DRW50

I reuploaded the episodes that were taken down last year. If anyone knows the exact dates please let me know.

IIRC the Kasnoffs were part of his story projections, so somewhere up to then I suppose.

I would have a murder mystery for Drew. I think there's more for Willow if they play her as a schemer and bitch hiding behind a nice facade, maybe teaming up with Nina to notch some wins against Carly and the PC establishment, but meanwhile her resentment toward Nina builds and builds. Then I would have Nina be the one, finally seeing how much Willow truly wants to destroy her, who ultimately exposes her and sends her packing. Not sure what I'd do with Nina after that. Maybe she would have a breakdown and start all over.

It would be strange to imagine Mike with Marj's Alex. He might have thrown her out of the plane. You're right about Marland and the Dobsons. And even his brief 1979 ATWT run, in spite of some dullness like Bob and the ballerina, feels "right" in a way the Dobsons stuff doesn't to me. I know I shouldn't judge the Dobsons or Marland as we don't have their full run but what I notice most with the Dobsons and their GL material is how rich many of the characters feel internally, with several dimensions and believable decisions. Under Marland you get that to a point but everything feels more rote to me, especially when it comes to the female characters. Aside from a Nola or Vanessa or Maureen many of them seem lifeless.

He did bring Penny and Don for visits, but not more. I wonder how much of the lack of older Bauers was down to P&G's ageism. Or if they didn't touch Bill after the viewer backlash to his 1977 return. Either way it's a shame. (and killing him off in 1983 was another mistake...)

Thanks so much @dc11786 - I didn't even know any of "Romance" was available. I read that about Horan in a soap book from the early '80s that I read in the library back in the '90s or early '00s (wish I could have kept those books). IIRC it was a profile on Rick Porter, as they mentioned him being a male stripper as well. It's hard to not be cheesy in that format but he does make it work... I can see what we watched being syndicated, although given the glut of syndicated programming at the time and the lack of a larger number of episodes along with the Moral Majority rising, it may have been tough to sell. I'm so glad that you had that script between Miranda and Marge which took place before this episode as it grounds the histrionic phone call. I agree the styling goes a long way. She just looks like she got dragged out of a hedge backward. Thanks for the info about the Loving bible. So, I guess Marland did just move some of this stuff, which makes sense. I guess he and Nixon put together various tropes to create Ava. Ava may be this show's legacy. I have a lot of respect for Lara Parker but unless she was fooled by producers, she should have just turned the job down if she didn't want to do nudity. I had never heard any of her comments about the show but even in the episode you can tell something isn't quite right. I did like that in Francie's fantasy she callously and offhandedly mentions dumping her father in a home. She seems nuanced, which the acting doesn't quite get but then it was still early days for this show. From what you've said about the Hamner scripts I guess we got lucky finding a Mulcahey one. It shows the length and breadth of the soap genre that we are talking about Mulcahey in stories from 1982 and 2024. Based on what you mention about Lily and Holden I agree they must have planned for Laurel and Greg to not be related. There's something so haunting to me about the closing credits - these silhouettes in... are those the Hollywood Hills? Just very cold and austere under the guise of passionate love and romance.

Thanks. That could be it too. I've never seen her Liza.

