Mitch

LOL..thanks for giving me the coffee spit up of the day! The show was a real mess with this transition, but I never liked any of the Dobson's work on ATWT...they just didn't get this show. I know tastes are different in the late 70s but I could never understand how anyone thought the Brad actor would be the hot leading man of ATWT! Especially since he was such an ass (not a smart move to have your supposed leading man rip off Nancy and Chris Hughes!!) It seems the Joyce story was started with Marland...(he has Nancy and Chris going to SF...so I could see him having Joyce hiding around corners and following them..) and the Dobsons ddint know what to do with it...it started as Joyce disruping Don and Mary's life and then they just disappear and its Joyce vs. Lisa for Grant round 6,000. Then Joyce faking an illness to catch Grant...(this right after another woman had done the exact same thing..) and then...Joyce just leaves town and Grant disappears. Weird stuff. Then the Dobsons turn around two months later really and have Nick discover that his wife is really alive so then we have Kim battlling a bitchy ex wive..again! I never got where the Dobsons were supposed to be such genius..they just seemed to keep things afloat. The only time ATWT jelled under the Dobbies was when they focused on their limited amount of characters...(Tom/Margo..Babs/James...Betsy/Steve...John/Dee....) everyone else just stood around and did nothing. Interesting idea of having the Snyders low level hospital employees. Kind of interesting to see that other people then docs and nurse work at hospitals..Emma could have been head housekeeper. To tie her in with people and the Hughes family.

The only good thing about that kitchen is that in the first year or two it actually had a bathroom with a toliet we could see..meaning someone actually took a crap in Oakdale..(excuse me Luthor's Corners..was that supposed to be a town or what??Sounded like hell to me...) I wanted someone to actually be taking a big mean dump in there, while someone comes in the kitchen and starts telling who the baby daddy is, who they have been sleeping with, all you would see is the voice over with a close up shot of the dumper with the patented "Oh MY GOD!" look on their face. A twist on a Marland cliche.

I hated the Snyders at that time..(we knew as soon as we saw that kitchen the pace of the show would stop..) It DID seem another show when they came on and it looked goofy to see the rest of the characters waltzing around that kitchen (Lucinda did it to be overbreaing...) there is one clip of Lisa in full Lisa Make Up and Spangeld Dress walking around and it like WTF. ATWT didn't need a rural family it needed a more low income urban family to connect to most of the viewers and Marland wrote his farm family like they were from a bad 30s movie...(I grew up in farm country and most of the farmers were super rich...) Hated them and Marland's worst move with the goofy incest, etc. Having Emma be Lucinda's maid or cook would have worked better in pushing the Snyders and the Walsh together. Didnt they plan on burning down the farm at one time? I think the incest reveal thing happened as he draaaggged it on and on and think viewer reaction and TPTB told Marland to "just get it over with," so he did. It almost seems he did it in a bit of a huff.

Tom was still on but really, a Hughes in name only with Deas playing him. Babs was stuck in the endless James thing and rarely even had scenes with Kim at this point much less Bob. Nancy and Chris were gone. Yea it was depressing and weird and now I know why my Mom quit watching during the Dobsons.

LOL..thanks! Charmane was certainly not the best actress. I don't understand why she just dispeared and no one mentioned her again...(especially since she was actually Whit's wife not Lisa.) Maybe they thought she played better as a counterpoint to BVB's snobby uptight Lisa, as opposed to Fultons' earthier zippier Lisa...( I just remember the new Lisa sitting around and taking all of Whit's crap..) The clip of James is really typical James...all he did was stand around coming up with stupid schemes. Actually it was a waste of AH as he could play the Alan Spaulding (which is the type I think the Dobsons were thinking of) tortured anti hero/villain romantic guy better then most. But he just sat around twirling his mustache. I wish they had given him more depth. I don't mind this Frannie and thought she and Hastings had good chemistry, especially since Frannie and Bob were the only Hughes family left at that time....(Tom was off on his own really and didnt seem part of the family then.) Amazing how fast the next producer and the writers built up the Hughes family so fast and it seemed they never left.

