Soaplovers

I think 1986 worked so well because Marland was carrying through with stories and characters that were left for him by the previous writer, while starting new stories of his own that didn't really take off until 1987.

I know Byrne wanted Lily not to be so business oriented like she was when Rattay played the part... yet oddly the first three years she was back playing Lily, she was heavily into business and played it well. I did like that eventually she co-owned the Lakeview with Lisa... and I didn't realize that Lily's field of study when a teen was hotel management... the one consistency.

Than she should have been demoted. If unwilling to show all aspects of your life on a reality show than why be on one. Makes no sense to me.

I felt we were robbed of seeing Ramona's life post-Mario... that was one of the things I was looking forward to so much in season 7/8/9... but we hardly got to see Ramona on her own. Very disappointing. Hence why I liked RHOC.. because no one on that show has power.. and there still is an element of 5 to 7 individual narratives (I love how newer viewers whine about that and how I point out that was how the show started.. and then they shut up lol Then those same viewers remark at how much they like the earlier season).

Probably an unpopular opinion.. but I was always on Lucinda's side especially when it came to Lily. I actually wished she'd disowned that brat Lily and let the princess go live at the Snyder Farm and cut her off so she didn't have any money. And I had wished she had succeeded in getting Holden/Lily to break up even though had she not done anything.. they still would have broken up as we witnessed once the two were adults and Lucinda had learned to accept him. I also was on Lucinda's side with not telling Lily about Holden's amnesia and being in the hospital in New York.. but only because Lily would have found a way to make it all about her (which we saw when she was frustrated that Holden didn't remember her, etc). I also understood why Lucinda told Sierra about her breast cancer before she told Lily (and Lucinda confirmed it by saying because Sierra wouldn't have made it all about herself). i watched the pitchfork episode.. and the reason Lily was there was because she was upset about Craig being reported missing/dead. The way she acted, you would have thought she was the most important person to Craig.. moreso than his girlfriend/wife Sierra, his mother Lyla, or his sister Margo. Selfish character. Now I do wonder if you think this was due to how Martha chose to play the character, or if this is how the character was written by Horgan/Marland/Backus/etc?

I think when Phyllis and the two Jacks... and Jack with Patty/Emily was done... the writers should have looked at this scene to learn how to do the aftermath of such a story to great effect. What Blade/Rick did was rape and her reaction is the reaction that someone should have to having something like that done to them. And plus when Phyllis/Jack had that happen to them... having Ashley remember this happening to her would have made those stories richer.. or even having Ashley think something was off about Jack, etc. Brenda has always been the Ashley I loved best... and I agree with @yrfan1983 that Brenda played the gamut of emotions much better than ED would have. ED went over the top when having her breakdowns... while Brenda played Ashley as being in shock, processing all that had happened to her, coming to her conclusion and acting out in a realistic manner.. with Jill being the support step mother for once to her. Even though Brenda played the mental breakdown aspect of Ashley's character.. I think she played it as Ashley coming to terms with what happened and determined to come out fighting.. as opposed to ED.. who always played Ashley's breakdowns as her losing her grip on reality and becoming helpless.

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