As The World Turns Discussion Thread

[DeliaIrisFan]

I am sure the suits were freaked out, but why would they not just hire Marland for any/all soaps he wanted to write ASAP - and have him write GH-like stories from the start?

[P.J.]

Haven't I read that Marland was given the choice about which P&G show he wanted to write for, and he picked GL?  That he thought it was the more (for lack of a better word) modern, and thus easier to jump into? 

[DeliaIrisFan]

Well, that makes sense.  But especially if hiring Marland was indeed a coup, why not just sign him with an effective date that worked for all parties?  Or have him work with the Dobsons at GL during the transition (which would have made sense anyway, since he still ended up writing the conclusion of Roger's story, etc.)?

Edited June 4, 2023 by DeliaIrisFan

[Soaplovers]

Marland did say that GL was the easiest soap for him to take over...that the Dobson's left it in such great shape.  And a lot of his first year on GL was finishing out some of what the Dobson's had written.

I did read a rumor once that in 1985, he was given a choice of GL and ATWT...and he picked ATWT.  Not sure if true..and what his reasonings were for choosing ATWT at that point...other then ATWT had somewhat been fixed by Horgan Bledsoe while GL was knee deep into the Infinity story (which maybe Marland didn't want to touch with a 10 foot pole lol)

[DeliaIrisFan]

That's very interesting.  On the one hand, you'd think Marland would have jumped at the chance to return to GL and salvage characters he had created that were foundering/discarded, and reinforce his vision for a show that had gone in various different directions since he had left.  On the other, GL had changed so much in those few years, and the time since he left had been longer than the time he was there.  Maybe he knew a "fresh" start would be for the best (I don't think he tried to namedrop—let alone revisit—the Willows or anything else from that brief stint in 1979 in his second run?).

Edited June 4, 2023 by DeliaIrisFan

[P.J.]

Marland left GL because EP Allen Potter fired Jane Elliot who was playing Carrie Todd in 1982. After that he created Loving and A New Day in Eden. My guess would be that ATWT offered him more control. Besides, Pam Long had shifted the focus of GL substantially. I'm not sure he could've dealt with the whale known as Reva Shayne Lewis Lewis Lewis. (And I would find it surprising if GL was prepared to kick Long to the curb, I thought she was doing well at the time)

Marland retooled ATWT and hired a substantial number of actors he'd had at GL. Lisa Brown, Ben Hendrickson, John Wesley Shipp for starters.

I don't know anything about the legalities of why the Dobsons didn't start right away. But I'm not really sure some kind of ghost collaboration was practical. I assume they would've been working on their long term story projections, and that might've been more important to everyone involved.

[DRW50]

Didn't he also have a terrible relationship with Potter? Really terrible? I know Potter was long gone by then but it probably wasn't a happy memory for him.

[Paul Raven]

Looking at ATWT and GL he probably felt that ATWT was in better shape at that point. There was still a lot of vets and some sort of history/consistency to work with whereas at GL the Bauers had basically disappeared and his creation the Reardons were hardly visible. To get GL back on track would have required a lot of retooling whereas ATWT had a better base to start from.

[Mitch64]

Well, the whole Doug Cummings story was a bit of a reference to the Willows...(gothic, dead wife, crazy assistant, Dream's End vs. Willows.) 

While I am glad he came over to ATWT, I would have loved what he could do with GL at the time.  Bea Reardon was still on the canvas but not used, so he could have brought Lisa Brown back as Nola...(though getting past the Quolas would have been hard as she should have come back alone..) and built the Reardon's back up..He would have loved writing for Alex, and maybe brought Mike back to rebuild the Bauers and also he would be on the spot to write Bert's death. He could have reignited Vanessa and woken her up from her "I'm a Lewis," coma and  I do wonder what he would have done with Reva?

[Sapounopera]

Reva could become a new version of Nola Dancy. 

GL was so bad in 1985, it would be very hard for him to follow any of his rules.  

[Khan]

In a way, I think Reva (and KZ) would have benefitted from Douglas Marland's writing.  She wouldn't have been as wild, but she wouldn't have dominated the show as much either.

I guess I'm one of the few GL fans who enjoyed even that period of time in the show's history, lol.

[Soapsuds]

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[Soapsuds]

A younger Liz and Kathryn

 

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[DRW50]

I have a vague memory of this being up before but I can't find it now and that may be on how samey the Earl Mitchell death story from around this point was. Posting in case it's new to you.

@DramatistDreamer @slick jones @soapfan770 @Mitch64 @Vee @victoria foxton @vetsoapfan @Soapsuds @P.J. @Paul Raven @Khan @DeliaIrisFan @kalbir @Soaplovers @TVFAN1144 @Sapounopera

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Edited June 8, 2023 by DRW50

[Vee]

Thanks! I always wondered if they wanted to do more with Earl and didn't. But I don't know how far he and Lisa got, I'm still deep in '86 lol.