For weeks I have been trying to get an interview with "Days of Our Lives" Co-Executive Producer Ed Scott. It was going to be an easy chat. Scott was into "being green" over two decades ago when his old soap "Young and Restless" celebrated a "save the earth" green day every year. Now Scott seemed to be "greening" "Days of Our Lives." The request for the interview was always answered with, "He is really busy right now." Seemed odd — this was to be a positive interview about a guy I have known for years and was really an ecological front-runner. So why the "He is so busy right now"? The guy hates me? Nah. Doubt he even thinks about me. Is he afraid the interview will get into the "What's going on in the story line" questions? Nope. Scott would know how to handle those questions if they came up.

Now I know the reason for the "Maybe in a few weeks" answer.

Things are not a day at the beach on "Days of Our Lives." There are rumors of a palace coup. It seems Scott is not happy with the show's newly hired head writer Dena Higley.

Higley returned to "Days of our Lives'" writing team after a three-year break from the show. Higley spent three years writing for "One Life To Live." She won a writing Emmy this year for her work. According TV Guide Canada's Nelson Branco, Scott has been rewriting nearly all of Higley's work.

"He's been writing and rewriting story, dialogue and scenes for weeks and weeks," a source told Branco. "He's also encouraged actors, including one overblown diva, to rewrite not just her own lines, but also her scene partners." I know who the unnamed diva is, and she has been doing that for years to all the writers and all her scene partners. The gal even redecorates sets. So her line changing is hardly anything new.

The Writers Guild of America is going to bat for Higley. To add more kindling to the flames, during the writer's strike Higley was writing scripts even though she did not have permission to do so.

Sony Pictures, which owns and distributes "Days," does not want to go head to head with WGA. They want Higley to continue as head writer.

In other backstage soap news, Paul Rauch, who has helmed "One Life To Live" "Santa Barbara" and "Guiding Light," is now a consultant on "Young and Restless." Rauch is a great producer with Captain Queeg-like tendencies, so it is doubtful he will be an in-the-background consultant. Rauch loves cigars, opera and being boss.

Kay Alden, who co-wrote "Young and Restless" for years, takes on the task at "Bold and Beautiful." Please let this mean an end to the same five characters (Brooke, Nick, Ridge, Taylor and Stephanie) having all the plots. And please, no more "Pam is bipolar, which means she is a killer" story line. That is an eye-rolling plot that has no merit and scares people about a very real and treatable illness.

To find out more about Lynda Hirsch, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

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