8 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

Unpopular opinion, Marland coasted on the Dobson's work for the first several months.. but his 1981/1982 output was lackluster. He just wasn't a fit on Guiding Light, ATWT was his soul mate in terms of his talents.

1980/81 and 1981/82 GL was CBS's highest-rated daytime drama. Yes, the Marland years held their own against massive pop culture phenomenon General Hospital, but they were also helped by Y&R being in their post-expansion slump.

1 minute ago, Soaplovers said:

It was boring compared to the 1979 episodes of the Dobson's and the high energy Long era of the mid 80s.

It's hard for me to judge the Dobson's era, I know I watched, but I was too young to remember. Most of what's up seems very talky to me.

As Marland's era hooked me, I remember it fondly.

42 minutes ago, Spoon said:

The ranch hand in 1999, would that be "Sam the Cowboy"? I recall the actor was Kirk on ATWT. It was nice to see Holly have a man again.

38 minutes ago, P.J. said:

I believe that's who @alwaysAMC was referencing. His name is Tom Wiggin. Ironically, he was heavily involved with Lisa Brown's Iva for a while. And he showed up toward the end of GL again, as a businessman who I think swindled either Olivia or Natalia.

Yep! They just mentioned his name being Sam. He's the same guy that arrived as Annie exited - he called the cops when Alan/India showed up. He was supposed to teach Lizzie how to ride horses with Annie.

38 minutes ago, Spoon said:

You may already know this, but Blanchard would later win a Primetime EMMY for portraying Judy Garland in a TV movie.

I learned this a few months ago when I did some research on Blanchard. I was so happy to read that she won the Emmy. She's really strong on GL in 1999 and I'm so glad the character was finally given good material. Drew came on with Sugar Hill and I just don't think Taye Diggs could handle the soap grind. He messed up a few times and then out of nowhere, his character and storyline was gone. Then Marcus and Dahlia basically dropped out because that storyline dropped... so Drew was sort of lingering around until they put her in Michelle and Jesse's orbit. Once they started the Selena story with her, she really had some good material to chew on and showcase her talents.

29 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Yep! They just mentioned his name being Sam. He's the same guy that arrived as Annie exited - he called the cops when Alan/India showed up. He was supposed to teach Lizzie how to ride horses with Annie.

MG really got pushed aside after Michael Zaslow's exit. A story with Sam seemed to be in the offing, but got shelved quickly.

That interview with Potter...WOW.

If I had acquired a star like Elliot, I would not have just assumed she knew she was out after a year. I would be more diplomatic about it. A year is a long time. Maybe she changed her mind about leaving.

I have seen Elliot interviewed many years after she left GL, and she said that Carrie was her favorite role (IIRC, she said she was sorry that it ended, so...).

I don't disagree at all with the decision to end the Carrie storyline--it was a drag on the show, particularly because Marland was so hyper-focused on it and didn't seem to realize he had written the character into a corner. But the situation could have been handled better.

He claimed Marland wasn't leaving...but he did leave. If he was still doing breakdowns, he was probably obligated by his contract to do it up to a certain time.

Also interesting that he claimed there would be no cast firings--and then the cast is decimated within the year. True, he was gone by then, but I have a hard time believing that the network and P&G weren't already considering some cast changes. It's also hard to believe Kobe had total control over hirings and firings. Not so impressed by him pointing out that Janet Grey had renewed her contract, since he also talks about the 13 week cycle, which means no matter how long a contract you sign, they can dump you after any 13 week cycle.

1 hour ago, Soaplovers said:

Unpopular opinion, Marland coasted on the Dobson's work for the first several months.. but his 1981/1982 output was lackluster. He just wasn't a fit on Guiding Light, ATWT was his soul mate in terms of his talents.

I agree. By 1982 he had either resolved or dropped the Dobsons' stories and the new ones he came up with just weren't that good. He coasted for a long time on the fall-out from Roger's storyline. Carrie, the awful Mark Evans story, and Quint's Indiana Jones adventures--it was really difficult to sit through that stuff at times.

26 minutes ago, P.J. said:

MG really got pushed aside after Michael Zaslow's exit.

Poor MG. That happened to her twice on GL. I don't know why they thought she needed Roger to make her an interesting character.

1 hour ago, Soaplovers said:

It was boring compared to the 1979 episodes of the Dobson's and the high energy Long era of the mid 80s.

But that confrontation between Carrie and Vanessa was worth it. And those two powerhouse actresses gave it their all.

However, the Diane Ballard murder is my favourite GL story

22 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Not so impressed by him pointing out that Janet Grey had renewed her contract, since he also talks about the 13 week cycle, which means no matter how long a contract you sign, they can dump you after any 13 week cycle.

I agree. By 1982 he had either resolved or dropped the Dobsons' stories and the new ones he came up with just weren't that good. He coasted for a long time on the fall-out from Roger's storyline. Carrie, the awful Mark Evans story, and Quint's Indiana Jones adventures--it was really difficult to sit through that stuff at times.

Poor MG. That happened to her twice on GL. I don't know why they thought she needed Roger to make her an interesting character.

And Janet was little more than a dayplayer who was taking care of Samantha.

The second time they sidelined MG, they seemed to have little interest in any of the vets other than Reva. Even Josh is more dragged along into Reva's story.

Jane Eliot signed for a year. Hence the story reaching a conclusion at that time. However Marland wanted her to continue and Jane was agreeable.

Potter disagreed, feeling that the story wasn't bringing in the ratings. Jane wouldn't have come cheap, so that was another consideration.

I think that as time went on Marland and Potter began to clash more. I don't think Marland was happy about Mart Hulswit going or the recasting of Kirsten Vigard. So a lot of stuff going on.

8 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Jane Eliot signed for a year. Hence the story reaching a conclusion at that time. However Marland wanted her to continue and Jane was agreeable.

Potter disagreed, feeling that the story wasn't bringing in the ratings. Jane wouldn't have come cheap, so that was another consideration.

I think that as time went on Marland and Potter began to clash more. I don't think Marland was happy about Mart Hulswit going or the recasting of Kirsten Vigard. So a lot of stuff going on.

I remember reading Vigard was fired for getting an unauthorized hair cut.