6 minutes ago, Mitch64 said:

and for the Brandon being the father side.. which I agree makes sense given what Marland wrote...(wasnt Alan really in love with Jennifers sister and just bonked Jane Marie for sympathy) including why did Brandon give Amanda to his secretary and why did he originally give everything to her in the will? A rapre or seduction would work as the reason Jennifer kept the lie up, and she and Amanda seemed to have a troubled relationship, explained by Jennifer being secretly resentful of her.

The story is already creepy enough as it is...

This is another case where context is missing because not all the episodes are available. Alan was engaged to Janice, so you have to assume he had feelings for her. But the impression I got from the flashbacks and my own memories is that they were headed for a break-up.

Jennifer simply was not interesting enough to have "seduced" a father and son the same summer. (Of course, it was rape regardless because she was underage). Yes, I can believe Brandon raped her; I can't believe she was clever enough to keep it quiet. At least not Marland's version of Amanda's mother.

If they had brought Jennifer back and found a way to explain it (suppressed memory could have worked) then yeah.

TBH, even the Dobsons original set-up made little sense. WHY give Amanda to a psychotic freak like Lucille? Even if she wasn't back then it still doesn't ring true.

I think they had something big planned when Amanda's mother was revealed, some interesting twist. Maybe that twist was Brandon being her father.

The whole thing was just really strangely put together from the beginning.

Edited yesterday at 03:20 PM1 day by DeeVee

51 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

TBH, even the Dobsons original set-up made little sense. WHY give Amanda to a psychotic freak like Lucille? Even if she wasn't back then it still doesn't ring true.

I think they had something big planned when Amanda's mother was revealed, some interesting twist. Maybe that twist was Brandon being her father.

That makes sense...giving Alan a sister...(maybe the inspiration for Alex..) would be a different spin on the who's the daddy. I'm sorry but I always thought Cullen was too wet of a blanket to be the Father of All Darkness's daughter. Now Poser I could buy (though she played it with a bit too much twinkle in her eye, Brandons' sire should be conflicted...the only problem I have with Poser as Amanda but during that time it was a welcome relief to have someone practically winking at the camera saying "I know none of this makes any sense but lets have fun." )

I can buy sicko Brandon giving Amanda to another sicko...if it was his he wanted it to be hidden and punished, and if it was Alan's he just he just wanted it punished. If it was rape I can also buy suppressed memories, and I can see that Brandon is well set to be a rapist as well "Now see if that son of mine still wants you!" Her memories would make her believe it was Alan's, recreating history. I don't know if the timelines work out, but what if Alex found Jennifer after the rape...that is the final straw and incentive to leave town for good. The parentage reveal happened when she was out of town, and she chose to go along with the lie when she got back...(or use it to her advantage later.) In Barbados after Brandon kicks she finds the will, and Brandon's confession and a typical Brandon tortue...either announce the will and give all power over to Amanda, or take the second will that leaves everything to his acknowledged children...hides that as well..thought I think Alex would be smarter then sticking it in a bust in the study.

2 hours ago, DeeVee said:

This picture popped up in my Pinterest feed. Does anyone have any idea when and/or where this was taken? It has to be after Mart and Lenore left GL and before Michael became visibly ill.

They all look amazing! Mart does too, which shows they had no reason to replace him, in fact he looks younger than he did in 1981 episodes

2 hours ago, DeeVee said:

This picture popped up in my Pinterest feed. Does anyone have any idea when and/or where this was taken? It has to be after Mart and Lenore left GL and before Michael became visibly ill.

This looks like either 1988 or 1989.

3 hours ago, DeeVee said:

This picture popped up in my Pinterest feed. Does anyone have any idea when and/or where this was taken? It has to be after Mart and Lenore left GL and before Michael became visibly ill.

Thank you so very much for sharing. I love this picture. They all look smashingly good.

1 hour ago, soapfave06 said:

They all look amazing! Mart does too, which shows they had no reason to replace him, in fact he looks younger than he did in 1981 episodes

WORD! Mart is cute as a button here. IMHO, he always has been.

5 hours ago, DeeVee said:

That's definitely a retcon. Amanda came back for a brief visit Christmas 1987. She gave adult Phillip her proxy (this was part of the set-up for Phillip taking over Spaulding the following year) and talked with him as if they had been in touch in the intervening years.

