Do you think Pratt even knows who "Marian" is? LOL. Colby her granddaughter has been on the show for, what, 2 years now, and has Marian even had a scene with her? Have always adored Marian (and Bassey), but I doubt we'll ever see much of her again. She is the type of quirky character that AMC used be known for....the type of character you'd never see on another show. These days, most of the characters are personality-less and seem more or less interchangeable.

Do you think Pratt even knows who "Marian" is?

Lol exactly. Pratt has no reason to even know Marian exists. And it's not like Frons or Carruthers is going to educate Pratt on people like Marian.

AMC is now totally in the hands of people who really don't know it. Anything pre-2003 (because after that is really all Frons, Carruthers know) is done. Even the associate headwriters Addie Walsh and Amanda L. Beall only joined AMC in the 2000s!

Has AMC ever had a headwriter unfamiliar with the show? Proabably Gordon Rayfield, and look how that turned out.

Lol exactly. Pratt has no reason to even know Marian exists. And it's not like Frons or Carruthers is going to educate Pratt on people like Marian.

AMC is now totally in the hands of people who really don't know it. Anything pre-2003 (because after that is really all Frons, Carruthers know) is done. Even the associate headwriters Addie Walsh and Amanda L. Beall only joined AMC in the 2000s!

Has AMC ever had a headwriter unfamiliar with the show? Proabably Gordon Rayfield, and look how that turned out.

This is what scares me most about Pratt. He has absolutely no connection to the show in any capacity. What was great about Washam and Broderick, and yes, even McTavish to an extent, is that they came up with the show and understood what made the show special. They were taught by Agnes about how to write for the show. The heirs to the HW throne should be writers they schooled. And say what you want about Babs and Jim, at least according to them, they had been fans of the show, so they had at least some emotional stake. I doubt Pratt ever saw an episode until after he got the call from Frons. I'm really trying to withhold judgment until Pratt's material starts airing, but I'm worried he's going to make too many wholesale changes that will make the show even more unrecognizable than it is now. At least now, we get token nods to history. Not sure we'll get that with Pratt. And if we do, that's a terrifying prospect too. Look at how his nods to history on GH turned out (Rick Webber as sociopathic serial adulterer!).

This is what scares me most about Pratt. He has absolutely no connection to the show in any capacity. What was great about Washam and Broderick, and yes, even McTavish to an extent, is that they came up with the show and understood what made the show special. They were taught by Agnes about how to write for the show. The heirs to the HW throne should be writers they schooled. And say what you want about Babs and Jim, at least according to them, they had been fans of the show, so they had at least some emotional stake. I doubt Pratt ever saw an episode until after he got the call from Frons. I'm really trying to withhold judgment until Pratt's material starts airing, but I'm worried he's going to make too many wholesale changes that will make the show even more unrecognizable than it is now. At least now, we get token nods to history. Not sure we'll get that with Pratt. And if we do, that's a terrifying prospect too. Look at how his nods to history on GH turned out (Rick Webber as sociopathic serial adulterer!).

I think the fact that Frons saw how well-received Carlivati's writing was at OLTL and yet did the exact opposite at AMC (hiring a burnt-out 20 year plus writer with no connection to the show's history) says alot.

I think the fact that Frons saw how well-received Carlivati's writing was at OLTL and yet did the exact opposite at AMC (hiring a burnt-out 20 year plus writer with no connection to the show's history) says alot.

I think the Carlivati thing was probably helped by Valentini... just like I think the B&E situation was helped by that horrid flake JHC. There's not a doubt in my mind that if JHC wasn't BFF with BSF, B&E would have been NE at AMC.

Because even when taken off the front-burner, these characters on Y&R and B&B are still on at least one episode a week (unlike Marian, who only shows up about three times a year now).

