3 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

 

If the writing never made that crystal clear, one way or the other, then that's just poor writing. 

 

It was also two different writing teams. 

 

Katie may have been lying, but the whole thing was so poorly put together, it's impossible to tell. The show, all the soaps, had such a focus on trashing past character (assuming no viewers would no them) for new pets, and it backfired over and over.

 

@Soapsuds I think those aired in May 1993 but I may be wrong.

@Soapsuds Holden first saw that painting in the famed 5/5/93 Marland tribute episode, this must have been very shortly after that, maybe 5/7/93? 
 

Anytime I see Glynnis Margo I just grimace.
 

How I remember some these details and not some of my own passwords is a great question really....

Edited June 29, 20205 yr by soapfan770

33 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

 

It was also two different writing teams. 

 

Katie may have been lying, but the whole thing was so poorly put together, it's impossible to tell. The show, all the soaps, had such a focus on trashing past character (assuming no viewers would no them) for new pets, and it backfired over and over.

 

@Soapsuds I think those aired in May 1993 but I may be wrong.

 

20 minutes ago, soapfan770 said:

@Soapsuds Holden first saw that painting in the famed 5/5/93 Marland tribute episode, this must have been very shortly after that, maybe 5/7/93? 
 

Anytime I see Glynnis Margo I just grimace.
 

How I remember some these details and not some of my own passwords is a great question really....

It was the week of May 3...I found the day before episode that had the date. Still missing is the episode where Holden first sees her singing and she runs away from him.

And I hated Glynniss as Margo.

I wonder what Margo would have been like if Nancy Lee Grahn took over the role after Santa Barbara ended?

1 hour ago, soapfan770 said:

 

 

How I remember some these details and not some of my own passwords is a great question really....

 

 

LOL...at one point, I could recite who found out about Aaron in order, and how much of the truth they actually got at the time. And I only remember the Aaron/Lucy angle here because it ended up impacting Carly/Jack. 

 

One wonders why Holden would've been surprised about Caleb having "anger issues". He always had them. 

17 minutes ago, P.J. said:

LOL...at one point, I could recite who found out about Aaron in order, and how much of the truth they actually got at the time. And I only remember the Aaron/Lucy angle here because it ended up impacting Carly/Jack. 

 

One wonders why Holden would've been surprised about Caleb having "anger issues". He always had them. 

 

Probably because Winton's Caleb had no real personality in comparison to MDM, other than judgmental I guess.

Edited June 29, 20205 yr by DRW50

True enough.

That 1989 Xmas episode displayed all that was starting to go wrong with Marland's version of ATWT: bloated cast, too many (bad) recasts, a bunch of newbies who couldn't act (Caleb, Duke).  I never got the Casey/Lila story. He was so hot but there was no chemistry there.  I liked this Frannie though.  The sets, costumes, directing were amazing if not a bit hyper. Everyone was so hyped up.  Kim's house was one of my favorite sets of that era. 

9 minutes ago, RavenWhitney said:

That 1989 Xmas episode displayed all that was starting to go wrong with Marland's version of ATWT: bloated cast, too many (bad) recasts, a bunch of newbies who couldn't act (Caleb, Duke).  I never got the Casey/Lila story. He was so hot but there was no chemistry there.  I liked this Frannie though.  The sets, costumes, directing were amazing if not a bit hyper. Everyone was so hyped up.  Kim's house was one of my favorite sets of that era. 

 

I think MDM and Michael Louden were fine actors. I don't think the show ever quite knew what to do with Duke though.

7 hours ago, RavenWhitney said:

That 1989 Xmas episode displayed all that was starting to go wrong with Marland's version of ATWT: bloated cast, too many (bad) recasts, a bunch of newbies who couldn't act (Caleb, Duke).  I never got the Casey/Lila story. He was so hot but there was no chemistry there.  I liked this Frannie though.  The sets, costumes, directing were amazing if not a bit hyper. Everyone was so hyped up.  Kim's house was one of my favorite sets of that era. 

