MarlandFan

All true. Abortion rights diminished by the DJT-controlled SCOTUS. Trans rights currently being diminished by red states and DJT. Red states currently determined to rescind marriage equality with several bills introduced at the state level. The danger of MAGA people is their incredible ability to ignore facts. They'd rather be seen as stupid than ever admit that they are wrong. I agree and am also responsible. But I can't allow lies to go unchallenged. That being said, I am finished with the politics discussion on this thread. I'll stop.

I need to disagree. Right-leaning people tend to advocate for restricting other people's freedoms: marriage equality, trans rights, and reproductive rights have all suffered under Republicans. Currently, DJT is trying to ban/restrict books and criminalize the Press! And before you start yelling about the Left and gun rights -- gun rights have never been touched/diminished when the Democrats were in control.

I'm not certain of the exact timing, but it was definitely during his first stint (1993-97) where he expressed frustration in a Soap Opera Digest story that the producers would not let him out of his contract early. He stated that he had been promised flexibility prior to signing with ATWT but then felt that he was being "forced" to stay. This makes sense because Caso was EP in 1993 and may have made a handshake deal to let him go, but once Caso was replaced, P&G may have demanded Seganti fulfill his contract? Post-Marland writers really screwed up the Grimaldi family. Killing Eduardo and making Orlena a crazy woman were bad choices.

You make so many great points. And you're 100% correct about Damien Grimaldi. Marland was determined to challenge the Lily/Holden super couple by creating a "perfect" foil in Damien. But the casting of Seganti made it a slam/dunk finish right from the outset. Why rekindle a romance with a man who will never remember you and who is basically a blank slate, when you can have a life with a rich Adonis who adores you? While Marland may have had ideas about how to make the triangle work, his death put an end to whatever long-term story he had in mind. The new writers, faced with an aimless Holden and an unhappy Seganti (who after a year of the grind wanted to leave), suddenly made Damien a careless, vengeful husband. The push towards a Holden/Lily reunion felt very out of character for all involved. Plot-driven, not character-driven.

To be fair, Jon Hensley doesn't have chemistry with anyone.

No shade on Byrne who owned the role for many reasons, but I thought Rattray was great. I would have had no problem if she had decided to remain in the role beyond her 3-year contract.

I'm not aware of the history of Byrne's politics over her lifetime, but given her support for gay people and her general kindness towards everyone in every interview I've ever seen from her, I always assumed she was a Democrat. However, maybe she has come to share her husband's political views? Or perhaps she supported Trump in the hopes that he would come to their rescue? But her husband was arrested during Trump's first term. And now is going to prison during his second. So that strategy has not worked. Trump is not her savior.

Mary Kay Adams played artist Neal Alcott who had taken a job working as Art Director for Lucinda's Worldwide. At the same time, architect Royce Keller (played by Terry Lester) was hired to design Worldwide's new tower. Unbeknownst to Lucinda, they were her long-lost half siblings and they wanted to get to know Lucinda better before revealing themselves to her. Royce in particular had anger towards Lucinda for "abandoning" them when they were kids once the teenaged Lucinda left home after high school. Royce and Lucinda never got along, but Neal and Lucinda formed a strong friendship and Neal ached to tell Lucinda the truth -- but Neal was murdered before she had the chance. This had been the planned storyline all along (which was why Adams had signed only for 6 months.) The problem for the TV audience was that Neal had become a very popular character in her short stay and her death was a very unwelcome plot twist -- especially since the storyline offered no satisfying ending for the Neal/Lucinda relationship. Lucinda found out about Neal being her sister AFTER Neal's death. So there was very little emotional payoff for the audience. Doug Marland unfortunately died during this storyline's arc and my suspicion/hope was that, if he had lived and had seen the onscreen chemistry between Adams and Hubbard, he might have changed the story to allow a real sister relationship to occur between Neal and Lucinda. Lucinda came to care for Neal as a friend and that allowed Lucinda to trust again -- which I believe was the really important part of this storyline. Maybe Marland could have asked Adams to extend her contract by another 6 months or maybe change her murder to simply an attempted murder? Anyway - Marland died in March of 1993 and Adams fulfilled her contract and was gone by June of 1993. Royce was eventually revealed as Neal's killer (it had been an accident during one of his multiple-personality episodes) and Lucinda attempted to repair her relationship with him. But Terry Lester (who was an amazing Jack on YR) was not nearly as charming or interesting as Royce (which led some soap journalists to snark that Marland had killed off the wrong sibling) and without Marland to champion the character, Lester/Keller was gone by 1994.

Yes, it's brand new on Mitch's channel. (Thank you, Mitch!)

In her interview with Alan Locher a few years ago, Alison Rice shared that when Parker Posey was offered the movie, Posey asked ATWT if she could be allowed to take time to film it. TPTB said no and Alison remembers Posey saying, "Well this is a great opportunity and I'm not giving it up" and she abruptly left ATWT.

100%. Thank goodness Marland always had about 10 storylines cooking each week to keep the show interesting. It helped distract from the Crawford mess.

But Marland wrote Rex Smith out of the show a few weeks after the story ended. And Frannie was written off as well. I'd love to read Marland's story projections for late 1992 and early 1993. Perhaps he had written some future ideas/plans for the two characters? I'm assuming he finalized a 6-month projection prior to his scheduled surgery.

From the outset, Marland planned to make Daryl Carolyn's killer. I wonder why he changed his mind at the last moment. It robbed the story of an amazing climax and both Daryl and Frannie exited the show (separately) not with a bang but a whimper. It made the entire 18-month mystery a waste of time.

