The Demand for the Immediate Dismissal of Jill Farren Phelps, Megan McTavish and Angela Shapiro from ABC Daytime

Dear Michael Eisner:

Yes, its me, again. Someone emailed me that you had seen my petition and wondered what was wrong with daytime that fans were writing petitions and wanting Angela Shapiro gone. I realize in my previous petition I just spoke of the problems in a general way. So, Ill tell you exactly what is wrong with ABC daytime and why for the sake of daytime you must immediately dismiss Angela Shapiro, Jill Farren Phelps and Megan McTavish from serving in any and all capacities in ABC daytime. Ill start with Jill Farren Phelps, who this week cost you major bucks when Sarah Brown quit the show.

Actually, this isnt the first time in the past few weeks Ms. Phelps has cost ABC money and inconvenience. There was the Jensen Buchanan contract matter. Proctor and Gamble was threatening to sue ABC because Ms. Buchanan was still under contract with them when she started working on General Hospital. Some have suggested Ms. Buchanan misrepresented herself and Ms. Phelps had no knowledge of the situation. But if that was true, why wasnt Ms. Buchanan replaced. There are a lot of actors out there, just after all the bad publicity, not to mention threat of a lawsuit against ABC, Ms. Buchanan was only briefly replaced until she could legally work on General Hospital.

Now rumors are running rampant that Ms. Phelps and Ms. Brown got into a fight, that lead to Ms. Brown quitting General Hospital. What with a big company like Walt Disney to run, you may not be aware of the Sonny and Carly franchise that was bringing in big bucks for ABC. They were practically the only two GH characters to appear on magazine cover after magazine cover. They were practically the only characters ABC has tried to promote for General Hospital. Not thats all gone because of Ms. Phelps.

The first thing you must be thinking is this is all just a rumor. Thats true, but its also true this isnt the first big daytime star ABC lost because of Jill Farren Phelps. Practically the same thing happened when Ms. Phelps was executive producer of One Life To Live and she was in negotiations with Roger Howarth. The results were the same. Howarth quit because of dealings with Ms. Phelps. Ms. Phelps didnt really care because with Mr. Howarth gone, it left more room for her to bring more of her FOJs aboard. Howarth eventually did return, but that was a year or so later.

You must be wondering what a FOJ is. Its the title One Life To Live actor, Timothy Stickney gave to Ms. Phelps favored stars, when he spoke out against the blatant nepotism Ms. Phelps indulged in as executive producer of One Life To Live. It stands for Friends of Jill. She either killed off or chased off many veteran One Life To Live actors so she could bring her friends on to the show in roles she tailor-made for them. Only problem is most of her FOJs stuck out like a sore thumb and didnt really fit in with the show.

Ive watched One Life To Live for over 20 years, and I watched as Ms. Phelps destroyed couples the fans loved to make room for her friends. She brought her boyfriend, Kale Browne to the show, broke-up popular couple, Bo and Nora, and paired her boyfriend with the character of Nora, instead. Shortly afterwards, she built the whole show around her boyfriends character. And she did the same thing with every other character she brought on the show. She ruined and destroyed characters Id been watching since I was a child, to prop-up and make her FOJs look good. It got to the point I had to stop watching One Life To Live for awhile because it made me physically ill to see what this woman had done to the soap I loved.

Now that Ms. Phelps has been removed from One Life To Live and the new executive producer is slowly repairing all the damage Ms. Phelps done, Im back watching it and I see it slowly turning back into the show I once loved. It hasnt hurt that the new EP has also been giving most of Ms. Phelps FOJ their walking papers, either.

Now Ms. Phelps is on General Hospital and I see her doing the same things to GH that she did to OLTL. This week I spent most of my time switching back-and-forth between Guiding Light and General Hospital. Ive been watching General Hospital for almost 25 years, and I dont want to give it up. But the garbage I am seeing on my television is making me get that same feeling I got when Ms. Phelps was in charge of OLTL. I usually tape General Hospital as I watch it so I can save the tape, but the show wasnt even worth watching, let alone taping. And the ratings, the lowest theyve been since Ive been watching this show, is proof of that.

In the many years Ive been watching soaps there has never been a more hated executive producer as Jill Farren Phelps. One Life To Live fans celebrated when she was removed from their show. Before she was removed they wrote parodies about her. I wouldnt be surprised if a few didnt also burn her in effigy. The non-obscene names some fans called her most was Jill The Witch and GodJilla because she was like a giant lizard destroying everything in her path.

Ms. Shapiro knows all about the hatred Ms. Phelps inspired in many One Life To Live fans, she knows about the womans penchant to hire her friends, and instead of getting the woman out of ABC daytime, she removes her from one soap and puts her in charge of another to create the same havoc she did on One Life To Live at General Hospital. Ms. Phelps even bragged about her practice of hiring her friends in a recent TV Guide interview, so theres no way Ms. Shapiro couldnt be unaware of it.

Then theres Megan McTavish who would make a perfect feature writer for the National Enquirer, but is completely unsuitable as head writer for any soap opera. Among her more infamous stories was having a woman sleep with two different men and then having her become pregnant at the same time with both mens child. She also had a woman going around time carrying a dead fetus around and pretended it was still alive and that she was about to give birth to a healthy baby. Another McTavish story was having a woman become infertile after having a toxic tattoo painted on her. But Ms. McTavishs most infamous story to date is having someone injected with a drug that wipes away your memory. These are all stories youd expect to find on the pages of some sleazy tabloid. Not on a soap opera.

Yet, Ms. Shapiro appointed this hack as head writer, after removing her from two previous ABC soaps after her tabloid-style writing did major damage to the shows she was head writer of. Thats why we fans insist Ms. Shapiro be removed from her post immediately. Both Ms. McTavish and Ms. Phelps should have been removed from any and all capacities at ABC daytime. Instead Ms. Shapiro gave them another job on another show where they can run another show into the ground the way they did One Life To Live.

This is why fans want Angela Shapiro dismissed immediately from her position as head of daytime. She is letting Ms. Phelps and Ms. McTavish go from show-to-show like a couple of car thieves stripping each show they go to bare of everything of value and worth and leaving an empty husk when theyre done. This madness must stop. Which is why we the fans of ABC daytime demand the immediate dismissal of Angela Shapiro, Jill Farren Phelps and Megan McTavish from all duties and capacties in ABC daytime.

Sincerely yours,

Trusting you to return the quality back to ABC daytime by removing the poison thats destroying it. The same way youve managed to keep the legacy of Walt Disney alive.