Vee, I told the Sharon Case storyline on Datalounge once. Is that where you could have seen it?

Yep.

Edited May 18, 201411 yr by Vee

LOL, Vee. Yeah, I'll never forget that. I doubt Case had even met Marland but you'd think from all the heartfelt tributes he got at his memorial she'd have an inkling of his huge significance to her colleagues!

I'm truly enjoying all your stories, TimWil!

Boy, I wish that the soaps, especially P&G had done a better job of preserving their classic episodes because the Chucky Shea era was before my time, although I remember reading something, maybe an interview with Eileen Fulton a few years ago. I'm really learning a lot about ATWT history on these blogs and this messageboard!

I could only imagine what you have to say about Goutman. I'm intrigued but the mere mention of that man's name makes me feel sad. Just hearing what he did to the show and how he treated some of the veteran actors.

I was a panelist for the Daytime Emmy Awards for about seven years. I most often found myself judging all the acting categories. I remember sitting near Helen Wagner several times at breakfast in the dining area. Most of us didn't bother looking well put together but she looked fantastic-perfect hair, make-up and wardrobe! Talk about classy. The respect she commanded by her colleagues was tremendous. One year I sat next to Lesli Kay Sterling on a panel for Outstanding Actor in a Children's Series. She was absolutely delightful. I had to try to keep that from influencing my judging the following year-she did end up winning anyway, right?

I also judged the year when Margo had been raped. I wanted Ellen Dolan to win the award very badly. However I could only in good conscience vote strictly on what was seen on her submitted tape and what was on that tape was only Margo being catatonic in the immediate aftermath. I was crushed. A few other times I wanted to vote for Elizabeth Hubbard but I just couldn't because her acting taken out of context looked extremely messy, unfocused, like she was floundering with the words. I think the writing (even Marland's) should certainly have played a part in that. Erika Slezak's tapes, on the other hand, were always easy to follow and her acting was...clean. Smooth. Sharp as a tack. And so she got my vote several times. And OK, Susan Lucci did deserve the Emmy she finally got. I could swear she submitted bad tapes on purpose for a few years there, though, because she (or her husband?) was more interested in cashing in on her notoriety for being a "loser"-remember that Equal commercial?

Someday soon I'll tell you of my nasty "brush" with Chris Goutman!

When I lived in NYC, before my father's sudden death in '12, I saw Chris Goutman on two, separate occasions: once, at a Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side (82nd & B'way, I think, not too far from where SEARCH FOR TOMORROW was taped for awhile); the other, on the no. 1 train at the 59th Street/Columbus Circle station. Both times, Goutman was reading. Both times, I was tempted -- very tempted -- to introduce myself. (If nothing else, I thought, he could pass along to his wife how fond I was of her on SEARCH.) Trouble was, though, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do so w/o telling him how I really felt about ATWT under his direction. He's a good director, IMO, but he's also an incredibly lousy EP.

I doubt Case had even met Marland but you'd think from all the heartfelt tributes he got at his memorial she'd have an inkling of his huge significance to her colleagues!

I still recall reading an interview with her during her ATWT run where she expounded on the joys of buying clothes, wearing them and then returning them for a refund. IIRC, too, readers wrote to the magazine afterward, saying how tacky and gross she was for doing such a thing.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Yes, BetterForgotten, I'm an EE devotee who wrote a lot of interviews for The Walford Gazette fan newspaper. I got to meet many of the show's cast, writers and production staff. In fact I'm pretty sure 1991 (the year I met Marland) may have been when I met my favorite interviewee of all time, Anita Dobson!

Khan, I was thrilled to meet Douglas Marland and it was wonderful to tell him what his work meant to us viewers. He really was so shocked that he'd been recognized since he wasn't an actor...and in London, of all places! I was glad I didn't tell him I was an actor because it would sound like I was kissing up for a job as a long-lost Snyder or something. Or maybe a resurrected Upchucky Shea! Damn, if I'd told him my screen test story that could have worked.

Vee, I told the Sharon Case storyline on Datalounge once. Is that where you could have seen it?

Here's another brush with ATWT (sorta):

I was a panelist for the Daytime Emmy Awards for about seven years. I most often found myself judging all the acting categories. I remember sitting near Helen Wagner several times at breakfast in the dining area. Most of us didn't bother looking well put together but she looked fantastic-perfect hair, make-up and wardrobe! Talk about classy. The respect she commanded by her colleagues was tremendous. One year I sat next to Lesli Kay Sterling on a panel for Outstanding Actor in a Children's Series. She was absolutely delightful. I had to try to keep that from influencing my judging the following year-she did end up winning anyway, right?

I also jjudged the year when Margo had been raped. I wanted Ellen Dolan to win the award very badly. However I could only in good conscience vote strictly on what was seen on her submitted tape and what was on that tape was only Margo being catatonic in the immediate aftermath. I was crushed. A few other times I wanted to vote for Elizabeth Hubbard but I just couldn't because her acting taken out of context looked extremely messy, unfocused, like she was floundering with the words. I think the writing (even Marland's) should certainly have played a part in that. Erika Slezak's tapes, on the other hand, were always easy to follow and her acting was...clean. Smooth. Sharp as a tack. And so she got my vote several times. And OK, Susan Lucci did deserve the Emmy she finally got. I could swear she submitted bad tapes on purpose for a few years there, though, because she (or her husband?) was more interested in cashing in on her notoriety for being a "loser"-remember that Equal commercial?

