Mitch

This really explains to me why I never really liked Marland's work after the first year or so. In a totally more sophisticated way it comes of similar to that of JER..a man of a certain age who has some issues with his sexuality or is at least closeted to most of the world...(I remember him bringing the Marsha actress to the reclaimed Emmy ceremony and the mags saying she was Marland's "girlfriend") Uptight, pretentious, cold, sex scenes very clinical and "remote" and of course his fetish of beefy guys in jeans..(never understood why he made Holden a business guy..why not just have him take over the farm and ship boring Emma off to Kansas or someplace...) Its odd that a show so based on family had really cold families at the forefront...(say what you want about GL, and its dismantling of its core but what was left of the Bauer family, and the Lewis, etc, I always felt were like "real" familes and they dysfuntional Spaulding still felt like their were strong emotions involved...(watch BevAlex and anyone in her family..at her bitchiness you can see love and warmth and a stuggle to dominate for her family's own good..) At least, like any gay man, he wrote for the older divas Lisa and Lucinda !

I will never understand why PG never offered Curlee a consultant position for their soaps? Hell, if I was Laibson when I got the show I would have moved heaven and earth to get her over as a consultant or writer...offering a schedule that worked for her and protecting her from the corporate bullshit. By the time Rauch came along PG and CBS had changed so much they probably didnt know who Curlee was.

I don't think so..he was replaced by Bunim at ATWT and never heard from. I would think he retired as he was a P&G exec before he was a producer of the shows.

On ATWT Lisa seems very passive from her "Hey Day" and even how she acted later. Were they trying to transition her to romantic heroine? Interesting that Barthalemule was the producer in 78 and the dismantling of the Hughes family.

Ellen Parker's Maureen reminds me of Ina Garten (well, without the drinks and the gaggle of gay friends) They both had a similar and calming prescence..which, if shown to a focus group in individual scenes out of context..would seem boring, especially if they don't know the show. Show me a clip of Mo in the kitchen vs...someone else up to no good or dramatics and yes, its seems dull, but that kind of character, as I said was needed. I agree that Rick and Abby were on their way to tent poles..but the show was so invested in Jeva's lastest dumb ass storyline, San Crud, and the mob that they were overlooked (remember Abby's transplant storyline was truncated for San Cristobal crap.

HAHAHAHA... no doubt the most cheerful, helpful and all around full figured slut Selby Flats ever saw! "Now dear, would you like some pie and coffee or are you too worn out from the mind blowing sex???"

Most tentpoles are "boring" but shows need them. Bert wasn't exactly jumping in fountains... I think there were a ton of ancillary problems which made the impact of Mo's death worse. It was very apparent that JFP was moving the show from the Bauer kitchen to the diner with the Coopers at the center. I have no doubt she felt Frank and Eleni would be the new Ed and Mo but Melinda left and Frankie D didn't have the chops to become the moral center. The show became the Buzz Cooper Hour, and of course Simms, McKinsey also left at this time. The show also did not have a matriarch in place. If they had brought back Meta right before the death, or at least right after, the hole would not have felt that big. The whole tone of the show changed at that time, and a lot of it had nothing to do with Maureen's death. I do think one of the main things that was so big about this as shows have always treated death so cheaply. People returned from the dead, beloved core characters died peacefully in their sleep of old age, but this death felt real, almost too real.

Poor Frank..he really is Frank Cooper, a dumb nice guy. Apparently Melina was desperate to get out of her pairing with him and have more scenes with Deas or the AM actor, but Frank was always apparently oblivious to it! I like Ehlers better as a middle aged cranky person then her bitter shrill thing she had going when GL was on life support.

It was a great story and use of history...too bad Sabrina was a total Marland dullard! Clips of her and Seth were most likely used to put people under before surgery! If anyone could make Frannie look like a free spirited vixen it was her sister! Oddly enough on Datalounge Seth is quite the fantasy stud to some posters!

