MarlandFan

Every few months I check out the Internet Archive website hoping that maybe by chance some of those Marion Stokes videos "accidentally" recorded an afternoon of 1980s/1990s soaps. What a treasure trove she left behind.

After he left acting I believe he became a private investigator? But he really did fall off the radar. There is very little in the way of a digital trail for him because he left acting before the internet became the big monster that it is. btw - I see a couple of his autographs for sale on eBay.

I'm all for showing previously unshown portions of the Black experience, but why can't we have a soap that focuses on several different classes at the same time? I agree; I'm also not interested in seeing the "ghettoized" (Val Jean's term) -- but what about the middle class? Educated, professional people who are struggling to make ends meet (like most of us) and who are dealing with relatable problems. I remember when "The Bold and the Beautiful" began -- the show focused on a wealthy family and a lower middle class family. It was far more interesting than the version we have today where EVERYONE has designer clothes and never worries about paying rent.

Every single character on YR and BB is either upper-middle class or filthy rich. They are dressed to the nines and with not a hair out of place. It's completely unrealistic and unrelatable. Viewers don't want yet another soap that shows excess and corporate takeover storylines. We want a soap about real people struggling with real problems. I'll be tuning in to "The Gates" but I'm worried it will be more of the same. Glam, Botox, and name brand clothes.

Marland absolutely ignored his own writing rules with the Barbara "vamp" story -- but only with the speed in which it was rolled out. It did happen overnight but there was a lot of good reasoning behind the change: her loss of Brian brought up a lot of repressed anger over past failed loves (Tom, Gunnar) and the fact that Margo DID cheat with James behind her back. After years of being a doormat, Barbara decided to become powerful. Granted, she did it incorrectly by trying to destroy Tom and Margo (perhaps she learned too much at the feet of Stenbeck) but after that plot ended, she quickly "evened out" and became merely strong and feisty, not evil. I think we can all agree that Barbara became a much more interesting character because of Marland's change. AND it gave Collen Zenk an opportunity to grow as an actress. AND it allowed her to stay with the show to the end (a weak, victimized Babs would have been written off long before).

It was all about money and running an efficient production schedule (again, money). During that "pod" era (and even to this day on the surviving soaps) a typical episode usually consisted of scenes that had only two characters. For instance, if Jack and Carly were having a conflict, their argument/dialogue would be stretched/padded so that it lasted for 5/6 separate scenes. Those scenes were interspersed throughout the episode with 5/6 separate scenes of Bob and Kim dealing with a conflict, and 5/6 scenes of Barbara and Hal, etc. Each episode was therefore cheaper to produce because they only had to pay 8 to 10 actors. And the unionized technical crew no longer could charge for overtime because they were no longer filming beyond the regular working hours (wedding scenes, birthday parties, etc. would often film late into the night.) It certainly was an efficient business model but it made for very boring, inert, vapid viewing experience.

Holden drove straight from Oakdale to NYC to confront Julie about having fathered a child with her (Aaron). He was so determined to get clarification that he didn't tell Lily (or anyone else) about the impromptu trip. After meeting with Julie (who told him everything) he left to drive back to Oakdale. As he was approaching his car, he was mugged and severely beaten by thieves who stole his ID, cash, and car -- leaving him for dead. Julie, who was leaving for a European trip, assumed Holden had made it home. She had no contact with anyone back at Oakdale, so she didn't learn about his disappearance for months. As for Lily, she and Holden had had a big fight right before he left (related to her miscarriage and the tension between them), so she assumed he had just abandoned her -- which no one really believed (including Lily herself) but without any other evidence, what other reason was there? Linc discovered Marcy's true personality and caught her bed with another man. Marcy left Oakdale but "triumphantly" claimed that she was pregnant with their child and that she was going to come back and sue for child support. I don't believe Marcy ever came back. And Linc eventually left (but came back recast with another actor and an entirely different, toxic personality.) He was eventually murdered by Ned Simon who was avenging his daughter Debbie's deflowering by a suddenly-scumbag Linc.

Wow - I've never been on Rumble before. I understand that people have different politics, but there appears to be an inordinate number of conspiracy theory videos.

The Crawford murder mystery was indeed a stinker for all of the reasons you listed -- but it might have been slightly redeemed if Marland had gone with his original killer.... Daryl. Years ago I purchased a copy of Marland's 1992 storyline projection on eBay. In it, Marland very clearly tags Daryl as the murderer. But something must have happened to change his mind as they got closer to the climax, because Marland switched gears. Which was a shame because having Daryl turn out to be Carolyn's murderer would have made the entire story worthwhile. Clearly, Marland was using this story to focus on Frannie's penchant for falling in love with bad guys (ex: Douglas Cummings) but for some reason he spun the story in a different direction in its final act. Which doesn't make sense -- why? Why redeem Daryl since both he and Frannie were being written off within a month of the story wrap up? Why not keep Frannie on canvas and truly explore why she makes such bad choices with men (Larry was a dick in Boston, Seth left her for Sabrina, and Sean was a liar and (I think?) a previous abuser.) But suddenly the story ended with a whimper leaving us all wondering -- what the hell was that?