She and AM were closer, true, but that was mainly because she and Hope had maintained their friendship after both left SF. This was referred to during Amanda's 1987 visit, when she told AM she had a message from his mother.

They make AM/Amanda seem like virtual strangers in the 1995 return-part of it is keeping the different plots on islands. When she goes to the Bauer cabin to seduce Ross it’s literally the night Brent takes AM and her main concern is Alan is mad because she helped AM ditch the police tail. Shes far more concerned with Ross than with AM during the whole lighthouse kidnapping, though they largely keep Alex being more concerned with her rivalry with Amanda than with AM/Lucy too.

Is it Amanda being seen as a threat with Alan or something else that makes Alex hate her so much immediately to the point of obsession? It was never very clear to me.

15 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Floyd came in late 79 just before the Dobsons departed. Wonder what the plan was for that character?

Was he destined for Lainie Marler, another recent arrival? Or Hillary?

Lainie was another of those characters who deserved a comeback.

Why do new writers pretty much ignore past characters?

And please, I don't want to hear how they get paid extra to create new characters...

It doesn't really seem like Floyd ever had a pressing purpose. Maybe the Dobsons were just building up a family around Katie.

8 hours ago, DeeVee said:

TBH, even the Dobsons original set-up made little sense. WHY give Amanda to a psychotic freak like Lucille? Even if she wasn't back then it still doesn't ring true.

I'm not sure what Brandon's original personality was supposed to be, but given how he's later written as controlling, I could see them thinking that Brandon would've wanted to keep an eye on his grandchild, but also didn't want Alan to be tainted by some type of scandal for fathering a child with the underage sister of his girlfriend/fiancee.

8 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

I'm sorry but I always thought Cullen was too wet of a blanket to be the Father of All Darkness's daughter.

I'm going to disagree with that a little bit. One thing I liked about Amanda's early incarnation was that she had this fragile, socially awkward outward appearance, when she was actually very manipulative and clever. Which I think were her Spaulding traits, whether they came from Alan or Brandon. Even Marland picked up on it at first, but then he tossed them later and turned her into a neurotic woman who was easily fooled by men. (Let's face it, he did that to a lot of the female characters).

One of the problems with Amanda, both early and late version, is the rather silly backstory Marland created--Alan engaged to the one sister, the drowning (what was the point of that, even), seducing the underage sister. I think it would have made much more sense if they had dropped Janice, and had Alan engaged to "Jane Marie" (although I would change that name, dear Lord, Marland could be so bad at naming characters sometimes) with Brandon feeling that the Staffords weren't good enough for his family. He could have had Brandon insisting Alan marry an heiress like Elizabeth. THEN he'd have a REALLY good reason to hide Amanda from him. I'm not buying the "not wanting Alan tainted by scandal" explanations because the Staffords would have been MUCH more interested in keeping it quiet. Rich boy making a girl pregnant would be chalked up to "boys will be boys" while Jennifer would be marked as damaged goods.

Also (this could have been more easily retconned later), Brandon could have raped Jennifer as a way to make her feel unworthy of Alan. Maybe that could have been the reason Alan became bitter towards women because she was his first real love and he never knew why she suddenly left him. The Staffords could have gone to Brandon, assuming Amanda was Alan's child, but he would have known the truth and forced Jennifer to keep quiet about it. Then, hiding Amanda with Lucille would have made a tad more sense.

(But then why would Lucille live in SF--it's almost as ridiculous as hiding Luke Skywalker on his father's home planet with his stepbrother and sister-in-law, but whatever).

Instead of making Jennifer a sackcloth and ashes wonder, she could be someone who is MAD at the Spauldings. Maybe with conflicting feelings about Amanda, if she was a product of rape. Maybe since Brandon is dead, she feels the need to take it out on Alan (while still having residual feelings for him). Maybe really hating Lucille as Brandon's henchwoman, which would have made the eventual murder trial a lot more interesting.

Anything would have been more interesting, honestly.

6 hours ago, vetsoapfan said:

Thank you so very much for sharing. I love this picture. They all look smashingly good.

You're welcome! I was so happy to find it--you rarely see anything with Mart post-GL.

