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Was the WGA Strike Good for Soaps?
All My Children courtesy ABC
The 100-day Writers Guild walkout crippled most of showbiz, but all the daytime soaps stayed in production and most of them stayed in the pink — no drastic ratings slides, no horrible creative collapses. In fact, some shows are in better shape because of the strike.
Free of head writer Hogan Sheffer, Days of our Lives has regained its heart and emotional chutzpah. The reunion of Grandpa Shawn (Frank Parker) and his long-lost dying sister Colleen (Shirley Jones) left me blubbering like a fool; the subsequent plane crash where Shawn sacrificed his life for his loved ones was harrowing and poignant. It’s been a long time since Days made us care this much.
The Young and the Restless has quickly and vastly improved without exec producer/head writer Lynn Marie Latham, a wildly destructive force who fired many of the show’s great longtime staffers and filled the writing team with cronies (including her husband and son). CBS will not bring her back. Best. Decision. Ever.
All My Children now seems sharper and smarter than it was before the strike, which is weird since head writers Barbara Esensten and James Harmon Brown only left the show briefly. I love their big insider-trading plot, which has Erica Kane going to jail à la Martha Stewart. It’s a good thing.
Over at One Life to Live, the scab material has been messy and lifeless. No worries. Head writer Ron Carlivati is back, and my spies tell me he’s furiously reworking the damage done by the interim scribes. As for General Hospital? These days the show is dark, violent and depressing as hell—in other words, no change whatsoever. Two other soaps also kept the status quo: The Bold and the Beautiful (still twisted and sick) and Guiding Light (still pretty darn dull).
As the World Turns, now airing scripts written by its exec producer Chris Goutman, has shown surprising ratings strength during the strike. And its Luke and Noah romance plot has somehow pissed off both gays and the anti-gay American Family Association. Now that’s an accomplishment. — Michael Logan
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Mar 11, 2008 3:18 PM
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Actually, one thing I noticed about General Hospital is that the continuity had been shot to heck and the stories are dragging on even more than usual. And there's been some character assassination going on as well. Nadine's stuck down an elevator shaft and Nicholas went to search for her but his next scene is back at Windermere. Did he find her? Give up the search? Sonny doesn't seem to have a clue that Jason's in the hospital although he's been continually visiting Kate. The Mariana/Rick story is making me gag--and will he do something about signing (or not) those dratted waterfront papers already?! Robin seems to be deliberately clueless about Patrick's parental rights--she can say she used a sperm bank all she wants but a simple DNA test will prove otherwise. And as much as I've always liked the actress who plays Emily--let the character rest in peace already! And what about the whole Monica's-a-drunk story? Oy--I could go on but I'm depressing myself.
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Mar 11, 2008 5:03 PM
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It's because of columns like this that I am so thankful for Michael Logan!
If it wasn't for him and Carolyn Hinsey to call it out I'd go nuts.
I agree with everything he has said especially Days and GH.
Dark and violent - that's the daily order of the day for GH. If they played Tracy Q. more than once a week I could see DVRing it just to watch her cuz Jane Elliot is as good as it gets but when she's on so little I don't think so.
The B&B comment made me laugh. I've never considered it sick and twisted but somehow that fit especially now with Rick making a play for Taylor! That is sick.
Y&R is rebounding and I'll start watching again this week when Danny comes back. Come on Josh and Maria - make me want to keep watching. Hope's brief return was GREAT!
Lynn really ruined that show but CBS gave her the reins to do so we can't blame her entirely.
Will the hot mess she turned that show into keep me from watching when she turns up on another show? Of course not.
I know she's talented. I remember Knots Landing and Homefront. Her style of writing just didn't mesh with Y&R.
(Firing Jack, Kay, and Ed sure as hell didn't help either lady.)
I love the fact that Y&R got a Best Show Emmy this year was paid no attention to. Undeserving people get Emmys all the time. Those awards lost their significance years ago. Only once in awhile (I mean you Genie Francis! Love you!) does "The Academy" get it right.
It surprises me that ATWT is doing well in the ratings cuz it's CRAP and I watched my last episode last week.
The back to back murder mysteries were bad enough and the Gray/Vienna/Henry thing but Noah going to marry Ameera who he's known for 2 weeks put me over. The no kissing for him and Luke was insult enough but this garbage...well it won't be watched on my dime. Thank you Chris Goutman, Barbara Bloom, and the scab writers for giving me back an hour (well 44 minutes actually) to my day.
They make it so easy for us. Like they don't want us to watch. The whole thing is a damn shame.
I read Soap Opera Digest so when I read of better stories I'll come back.
If you tell it, we will come.