@dc11786 has so many great scripts and summaries through this thread that include a lot of details of the episode after the one uploaded. I am very appreciative of them for giving more insight and making the episode more interesting to me than it would have been otherwise. I agree about the actors struggling to learn, which is especially noticeable with Biff and Francie, especially Francie. A case of characters being more interesting on the page. And Miranda acts like a loopy villain from a '70s DC comic. The scene where she is berating whom I assume is Beau over the phone while Betty watches is a real howler. (I could also see that happening with Diane and Carrie on GL) I'm so glad to get to see Lara Parker on the show. I don't think she was ever great at playing good characters who had no real strength (this reminded me of her work as Alexis Stokes), but then it's only one episode. Great to get to see Jane Elliot too. Clever to have Biff and Davey being similar physically, to show Francie's choice. Davey is kind of cute - sad to read the actor passed away around 50 from cancer. It's nice to see James Horan, who is very charismatic in a bit of a nothing part. I could swear I read years ago he used to be a male stripper - a shame we never got to see those talents. Between the name Sowolosky and the young woman who is a factory worker, Marland re-used more of this show for Loving than I realized. Maybe he took some of this from a Loving bible. (Horan would later star on Loving, but years after Marland was there) Good cliffhanger. The actress who plays Laurel is so familiar to me. Maybe it's from Santa Barbara, or she just has a generic soap look for that period. Larry Poindexter was such a journeyman actor (including in some later softcore material) so it's a comfort to see him here compared to a lot of the iffy unknowns.

Thanks. Could be.

A glimpse at the point near 5 minutes. Not sure of the exact time period. Who is that with Jo?

Similar to Chase, I think Sasha works well as a likeable, mostly decent support figure, contrasting all the ugliness. Unfortunately, they seem to have thrown into so many questionable choices of late, like being Robert and Holly's daughter and a potential pairing with Jason.

@dc11786 Thanks for letting us know about this! Such lost soap media being found near the start of the year is a great surprise. Never thought we'd get a full episode. Such odd opening credits - less romantic and more the guy looking like a predator.

I was probably even worse than because that was the era that "Cartini," MAB, etc. were getting effusive praise. Sorry to anyone who had to read through all that. I'm probably not as negative about current GH as I should be as I don't have the long history/emotional history with it the way I did with the P&G shows and I don't have a heavy dislike for the writers the way I did for Guza and Carlivati, but I can't deny the show is much more soulless now and you can see the lack of care in stories like this that on paper should be knockouts.

That's awful. Such a beautiful location and such a unique episode.

I wonder what the plans would have been if Chad hadn't quit. Probably just dropping the story entirely.

I think Bryce or Zaslow were able to give their characters more depth. I think Marland must have had some respect for GL, but compared to the Dobsons, the characters lack much more of an inner life to me. I am not entirely sure why, and admittedly, we have not seen a lot of his run.

The only bits we've seen has had her still in Ed's orbit and not doing much else. I guess this likely helped push Rita toward Alan. It doesn't seem like there's any real interest in Holly as a character.

To me this type of stuff is winking at yourself rather than viewers. I am glad that AW is still remembered, but like the "Spaulding-Lewis bank," the execution seems tin-eared to me.

Andy was so one-dimensional and unpleasant - you could say the same about Tonio on ATWT, who filled some of the same type of role, but I think it's even worse with Andy because everyone around him also seems depressed and one-note. I think Marland was in a bind at GL compared to ATWT in terms of history because P&G was so set on phasing out the past and focusing on younger people. And GL didn't have as much history to draw back on - they had been on longer but more of their characters had died or just weren't relevant. I do wonder if he might have considered doing more with Bill Bauer if he'd stayed on. I find Marland's GL distant enough to where I wonder if he had the same connection and love for it to dig deep the way he did at ATWT. Sometimes just seems flat onscreen compared to his ATWT work.

Cass never would have been a city council President. Clearly, they never watched AW, or they would have had Jackee referencing Lily Mason.

Spencer Treat Clark speaks about losing his home. https://variety.com/2025/biz/news/spencer-treat-clark-loses-family-home-altadena-la-fires-1236271774/

That's a heartbreaker.

Broadcasting Magazine (January 14, 1980) : Future US-Next TV : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Can't remember if these backstage photos were around. Sorry if they were.

@j swift

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/anita-bryant-dead-singer-orange-juice-gay-rights-1236105715/ Her passing is a timely reminder that her views never went away just because she did - they are now as prominent, if not moreso than they were in her heyday. I am trying not to speak ill of the dead so I will just say I hope her last years were reflective, and at least she won't be buried on Trump's golf course.