Sara A. Bibel

Sara A. Bibel is an American television soap opera writer who has also written for The Harvard Crimson.

Here's what Sara A. Bibel had to say about Lorraine Broderick's return: All My Children fans will have reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving. Friday AMC fired nearly universally reviled headwriter Charles Pratt Jr.. According to Daytime Confidential, Lorraine Broderick, who wrote for the show during the 1980s and 90s. With the possible exception of Dena Higley on One Life to Live, no one has done more to wreck a soap in a shorter amount of time. Under his pen, Police Chief Jesse Hubbard covered up a murder. Liza Colby returned to town deSORASED twenty years and immediately had sexual intercourse with Zach Slater without so much as exchanging first names with him. Jake Martin and Amanda Dillon schemed to convince David Hayward his child was stillborn. The whole town participated in a weeklong dance marathon. Marian Colby went insane for no reason. Instead of giving Bianca Montgomery and Reese Williams a groundbreaking lesbian motherhood and marriage storyline, he made Reese obsessed with Zach. Stuart Chandler was murdered and the mystery turned out to focus mainly on Zach hiring someone to impersonate Kendall Slater in prison. Is it any wonder that Thorsten Kaye decided to leave the show? His character was among the most ruined. In fact, Pratt managed to render nearly every character on the show unlikable. Those who escaped unscathed tended to be saved by the backburner. He reveled in darkness and misanthropy, somehow thinking that people wanted to watch unrelenting bleakness during lunch. The most disheartening part of all of this is that ABC Daytime had to sign off on every single bad decision. The network that micromanages every episode had no problem with him killing the heart of Pine Valley or Zach tearing off Liza’a panties. Of course, the network’s executives also greenlit Dixie Martin’s death by pancakes. ABC has been mishandling the show for years. I was stunned that ABC chose to let Pratt go, given the network’s track record. I assume that low ratings were the culprit, though perhaps the show’s upcoming 40th anniversary was a wake up call. I hope that the decision to hire Lorraine Broderick is an acknowledgment that AMC needs to return to its roots.

Broderick has a difficult task on her hands. She has to rehabilitate numerous characters while coming up with compelling storylines that will win back the audience. Ron Carlivati managed it on One Life to Live, though the ratings have not reflected his accomplishments. Broderick’s task is complicated by the show’s move to L.A., and its resulting cast changes. In my humble opinion, Broderick needs to restore the family units first, making the Kane women, the Martins and the Hubbards moral and rootable again to contrast with the morally grey Chandlers. Next, there needs to be some actual love on the show. Zach and Kendall have been the show’s leads for the past few years. Zach’s departure means that Kendall is going to need a new love interest, someone other than Ryan. I would love to see her in an epic romance with an interesting new character. Most of all, Broderick needs to bring back AMC’s light, optimistic tone. It used to be a fun show with plenty of comedy.

Positions held

The Young and the Restless

• Associate Head Writer (August 13, 2004–2006)
• Breakdown/Script Writer (December 2006 - August 2007)
• Story Coordinator (2003)

All My Children

• Breakdown Writer (November 8, 2007 - December 11, 2007)

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Awards

• Nominations, 2005 and 2006, Best Writing, The Young And The Restless
• Win, 2006, Best Writing The Young And The Restless

Writers Guild of America Award

• Nominations, 2005 and 2006 season, The Young And The Restless
• Win, 2005 season, The Young And The Restless

External links

• Sara A. Bibel on IMDB

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Name	Bibel, Sara A.
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