Someday soon I'll tell you of my nasty "brush" with Chris Goutman!

Get off this board for not voting for Ellen Dolan and especially Elizabeth Hubbard....LOL

I can just imagine what you have to say about Goutman.

Going back a few months to some episodes I'd never seen - this one has a great part where Lisa snaps at Bob when he jokes about her being a deadbeat mother (which *was* kind of tacky...). This leads to Nancy and Lisa talking about menopause. (I think Eileen and Doug Marland came up with this story together - it's fairly rare by soap standards, as most of the time women on soaps who mention menopause end up with a miracle pregnancy).

I wonder how many of the older women in the audience were shocked to hear Nancy say that word.

Splurging on old '87 episodes of ATWT again tonight and the reunion of Kim & Sabrina was heart-wrenching. Even though this isn't my first time seeing these scenes, I keep realizing each time how Marland was genius having the reunion take place in a chapel and mirroring Kim/Sabrina to Mary/Baby Jesus--the bond between mother and child.

Question: Was Marland trying to do a redux of Bob/Jennifer/Kim with Frannie/Sabrina/Seth? I know Julianne left around this time, but does anyone know whether or not Marland was going to play on history and have both women wound up pregnant?

And Barbara being so cold and unreceptive to Sabrina was true to life. I love how Marland played on history and Sabrina returning brought about a sore spot for Barbara. Did Barbara ever get over that and learn to accept Sabrina OR was there always that tension between the two?

Ugh. All this juicy, soap goodness between Sabrina & Frannie and it just boggles my mind why a writing regime didn't bring these characters back long term in later years.

I splurged on some '87 episodes myself this weekend and I also have a question for you ATWT experts:

Being a Craig & Sierra fan, I should know this but I'm confused about something-- I thought that Sierra knew about Tonio & Barbara's affair when she went to Foxwood Lodge and ended up sleeping with Craig but apparently she just found out in '87, not '86 when the affair happened.

I know she suspected something going on between Lucinda and Tonio but what were the circumstances that somehow (mistakenly) convinced Sierra that her husband and her mother were somehow having an affair leading to her retreat to Foxwood Lodge? Is this the reason she ran up to Foxwood Lodge or was there another reason? These episodes are missing and haven't been posted anywhere on the 'Net, so I'm unclear about this.

Does anyone know the story on this?

@NothinButÁttitude-- I really appreciate how good and consistent the core characters were back then. And the conversations between characters are refreshingly frank and heartfelt:

• One episode in which Lisa talks about the realization that Kim is truly the love of Bob's life and how far back that love was and how awkward she felt about confiding these feeling to her relatively new husband, Earl.
• Nancy telling Sabrina that she did have issues with Bob and Kim's actions back then yet expressing how glad she is that Sabrina is on the planet regardless of how that existence came about.
• Even Casey, Lyla and Craigs interactions are equal parts hilarious and poignant. Lyla at once, demanding that Craig treat her as an adult yet refusing to cut the apron strings, Craig struggling to accept Lyla's relationshp with Casey and almost embarrassed to admit that he was a bit jealous in a boyish way. Even Casey teasing "Craigey" that he would make him pancakes for breakfast in the morning.
• The conversations between Dusty and John always managed to show a human, vulnerable side of John. I loved what a stand up guy Dusty was, and he still remained an interesting character.

Question: Was Marland trying to do a redux of Bob/Jennifer/Kim with Frannie/Sabrina/Seth? I know Julianne left around this time, but does anyone know whether or not Marland was going to play on history and have both women wound up pregnant?

And Barbara being so cold and unreceptive to Sabrina was true to life. I love how Marland played on history and Sabrina returning brought about a sore spot for Barbara. Did Barbara ever get over that and learn to accept Sabrina OR was there always that tension between the two?

Ugh. All this juicy, soap goodness between Sabrina & Frannie and it just boggles my mind why a writing regime didn't bring these characters back long term in later years.

I think Marland's main theme with Frannie was that she would never be happy with a man; they would always break her heart. I don't think he really planned a long-term triangle, I think he may have always had plans for Seth and Sabrina. I'm not sure.

Sabrina and Barbara didn't interact very often in Sabrina's time on the show.

Marland was going to recast Frannie, but then he died. After that the show started to lose interest in the Hughes family, and probably saw Frannie as too old.

I don't remember exactly what convinced her Tonio was sleeping with Lucinda - wasn't a lot of it based on Lucinda's relationship with Craig and Sierra's paranoia it was happening again? Then his late nights or something?

I think Marland's main theme with Frannie was that she would never be happy with a man; they would always break her heart. I don't think he really planned a long-term triangle, I think he may have always had plans for Seth and Sabrina. I'm not sure.

Sabrina and Barbara didn't interact very often in Sabrina's time on the show.

Marland was going to recast Frannie, but then he died. After that the show started to lose interest in the Hughes family, and probably saw Frannie as too old.

wonder who he had in mind?

I don't think there was anyone in particular.

Eileen Fulton with Dane Crane (Sandy Wilson Hughes) in 2006 at the 50th Anniversary celebration

Great photo!