14 hours ago, wonderwoman1951 said:

just found this:

 

Bob Hughes' eulogy to his grandfather, on June 4th, 1976

Thank you for being with us today. Pa would have liked this rain, and what it would do for all growing things. He loved birth, growth, nurturing. This would be his kind of day--and perhaps it is. Because he we are, too---his friends, his neighbors, his pastor and three generations of the family whom he loved so much together. He would love the fact of Mom cooking this morning, so that people cold eat later on--if they wanted to stay together a little longer and talk a little longer. We loved him, and he loved us. That love will always be with us, because we each carry some living memory of him, and that will go on as long as we go on. We Hugheses all shared for years my grandfather's blessing of having such a good man live among us. Grandpa had a sweetness and a tolerance. He believed there was good in everyone. When we were kids we used to say, "Now, Grandpa, not everybody's good." And he'd say, "Oh, yes—it's there—but in some people it just never had a chance to grow." He never tried to tell you what to do, but he had a way of leading you to what was right, and what was the truth. Sometimes—sometimes we didn't take his hand when he offered to lead us, and that's when we got into trouble. In the last year of his life, he married a lovely woman. She's with her family today. She needs them just as we need each other here. Grandpa has a great-granddaughter who is only two and a half. She's home. She may not understand our sadness, but she will share the memories of Pa through all of us, and someday pass some of them on to her children—and so on and on part of his spirit will always be with us. It's stopped raining. As much as he loved the rain, Pa loved the sun that came after the rain. Pa loved life. Pa loved God. He's with Him.

 

That was beautiful.   

It can also serve as an example of how far soaps have fallen since then. You would never hear anything like that on any soap nowadays. You'd never get a scene long enough to have someone read a eulogy like that to begin with. It's all plot, plot and more plot now, and the human, emotional part is missing.

18 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Someone uploaded an episode I don't see elsewhere. (June 24, 1993).

 

35 contract actors and 27 recurring and day players.  I remember feeling that the year or two before Marland died, the cast got too bloated. I got sea sick watching episodes with massive numbers of characters shuffling through the hospital cafeteria or Emma's kitchen or the Hughes living room. Many scenes felt like noise but little happened except exposition. I do give Backus and Packer credit for their time as head writers (I think it was about 18 months?). The bottom fell out of the show when they brought in Culliton and Wolf and fired Backus. The show really never recovered.

On 6/27/2025 at 7:04 PM, wonderwoman1951 said:

just found this:

 

Bob Hughes' eulogy to his grandfather, on June 4th, 1976

Thank you for being with us today. Pa would have liked this rain, and what it would do for all growing things. He loved birth, growth, nurturing. This would be his kind of day--and perhaps it is. Because he we are, too---his friends, his neighbors, his pastor and three generations of the family whom he loved so much together. He would love the fact of Mom cooking this morning, so that people cold eat later on--if they wanted to stay together a little longer and talk a little longer. We loved him, and he loved us. That love will always be with us, because we each carry some living memory of him, and that will go on as long as we go on. We Hugheses all shared for years my grandfather's blessing of having such a good man live among us. Grandpa had a sweetness and a tolerance. He believed there was good in everyone. When we were kids we used to say, "Now, Grandpa, not everybody's good." And he'd say, "Oh, yes—it's there—but in some people it just never had a chance to grow." He never tried to tell you what to do, but he had a way of leading you to what was right, and what was the truth. Sometimes—sometimes we didn't take his hand when he offered to lead us, and that's when we got into trouble. In the last year of his life, he married a lovely woman. She's with her family today. She needs them just as we need each other here. Grandpa has a great-granddaughter who is only two and a half. She's home. She may not understand our sadness, but she will share the memories of Pa through all of us, and someday pass some of them on to her children—and so on and on part of his spirit will always be with us. It's stopped raining. As much as he loved the rain, Pa loved the sun that came after the rain. Pa loved life. Pa loved God. He's with Him.

