Soaplovers

Oddly, I think Shannon's brief return in 1994/5 had her interacting with the canvas more than during her last two years or so on ATWT (1988-1990). She was tied to Duncan still.. but she interacted quite a bit with Lily/Damian, Lucinda, Samantha, even chemistry tested with Royce, and lastly she and Barbara locked heads a bit during the Lisa/John lawsuit (since Barbara sided with Lisa.. while Shannon was more apt to side with John even though she was close to John).

So weird seeing Dixie Carter playing drama... I'm just waiting for her to go into Julia Sugarbaker mode

If I recall.. there was a question of who Lily's real mother was.. in fact, Marland briefly had it look like it was Shannon for a bit as well since Lily was also close to Shannon.. who was about the same age as Iva was. I think Martha started playing Lily in May/June 1985.. and Marland didn't show up till September. When Martha started playing Lily.. the character changed from how the previous actress played the character (who was more of a town boy and more of an introvert). I do wonder how Marland would have planned to write Lily if it had been the first actress playing her instead of Martha.

Maybe one of the several rejected Broderick story ideas involved Barbara? Barbara was kind of a difficult character to write at times. Didn't Marland decide to one day turn her into a femme fatale after getting fed up with losing one too many times? Was there backlash from this sudden 180 turn in character? And what Sheffer did to Barbara... eek! I liked someone's idea before of having Hunt Block play her brother Rick instead of Craig. It would have served the same function of causing conflict between Hal/Barbara since Rick could have broken the law.. and Barbara wanting to defend her brother... and Kim being in the middle since it involved her nephew. The whole Rosanna thing still would have worked as well.. and tied Rosanna in with the core family (I don't count the Snyders as a core family.. I count them as an infestation that ate away the show over time).

I think Katherine Babecki and Katherine Phillips were the same person.

She lasted about a year... she actually did a lot of the work rebuilding the show before Marland was hired on. She reunited Bob/Kim, bought back Chris/Nancy, bought back Frannie.. and started the Kevin/Frannie/marie Kovac story, plus helped start the Craig redemption by introducing Sierra and tying her to Lucinda, etc.

Before Marland. She was a creation of Susan Horgan (the writer that Marland replaced).... and oddly, I've seen interviews with that writer as well as check out her Facebook page... Shannon is almost like her... whimsical and quirky.

I liked the Kim Fields season.. at least the reunion of that season. Kim Fields vs Kenya was an intriguing fued because both had legitimate gripes about the other. Kenya is correct that Kim does tend to talk down to others while Kim was right on the money that Kenya loves to pull out that blender to mix things up. Plus, both women used words and not their fists to fight with one another (Porsha should have been banned from ever appearing on the show again). For me.. RH of Orange County will always hold a special place in my heart... it's still about their families and about their interactions with one another. Season 13 will interest me.. just to see Shannon on a blind date alone LOL NY doesn't interest me because it is almost all about them as a group and not very much about their personal lives (give me more individual scenes without a surprise drop in from another cast member).

I actually watched Tribes.. I was a kid and it was a show with great potential... but the headwriters weren't the best pick (Mary M from Ryans Hope.. and Trent Jones)... but the overall concept was interesting. I do recall him on the show.. as well as Michelle Stafford (who came in as the show was ending... they were going to be paired had the show continued). Evan was my first clue I was into men because he was just beautiful to look at. I think under-written characters like Evan suffered if the casting wasn't right. That Taylor character (Casey's ex) could have been a long term character since she worked at the hospital and seemed like a great spoiler on paper.. but the casting was all wrong. So I was re-watching Marland era ATWT in spurts... and I noticed when Iva first came on, she was dressed pretty trendy and kind of flashy for the first year or two until 1987/88 before the show began to make her look dowdy. By the time she left in 1994, she was dressing like she was Emma's age and the actress in real life was in her late 30s when she left the show.

Swans Crossing was in the early 90s... the early 90s was a weird hybrid of 80s styles with a more 90s modest twist to it. The hair wasn't as big, the shoulder pads weren't as big, etc. Fifteen.. I never could get into that show only because it seemed to change from season to season. I recall when Kelly stabbed Brooke in the back at the end of season 1 with Brooke vowing to get even.. and than season 2 started and Kelly was nowhere to be found and she had a new side kick. The only consistent plot thread was Ashley/Matt. Laura Harris (who played Ashley) had a decent career for awhile post-Fifteen including being in the Faculty (1998 horror movie) and was on a short-lived ABC drama Women's Murder Club.

You're remembering it correctly... in fact, while he was recovering.. the show decided to write his character off, but he did come back to tie things up when he was recovered enough. It was a shame he was let go.. he and Maura West had chemistry (not romantic.. but more like partner in crime type of chemistry). I know people here didn't particular care for the Dobson's version of ATWT (and I think they made the fatal error in trying to update the show too quickly... as opposed to GL where they gradually updated the show during their 4+ year stint). What would you say was a character they created that had lasting impact on the show?

Evan was just hot I do agree that Marland didn't know how to write Evan and I think the actor infused the character with charm and sexiness. He lasted about two years or so after Marland's death..and I noticed he got better writing. He/Connor had great brother/sister chemistry... yet even his magnetic personality didn't help make Courtney likable (only can do so much I guess). I think Taylor Baldwin (Casey's doctor ex girlfriend) didn't make much of an impression. I don't recall her even being on the show (and my mom watched it quite a bit in the mid to late 80s) only reading that she was on for a year or so. From watching old episodes, she made a play for Casey than tried to date Tom Hughes when Margo/Tom were on the outs with Lisa interfering to make sure that didn't happen. The actress was cute, but lacked any sort of personality. Laura Simmons... not sure if it was due to the performer, story, badly written character, or the writers strike.