Not with all 6 actors under contract. I'm pretty sure there were a wedding or two where all 6 siblings made appearances. (After they left the show as contract players, Steve Bassett and Jennifer Ashe visited often.) Maybe they were all present at Holden/Lily's 1991 wedding? And/or Ellie and Kirk's?

Very true. The report I watched did NOT infer that Hubbard was having financial issues -- it was strictly conveying the frustrations of both Hubbard and her son that the long-term care insurance was refusing to pay. Such healthcare costs can easily be in the $10-15 thousand range -- per MONTH! So even those who are well-off (as I assume Hubbard to have been) would want to begin collecting from such policies -- especially since she had been paying into it for years.

Elizabeth Hubbard won two competitive Emmys. One for "The Doctors" and a second for a TV film, "First Ladies Diaries: Edith Wilson." I definitely understand that several other soap actresses have won (many) more than 2, but my point was that Hubbard's having already won 2 Emmys was perhaps one of several factors as to her many ATWT losses over the years.

Since tastes are subjective, the Emmy (or Oscar or Tony) rarely goes to the best performer. Some voters may have disliked Hubbard's personal attitudes or her "ad lib" acting style or thought she had already won enough (2 competitive). I truly think the honor is in being nominated. (That being said, I still don't know why Kathryn Hays never received a nod.)

It's crazy that Anne Sward is only 8 years older than "son" Scott Bryce. She's 34 years old in this 1984 episode of Tattletales.

Larry was realistic about soap work. While it was a solid paycheck which allowed him to do less-lucrative NYC stage work, I think he was embarrassed by the occasional ridiculous storylines that soaps are often guilty of. And he was honest about the daily grind of soap production: I'm paraphrasing him here, but once during an interview he stated that soap actors were occasionally guilty of "phoning it in". We all do it, me included." But I think Larry recognized that soaps can achieve greatness; when the scripts/stories were good, he gave it his all.

Very true. Time and again the writers (and casting department) dropped the ball with Chris. He should have become the "new" Tom; the lead male character of the show. It would have been a natural progression; he was connected/related to almost every character on the show. But somehow he was always portrayed as a disappointing, second-rate son. So much wasted potential.

I loved Lindsay Frost's Betsy. I wish the actress (and the character) had stayed.

I clearly remember that scene when Hank confided to Barbara that he was gay. She was very loving and accepting and inferred that she had already guessed his sexuality, stating that being in the fashion industry she was no stranger to gay men. Doug Marland always kept his characters 3-dimensional: Barbara was capable of being a major b!tch but was also capable of great kindness and sensitivity. I've looked for that episode on YT but have never found it.

Marland's scripts began airing in October of 1985, so while he was probably not responsible for the initial Craig/Lucinda tryst, he clearly saw their chemistry and kept a slow burn going over the next six months or so. Sometime in early 1986, the two began kissing passionately and Lily walked in on them. Craig, ever the "big brother", had to calm Lily down and explain the situation to her.

I liked actress Mady Kaplan very much. She played a sweeter, Sad Sack-ish character on "Edge of Night" a few years earlier and that character was also murdered. The demise of that character (named Bobbie) tugged at the heartstrings. Marie's demise...not so much. lol After a quick Google search of her, I see that her mother was Frances Heflin who played Mona on AMC! Wow!

Yes - Marland was definitely facile with his plotting, even in the very structured 1986. For example, he certainly did not expect actor Don MacLaughlin to die and yet he was able to incorporate Chris's death seamlessly in the overall storytelling. And the recast of Tad Channing leads me to believe that he quickly revamped the original story to create a Who-Done-It. And there has always been the "rumor" that he originally intended to put Holden with Emily instead of Lily, and that when he realized the chemistry and story potential he had with a Holden/Lily pairing, he quickly resolved the incest issue by suddenly making Iva adopted.

Marland was so confident in his storytelling abilities during his first year. All of 1986 felt like one long, fully-planned-out novel. Oftentimes, soaps felt like they were being written "off the cuff" (which many of them were); reactive, inconsistent, with uneven pacing. ATWT's 1986 excelled, in part, because Marland came prepared with a full year (or two) of story AND he was apparently given total (or near-total) control of the show's direction. Marland's 1986 was (and is, thanks to those who were smart enough to videotape episodes and later share them on YouTube) a high watermark in all of soap history.

The only Marland-era 1985 episodes that have been posted on YouTube are Oct 16, Nov 1, Nov 11, Dec 24 and Dec 31. I've been downloading and collecting all Marland episodes for years and these 5 dates are the only 1985 episodes I've ever seen.

Not to be cold-hearted, but OJ did more than just kill Ron and Nicole. His trial, with it's almost daily preemptions, helped to hasten the death of soaps.