 

This is amazing.  I'd love to see that entire episode.  And reading it, I'm wondering if Don Hastings may have written the eulogy himself.  Who knows?  Thank you for posting this!

10 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

This is amazing.  I'd love to see that entire episode.  And reading it, I'm wondering if Don Hastings may have written the eulogy himself.  Who knows?  Thank you for posting this!

The episode was surprisingly very light on Pa Hughes and his memory even though it was his memorial episode. Chris and Nancy talked about him in one scene in the episode but his funeral was only one scene. The final scene. The other scenes were between Jay and Carol, Lisa and Grant, Tom and Dee. But not much talk about Pa Hughes. I was a bit surprised that Pa Hughes didn't warrant more of a send-off. Bob's eulogy was nice but that was about it. 

9 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

The episode was surprisingly very light on Pa Hughes and his memory even though it was his memorial episode. Chris and Nancy talked about him in one scene in the episode but his funeral was only one scene. The final scene. The other scenes were between Jay and Carol, Lisa and Grant, Tom and Dee. But not much talk about Pa Hughes. I was a bit surprised that Pa Hughes didn't warrant more of a send-off. Bob's eulogy was nice but that was about it. 

That's surprising. But at least Pa got an on-camera funeral.  Many many important soap characters didn't even get that. Another World's Mary Matthews (the show's matriarch) is one, of many, examples.  And of course, Nancy Hughes herself.  

 Who was head-writing at this point?  Was it the Soderbergs?  

 

Edited June 29Jun 29 by Tisy-Lish

8 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

That's surprising. But at least Pa got an on-camera funeral.  Many many important soap characters didn't even get that. Another World's Mary Matthews (the show's matriarch) is one, of many, examples.  And of course, Nancy Hughes herself.  

 Who was head-writing at this point?  Was it the Soderbergs?  

 

Yes, it was the Soderbergs. I'm usually a fan of their writing but I felt like they didn't do Pa Hughes justice with this episode. However, you are correct that, at least, he got a funeral unlike other patriarchs/matriarchs like Mary Matthews and Nancy Hughes. And I might add Bert Bauer.  Among others. So I have to give kudos to the Soderbergs for that. 

4 hours ago, VelekaCarruthers said:

35 contract actors and 27 recurring and day players.  I remember feeling that the year or two before Marland died, the cast got too bloated. I got sea sick watching episodes with massive numbers of characters shuffling through the hospital cafeteria or Emma's kitchen or the Hughes living room. Many scenes felt like noise but little happened except exposition. I do give Backus and Packer credit for their time as head writers (I think it was about 18 months?). The bottom fell out of the show when they brought in Culliton and Wolf and fired Backus. The show really never recovered.

Do you remember any of the story changes around then? I was still watching in 1993 but my interest was fading...when they wrote out Lyla and Iva, that was a big issue for me, especially Holden taking Aaron even though I didn't believe he had any love for his son. By 1994 I think it was just the Janice story that was capturing my interest.

I do think the party was going to be over even if Marland had lived - there was no way the scale of his ATWT could have been sustained. I just wish we could have seen how he would have scaled down the show, that is if he hadn't quit, either due to his own soap, or because of the changes coming to P&G.

Edited June 29Jun 29 by DRW50

15 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Yes, it was the Soderbergs. I'm usually a fan of their writing but I felt like they didn't do Pa Hughes justice with this episode. However, you are correct that, at least, he got a funeral unlike other patriarchs/matriarchs like Mary Matthews and Nancy Hughes. And I might add Bert Bauer.  Among others. So I have to give kudos to the Soderbergs for that. 

Agreed.  And if I am correct, neither Jim Matthews nor Chris Hughes had an on camera funeral.  Crazy!!   Today, it's funny -- many soap characters get funerals that last nearly an entire 60-minute episode. And that is often over-kill, in my opinion.   I'm thinking of Bobbie Spencer and others.  