I think Hope with RM with Buzz could have been good. In her scenes with him in the past she never let him take over, which is my main complaint with each and every "love interest," they had Buzz with. RM as a cynical Hope taking on Alan could have been good, and maybe pulling Buzzard in on her shenanigans...(Buzzard only worked for me as the con man they had him as the first few weeks he came on.) Actually I would have killed Buzz off instead of Nadine in the Brent/Marion storyline and could imagine the scenery chewing death scene he would give.

I didn't know this. When David and Ellen broke up the Dobson's should have brought a recast Don back to hook up with her, instead of some nobody Dr. that she screwed once or twice. Would be cool to see Ellen being like "Well, what if my life was different and I wasnt stuck with sour puss David?"

LOL on Hillard, I forgot about him..yea he looks good but he has that middle aged manorexic thing like the country singer going on...I know Jealous much? Its looks weird on someone over 40. Anyway, I looked him up to see what happened to him and he is sometimes on GH but the interesting thing is he posted a picture on GL of him and Bridge and Peter and the Peter actor's mom posted a pic of him now in college. Funny, still has the Peter face. I didnt think Hillard was bad as Hart, much better then Grrillo and he had the class to post Leonard's pic on his 50th birthday. Damn, Hart is 50 and Peter is in college, I am OLD! I remember back in the 90s on the old GL dis list and someone spotted the Hearst and Hillard checking into a hotel (not saying its true) but the posters wasnt making any accusations and the rest of the posters were so thrilled that they were in New York and maybe they were BOTH coming back to GL since they were together...ah, the 90's were a naive time werent they?

Don't forget Courtney, short, plain Courtney was also a world class model who was going to set the world on fire! LOL on all the company mentions on ATWT..I like business stories but also could care less..Marland seemed to think the only jobs people had were corporate sharks, doctors, lawyers, cops and farmers! At least GL always kept it Spaulding and Lewis...though EVERYONE who worked at Spaulding was a Vice President!

Funnily enough...Brown had more chemistry with fill in Quint that guy from Days. He made Quint more rugged and masculine and brought a little of that adventure thing back. They would have made a good couple but then they brought Tylo back and...they just didn't have it anymore.

What year was this? I think it may have been from the time Ross was running for mayor, senate or something and Alan was trying to stop him. Obviously the woman is a prostitute but I remember Alan putting drugs in Ross car not that..anyone else?

The Santos weren't so bad... they like everything else of that era had potential but was it was squandered as everything had to be BIG and all characters lost all subtlety. It could have been very interesting if they followed up with the orginal ideas of contrasting them with the law and order Bauers..but to make it worth a long term story the family should have been more shady then out right mobsters, with ties to organized crime...(for example..after Papa Santos dies Carmen made an effort to take them out of that world that is why they moved to the midwest, but old habits die hard especially if Carmen consistently failed in her attempts to enter SF society. The over riding mystery should have been Carmen...who would go on and on about what a great man Papa was, actually killed him in self defense. ) But they should have brought Mike in as her nemesis, paired her with Alan...( in her attempt to climb up out of the gutter, and I was so sick of RR with younger women...) and Alex was her main block to legitimate society and business. Carmen would hate Michele for killing her son (also seeing herself in Michelle and her husband in her thug of a son and all the guilt) but also want to use the Bauers to make a better life for her family. Alan is turned off by having someone actually as devious as he is..though not crazy like Annie..they end up actually being a good match which makes Alex on her guard..etc. The actress could have been good but they camped her out so much what could she do. Also, it would have been interesting to contrast the Bauer family, who were immigrants but made it good, to a new immigrant family who aren't so good. I thjnk Jordi could have worked (at first I laughed at him and thought of him as an underwear model) as he did have some acting..he tried, and he did have charisma, but we were all fed up with the Santos by then and Marah and he were a rerun. He would have been good as a cop or something who hated the family. The Prancing Princes never worked for me but I did like Edmund..always thought he would be good as another character, say the real Spaulding heir who didn't actually die (I have no idea how to explain that) and it would be funny to see Phillip knocked off his golden boy throne.

