Creating "Capitol"
A conversation with
John Conboy (1982)

John Conboy was a production supervisor for “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” back in the sixties before taking over -within nine months -the reins of producer. In 1973 he became executive producer for "The Young and the Restless," and won eight Emmy Awards for the show. Under his own "John Conboy Productions" he has produced numerous daytime specials. "Capitol" is his newest daytime drama. I spoke with him in his comfortable but windowless office at CBS headquarters in Television City. Conboy, tall, graceful, was not wearing a tie or jacket. His whole manner was casual but elegant. And he proved to be a verbal, confident conversationalist.

MEREDITH BROWN: What do you look for when someone presents you with a script ?

CONBOY: Something that excites me, a gut reaction. Most of the time if I like a script I assume that the audience will, too.  I may be wrong, but if I'm wrong that's a chance I have to take. Also, the final decision is not mine, it's the network's.

M.B.: What was it about "Capitol" that you left the network would go for?

CONBOY: I don't really know. I know there was an instant interest from Mike Ogiens, who was Vice President of Daytime and Children's Programming at the time the show was developed. And I think the idea of doing a movie, if you will, in D.C. was interesting because it hadn't been done. There are a couple of big movies out about the city but not anywhere near the amount of exposure we're dealing with.

M.B.: When you were putting "Capitol" together were there specific problems you came up against?

CONBOY: I think the major problem was the time factor. The show was not ordered until about the first or second week in January, which means I literally had six or seven weeks to put the entire thing on the air.

M.B.: Once you got network go ­ahead, what was your duty as executive producer?

CONBOY: Ideally, my job is getting the best people to do what they do best. Things are usually done by com­mittee. There is no way I will sit around and try to run five half-hours a week, 52 weeks a year by myself. Although I find myself doing just that right now because in the beginning of a show there are so many problems and so many areas that need cleaning up. Actually, I do very little as long as everybody else is doing what they are supposed to.

M.B.: What is your stamp, your signature on a show?

CONBOY: I believe that if you are showing 52 weeks a year of television, it should be very special. Your soaps should have role models of people you want to be like, or don't want to be like. But you have to tune it up and polish the product. You've got to make the show shine and gleam so the audience can understand exactly who that character is they're watching. It's put­ting people as close to exact type on the air as you can, then polishing. That's especially true with "Capitol." I think with the condition our economy is in, this country wants to be entertained. Historically, we've always wanted to be entertained in times of stress.

M.B.: How much does it cost to put together a half-hour of "Capitol"?

CONBOY: The only thing I can tell you is that it costs less than it did for an hour of Y&R but not half less. And it costs a lot more than it did to produce a half-hour of Y&R-everything has gone up enormously! Building a set is an astronomical expense. You could go out and put a down payment on a house for what it cost to build the Clegg mansion!

M.B.: Whose decision was it to put the opening segment of "Capitol" on nighttime?

CONBOY: I think it was a combination of Harvey Shephard (Vice President, CBS Entertainment) and Bud Grant's (President, CBS Entertainment). I was thrilled with the idea, but it created enormous production problems. The show was not delivered to New York until the night before it went on the air.

M.B.: Do you ever veer away from projected storyline?

CONBOY: Yes, of course. I don't like to work too far ahead because I like to see what is going on on the air, what chemistry is happening among the people, who's working well together and who isn't.

M.B.: Do you think there is too much concentration on youth in daytime?

CONBOY: You know, I think I started that, and not for any real reason. When you tell a story and there are five 19-20 year olds, you cast 19 and 20-year olds. Then you start a youth movement. It realty starts on the written page. "If it ain't  on the page, it ain’t on the stage." If I can come up with a wonder­ful story for Clarissa and Myrna [of "Capitol"] and put them center stage and make the show work, it has noth­ing to do with a movement, it has to do with people being actively involved and participating in their own lives. I think the days are gone when Nancy Hughes on "As the World Turns" sat around and baked muffins. The American family has been maligned in day­time and nighttime dramas. We assume a position with parenthood that I think should be unassumable as far as the broadcaster is concerned. I think children and parents should coexist, understand each other, try to talk. I don't think we should remove the authority from the family, but everyone has their own passions, drives, needs! When I did Y&R I had Jennifer and Stuart Brooks actively involved in their own lives. Liz Foster was out working to raise her kids. Nobody was sitting around knitting or talking about what happened yesterday!

M.B.: What are your goals for the future of "Capitol'"?

CONBOY: To have it become the number-one show in a year. That's difficult to do because you first have to find your audience, keep them, and then build on it. That takes time. It's frustrating because you're teaching young people how to do it, you're teaching yourself how to do it, you learn something new every day. Also, audience participation is much different in nighttime than daytime. Daytime audiences are more reliable, but they are nowhere as stretchable as nighttime audiences. You don't tool around with daytime programming anymore. There are only two things that work on daytime: soaps and game shows. Historically, that's been proven true.

M.B.: What do you like best about your job?

CONBOY: When the actors give wonderful performances on the air. Getting that performance from an actor. I like working with young actors. They're more eager, more fascinated by what they're doing. I like working with all young people, not just in front of the camera-people who are upwardly mobile, trying to make a name for themselves. It's hard work, assimilating this much material on a daily basis, making instant decisions as to how to perform it, and it’s their faces out there . They usually have to do their work in one take. It's the hardest work they will ever do, but it's wonderful because it hones the mechanism.
 

SOD (AUGUST 31, 1982)