Agreed..I never got Casey and Lyla and while older men on soaps get younger women all the time...he also had or would have Susan and that other boring guy( I can't remember his name)  I never really liked Lyla that much but it might have been a negative reaction to the Dobs pushing the Montgomerys down our throats while obscuring the Hughes family. I thought Lyla worked as Lillian did on GL, a supporting character that made Oakdale seem more real...(i.e a normal person doing their thing without a ton of drama constantly.)

 

I never understood why they got rid of the Hughes set.  It was a great place for everyone to connect and yes, I know it was unrealistic...(people were walking in and out of that house all day) it was a nice fantasy of the one house in town everyone could go to.

7 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

I think MDM and Michael Louden were fine actors. I don't think the show ever quite knew what to do with Duke though.

Well, it didn't help that John already had a long lost kid...(he never heard about condomns apparently) and the kid was supposed to be tough and urban and Marland didn't write that well.  His hyper masculine guys all seemed to be caricatures and campy (Duncan, James) and the rest of his guys turned into wusses and wanted to talk about feelings and honesty all day long.

I think ATWT should have written Michael Louden's character "Duke" as having passed away on the show. By the end, the show desperately needed a dose of reality and other than Hal's passing (which was disappointing by writing standards), it really lacked for it, which went against the "grounded" more realistic nature of the show.

ATWT was never really a show that had characters running around trying to save the world from a polar freeze or having one character being demonically possessed for like, a year.

Edited June 29, 20205 yr by DramatistDreamer

8 hours ago, RavenWhitney said:

That 1989 Xmas episode displayed all that was starting to go wrong with Marland's version of ATWT: bloated cast, too many (bad) recasts, a bunch of newbies who couldn't act (Caleb, Duke).  I never got the Casey/Lila story. He was so hot but there was no chemistry there.  I liked this Frannie though.  The sets, costumes, directing were amazing if not a bit hyper. Everyone was so hyped up.  Kim's house was one of my favorite sets of that era. 

 

I have to agree with you on this. Quite a few bad recasts, newbies who couldn't act. Almost every year it felt like a slew of new characters. I thought Marland had a lot of bland leading men that left me puzzled to what the vibrant and lively women saw in them, LOL.

 

I loved Casey and Lyla but I have to agree on the chemistry. I didn't see. I LOVE Casey as a character though and Lyla as well. Both actors are so good that they just make it work.

39 minutes ago, KMan101 said:

 

I have to agree with you on this. Quite a few bad recasts, newbies who couldn't act. Almost every year it felt like a slew of new characters. I thought Marland had a lot of bland leading men that left me puzzled to what the vibrant and lively women saw in them, LOL.

 

I loved Casey and Lyla but I have to agree on the chemistry. I didn't see. I LOVE Casey as a character though and Lyla as well. Both actors are so good that they just make it work.

The story should have been that Casey was gay and couldn't handle his sexuality and married his mommy/armpiece.  

52 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

I think ATWT should have written Michael Louden's character "Duke" as having passed away on the show. By the end, the show desperately needed a dose of reality and other than Hal's passing (which was disappointing by writing standards), it really lacked for it, which went against the "grounded" more realistic nature of the show.

ATWT was never really a show that had characters running around trying to save the world from a polar freeze or having one character being demonically possessed for like, a year.

 

 

Which is why I found the "evil spa" and "rapid aging serum" storyline so egregious. On a show like Days, it would just be a normal Tuesday but on ATWT it was such an aberration for a show that (outside of a year or two in the early to mid 80s) was perhaps the most realistic of all soaps. 

4 minutes ago, RavenWhitney said:

The story should have been that Casey was gay and couldn't handle his sexuality and married his mommy/armpiece.  

 

LOL yep. 

 

I felt like a lot of men on Marland's ATWT were ready to burst out of the closet, or Marland lowkey wanted them to be and couldn't, which was obvious in certain stories.