Fulton always plays the bitchy barbs with another diva thing well. I love how Lucinda and Lisa are both clawing at each other with their own different styles Lucinda is right..Fulton/Lisa look great in this. I loved Lucinda's "Well it depends on the circumstances...how young and handsome they are!" I wonder if that was an EH ad lib as Fulton lets it fly by. Yes, it really would have been great if they had brought back Scott instead of Craig and had the actor play him. Lisa and Lucinda could have gone at it for years...and really, why not have John and Lucinda marry??? If they arent going to carry a big storyline marry them off so we can see them snarking on Oakdale and each other. Damn, Kim was channeling her 1960s Nancy Hughes sterness there. I would never want her mad at me and I loved Zenk's look of "Oh [!@#$%^&*],": through the whole thing. Always kills me Oakdales big secrets are known to everyone but the main person...."Tom and Margo know too????" and sure enough, Lisa knows who everyone's baby daddy is too. I hated Daryl and the guy who played him..and the show slides to a halt whenever it goes to Snyder land. I liked the hot mobster but he sure is not as intimidating as Beacrofts one. Still amazed at how dark the show was in lighting.

That's funny as I was just thinking that while reading the GL topic. I didn't like her as Dee (she was so whiney but that was Dee) but did like her on the clips I saw on Search. I think she would have made a great Hope.

The only scenes they had together was during Bev's time off for her husband's death. Alex is trying to con the Chambelin's into selling their stock...(which was revised time and time again...) and giving them below what it was worth. That goofy computer kid figured it out and ran programs and Nola presented them to everyone's astonishment. I would have loved to see Bev and Brown together and Bev rolling her eyes at Nola but then becoming friends, much to Van's annoyance.

No..it was Simon in the 2000s. Why didn't Gentry last? LOL..I loved the Dreaming Death..but I was a kid at the time. Brandon not so much but I did like the Cabin Mystery up to a point and the doll and the "ghosts," were only seen by Annabelle and were more like flashbacks to the past. Ms. Piper was a more of a camp then the actual house and ghosts. Her ridiculous schemes and poison and tying Annabelle up over a hot stove..YIKES. Would have been more fun if snoopy Nola had been the one with the storyline and they could have just killed Quint at the end (I know the Qualos would've rioted but he had no where to go as a long term character...) and had Nola inherit tons of Spaulding stock to be a thorn in the side of Alex.

Concerning Ed and Mo relationship and Ed as patriarch. I was watching a You Tube dowload of the Christmas Episodes of I believe 88...(I started watching 1 clip at lunch and watch all 16 clips they were so good...) Long had just come back several months before after the strike and she and the show were on fire...so much was going on..the majority of the action was the Sonni/Will/Lewis stuff in San Rios..(a great thing about it was that while it was Reva and Josh all the Lewis and Shaynes were involved....unlike later..) but the annual Christmas Eve at the Bauers and anvils were falling like snow...maybe because I know what is going to happen but Mo and Fletcher have a nice moment with gifts (Hammer wasnt bad in these episodes and he an Mo had chemistry) its Holly's first episode and Mo says something like "Ed would prefer to spend time with Holly," and Alex is on to Mo and Fletcher having a friendly little crush (only months after Maeve kicked it..bad form people) A whole LOT of stuff was going on with the Sonni/Wills stuff hitting its stride going into the conclusion of it and all of the stories gearing up for the return of Roger and Holly, Blake becoming a holy terror, and Ed and Mo splitting up, and Alex and Fletcher (not to mention Rick and Meredith who I had forgotten about. Anyway, geting back to my point..they have a scene where Ed tries to get Mo to go on vacation with him..he is going on about how many years they had Christmas with people all around and coming back from their honeymoon and her whole family was waiting for them and Mo being so busy (she was helping Fletch after Maeve died) but its interesting that Long was laying out the difference in Ed and Mo in that he was more of a loner and Mo was the earth mother involved with everyone so it makes sense when he is drawn back to Holly not only for their past but also their personalities. Holly mentions that she coudl NEVER throw a party like that and the house was never this full when they were married etc.(not only did they try to make her matronly Holly was more snooty bitchy at this point) At that point Ed did NOT make a good patriarch as Long was writing him to character, he was quiet,self contained and kind of cold, while Mo was open, big hearted and generous. The show could have used Mike at that point (I wish it was Mike who crashed in the plane with Alex on Roger's island...good story there.) I was really suprised how much I enjoyed Long's writing. But I think when Ed came back under Taggert, he was in a place to be patriarch and he was written accordingly. He had been held captive but he was tougher (even threatening Carmen in a really good scene.if only Ed was around the whole time Carmen and he had a good push pull there.) and sadder and wiser, and more open in his quiet introspective way. Ed at this time had done it all and made a good sounding board. Its too bad that soaps were so loud and cartoony by then that the writers following had no idea how to use this quiet man and instead threw the town patriarch to loud obnoxious Buzz.