If you write this big storyline for Marian on AMC, long-time fans I think will be hard-pressed to find something they enjoy that is AGE-APPROPRIATE for her (although the long-lost-kid, while cliche, is probably the best concept, even if it is a history rewrite), while newer fans will wonder who this older woman is who is suddenly so involved in story. Whereas you give Kay or Jill a story on Y&R, or Stephanie on B&B, and the fans just realize it's "their turn in the spotlight", no matter which fanbase they are - old or new.

Here's the other thing - "Contract" doesn't necessarily mean "front-burner" A lot of actors on soaps now aren't on contract, but are front-burner (like Noah, Liberty, Janet on ATWT). It's just cheaper for a show not to guarantee a certain number of episodes a week for a lot of people, even if some weeks they DO meet what that guarantee would be. Marian could be non-contract for a HUGE story she's front-burner in for six months, and the fans wouldn't know the difference between contract and non-contract. And then when the story ends in a year, she just goes back to the back-burner. But half the time, people eating up screen time on soaps aren't even on contract in the first place.

I think "on contract" has taken on a different meaning on the message boards than what it really is. You don't need a contract to play a major role in story.

Well said, and I completely agree. I was reading a soap opera digest article about contracts recently and they said guarantees on new contracts are down to like 1 or 2 days a week, and a lot of time, they don't pay the overages when actors worked more than that. I'm sure they get paid for the days they work, but I think they said it was like "time and a half" or some arrangement LIKE that if they worked more than the guarantee. I wonder if I still have that article.

Even if they wanted to feature Marian/Bassey in a frontburner story, it would be more cost-effective for the show to keep her on recurring because in lulls in her story she would still be getting paid for (let's say) 3 days of work if she's on contract and only working one day that week. The only way the contract benefits the show is that it keeps the actor from walking away from the show in the middle of the storyline. I was stunned when Bassey was put on contract back in 1998 or so, because it showed they were really committed to the Marian/Stuart love story, but most of that love story was already told before she went on contract. She then settled into married life with Stuart and was fairly peripheral until around 2002 when they dropped her back to recurring. I seem to recall her only other bursts of storyline under contract was Stuart's presumed death when he had amnesia and was shacked up with Esther again at the Queen of Hearts diner, and when Adam paid Leo duPres to set Marian up in bed with the gigolo Paolo, who ended up dead afterwards.

What I enjoyed about Marian was her slutty flirtatiousness that just NEVER died....... until she married Stuart and that just evaporated. So she wasn't really viable to me anymore because what made her so great wasn't there anymore.

So I don't see a situation in which AMC would want Bassey back under contract.

As much as I love Bassey and Marian, I don't think ever in a million years would that happen.

I was thrilled when Bassey went on contract after the audience was won over by her pairing with Stuart, but it seemed as soon as she went on contract, her storyline dried up, and she's been wallpaper (if that!) ever since.

Personally, if I were writing, I'd write in a secret child that was born from Marian's affair with Tad. That would be devastating enough to potentially break up Marian's marriage to Stuart, shake up Marian and Liza's close relationship, and bring some Mid-to-late 20something sexy hellion to town who has it out for the Chandlers AND the Martins. Amanda Dillon needs a little devil to sex around with.

Brlliant. It would make perfect sense, involve lots of characters AND gve Amanda something to do. I say you storm the studio doors:)

Brlliant. It would make perfect sense, involve lots of characters AND gve Amanda something to do. I say you storm the studio doors:)

My only concern is that Marian wasn't off-canvas after the Marian/Tad affair enough for there to have been a secret pregnancy/birth established. She might have been, I just don't know, because I wasn't watching back then. I dread blatantly rewriting history, and if Marian was on every week for months and months after Tad/Marian's affair was exposed, then it just wouldn't make sense.

Anyone remember back then, or was Liza disgusted with her mother and Marian traveled the world for a few months to let tensions cool?

I don't think we'll see her in the same capacity that we are seeing Opal right now. If they do cast or recast Liza she might be on more, but only if that happens. IMO.

Edited June 29, 200817 yr by nell17

Pretty sure Marian left after the story wrapped up.