when Passions was launched - I thought the soap might become classic and these issues would be worth keeping and may be become valuable one day - yes, you can laugh at me. They also have some AW final stuff too - if anyone wants me to scan stuff, let me know. I also have some SOWs and SODs from late 2001 - although I'm not sure why I kept these (see above paragraph, last line )

I don't think my version conflicts with Jane's. Reeves may not have had it written into her contract that Ashford would return with her but that doesn't mean he wasn't used as a significant incentive for her to return. Perhaps Langan thought he would tie Missy up on a contract, write his great romance with Colin and then quitely shove Matt out the door. They did something similar in 03...getting Missy to sign a new 3 year deal in June before firing Matt a couple of months latter. As Jane says, the huge fan response to J&J's return forced Corday to reconsider that strategy in 01.

he probably got his inspiration from Reilly's writing of Jack circa 1993 with Ashford in the role then, except this time his ditzy sidekicks were Greta and Harold rather than Billy and Vern. (As an aside, the show was also slammed for its lack of romance among the vets, something Langan thought Chlo-me and friends were capable of doing...)

The characterisation of Jack as the comic relief character began in late-1991, well before Reilly began his tenure. And guess who was the driving force behind that characterisation? None other than Langan. I do agree that the "Jack is gay" storyline was not Langan's attempt to get rid of Matt. I don't think he could conceive of writing the character any different than the clown version.

The characterisation of Jack as the comic relief character began in late-1991, well before Reilly began his tenure. And guess who was the driving force behind that characterisation? None other than Langan.

Late 1991, Al Rabin was still EP and Gene Palumbo was still head writer. If Jack's comic relief character continuted into 1992, RJA and Milstein were responsible for that (their material began airing on January 31, 1992 and ended on June 11, 1992)

Langan's first episode as EP was June 15th, 1992.

Late 1991, Al Rabin was still EP and Gene Palumbo was still head writer. If Jack's comic relief character continuted into 1992, RJA and Milstein were responsible for that (their material began airing on January 31, 1992 and ended on June 11, 1992)

Langan's first episode as EP was June 15th, 1992.

Langan was already Supervising Producer in Late 91. He was credited as such in the "One Stormy Night" primetime episode. Clearly, Corday was already phasing Rabin out at this point and grooming Langan to take over as EP. So he would have been wielding considerable influence. I can't remember where I read it but I'm pretty sure Langan was behind the decision to bring in Palumbo in 91.

Langan was already Supervising Producer in Late 91. He was credited as such in the "One Stormy Night" primetime episode. Clearly, Corday was already phasing Rabin out at this point and grooming Langan to take over as EP. So he would have been wielding considerable influence. I can't remember where I read it but I'm pretty sure Langan was behind the decision to bring in Palumbo in 91.

So Langan, the SP at the time, had more power than Al Rabin, the EP? That's unheard of. LOL I don't know...it's kinda hard to believe all the blame on Langan while Rabin was still there.

The characterisation of Jack as the comic relief character began in late-1991, well before Reilly began his tenure. And guess who was the driving force behind that characterisation? None other than Langan. I do agree that the "Jack is gay" storyline was not Langan's attempt to get rid of Matt. I don't think he could conceive of writing the character any different than the clown version.

The dates seem fuzzy to me, so I'll just say you're right This thread is scaring me - now that I reread my posts, I don't think Vern and Billy were ever on together, I mean Jack didn't interact with Billy until Vern was off contract. I think I was wrong. Wow, my memory has gone to mush

I think to sum up this whole thread: Everybody except one poster thought Langan blew as writer (near 100% consensus thus far), but opinion is divided regarding his producing skills.

Reading back, I've been nasty to you Ponz, so I'm sorry for that.

Ok, I'm retiring from this thread. Phew

The dates seem fuzzy to me, so I'll just say you're right This thread is scaring me - now that I reread my posts, I don't think Vern and Billy were ever on together, I mean Jack didn't interact with Billy until Vern was off contract. I think I was wrong. Wow, my memory has gone to mush

I think Vern was still appearing sporadically in 1993 but I'm not sure about that. I don't remeber any actual Jack/Billie/Vern scenes.

Reading back, I've been nasty to you Ponz, so I'm sorry for that.

You haven't been nasty...I've been enjoying this discussion.

I always thought Evans went voluntarily, but I don't have proof of that so, I apologize if I am wrong.

There's a letter online that Mary Beth wrote to fans back in '92 after she was essentially let go by Langan. In it's she's very open about what led to her leaving the show. I read it very recently, so it's been posted here or on another board in the last month or so, but I can't find it right now. If I do, I'll link to it.

Yeah it was posted here. It was very eye opening!

I think I started a thread asking how/when MBE left DAYS.

Sorry, I don't think he was any better as a producer than a writer.

Many of the cast members that were around then still rave about Langan's production skills. You can badmouth him as a writer, but they're quick to point out his strengths as a producer.