GASP!!! Cooper???? Surely you meant Reardon..Mo was in no way related to that scenery chewing waste of space Buzz and his historically revised "good core family," of self righteous twits! Yea, I thought they were on a roll with Rick and Abbey being a nice core couple but then they never wrote for them and the actress left and O'leary started mugging non stop for the attention and well..it all went to hell.

I agree..no to Roger and Maureen. Roger would have been totally nuetered as a characters as there is no way he could be manipulative and *mean* to Mo the way he could with Alex, who could hold her own in that area and Holly. It would have dumbed down Mo who, knew what Roger was all about but still would give him the benefit of the doubt and understand him. They worked as friends. If Mo had lived I would have loved to have seen her leave Ed, and take over the Boarding House and work with Bridget. At that time Bridget would have come to her and told her about the baby and Mo would have been supportive and offered to take care of, and adopt the baby so Bridget could live her life as a young woman but the kid would remain in the family. Bridget would agree as long as they covered up the baby daddy thing. Eventually Ed would reunite with Mo and then the whole baby fall out would happen when Ed finding out the baby he adopted is Roger's grandson. Mo of course would insist on allowing Roger access with both Ed and Bridge fighting her. That would have sidelined that STUPID attic storyline and Nadine tricking Billy of all people.

Well both, but I meant Doug and Pam..I just see them driving each other crazy.

I It was probably me. I always thought they would have been a dream team...Marland would have kept Long on plot, and organized and he would have preserved the core and used history. Long would have brought strong men, (the only strong men in Marland's world were villains, if they turned good they were wusses) realistic male friendships, sex (Marland acted like it was icky most times) humor and heart....(my main complaint with his ATWT that is was so damn cold.) I would love to have seen what Long would have done with Lisa and Lucinda! They would also most likely have fought like cats and dogs.

Lillian also commmented during that scene that Reva walked out of a dress shop with toliet paper on her show...which actually sounds like Reva! This was also the time that Michelle must have forgot Nola was her aunt and called her "Mrs. Chamberlin," and then got gooey eyes for her cousin. One word for all of that, "McTavish!"

I have to say, Bev and Alex look so "classically stylish" here that she doesnt look dated at all like some of the other characters...(Reva.Big Hair, Im looking at you..) They could plop her down today and she would look great. Its too bad they didn't stay with this look for the whole run....(I don't think Alex would change her hair as often as Bev did...)

It was always amazing how Marland connected everything and how he would throw in exposition disguised as gossip (well as gossipy as the uptight Oakdalians could do) that caught us up on everything and let us know what characters know what and where they stand etc. He had no peers there.

AHHHH, Angel as a regular character, with that fake accent? The only time she was interesting was when she was fondling one of Marland's good ole letter openers! Plus, the Synders had their hands full obsessing about Lily, they didn't need another poor soul!