Edited June 29Jun 29 by Tisy-Lish

30 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

The episode was surprisingly very light on Pa Hughes and his memory even though it was his memorial episode. Chris and Nancy talked about him in one scene in the episode but his funeral was only one scene. The final scene. The other scenes were between Jay and Carol, Lisa and Grant, Tom and Dee. But not much talk about Pa Hughes. I was a bit surprised that Pa Hughes didn't warrant more of a send-off. Bob's eulogy was nice but that was about it. 

That's disappointing. Papa Bauer's episode is more focused on him, even if we get some other stories like Ed/Janet. I suppose this is another sign of ATWT trying to shift to the future rather than honoring the past. 

46 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

That's disappointing. Papa Bauer's episode is more focused on him, even if we get some other stories like Ed/Janet. I suppose this is another sign of ATWT trying to shift to the future rather than honoring the past. 

Well, in ATWT's defense, the Pa Hughes funeral came when the show was an hour and Papa Bauer's funeral was when GL was only 30 minutes. So, ATWT had more time to fill. Actually, if ATWT would have been 30 minutes, it would have been the same amount of focus as Papa Bauer's funeral was actually only one scene as well. Now, after having defended ATWT, I still say that the lack of time dedicated to Pa Hughes during that episode was inexcusable. 

56 minutes ago, Tisy-Lish said:

Agreed.  And if I am correct, neither Jim Matthews nor Chris Hughes had an on camera funeral.  Crazy!!   Today, it's funny -- many soap characters get funerals that last nearly an entire 60-minute episode. And that is often over-kill, in my opinion.   I'm thinking of Bobbie Spencer and others.  

You are correct about Chris Hughes. I'm not sure about Jim Matthews. I think John Black on Days got two or three days dedicated to his funeral (if I'm not mistaken). I felt like it was overdone. 

24 minutes ago, Reverend Ruthledge said:

Well, in ATWT's defense, the Pa Hughes funeral came when the show was an hour and Papa Bauer's funeral was when GL was only 30 minutes. So, ATWT had more time to fill. Actually, if ATWT would have been 30 minutes, it would have been the same amount of focus as Papa Bauer's funeral was actually only one scene as well. Now, after having defended ATWT, I still say that the lack of time dedicated to Pa Hughes during that episode was inexcusable. 

You are correct about Chris Hughes. I'm not sure about Jim Matthews. I think John Black on Days got two or three days dedicated to his funeral (if I'm not mistaken). I felt like it was overdone. 

I thought many of the scenes in the GL episode still spoke of him even if we only saw the funeral once, but I may be wrong.

I do think it can be overkill with soap funerals now but part of that is because so many older actors are dying and many of the fans need to have to let them go. I thought they did a decent job with Bobbie's funeral on GH.

They did a nice job with Chris too, IIRC, even if we didn't see the funeral. I do remember a few other stories popping in that I didn't care about (like Holden/Lily or Tad Channing being a pervert) but they did at least bring most of the Hughes family back (aside from Edith and John, who were wiped from existence along with Maggie Crawford).

Back to 1976 Pt 6

John, recovered from his nervous breakdown, again is asked for his resignation. When he won’t give it, Dr. Strassfield fires him. Susan, desperate that John not reveal what he knows, tries to get him a job out of town, but fails. John tells Susan that his being fired is Kim’s way of having him run out of town. Kevin is disgusted with Susan for failing to admit her responsibility to Dan. But Susan, assuming that John has left Oakdale, tells Kevin she doesn’t have to, as John is gone now and things can resolve themselves. 

Mary tells Grant she has a new neighbor: John Dixon. Susan is very upset to find John hasn’t gone after all and he wants her to visit. John informs her he’s happy where he is and is planning to do some medical research writing he’s put off for years. John and Mary become good friends, and she is happy to have someone to help with little repairs. John, in turn, having lost all his friends and acquaintances, is grateful to have someone to talk to.