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Mar 11, 2008 5:08 PM
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Y&R is once again good television with the pairing of Amber and Daniel and the hiring of Chris Engen as super ambitious Victor Jr. Now if only they would get rid of the super boring Christil Khalil (Lily) and pair Aussie hunk Daniel Goddard (Cane) with a real woman and bring back Shemar Moore and Victoria Rowell (the former for a guest appearance and the latter back permanently), the show would be darn near perfect. P.S. I am also loving Jeff and Gloria.They need to keep Ted Shackelford under contract and give these two schemers more story. They are hilarious!!
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Mar 11, 2008 6:43 PM
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i'm glad HOGAN is gone he was good at ATWT but on DAYS he was one of the worst. the show in the past month has been better then the past year and half
DAYS is at it's best.....
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Mar 11, 2008 8:44 PM
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Y & R just needs to bring Victoria Rowell back period! It says alot when All My Children is the most diverse show on TV... I remember when Y & R had Blacks, Hispanics and Asians now it has dwelled down to what 3 or 4, come on now CBS...
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Mar 11, 2008 9:15 PM
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I don't know what version of All My Children that you're watching, but I really wish it aired here. I think the show is an atrocious mess -- no attention to detail, history or even a modicum of reality (Richie's stolen bone marrow transplant?).
Esensten and Brown have proven themselves incapable of good writing several times, yet they continue to get hired. I guess it shouldn't astound me considering the incompetence of the executive running ABC Daytime (yes, I'm talking about Frons).
Back to AMC, though. It is horrible. None of the storylines make any sense, and mostly the show just meanders between scenes of characters having the same conversations and flashbacks over and over and over again. For every moment of movement in any storyline, there are weeks of indecision and angst by the characters before something else happens... and so much of what happens on the show is nonsense. Can anyone explain why a company that is supposed to be all about female empowerment needs to install stripper poles and encourage the employees to USE them? Or why more attention is paid to the "real" book written by a fictional character than any interesting, character-driven stories? What about all the thugs and the make-shift hospital provided for unemployed, recently paroled Richie? And let's not forget how a rare case of Four Years to the Day Amnesia turned Ryan into an obsessed stalker, who only has eyes for his ex-fiancee and their son and cares nothing for his current wife and their daughter. Ryan was already an abusive man with anger issues, adding stalking, delusions and family abandonment to the character have done him NO favors. I find Samuel Brown to be nothing more than an sleazy opportunist and see nothing even remotely interesting in Erica's insider trading storyline -- it's just a rehash of old headlines with a little Lucci spin. What I wouldn't give to see a REAL story on this show!
I would certainly enjoy watching an AMC that was sharper, smarter, interesting, compelling, witty and humorous. They've got the acting talent... too bad they don't have anything that even remotely represents writing.
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Mar 11, 2008 10:17 PM
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I'm an avid ABC Soaps watcher since I was in the womb, but these days I find myself fast forwarding through all the muck.
AMC... while I loved Angie and Jesse several decades ago, this whole storyline with Tad's uncle being introduced as the villain, etc. is a real waste of air time. And Ryan's amnesia? Really? He has become a total stalker. GH... all the comments are absolutely right. It has become too dark. While I enjoyed the whole mob aspect of it, Sonny has become more selfish than ever. He's ordering Jason around while he's in the hospital bed. Are you serious? Telling Jason that maybe if he didn't go after the TMK none of this would have happened? Wasn't it the TMK that went after Carly? Am I missing something? And while I'm on that, first off, we all saw a mile away that Diego was the killer. But to have these LAME reasons for killing those people was a total let down. Then to have him die that way. BORING. And Nik, ENOUGH WITH THE TUMOR. It was played out months ago already, get it removed! (PS did anyone else notice that Spencer has aged considerably?)
I miss the glory days...
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Mar 12, 2008 8:38 AM
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Michael, Erica's story could have potential—if they actually devoted time to it, and if they got a more charismatic actor than Mario Van Peebles. The rest of the soap is a complete mess.
I agree with all the stuff said above, plus—what about Adam/Krystal/Tad? I keep waiting for Krystal to scream, "What part of "leaving me on the floor alone, in labor, then kidnapping my newborn and leaving her in the hands of a psychopath, with the ultimate goal of selling her to complete strangers do you not understand, Adam?"
And, why would Tad want his daughter in this man's presence for a second? Moreover, since when is Chandler mansion a safe place? Everyone comes in and out all the time, and those secret passages are not secret at all.
Regarding Ryan's memory loss -- I have the feeling that they plan on rewriting some history, introducing some traumatic event in Ryan's life four years ago. How else to explain the amnesia?
And don't get me started on the ridiculous sextet of Ryan/Annie/Zach/Kendall/Aidan/Greenlee and its many permutations.