That annoying girlfriend of Andy..etc. I always wanted Sabrina to be more like Dinah on GL (without Moniz playing her and without the constant whining.) The Hughes needed someone besides Babs in their circle who was not content, polite and upstanding (the show missed out during the Dobson years of not having a strong Hughes family and having them having to deal with Colin's pushy, loud Margo and her annoying father, by the time the Hughes were repaired Margo had assimilated into the family. I was really good with them recasting Sabrina as that twin crap was so cliche and beneath Marland. A more conflicted Sabrina bouncing up against the family standards would make soapy fun. That Indian character boarder of Lyla's SCREAMED "Socially Relevant Plot Character shoe horned in to the show." GL crashed as soon as Curlee and Demorest left and JFP had a free hand. Making it the Buzz show was just the first step in killing the show. Before that, the show was perfect soap. More free wheeling, funny, sarcastic, and big hearted and sexy then Marland's ATWT came at this time.

True, which made it unfortunately easy to go off the rails, but I do remember around this time I just got fed up with Marland's ATWT while GL was going great guns. He was so good at plot and structure, and usually history, I just wish he had someone to give the show energy and fun. Oakdale is a damn earnestly boring place there.

Comparing ATWT to GL at this time..the show was so damn stuffy. I love Bob and Tom having drinks in their suit and ties like it was 1972, (Holmes makes Tom such a prig in this) and while I love them finally deal with the fact that Lisa used to be a bitch on wheels...Tom as a kid kind of knew it as she left him to be raised by Nancy and Chris for a while. Lyla has a lot of nerve with her attitude after her own lying for years about parentage (usually Marland was better with history) and isnt Oakdale in driving distance to Chicago?? A big plane flys from Chicago to Central Illinois.

This looks great..and I have to say, Morgan's former pretty boy face has aged very well..which is not the case for most guys like that. I didn't even recognize Simms! Hayden and Seagrove havent changed.

God I love that, and its not the first or the last time that Emily would hear that! The show was so much fun then..and then we have the 93 episode which was so dour and depressing, Margo's rape and the unending discussion of her "HIV status" poor MKA being held in (I know its me, but I just see a sedated depressed India there, why waste her on Marland's dour show send her over to Springfield to insult everyone she sees.she should be bickering with Alex, not confiding in Lucinda) We went from the Hughes kitchen to that damn Snyder Farm (apparently Marland thought every farm was still in the depression era...)

Jill Lorie Hurst said the same thing on the GL Facebook page. The 80s and 90s blew the budgets on all the shows. What a bad recast for Natalie and a really dumb storyline...( a movie filmed in Oakdale, how did they think they were going to work Natalie in long term? I had thought that about the bookstore...make it a coffee house bookstore and the town would all come in.. Fashions was kind of limiting as only women would go there and it just didnt seem to be a good gathering spot. Why did the Dobsons leave the first time?

I think Nola thought more of Ed as an annoying stuffy big brother, but weirder things happened. I do think that Ed and Nadine could have been fun or when they had Selena living over the Bauer garage..tho it wasnt Simon playing him at that time. I much prefer Nola/Ed then Nola/Buzzard but...

I agree they did just drop Nola and the Ed, until Simon left. I think if I was TPTB that I would have told Simon do what we say or here's the door, which he took that Spring, which the perfect time for a recast and then a pairing with Nola. I think with the right actor, someone who wasnt as dour it could work. I think she did but I don't remember a scene. I think with Simon pitching a fit they just said [!@#$%^&*] it. He didn't even have much to do with Rick and Blake story. All of this kind of goes to my thought that they just should have written MarjAlex off and I would have had Van in her place. Say Alex had to go take care of Victoria and instead of leaving her shares with Alan, left them to Van drawing her back into Spaulding. This causes friction with boring Matt (and causing untold stress on the annoying freaking Mattessas) and Van takes on the old BevAlex role, strong middle aged woman who takes no [!@#$%^&*] but is not EVIL. Nola's fued with Van was stupid as when she left town they were fine (well Van was acting like a dowdy simpering wife to Billy, if you think Mattessa was bad you should have seen first round post marriage Van/Billy) but I think they just annoyed each other at the same time as kind of liking each other, so I think Nola would just be around to prick Van's aristocratic balloon more then fight with her. "Vanessa, Dinah is not that bad, remember when you would come to the boarding house to seduce my brother in nothing but a fur coat??")

