11 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

That was a consistent problem with Marland. Everything was SO convoluted. He didn't know how to use the past effectively. 

I had my problems with Long, but she got to the heart of things that happened in the past and used them well for stories in the present. Phillip finding out about his origins is a perfect example. She even effectively used the fact that Jackie was dead.

YEP. I love Marland, but he was guilty of it repeatedly. I'm not sure how much of the Mark debacle is on his head, as things got really ridiculous with the addition of Rebecca/Mona, which may have been after he left.

There are things Long conveniently glossed over, much to my annoyance. Like a little detail about how Billy and Reva's divorce wasn't legal, or how TF Billy and Reva ended up married for 8 years without killing each other. Or her screwing her beloved Joshua. But that's just me. 

18 minutes ago, P.J. said:

things got really ridiculous with the addition of Rebecca/Mona, which may have been after he left.

I'm pretty sure the end of the Mark storyline was written by scab writers.

Early in the Mark story, there was a flashback of Mark with Mona. He gave her a necklace that he later gave to Jennifer. The actress who played Mona in the flashback was way older Mark. The implication was that Mark married older women and killed them for their money.

I guess the scab writers decided to sweep out both the Mark and Rebecca stories by melding them together. The result was really bizarre.

 

Edited November 10Nov 10 by DeeVee

I had read that Marland quitting in a huff hurt the show because his stories were often these complex and intricate stories.  While that can be a positive when things are going well behind the scenes, it can hurt a show if said head-writer quits and doesn't really leave any sort of visible way to resolve the stories.

The reason Marland was able to come in and quickly get to effectively pick up where the Dobson's left off was because their stories were easy to pick up and run with. 

From what I recall, there were three short-term head-writing teams that tried to make sense of Marland's stories with varying degrees of success.  Perhaps one of the short-term writers ( my guess is the L Virginia Browne/Gene Palumbo) that decided to combine the Mark and Mona/Rebecca stories... two birds/one stone.

The fall-out was Amanda alienating her new found family of Jennifer and Morgan with her deceit, which sadly we didn't get to see followed through because of backstage issues once Long/Kobe were established on the show.   My guess is that it was more Kobe that had an issue with Amanda than Long... especially when the actress that played Amanda theorized in her Locher Room interview that the new team wanted to move away from the European gothic elements of the Dobson/Marland era.. and her character didn't fit where they wanted to take the show (though there was an interview that Pam Long did in early 1984 where she raved about the actress that played Amanda.. so I'm sure Kobe was the culprit).

Edited November 10Nov 10 by Soaplovers

32 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

I guess the scab writers decided to sweep out both the Mark and Rebecca stories by melding them together. The result was really bizarre.

Well, I certainly approved them jumping/falling off a cliff. Although Mark "really" loving Amanda was pure BS. Just let evil go out as evil. Ain't no thang.

24 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

(though there was an interview that Pam Long did in early 1984 where she raved about the actress that played Amanda.. so I'm sure Kobe was the culprit).

I think if it had been solely up to Long, both Amanda and Hope would have survived the bloodbath. Both characters became more interesting after she took over. Didn't she have the idea to do a "War of the Roses" type story for Alan and Hope? IMO, that would have been great. She also seemed to be interested in making Ross and Amanda a romantic couple.

23 minutes ago, P.J. said:

Well, I certainly approved them jumping/falling off a cliff.

LOL, not going to argue with that!

Edited November 10Nov 10 by DeeVee

The Dobson's material might not have been as intricate, but those stories and relationships weren't uncomplicated. The fact they had Mike/Elizabeth/Justin/Jackie/Alan intermarry and juggle relationships and affairs wasn't exactly as "easy" to pick up and run with as you'd think.

It took time for Marland's intricacies to work into Oakdale's fabric and really bear fruit. Leaving in a huff was more the issue than complicated storylines. At least IMO. It's six months (or so) spinning their wheels until Long takes over that mucks up the Mark/Amanda story. Whoever thought up knocking Jennifer up should've had their pens taken away.

November 8, 1983

Eli Simms plants a bomb while all the town's main families are together.  Ross arrives and chucks it out the window in time.  We're about two weeks away from Reva at this point.

Edited November 10Nov 10 by Spoon

6 hours ago, Spoon said:

November 8, 1983

Eli Simms plants a bomb while all the town's main families are together.  Ross arrives and chucks it out the window in time.  We're about two weeks away from Reva at this point.

This was my First Big storyline when it was aired here! I started in April - May when Mindy, New Rick  and Billy We’re introduced and annabelle! And saw the last few episodes of Kelly‘s ex and Amanda was leaving. I remember my very First GL Episode was the one where Tony found the Picture with all 4 men from the big Clans and Annabelle‘s mom. That got me hooked. 
 

1983 is such an underrated year for the Show! All families were involved, we lost a few characters but got even better ones and the writting was fire. We didn’t just had the Eli simms Story, we also had Bradley Raines and the rape Story with Beth, Philipp and alan’s paternity story. The amazing Billy Lewis and Vanessa Romance that was starting. 
 

I didn’t liked Susan Pratt on AMC or GH cause she was always so whinney but her Introduction as Claire was amazing and she clicked well with Kelly for me. Enjoyed them very much. 

20 hours ago, DRW50 said:

At least Chet helps explain where Toby's Amanda came from. I could see him flying into Springfield, shouting, "GET YOUR ROOTS DONE!!!" to Marj's Alex, who promptly gasps and has Hawk throw him off the property.