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Mar 12, 2008 2:37 PM
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I don't know if the strike was good for all of the soaps, but it has obviously been good for Days. I do however, think that the way they have been writing off characters and putting some in semi-cold storage (Lucas and Stefano) has been a bit jarring. Also, while I am a big fan of using the veterans, I think that writing off Shawn and Belle will end up being a mistake in the long run.
As for GH, yes it is way too dark, but I do enjoy how the Hospital is being used daily. I feel this way even if we will have to suffer a promising new MD being a part of the ever convoluted mob story. I do like the pairing of Spinelli and Maxie and hope that it continues, even if it is a bit creepy in light of Georgie's feelings for Spinelli. One thing that would be good is to have Carolyn Hennesy on contract as Diane Miller and to have her finally rock Max's world.
OLTL is a bit of a mess, but I do like Vicki having a love interest again. I don't like how it blow apart when she finds about Jared. The whole Lee Ramsey mess stinks like a retread of Spencer Truman and I hope they get it resolved sooner rather than later. I do appreciate how they are righting the Antonio is rich because of his mob father story. Starr and Cole is just a way to give Todd a new reason to be nuts, and I hope that they don't go the teen pregnancy route.
One last thing, is that no matter how good the writers strike may have been for the soaps, an actors strike would certainly kill the weakest and possibly do irreversible damage to even the strongest!
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Mar 12, 2008 3:48 PM
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This is old news that was first reported in this week TV Guide magazine by Michael Logan.
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Mar 12, 2008 7:10 PM
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I am liking General Hospital and can't wait to see how the mob war plays out and who the casulities are (I'm guessing Kate or Carly).
I don't get to watch OLTL often,but a few months ago I was throughly enjoying the show when Vicki was in Texas.
No soap will ever match Santa Barbara's magically days in the late 80's.
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Mar 13, 2008 11:29 AM
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My problem is with GH. Bringing back Sarah Brown was great, except it seems the writers don't believe they have retained any viewers from her Carly days. She is basically playing the same character, interacting with the same actors and hooking her up with Sonny on the first day was sad. She should have been brought back as a doctor or a cop or even an undercover FBI or better yet, Carly's half-sister who wants to avenge her father's death and truly eliminate the "mob" in Port Charles. Instead we are forced to watch Sonny walking around a hospital and town with a gun, pointing it at anyone who walks in front of him. The only saving grace is when he learns Michael shot Kate and ran away from home because that is what Sonny told him to do. I hope the writers at least get that story right.
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Mar 13, 2008 1:26 PM
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I got the date that Danny is coming back to Y&R mixed up (it's 3/18 actually....not this week) and I have been watching since earlier this week and loving it. I haven't fast-forwarded any of it.
It's not the quality of Bill Bell, Jack Smith, and Kay Alden of course (I miss each episode ending like in 2 or 3 cliffhangers) but it's good and has kept my interest.
Like Lynn Latham (one of the few things she did I liked), Josh Griffith and Maria Arena are smart enough to know people want to see Kay Chancellor and they are using her. Good for them.
I remember years ago when Jill and Nikki got into a slapping match in the Jabot boardroom. I don't remember why but I love their rivalry is getting jumpstarted again.
I am just over this War of the Roses thing with Jack and Gloria. It works for the character of Gloria (Love Judith Chapman too!) but to give a multiple Emmy Winner like Peter Bergman a story like this...well....I don't know. His chat though w/ Ghost John about the house the other day was a good one. I did get a little weepy.
Y&R has rebounded and is getting good again.
So if you tuned out full-time and watched only here and there like I did in 2007 come back. (this works out great cuz I have switched Y&R for ATWT so I am not taking on any more time during the day to watch the shows.)
Just please wrap up the Ji Min murder mystery a.s.a.p. and drop the Jana character who is just an insult.
Days is also kicking ass. This +sshole John Black storyline is great. Drake Hogestyn is so good.
Of course he never should have gotten the hook last year anyway (shame on you Hogan and Ken!) but I'm happy he's back and I love this story. Deidre Hall is also as good as it gets.
Also good is the use of Victor. John Aniston is an asset to that show.
Hogan had stopped using him and I'm glad the new team is. That's smart.
Don't give us newbies. Use the vets!
I can't believe I have to even say that but some shows refuse to believe that's a good rule.
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Mar 13, 2008 1:35 PM
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I have seen AMC and I too agree that it isn't firing on all cylinders yet.
It's taking James and Barbara a little too long to get it going.
But would you rather Megan McTavish was still writing the show?
Two words for you: Satin Slayer.
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Mar 14, 2008 11:26 AM
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