Susan goes away for a few days to get herself together, and is hurt to find that Kevin has been seeing Sandy. Sandy assures Susan that Kevin is just a friend, but Susan finds them together too often to be reassured.Sandy, meanwhile, has confided in Kevin that she’d like
another chance with her ex-husband, Bob, but he is apparently too interested in Valerie.

Betsy, realizing that her disapproval of Valerie has interfered with Dan and Valerie’s friendship asks Kim’s help to get on Valerie’s right. side. Kim intercedes with Valerie for Betsy, but Valerie interprets this as Kim’s way of trying to break them up. But Valerie then tells Betsy she realizes she doesn’t like her dating her uncle, so she won’t see him. From then on, whenever
Dan calls Valerie, she is unavailable, and Betsy soon sees that things are now much worse, that Dan is miserable. This makes Betsy ill from guilt, and Kim angrily feels that Valerie is manipulating both Dan and Betsy to get back at her. Valerie sets Dan straight on what’s wrong with Betsy by explaining that Kim interfered. Kim is sure that Valerie shaded her comments
to conceal her own need to hurt Kim.

Kim has seen Dr. Strasfield occasionally, and John,learning this, accuses him of firing him to replace him professionally and personally. Dr. Strasfield dryly reminds John that his problems preceded him.

Right after Jay’s return, Natalie shows up in person,demanding money in exchange for her silence. When Jay explains that Carol handles the books and he can’t pay her off, she decides she'll settle for a really good job. Jay pressures Gar Kramer, a real estate broker
who handles many transactions for him, into hiring her as a secretary at an exorbitant salary. When Natalie informs Tom that she’s in town and working, he instructs her to see a divorce lawyer.
Carol and Jay attend a meeting for prospective adoptive parents. Carol is dismayed to learn it could take two years to get a baby. Jay suggests that their lives are so full, a child isn’t that vital to them. Carol takes this as a sign that Jay doesn’t want a baby. In reality, his sudden hesitation is due to learning that applicants are screened thoroughly—he’s not sure his relationship with Natalie can stand up to harsh scrutiny. But Carol looks at things thoroughly and tells Jay she will be patient and things will work out.

Don Hughes returns from California and decides he will rejoin the family law firm, even though it means that he will have to work for Grant, who is now heading the department that Don himself originally set up.

Joyce’s “help” with Dawn comes to a head when Ellen finally has to tell her that she’s interfering in the mother/daughter  relationship. Joyce realizes she has indeed
been doing this and backs off. 

Dee’s problems stem from the casual way a boy she really liked dropped her and her sister Annie’s announcement that she’s going to attend medical school just as Dee has decided she doesn’t want to go to college at all. Her parents are disappointed by her decision, but even more by her recent dismal attitude toward life. She’s not interested in anything and rejects
all efforts to cheer her.

One afternoon, escaping from her mother’s well-intended suggestions that she decide to do something with her life,Dee takes off in her car and drives too far. She tries to call home, but the line is busy. As she waits, a young man calls to summon repair for his disabled car and then leaves to wait for the car-club repair truck. Arriving home, she explains she tried to
phone, and notes that she dented the fender when she swerved and hit a sawhorse in an attempt to avoid an animal in the road.
When, the following day, she reads an account of a Bo Spencer III who was involved in a car accident,she agitatedly tells her parents she caused that accident. They check the hospital and find that the young man suffered concussion, fractures, and internal injuries in a freak accident. Dee takes it upon herself to visit Bo daily despite his rudeness, which, she is assured by his doctors, is his reaction to pain. He later assures her he enjoys her visits. To the Stewarts’ gratification, Bo’s pressuring Dee to take stock of herself leads her to enroll in college.

When Bo’s parents, in Europe, notify him they can’t come home to care for him, Dee asks that he be allowed to recuperate with her family, but the Stewarts feel this wouldn’t be wise. However, his mother removes the need for Bo to go to a hotel when she later calls saying she’ll be back in Oakdale after all. But when Dee drives Bo home, he tells her it’s not
a home, it’s only a house.
 

