Was the Fourth of July '85 Marland? I didn't know he was there that early, or am I misunderstanding? I'll have to check it out.

14 minutes ago, Vee said:

Was the Fourth of July '85 Marland? I didn't know he was there that early, or am I misunderstanding? I'll have to check it out.

Douglas Marland became HW September 1985.

16 minutes ago, kalbir said:

Douglas Marland became HW September 1985.

Wow, then an earlier writer must have been channelling Marland. The Hughes 4th of July picnic had been missing for several years during and after the Dobsons.  So this might have been the first attempt to recreate the Hughes picnic post-Dobsons.

When the Dobsons came onboard, they wrote only one Hughes 4th of July picnic, with James Stenbeck as a guest. That was freaky, to say the least.

And then, we didn't get another Hughes picnic until around 1985.  After that, the Hughes picnic continued for at least Marland's eight years as head-writer -- and possibly a year or two beyond that.  

Edited October 23, 2025Oct 23 by Tisy-Lish

You can usually tell the difference in the months before and after Marland's arrival as the show starts to feel heavier and most of the quirkier characters beyond Shannon and Lucinda lose their personality. 

59 minutes ago, Vee said:

Was the Fourth of July '85 Marland? I didn't know he was there that early, or am I misunderstanding? I'll have to check it out.

I think this was Robert Calhoun's vision as EP. Bringing the Hughes back into focus.

Edited October 23, 2025Oct 23 by Paul Raven

55 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

When the Dobsons came onboard, they wrote only one Hughes 4th of July picnic, with James Stenbeck as a guest. That was freaky, to say the least.

Do you know what year that was? 

17 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Do you know what year that was? 

Would that have been 1980? Nancy was gone by 81. In July 1980 James was still the dashing suitor-his true nature yet to be revealed, so he would have been welcomed as Barbara's guest.

8 hours ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Do you know what year that was? 

I don't know the exact year, but James had arrived in Oakdale just a few weeks earlier. I believe he came to the picnic as a guest of Barbara.  So if you can identify the year James first appeared, it would have been July 4th of that year.

2 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

I don't know the exact year, but James had arrived in Oakdale just a few weeks earlier. I believe he came to the picnic as a guest of Barbara.  So if you can identify the year James first appeared, it would have been July 4th of that year.

Thank you. It looks like 1980. 

10 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Would that have been 1980? Nancy was gone by 81. In July 1980 James was still the dashing suitor-his true nature yet to be revealed, so he would have been welcomed as Barbara's guest.

Yes, I believe that's right. Thank you, Paul.

Anthony Hererra debut was February 1, 1980 and his original run ended May 1983. His return run was November 1986 until October 1989. There was another return in 1997 and he was off and on until the last episode. If any of the dates are wrong please correct.

9 hours ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Thank you. It looks like 1980. 

Frankly, I've always been a little surprised the Dobsons even did a Hughes 4th of July picnic in their first year as head writers.  Obviously, they disliked Chris and Nancy and had been ignoring them for months.  Then to write the July 4th episode, they were forced to create an entire hour more-or-less focused on Chris and Nancy.  Plus, the set builders had to pull out the Hughes back-yard set, which was very large and only used once or twice a year (that had to be expensive).  And then to have James Stenbeck as a guest was just strange -- members of the Hughes family referred to him as a millionaire Danish prince (or something like that). And when James arrived with Barbara, the middle class Hughes and slightly wealthier Stewarts were obviously uncomfortable offering James a hot dog with a side of potato salad.  Actually, I felt a bit uncomfortable watching it.  

Obviously ATWT was changing.  And perhaps that was the Dobsons point in doing one last picnic -- to send the message to older viewers (I was only 21 at the time), that this show doesn't belong to you anymore.  Well, it certainly didn't belong to me anymore -- even at 21.    

Edited October 24, 2025Oct 24 by Tisy-Lish

On 10/22/2025 at 10:11 PM, Tisy-Lish said:

Love your comments.  

Marland's first 4th of July episode in Bob and Kim's backyard was certainly a tribute to Don MacLaughlin.  And yes, the cast did protect Don -- as he was featured with members of the family, but he easily handed-off lines to Don Hastings and others, when he seemed to need a break. And each of the other actors picked right-up, and carried on.  

And  later, Chris had rather lengthy poignant scenes with both David Stewart and Andy Dixon, in which MacLaughlin never missed a beat. My goodness, that was a GREAT episode of ATWT.   

Thanks! I think soaps never really showed their elderly characters gradually failing...if they were they were shipped off camera. Sure they dealt with Bert's surgery, but she was still a firecracker and on it (and only 62 so hardly elderly) The way the show treated Don was really heartwarming and brought a sense of reality to a show ( I wish they had done a bit more and had Andy remark "Grand dad seemed out of it this morning"  and have Bob talk about aging being natural and not scary...) I know they did tried to do that with that gross guy they married Nancy off with.. but it just seemed to be one of Marland's depressing "relevant" storylines and not natural or organic like Don's was. 

I still get tears in my eyes when the Bob gives his toast to his parents on the anniversary and Hastings tears up...and so does McLaughlin (while Wagner's Nancy is stoically calm..lol.) That is the kind of stuff that "binds" you to a show.

13 hours ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Obviously ATWT was changing.  And perhaps that was the Dobsons point in doing one last picnic -- to send the message to older viewers (I was only 21 at the time), that this show doesn't belong to you anymore.  Well, it certainly didn't belong to me anymore -- even at 21.    

And next year (granted it was during a writers strike) we had no picnic, no mention of one, we have Barbara coming into the penthouse from shopping (who goes shopping for anything more then Booze and food on the 4th) and finding Rick there. No mention of the family besides "Does Bob Hughes know you are back?" (why would she use his last name like they are slightly connected?) Not an improvement.

I would say the Hughes family had become really upper middle class if that by that time..Chris owned a law firm (which seemed to be the only one in town) Bob was a doctor...but yea, they held firm to their middle class "bearing" but in town like Oakdale they would be near the top. 

5 hours ago, Mitch64 said:

I still get tears in my eyes when the Bob gives his toast to his parents on the anniversary and Hastings tears up...

OMG, that chokes me up every time I watch that scene.