45 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

This is one of my favorite episodes that's available from 1979, for a whole bunch of reasons:

Yes, the Diane/Anne relationship was so well crafted. They had many scenes of being, I guess you could say, "frienimies." It was never really chummy--they worked across the hall from each other and for men who hated each other, so proximity and circumstance dictated they be somewhat cordial. I think Anne was smart enough to suspect Diane was out to get information from her, and it was an effort for Diane to be friendly towards a woman.

There's another scene I remember (I don't think it's available on YT, but it really stuck with me): Diane came over to Mike's office and insisted Anne take some chocolates someone had given her. The passive-aggressiveness from Diane, and Anne not wanting the chocolates (it's as if Diane thinks it doesn't matter if Anne gets fat or her face breaks out), the back-and-forth--it was amusing and a throwaway but also highlighted the uncomfortable nature on both sides of the relationship.

One of the things that bugs me about soaps is when there are heavy exposition dumps. Diane and Anne don't reveal any specific plot points in the scene, but they DO reveal that 1) Diane is becoming disillusioned with Alan and 2) Anne is lonely (most likely because she can't shake her one-sided feelings for Mike). Both have given so much to the men they work for and don't get a whole lot in return, and that's how a lot of women were feeling then (and many still feel that way).

Then Alan shows up later and emphasizes the way Diane feels by rejecting her come-on. This is before he and Hope fell in love, I don't think he even knows her that well at this point. He's already pushing Diane away, even though he and Jackie are in marital trouble because Alan lost custody of Phillip. Jackie was already thinking about leaving him when she found out she was pregnant.

NOW, about that Amanda and Ben scene in the stable, here's some context: Not long before this, she had finally consumatted her marriage with a guy named Gordon. Lucille had made her so afraid of sex that she was terrified of it and couldn't go through with her wedding night. One time in the sack with Gordon and BAM...she's totally over her neuroses about sex. She immediately gives Gordon the heave ho, but then she starts picking up strange men. The one she REALLY wants is Ben, who is oblivious because of Eve, but there were plenty of other good looking and willing guys.

Amanda had been studying piano for a long time. Apparently, becoming sexually free REALLY improves her piano-playing (no, I'm not making this up, that's what her teacher tells her--not about the sex thing, that the passion inside her has somehow been freed and that made her playing better) so she's getting more offers to do piano recitals. After one of these she picks up a guy who had been at the recital and sleeps with him. She disappears for a few hours and Lucille freaks and sends Ben to find her, which he does.

That's what happened before Ben and Amanda end up in the barn with half their clothes off. She'd JUST had sex with this other guy, and she's already vamping Ben.

The thing that really jumps out about this scene is how manipulative Amanda is, and I can't help but think they made her like that because she's Alan's daughter. (I'm not sure if that had been revealed yet at this point, but it was clearly planned for a while that she would turn out to be his child). There's a lot of nuance, though. She was messed-up because Lucille was a horrible mother, and that had a lot to do with how she acted.

Sadly, once Marland took over, a lot of the nuance in characters like Diane, Amanda, and Rita mostly disappeared. I SO wish we had more of the Dobson era, sigh.

OLTL is my favorite soap, but the Dobson era of GL intrigues me perhaps more than any other. Every thing I have seen or read of it comes off so fascinating, I really enjoyed reading this.

@DeeVee That's such a wonderful rundown of the Ann/Diane dynamics - gives me a lot of insight. I hope the chocolate scene shows up someday.

You're right about the women on the canvas lacking any real layers under Marland (there's Nola, but much is down to Lisa Brown). Long is much more hit-and-miss but the characters do have some life to them.

I appreciate the rundown of Amanda/Ben at this time. I first saw clips of them via the ClassicGL blog and Youtube channel (that was where I first saw any Dobson era material) but there's so much complexity we're missing out on just with these short moments.

I also appreciate them letting us see Stephen Yates stripping off his wet shirt in a way that lets us see just why Amanda is obsessed with him.

Kathleen Culleen did a very good job with this Amanda. I think she only loses some of her strengths when Marland arrives.

Millette as Sara seems so much older than in the 1973 episodes posted. The severe haircut ages her.

Thinking about hairstyles GL had a lot of actresses sporting short do's at one time or another.

Jackie, Elizabeth, Sarah, Hilary come to mind.

Leslie always had short hair and I think Peggy at one point.

Whereas you wouldn't see any Y& R ladies at that time with short hair.