 

On 6/28/2025 at 9:40 PM, DRW50 said:

Do you remember any of the story changes around then? I was still watching in 1993 but my interest was fading...when they wrote out Lyla and Iva, that was a big issue for me, especially Holden taking Aaron even though I didn't believe he had any love for his son. By 1994 I think it was just the Janice story that was capturing my interest.

I do think the party was going to be over even if Marland had lived - there was no way the scale of his ATWT could have been sustained. I just wish we could have seen how he would have scaled down the show, that is if he hadn't quit, either due to his own soap, or because of the changes coming to P&G.

1993 was very watchable since the show was coasting on most of Marland's storyline projections.  But I agree that 1994 began a sharp downward trend in quality.  (The Hans-terrorist-storyline was the final straw for me.) Like you, I've often wondered what Marland would have done if he had written ATWT throughout the 1990s and how he would have adapted to the continual preemptions during the OJ trial in 94/95.  Since he had exhausted most/all of the Snyder clan storylines by 1993, perhaps he would have quit the show?  Since he'd been working on a new soap, I'm guessing that he would have focused on selling/producing that.

Edited June 30Jun 30 by MarlandFan

15 minutes ago, MarlandFan said:

1993 was very watchable since the show was coasting on most of Marland's storyline projections.  But I agree that 1994 began a sharp downward trend in quality.  (The Hans-terrorist-storyline was the final straw for me.) Like you, I've often wondered what Marland would have done if he had written ATWT throughout the 1990s and how he would have adapted to the continual preemptions during the OJ trial in 94/95.  Since he had exhausted most/all of the Snyder clan storylines by 1993, perhaps he would have quit the show?  Since he'd been working on a new soap, I'm guessing that he would have focused on selling/producing that.

I didn't mind Hans at the time (maybe because the actor was entertaining and at least something was happening), but the tedium of Mike/Rosanna (just Rosanna in general) and Shannon's terrible return from the dead story, along with Holden dumping his kid off on Emma day after day to find new women and chase after Lily, all soured me. Shannon's story may low-key be one of the worst in ATWT history - they brought her back and left everyone miserable and broken. Why?

I did enjoy the arrival of Pete, Orlena, Dawn's death (I didn't "enjoy" that, but you know what I mean) and of course Janice. So there were moments. Just not enough to make up for the sludge.

It's hard for me to see Marland staying past about 1995, when P&G started doing more swaps and panicking, but we'll never know. The sad part is I do think ATWT had improved at that time, but it was too late. And that's where Marland's steady hand had been missed - so much of 1993 and 1994 encouraged viewers to leave and not feel they were missing anything.

I also think the Linc story was just strange - there was no investment with a brand new actor and I struggled to accept him becoming so vile within a few years. I assume those were Marland's story plans but I do wonder how he would have written it.

Edited June 30Jun 30 by DRW50

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

I didn't mind Hans at the time (maybe because the actor was entertaining and at least something was happening), but the tedium of Mike/Rosanna (just Rosanna in general) and Shannon's terrible return from the dead story, along with Holden dumping his kid off on Emma day after day to find new women and chase after Lily, all soured me. Shannon's story may low-key be one of the worst in ATWT history - they brought her back and left everyone miserable and broken. Why?

I also think the Linc story was just strange - there was no investment with a brand new actor and I struggled to accept him becoming so vile within a few years. I assume those were Marland's story plans but I do wonder how he would have written it.

I found the actor playing Hans to be very lightweight -- hardly the menace he needed to be. I agree 100% with Shannon's return: once they brought her back (and that incredible reveal/twist at the airport was truly a shock to me - well done!) they didn't know how to write for her.  And the Devere storyline was a waste (poor Darnell Williams!). And -- yes -- Linc#2 was a disaster.  What an unbelievable reversal of character.  Linc#1 was a sweet, kind man (to a fault) and his change into a slimy, selfish cad was all plot-driven, not character-driven.