The Doctors

[Paul Raven]

Jumping ahead here but I wonder why Kathy Glass was given the role of MJ? 

Why not create a new role and have MJ written out?

[amybrickwallace]

 

Your guess is as good as mine. Lauren White is such a quirky and engaging kind of soap heroine that it's hard to picture anyone else as MJ.

[Soaplovers]

I saw kathy glass in one episode as MJ...she didnt have the warmth and quirkiness..imho.  she wasnt bad though

[amybrickwallace]

I know...she was like an entirely different character.

[amybrickwallace]

It looks like Kathy Glass started in December 1978. 

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[danfling]

Was she hired when Doris Quinlan was the producer?   She and Ms. Quinlan had worked together on One Life to Live.

 

Kathy Glass had also been a favorite of writer James Lipton.  He hired her for both his The Best of Everythings and, then a little later, the serial Return to Peyton Place.

 

I had long wondered why she left the role of Jenny on One Life to Live.  (I definitely preferred her over Brynn Thayer.)

Edited April 12, 2019 by danfling

[amybrickwallace]

No, Chuck Weiss was producer at the time. He left the show in 1979, and I think Doris Quinlan was the next producer.

 

I read in an old interview that Kathy chose TD because it was a half hour show as opposed to OLTL at an hour. She and her husband had just adopted a baby and the format of TD gave Kathy more time to spend with her daughter.

Edited April 12, 2019 by amybrickwallace

[Paul Raven]

I had forgotten that previous to this Carla Dragoni also played MJ.

I wonder if she was dropped when Kathy became available.

Did Kathy go straight from OLTL to TTD?

[Paul Raven]

Here's a photo I'd never seen before

[amybrickwallace]

 

I don't know exactly when Lauren left TD, but she first began airing in July 1975, so I would assume summer of 1978 if she signed a standard three-year contract. I don't know when Carla Dragoni began/stopped airing, but I do believe that she was indeed dropped due to Kathy Glass (a much bigger name) becoming available. I don't know what the gap was between her last airdate on OLTL and first on TD.

[MichaelGL]

Watching some of the episodes that are currently airing on Retro, with the exception of the Ricky storyline, Mel and Ethel Brez aren't actually that bad so far. I'm really liking Greta's antagonistic relationship with her mother, the fall out from the Luke/Eleanor/Doreen storyline is hitting all the right beats, and I'm intrigued by Erich's behavioral problems. Plenty of these was started by Marland, but I think the current writers are doing a good job finishing or continuing his stories. 

[amybrickwallace]

I agree with all that, plus Mona's sadness at Steve and his family's impending move out of her house and into his own. Mona loves her kids and grandkids more than anything, and dreads the loneliness she will feel at living by herself in her mansion. Of course, the hints are that she won't be alone for long once Jason and Nola wed - but Meg Mundy did a great job conveying sadness at a situation that viewers can relate to.

Edited April 14, 2019 by amybrickwallace

[victoria foxton]

I've been enjoying the Brezes way more than i ever enjoyed Marland. So far the Brezes are doing a good job. TD feels much more cohesive. I wonder when the Brezes when off the rails? I'm going to miss Eleanor. Also liking the new Sarah. 

Edited April 18, 2019 by victoria foxton

[amybrickwallace]

I'm not sure. Maybe the Brezes and the other writers are still going off Marland's story outlines?

[amybrickwallace]

One of the episodes from yesterday showed Tom and MJ Carroll at their first Parents Anonymous meeting. Others in the support group were played by Priscilla Lopez (A Chorus Line), Nancy Snyder (pre-OLTL) and Anna Maria Horsford (pre-Amen and pre-B&B).