LOL..you reminded me of one of the bright spots in McLaibey, the Alex/Hawk comedy duo. As dumb as it is as Bev/Alex would have kicked him to the curb..the two of them are goofy fun (I remember a scene where she has Hawk investigating something and they are at a train station and as Hawk is trying to break in to a locker some homeless guy is making a move on Alex...and Marj's physical comedy brushing him off while trying to keep quiet is hilarious.) 

Now I know that Amanda had that family I can totally see why she became Toby/Amanda...a bunch of freaks! Agreed, I love the name Logan Stafford..it is one of those great names that Marland kept having the characters repeat over and over again, first and last, like Carrie Todd...constantly. 

15 hours ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

1983 is such an underrated year for the Show! All families were involved, we lost a few characters but got even better ones and the writting was fire. We didn’t just had the Eli simms Story, we also had Bradley Raines and the rape Story with Beth, Philipp and alan’s paternity story. The amazing Billy Lewis and Vanessa Romance that was starting. 

No matter what you think of Long's GL, what's undeniable is that 1983 was probably the best summer of romance the show ever had. You had the Musketeers falling in love, Tony/Annabelle, Vanessa/Billy (who I adore) and Quint and Nola.

7 minutes ago, P.J. said:

No matter what you think of Long's GL, what's undeniable is that 1983 was probably the best summer of romance the show ever had. You had the Musketeers falling in love, Tony/Annabelle, Vanessa/Billy (who I adore) and Quint and Nola.

Yep, 1982 was Marland's weakest of his GL run. The awful Mark Evans story, the Carrie storyline never really clicking, characters like Vanessa, Trish, Josh, Tony, Hillary floating around without much purpose, Alan basically benched.

Except for the cringy wrap-up of the Mark and Mona storylines, the show almost immediately improved after he left, even before Long showed up. They SORASED Phillip and Rick, they put Alan back in charge of Spaulding, they got rid of Carrie, they finally let Alan and Hope's marriage hit the skids, they introduced Claire, who was actually a pretty good character at first.

Then Long came in and the women characters stopped being a bunch of jellyfish, she expanded the Lewis family, creating two of the best characters the show ever had, and gave most of the characters floating around without much direction real storylines and love interests.

I would say most of the year was very good...up until the Dreaming Death story, which I doubt was even Long's idea. Probably a directive from the network to do a story like GH's The Ice Princess. 

And, yes, I think Reva's introduction was  good. It's kind of miraculous how Long used Josh and Reva's backstory to turn Josh from a creepy loser to a romantic lead.

23 hours ago, Spoon said:

November 8, 1983

Eli Simms plants a bomb while all the town's main families are together.  Ross arrives and chucks it out the window in time.  We're about two weeks away from Reva at this point.

This is the most hilarious thing I’ve seen on the show

11 minutes ago, SanCristobelsFinest said:

This is the most hilarious thing I’ve seen on the show

Sigh...if you ever stumble on Tony kung-fu fighting, you might feel differently.

22 minutes ago, DeeVee said:

Yep, 1982 was Marland's weakest of his GL run. The awful Mark Evans story, the Carrie storyline never really clicking, characters like Vanessa, Trish, Josh, Tony, Hillary floating around without much purpose, Alan basically benched.

Except for the cringy wrap-up of the Mark and Mona storylines, the show almost immediately improved after he left, even before Long showed up. They SORASED Phillip and Rick, they put Alan back in charge of Spaulding, they got rid of Carrie, they finally let Alan and Hope's marriage hit the skids, they introduced Claire, who was actually a pretty good character at first.

Then Long came in and the women characters stopped being a bunch of jellyfish, she expanded the Lewis family, creating two of the best characters the show ever had, and gave most of the characters floating around without much direction real storylines and love interests.

I would say most of the year was very good...up until the Dreaming Death story, which I doubt was even Long's idea. Probably a directive from the network to do a story like GH's The Ice Princess. 

And, yes, I think Reva's introduction was  good. It's kind of miraculous how Long used Josh and Reva's backstory to turn Josh from a creepy loser to a romantic lead.

There is such a contrast from the summer of '82, with half the cast hanging out at Wired for Sound (although those scenes seriously got me hooked on "Everyday Love" by the Dazz Band.) doing virtually nothing but glaring at the people they were crushing on but couldn't get.

Yes, even Reva's introduction is good. I think they actually turned her sympathetic too soon. Then again, I'm not sure they had a lot of choice, if they knew/suspected Robert was going to fly away.

Based on some of the episodes floating around Youtube, it looked as though Marland remained as head-writer until September 1982 (Mid September) with Pat Faken being headwriter in the October and November 1982 episodes (where the main focuses of the few episodes available online showed a heavy focus on Nola/Quint/Silas.. and Amanda/Mark/Jennifer with Josh/Morgan as support).

The Christmas 1982 episode seemed well down with the various families all interacting with an interesting set up at the Marlers with Justin, Evie, Hope, Alan, Philip, and baby Samantha all together.. with Philip butting heads with Justin while Alan/Justin exchanging looks over their shared knowledge about Philip (plus, I believe there was an episode in December 1982 where Jackie's father had passed away with the theory he was in distress having to keep the secret of Philip's true paternity).

The 1983 episodes from January through June 1983 for Philip are interesting where we saw Evie and Helena both being surrogate mother figures for Philip at different intervals.   I believe Evie lasts airs in June 1983 after spending the first half of 1983 being saddened because she was missing Ben, who had left town while trying to be a buffer between Philip and Justin/Alan.   I was surprised she lasted so long, but I have to say that I think she was the one character that was unaffected by the writer changes (in other words, her character remained a sweet and gentle individual without being insipid through the Dobson, Marland, and the brief writer regimes before being written out at the start of the Long/Kobe era).