Richard Culliton

Marland died in '93...legend has it he outlined the character of Carly, and because he worked so far ahead (outlines a year in advance) I believe that. But the actual writing would have fallen to the actual writer at the time.

That's the thing- could it be argued that ATWT from 1993-95 was essentially running on auto-pilot as Marland's vision was being played out, albeit tweaked by whoever wrote the show at the time?

As for blocking Stern and Black...three words...ModelPaul, Sarah and Zoe. I think I blame the horrible "Who Killed Diego?" mismash on them too. Making my Kirkadoodle a killer. Bah-humbug.

B/S were not merely atrocious, but frighteningly prophetic of what was to come on Daytime to the extent that people are now asking if what we see on soaps today is really that much worse! There's only one thing noteworthy about 1996, it has to be said, and that was John dumping Lisa on the big screen...

When you look at everything, however, that has happened with ATWT in recent times I think I can come to this conclusion. The show still has the vets and history, even though these have been severely under-utilised in recent years. But they are still there! Despite the damage that has been done and some of the atrocious writing teams that messed things up, I don't think it's entirely a lost cause if a decent EP and HW is put in charge- unlike some shows which have been fundamentally and chemically altered beyond recognition, ATWT might be eminently recoverable.