BetterForgotten

Also, it was Calhoun who installed the Curlee/Demorest team in the first place, and I know Curlee in particular has mentioned he went to bat for her material several times in the beginning. I don't understand why Marland has issues writing for her, but thankfully (unlike many from her era), she came back and flourished for a few years.

Holly is such a unique soap character (almost un-soap in many ways), there really isn't a prototype of someone I can easily compare her to. She also felt so real to me, and Garrett played the part as realistically as possible. She felt like a lot of people I knew, and I identified strongly with certain aspects of the character. To me, what's what made GL special for a long time - there were just these wonderfully complicated characters (female characters in particular) that were grounded in reality. That obviously withered away throughout the years, but it was good while it lasted.

Maureen Garrett/Holly looks stunning here. Too bad Robert Calhoun didn't stick around for much longer or work longer with the Curlee/Demorest team. He really deserves credit for re-positioning this show and for grounding Pam Long's material in her second stint (which is far superior to her first, IMO).

I thought Nancy Curlee's vision was more of the Marland/Long hybrid, but obviously, she quit the industry and was never able to bring her skills to other shows. She actually almost came close to replacing the Labines at GH (before Guza was hired). I've always wondered how that would have turned out.

It may take a year (or even years), but people will realize how good they actually had it with Barack and Michelle.

The confrontation with Lilian will always be severely implanted in my brain. It's that perfect moment when great acting, writing, and directing combine.

But how much of that second run was Long? Robert Calhoun had just come off a lauded stint EP-ing ATWT, and Nancy Curlee was Co-HW and said she and Long shared "responsibilities" for stories during that time. I think Curlee even wrote Josh and Reva's wedding episodes, amazing enough. What Curlee told us in 2009: Toups: In 1989, you were promoted to Co-Head Writer. What was your role in that position under Head Writer Pamela K. Long? Curlee: We shared responsibilities for stories. I was able to put the Roger/Mindy/Billy/Alex story in motion, which had great legs, I thought, and focused on actors I particularly liked. I did a lot of the layout of the week, which meant breaking the stories down into episodes.

I did hear Calhoun and Long didn't get along very well and were like oil and water, but I guess that worked.

I think Long's second stint was way better than her first - but I don't know if that was more Nancy Curlee and Robert Calhoun's influence.

Holly was initially very disappointed and let down by Ed when she found about about everything, which I thought was pretty realistic (as she had always built him up as her "hero"). I don't think it lasted too long though.

I did see some of the 1990 stuff, and I hope more gets posted. Ah, the good old days... Nothing against Keifer, but I do think she was too homely for the part, and it as just jarring to go from Stringfiled to her. Stringfield will always be my Blake (and Kimberly Simms will always be my Mindy). They needed an actress who could still play the vampy aspects of the character, but also someone who could progress the character and transition her to the more respectable position. With Keifer, she just couldn't play the darker parts of the character, so they had to make the character softer to match her sensibility. I think it's fitting that the affair revelation was Stringfield's last episode. There are just some scenes I will never forget, and I will never forget Holly dropping that damn tray - it still cuts me deep as it did the first time I saw it. Gosh, Maureen Garrett is so underrated...

I wish Sherry Stringfield had gotten to play these scenes. I get that they were trying to say the love of Ross matured/tamed Blake, but because Keifer couldn't play the character with edge, it made it feel like they were whitewashing how awful Blake had been to Holly and almost as if everything was Holly's fault.

Lol, this album is deader than dead, I'm surprised there's even a second single.

It's hard to imagine that Lynn Deerfield played Holly for 6 years and virtually nothing exists of it. Maybe that's exactly why I could never imagine anyone but Maureen Garrett playing Holly. I wonder if the change in actresses was seamless or if it took the audience a while to accept Garrett.