I do think Nadine and Nola could have been a fun AbFab duo..after they fought it out about the dumb attic situation. Nola would know what it was like to be desperate and lie about a baby to keep a man. As I have said, Buzz should have been killed by Brent/Marion not Nadine. I don't know why the didn't just have Quint "die" as in disappear in a tomb collapsing when they brought her back. It could have happened years ago off camera and the characters would act like they knew it and Nola has been searching, couldnt find his body. The Quolas would have a fit but it was better then the cheating and bitter Iva/Nola. She came back to Springfield to "fix" both Bridget and Michelle's life (the worst part of McTavish writing of Nola was not connecting her as Chelles aunt (they even had her calling Nola "Mrs.Chamberlin") At first she desperatley tries to fill the void of Maureen, but can't do it and quickly realizes it. During that time she would run afoul with Ed always (always funny to see Simon's dour Ed upended) sass Roger as she did in a couple scenes and I actually think she and Marj's Alex would have been funny together, after she inherits stock from both Quint and Henry. And instead of Quint coming back have that guy from Days (who subbed for the Quint actor) play a cop or someone who gets involved with nosy Nola.

LOL..I loved Ellen and Lisa's "feud" which was not out and out war but realistic sniping at each other..they just totally did not like each other..so refreshing on Marland's ATWT. Lisa would have been the easiest character to write for, she knows everyone and had no trouble involving herself with everyone. I know Eileen woudlnt like it but she doesn't NEED to have a storyline and she fits into everyone's, friend or nemesis. She could have been used as Marland used many characters, as a connector between storylines. I thought a good storyline would be for Dr. Shea to come back with the cliche plastic surgery. I would have "Chuckie" still be alive..(contrary to what Eileen told Marland, "Nancy Hughes buried him, whoever Nancy Hughes buries stays DEAD!") I would have him run a clinic for the disadvantaged that Ellen would get involved with fundraising for and then fall for him, meanwhile, Lisa would befriend this nice young guy who would be exactly Chuckies age. She would hire him for one of her many businesses, etc. Shea would have told the kid that Lisa was a woman who had wronged him and run him out of town and that they are there to fleece her out of her fortune. I would bring Betsy back and Shea would send Chuck her way to seduce her. There Shea trys to get his revenge on Lisa, and Claire's daughter and grand daughter. I know Lisa has a long lost kid but how many did John Dixon have?

HAHAHA.. Actually Marland would have Emma come in and wonder at all the "frocks" for sale and say all she needs are her overalls and her "Sunday Church Frock" and Lisa would be in awe of her down home honesty and values. Even though she does not know her, she would say "Come back dear, when it's Lily's Birthday Celebration Sale..now we are closed on the actual high holiday but the week before..."

LOL..I was watching ATWT at the Student Center between classes and when Lisa Brown first appeared as Iva..a very large football player yelled out "Nola REARDON..what the hell are you doing in Oakdale!" and everyone was laughing.

It all looks really good and funny..I guess the last ten years of GL has lowered my standards. I wonder why they didnt make Bridget Stacey? She looked so much like Brown and it would make sense that Stacey would be sent stateside while Nola and Quint are on a dig, and maybe A.J. sent too, Ed and Mo would have to deal with two teens. Brown and Hayden's chemistry was still the same at the last week appearances..even Hayden the Peter actor were good together.. Its too bad that GL ..didnt build on the Reardon family with Nola facing her nightmare she is now in my Mom's place, the Reardon matriarch and running the Boardinghouse and getting into everyone's business. I found the Coopers hopelessly drab and depressing. Yes, I don't think Ferrel is her old skinny self (who of us from that time are???) and it would have been good to have a recast back during the Stalker storyline is Roxie better or is she the stalker, and to have Roxie take Reva's side against Cassie during the Richard mercy killing..(I always wanted for Cassie to go full on sneering BITCH after his death the part she was destined to play...) I do wish Reva's weight gain was addressed..and she comes to the conclusion that her sexiness comes from something else. Kimmer looked exactly as Reva would look in middle aged, the girl has an appetite you know!

Wow..cool Farrel is doing this! I wish they would do a crossover Divas show with Zimmer, Fulton, Hubbard, Garrett, Kinkaid, etc.

I thought so...it was cool that she was that unabashedly excited about the showing winning and the company producing it...(had to laugh, how soon PG's investment in their shows would change..) Does she talk about her soap past?

Who was the woman on stage handing out the Emmy jumping up and down "Saying YES.. P & G..." when ATWT won?