Yes, it's annoying that all of February 1987 is unavailable on YT except for the pivotal Feb 16 episode. But at least we have that.

https://www.soapcentral.com/as-the-world-turns/news/2009/0525-march.php

I like Teddy but he seems to have already become defanged. He was introduced as a "menacing" guy who had strict control over his family and businesses but now he appears passive and weak -- especially with the introduction of his ex, Nicola. And we have had zero scenes of him and Sharon alone together -- absolutely zero. Only a few scenes in the Vic. If they are having a big romance, shouldn't we be privy to that? We see intimate scenes between Denise/Ravi, Denise/Jack, Martin/Stacy, Suki/Eve, etc. But nothing showing the growth of Teddy/Sharon. Bring back Stevie!

Killing off Martin was a huge mistake -- as most of the deaths have been in Eastenders history. They bring in big ratings/attention to the show, but only briefly. Once the shock value is over, the deaths rarely sustain any long-term storylines. And they are almost always regretted by the show's current and future creators. I understand that the actor wanted to leave but why not recast him? Crush his legs and then send him off to rehab for a year. After all, James Bye was a recast himself! The show was built around the Fowlers and now that family has been decimated. Such a short-sighted decision. Talk about a legacy character: Martin's existence was confirmed during Pauline's visit to Dr. Legg's office in the very first episode. I could see Martin becoming the cranky old senior for the show's 70th anniversary, just like his grandmother Lou Beale. Full circle. But no longer.

Steve has a great "farewell" scene with Lucinda which is right before Christmas '86. It reaffirms Betsy's love and respect for him. He leaves for Greece shortly afterwards hopeful that he can make a new start for them. Everything that happens afterwards, happens offscreen.

Interesting idea about Nancy. I think Marland gave the story to Lisa because of her southern roots? Also, the latent prejudice made for better drama because Lisa was closer to Duncan and Jessica; the conflict felt more intense. Overall, though, the prejudice seemed odd: Lisa didn't mind them being in a relationship (and I don't think she minded them getting married) but she had a problem with a mixed-race child being born from the union.

Marx fulfilled his original 3 year contract and then left for L.A. Marland did, in fact, leave the role of Tom open as long as he could (6 months) in the hopes that Marx would return. Bryce also left when his contract expired but (as we saw) he basically had an open-door to return whenever he wanted. I LOVED Jennifer Ashe as Meg. Spunky, smart, wily, and forever-yearning. I hated how her marriage to Tonio made her a victim, but it did help to mature her. Meg was the sharpest of the Snyders and I was always happy to see her drop in for a short term visit post-1988. And Marland definitely rewrote Iva's adoption to allow a Lily/Holden love story. The revelation scene between Iva and Emma in the August 4, 1986 episode is very long (by soap standards) and covers a lot of exposition for a single scene. While beautiful and beautifully acted, the scene definitely feels like it was surgically added at the last minute.

I totally agree. Pine was over-the-top slimy (as Channing was indeed written) and it was one of those fun "soaps-in-the-summer" murder mysteries. The story itself served no long-term purpose (a short-term character murdered by another short-term character) but it managed to involve most of the Walsh/Snyder clans and it was over within a few months. (Wish the same had been true of Carolyn Crawford...)

At the time, I totally bought Iva's "sacrifice" for Craig. Pre-therapy, Iva definitely had low self-esteem + she felt enormous guilt for the destruction that Tad had caused her family and friends. She REALLY loved Craig and knew that the only reason Craig was in prison accused of a murder he did not commit was because Tad had followed her to Oakdale to begin with. I agree: a longer Iva/Craig/Sierra story would have been interesting. (I, for one, never understood the Craig/Sierra appeal.) RIP Lisa Brown.

Actor Christopher Cass briefly took over for Breen while Breen became suddenly ill. (This is the infamous "mid-love scene" episodes). But Breen returned to continue the role after he recovered from his illness. Then a month or two later Neal was murdered and a distraught Scott disappeared shortly afterward. Breen was on-air until at least June of 1993.

I agree - the idea of Scott had amazing potential: (Conflicts with Tom, a growing attraction to Margo, friction with Lisa, potential villain of the show, etc.) But from the get-go, Scott was written as a 30-something loser. Yes, he had his law degree and a cultured upbringing, but he did nothing with them. No career, no girlfriend/fiancee/wife, a difficult relationship with his father. Yes, some of those problems could be attributed to his lack of a mother and yes it created friction between him and Lisa -- but it wasn't interesting to watch. He was a whiner/complainer and was absolutely aimless in life. Joseph Breen had been a powerful actor on GL but he fizzled on ATWT. His relationship with Lucinda had promise, but Breen and Hubbard had no chemistry - and the relationship ended as quickly as it began. Then 1993 started and his relationship with Neal began -- and ended fast because of her murder. And Breen was ill, then replaced. And then Marland died. And Scott was written off (I don't even think Breen got a goodbye scene). I actually enjoyed the second iteration of Scott played by Doug Wirt. He was a bit of a con-man, a self-centered playboy. He had more edge -- which makes sense for a guy who led a privileged life and lived most of his life away at boarding school/university. THAT version of Scott was interesting.

Rick and Howard Lansing stole Sabrina and sold her. She was eventually adopted by a young British couple. John Dixon was not involved in the plot but found out a few years later after the adoptive parents and baby Sabrina (he thought) were killed in a train wreck. Since the baby was dead, he decided not to tell Bob or Kim since he thought it might cause them unnecessary pain. In 1987, after finding Sabrina, Bob was determined to know the entire truth and tracked down Rick who was stuck in a Central American country (?) with no hope of returning to the US. I believe he finally admitted to Bob that John had nothing to do with it.