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by DeeVee

11 hours ago, DeeVee said:

This picture popped up in my Pinterest feed. Does anyone have any idea when and/or where this was taken? It has to be after Mart and Lenore left GL and before Michael became visibly ill.

They all look great. The mustache suits Mart. Too bad he & Lenore were off GL by this time.

Geraldine Court was another of the 70's soap stars who through choice or fate didn't land another contract gig in the 80's. They aged out of leading lady eligibility and there were fewer roles in the 80's for older women.

See Barbara Rodell, Barbara Rucker, Jacquie Courtney, Jada Rowland, Lydia Bruce, etc

14 hours ago, DeeVee said:

I'm going to disagree with that a little bit. One thing I liked about Amanda's early incarnation was that she had this fragile, socially awkward outward appearance, when she was actually very manipulative and clever. Which I think were her Spaulding traits, whether they came from Alan or Brandon. Even Marland picked up on it at first, but then he tossed them later and turned her into a neurotic woman who was easily fooled by men. (Let's face it, he did that to a lot of the female characters).

One of the problems with Amanda, both early and late version, is the rather silly backstory Marland created--Alan engaged to the one sister, the drowning (what was the point of that, even), seducing the underage sister. I think it would have made much more sense if they had dropped Janice, and had Alan engaged to "Jane Marie" (although I would change that name, dear Lord, Marland could be so bad at naming characters sometimes) with Brandon feeling that the Staffords weren't good enough for his family. He could have had Brandon insisting Alan marry an heiress like Elizabeth. THEN he'd have a REALLY good reason to hide Amanda from him. I'm not buying the "not wanting Alan tainted by scandal" explanations because the Staffords would have been MUCH more interested in keeping it quiet. Rich boy making a girl pregnant would be chalked up to "boys will be boys" while Jennifer would be marked as damaged goods.

Also (this could have been more easily retconned later), Brandon could have raped Jennifer as a way to make her feel unworthy of Alan. Maybe that could have been the reason Alan became bitter towards women because she was his first real love and he never knew why she suddenly left him. The Staffords could have gone to Brandon, assuming Amanda was Alan's child, but he would have known the truth and forced Jennifer to keep quiet about it. Then, hiding Amanda with Lucille would have made a tad more sense.

(But then why would Lucille live in SF--it's almost as ridiculous as hiding Luke Skywalker on his father's home planet with his stepbrother and sister-in-law, but whatever).

Instead of making Jennifer a sackcloth and ashes wonder, she could be someone who is MAD at the Spauldings. Maybe with conflicting feelings about Amanda, if she was a product of rape. Maybe since Brandon is dead, she feels the need to take it out on Alan (while still having residual feelings for him). Maybe really hating Lucille as Brandon's henchwoman, which would have made the eventual murder trial a lot more interesting.

Anything would have been more interesting, honestly.

You're welcome! I was so happy to find it--you rarely see anything with Mart post-GL.

I love all of this backstory reasoning with Amanda, and why the Brandon is daddy twist would work. I also think that it explains Alex's obsession with hating on Amanda (at that time they just thought Alex was an obsession hating woman machine) and also, I would have written a bit that Alex sought Amanda's help with the court battle with Roger and Jenna for Spaulding but Amanda ignored it (as she didnt have the money but didn't want to say that.) One thing about BevAlex, as much as she manipulated/browbeat/fought her family, she wanted them to stand together against outsiders.

And yes, Mart was a total DILF (as we see Marlands' fanstasies ran more for the muscled young men, preferably farm boy/blue collar types.)

13 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Geraldine Court was another of the 70's soap stars who through choice or fate didn't land another contract gig in the 80's. They aged out of leading lady eligibility and there were fewer roles in the 80's for older women.

See Barbara Rodell, Barbara Rucker, Jacquie Courtney, Jada Rowland, Lydia Bruce, etc

Courtney did on AW, but only for about a year.

I'm still surprised Court never popped up on ATWT during Marland's tenure. I wonder if she just wasn't interested.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

Courtney did on AW, but only for about a year.

I'm still surprised Court never popped up on ATWT during Marland's tenure. I wonder if she just wasn't interested.

Court did, I believe..a one day as one of Grant Coleman's exes? This was during the whole "Is Grant trying to swindle Lisa and maybe kill her" storyline which was an utter fail for Marland...(that would be like, "Is Mike Bauer running drugs for a cartel.")