ALL: Marlandian Rules for a Different Century

[Gray Bunny]

Does any show really do this anymore? Everyone's always just hanging out at a coffeeshop, no matter which show you're watching. I think displaying actual food is just another expense they've taken out to cut costs.

But while we're on the subject of pet peeves and food, I hate it on Y&R when someone supposedly has a full cup of coffee, but you can clearly see no liquid, plus when they set the cup down and move it around, it clearly sounds hollow and therefore empty. They could easily use the coffee they have provided for them off-stage.

[marceline]

LMAO! That's not just a Y&R thing. They did that on the last episode of House, several times, and it pulled me right out of the scenes. That's one of those things that I imagine professional prop people try to call attention to only to be told that it doesn't matter.

[EricMontreal22]

Gray--AMC still shows food quite a bit. But I get your point.

One thign I was thinking of while trying to fall asleep last night (lol I need a life) was does ANY soap currentlyhave a household or character with a pet? I'm not talking about the Labines' crazy need for wacky pets (see Lucy's Duck, see Todd's Parrot) or stuffed cats, but an actual pet? AMC had Harold the Dog, Bonkers the Cat, etc... I know it's probably a lotmore work for the show, but I just think touches liek that make the characters seem deeper and more real--if they have a life outside of their current soapy crises.

[Saving ATWT]

I think these were Marland's ideal rules but desperate times call for extreme measures. Did he save ATWT? I thought ratings actually dropped after he took over from Jerone and Bridget Dobson. They certainly were not wrecking the show.

Also, the shrunken head thing was so Days.

[DeeeDee]

Victor has two dogs Zapato & Segundo.

His grandson Noah has a dog too Fisher.

[RomeAt50]

Maybe in real life but GH has portrayed Robin as quite cautious about her sex life. Its probably why she got pregnant because of a broken condom instead of because they weren't using one. I couldn't see her ever not making sure her patner was using a condom.

[Ann_SS]

But the original point was that these old fashion WTD, accidental pregnancy, and casual sex with no STDs stories need to end and soaps need to embrace modern day stories. There is absolutely no reason for women on the soaps to have all these accidental pregnancies with modern contraception. When the condom broke, Patrick should have told Robin which would have allowed her to get tested for STDs and use the morning after pill. He is a doctor. He should have known better. Robin is should have gotten pregnant through artificial insemination.

Marland got ATWT up to the no. 3 and 4 soap for several years. He over took all the ABC soaps. I don't know the demos.

[bellcurve]

GL was the WORST offender. The coffees at the Main Street/CO2 set were made of air.

[DeeeDee]

Women responsible for their own bodies?

WHAT IS THIS WITCHCRAFT THOU HAST WROUGHT?!

[bellcurve]

Plus, there was a story in one of the papers on World AIDS Day that highlighted this couple...he's HIV+, she's not. And they've been together for over 10 years. And they always use rubbers, even though his viral load is virtually undetectable.

[Ann_SS]

LOL! My mistake.

Yet research studies have found that almost half of HIV discordant couples do not use condoms consistently, particularly when the woman is HIV+. I understand that GH doesn't want to go there, but Robin having this broken condom pregnancy with Patrick sexing up Leyla is just as irresponsible. Soaps need to write these stories as if this is 2010 and not the 1970s.

[EricMontreal22]

I agree, and I still think the fact that characters like Amanda aren't on the pill is laughable. Probably more than 3/4 of the women I know use it (many use it more for the control it gives them with their periods).

[Mitch]

LOL..I forgot the shrunken head thing...but I so HATED Shannon, and the actress who played her..that I thought the shrunken head with Shannon's pattened mat of frizzy hair was the funniest thing that Marland ever wrote...(unintentionally of course.)Of course the boring dullard had to come back to life later on but she didnt last long thank God. But dont forget that Duncan ran out of the tent and was met with a squadron of natives shooting poison darts of all things! I did used to love Lilith and how she was constantly killing people and shipping their bodies back special delivery.

Marland did save it. He didnt replace the Dobson's there were interim writers in between, Millee Taggart being one of them. I never got the thing about why everyone loved the Dobsons' but I was never a SB fan. They totally destroyed the Hughes family their first time around and it was kinda boring under them....that oogly Brad guy and the dipshit Dee character and boring actress with John as a "sexy," male lead took over the show. Marland restored the Hughes family and the multigenerational aspect of the show the Dobson's aborhed...(it always kills me that these writers who hate "old," people arent teenagers themselves...I think France Reid said something about Reilly once"He wants to get rid of all the old people and he likes them young and pretty, but look at him, fat and old himself.." or something of the sort that made me really love that old broad! Anyway, Marland restored the history and the family the Dobson's took out and he took the show to number 1 several time during his tenure.

[EricMontreal22]

To be fair, while I believe many think the Dobsons' run was a pale imitation of their run on GL, they did manage to "update" the show, while actually gaining viewers, as they had done on GL.

[Khan]

One thing I cannot stand about music on soaps is how on-the-nose it can be in terms of what's going on emotionally within the scene. That's why, in another thread, I sort of appreciated that then-SEARCH FOR TOMORROW EP John Whitesell cited the New Year's Eve sequence, where Rivera was chasing after someone while Stu and the McCleary brothers were doing a lip-sync to the Temptations' "I Can't Get Next to You" during the party at Bigelow's, as one of his show's best moments. It doesn't sound like much "on paper"; on-screen, though, the juxtaposition of upbeat Motown song with tense action sequence is perfect.