Keep it classy Leanne. Unbalanced and just unpleasant to look at. Is there any housewife on Dallas worth rooting for that isn't mentally unbalanced and is just plain fun?

I do agree that KMH softened when she acted with Ellen... and I also missed Emily/Julie's friendship since that friendship gave Emily an actual girlfriend and showed that Emily could care about someone other then herself. I never thought Emily's friendships with Carly/Rose were as satisfying as her friendship with Julie was. And Ellen had a very colorful past in the 50s/60s... and settled down by the 70s as a talk-to and a worried mom of both Annie/Dee. The Dobsons were the last writers that truly gave David/Ellen a story of their own that sadly was cut short in late 1982/early 1983. The only other times that Ellen got meaty material was in 1989 when Ellen/David were talkign about how far apart they'd gotten with him being gone all the time.. and finally in 1991 when David was killed off. It's a shame between 1991 and 1996.. she was just a talk to (although she had quite a bit to say about the invitro procedure.. and a rare time Ellen/Susan's claws came out toward one another).

I think she had a chain of coffee houses/bakeries that Lucinda was interested in buying an interest in. They even had a coffee house set built and everything. I did notice the farm aspect was scaled back post Marland until 1997.. which I wish had gone away

An interesting case... originally she was introduced because Lucinda was trying to woo her.. and had Kirk help woo her.. and the two dated. Then a curveball was thrown when it was revealed that she was the long lost mother of farm hand Hutch.. and the reason Linc's father left Linc's mother. I think she ended up leaving town during the cast purge of late 1993

Swan's Crossing.. SMG's audition reel for playing Kendall on AMC. I was in middle school and it came on just as I got home from school. I think it was left with a cliffhanger. Tribes.. Created by leah Laiman (but headwritten by Trent Jones (I guess he played Ken George Jones on RH) and Mary munisteri (from Ryan's Hope)). It was just getting it's footing when the show was canceled with none of their stories resolved (Michelle Stafford came on in the last few weeks and was slated for a romance with one of the lead characters in the show's main triangle when the plug was pulled).

Supercouples were great in the short-term, but really hurt soaps in the long term. They tended to limit a character's potential because a lot of time, when a couple broke up... viewers refused to move on. Based on what @vetsoapfan said.. it sounded like there was a struggle to write Penny once her first husband Jeff perished since she didn't spark with hubby #2 nor with Sandy McGuire's ex-husband (I read once that Ellen Stewart was caught in the middle since Penny had been her best friend for years, yet she also was good friends with Sandy). Is it just me, but does it seem like the show dressed Ellen Stewart much younger in the 80s than during the 70s and 90s? Very few people could pull off the 80s looks, but the actress playing Ellen benefited from 80s fashion trends.. appearing more youthful (and looking younger in some cases than Bob/Kim/Lisa). I'm also surprised the show didn't kill off Ellen when she became a great grandmother in the mid 80s (like they did with her mother Clare in the early 70s... a character I wish I could have seen since she sounded like a fascinating character and very neurotic it sounded like.. a vast contrast to Ellen).

I do recall Lucci adding extra to her book after AMC was officially canceled blasting Pratt and co... so if someone that usually is polite can do something post show.. and don't forget Kim Zimmer's experiences working in GL.. or even when Maureen Garrett spoke of her experience filming in Peapack during her final visit. Very honest so I'd love to hear what Fulton would say now 10 + years after ATWT ended. I forgot about her thoughts on Focus Groups LOL

I admit I'm more critical of the Marland years.. but he did seem to do well with this show better than he did on GL. I think due to the fact that GL was a more emotional show while ATWT always seemed to have a more contained, yet beautiful, element to it. I noticed differences between his GL and ATWT when he was head-writing it (GL seemed to have a little more emotional fire under his pen than ATWT did) so I give him credit for trying to adapt to the DNA of both shows. I think it was Eileen Fulton that said when Marland wrote ATWT, it was like an elegant painting especially around the holidays. I was rewatching the Emmy live/Paley center (not sure which it was) interview she did years ago. and she was asked to give her thoughts on certain head-writers. She liked the Dobson's, loved Marland, wouldn't comment on Sheffer at all, and said that Lorraine Broderick was a great person that never got a lot of her ideas approved.. and Fulton said a writer is paid to write and to not interfere with their process (even saying directors also shouldn't be interfered with either.. wonder if that was a subtle dig at Goutman). So if anything, the theory fans had with interference wasn't a theory at all.

Sort of like how he struggled to write for Rita and to a lesser extent Holly on GL?

I'm curious by Diana not being a Marland character.. and that it was best she left before he took over. What about Diana made her a non-Marland like character? As others mentioned, he tried to create similar characters like Diana (Meg, Julie, Marcy, etc)... and Carly succeeded.. but she wasn't introduced/written by Marland so who knows if Marland would have written her well.

Given the current climate in our country (with the Russian investigation, a power hungry president and loyal stuff willing to lie)... the ISIS story from 1983 is so relevant in this day and age. Rewatching it now on Youtube.. very well done with the introduction of Alicia (who appears to be a victim, but we soon find out she is anything but LOL)

RHOA season 11 will suck for sure... Porsha and Marlo were allowed to return? Dumb and Trashy have no business being on the show.

I was happy Martha was fired, I actually never liked her playing Lily whatsoever. The only times I liked Lily was when anyone other than Martha was playing the character. Anytime when Martha was playing the character, I was rooting for Lucinda to disown the little brat so she'd be free of her.. and than Princess Lily could go live with those hideous Snyders at the farm. Speaking of propping characters, did anyone think that even Marland was guilty of propping characters (Lily, for instance... and rapist/pedophile Rod/Josh)?