Thanks.
I'd never heard that story about BK Perlman. I actually enjoyed RH more during the brief strike period than I did the rest of that year.
I find 1988 strike-period ATWT fascinating as you can see the outlines (for instance, the building up of the Langes, the arrival of Hank Elliot) yet there are a slew of moments which go extremely off the rails; the whole Laura mystery turning into very woozy '50s noir; in such a short space of time Lien and Pam being held hostage, especially since Robert Tyler was wasted when in another universe he would have been the ideal Marland angsty cornfed hero. The show becomes much pulpier alongside the more traditional elements (the episode where Betsy learns the truth about Josh/Meg having some lovely moments with Mac's daughter accepting Nancy).
Those little moments like the one with Kim and Seth always stand out for me because Marland just had such a specific style and focus on relationships (I don't remember Betsy and Kim ever being as close under his pen, although they were still a part of each other's life). It's interesting seeing the show briefly broken free of those constraints, although when they were permanently broken free...you see the end results in 1993 and 1994.
I do wonder if he still would have had the same plans for Meg/Josh if not for the strike. I suppose Jennifer Ashe wanting to leave also made that easier (not sure if it was Bill Fichtner's choice to leave or not).
I still wonder if the strike affected any of his plans for Beau and Pam too as they didn't exactly have great material from then on and then Marland dumped them both less than a year later.
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DRW50 ·
