This is the first I've ever heard of David Hamilton originally intended as a golfer. Maybe he would have gotten bludgeoned with a club instead of hitting his head on the fireplace.

I still think bringing back David Hamilton's wife and/or children would make for a very interesting story, lol.

4 hours ago, titan1978 said:

Fascinating to look at the turmoil going on just a few months before first Marland arrived, then Monty. They brought in a lot of new characters over the course of 1976-1978!

Except for Leslie as Monica, none of these folks are there anymore by early 1981 when they killed Diana. Had ABC or whoever pushed Valerie Starrett out waited a few months, things might have been very different. Marland and Monty wrote for Diana as if she was still a major player. With Starrett still there she might have had more impact in those stories and stayed.

For longterm fans, was Starrett and Diana a favorite? Reading about her she seems very put upon and victimized.

The infamous hurricane!

I remember in Chris Schemering's book he said Starrett had "amassed quite a following."

I didn't realize Brooke Bundy arrived just in time to play out Diana's daughter being killed. Seems like a tough way to get viewers to invest.

I do wonder if this hurricane had any real long-term impact (I guess it did with the PJ/Steven Lars saga) and how it was executed. Monty would have made the whole thing more effective but she wasn't there yet.

I also wonder if David was already intended as bad at this time.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by DRW50

1 hour ago, Khan said:

I still think bringing back David Hamilton's wife and/or children would make for a very interesting story, lol.

Frank will cast Casper Van Dien as David's son out for revenge on Laura.

On 6/14/2026 at 9:59 AM, titan1978 said:

As a feminist, I do sometimes find catfights regressive. But damn when they hit they really hit lol! And those ladies set a bar so high nobody has come close to it. I put them above anything I saw on Dynasty, the patron saint show of women slapping each other.

They really did. And I love that they (and we) can still talk about it so fondly.

5 hours ago, titan1978 said:

Fascinating to look at the turmoil going on just a few months before first Marland arrived, then Monty. They brought in a lot of new characters over the course of 1976-1978!

Except for Leslie as Monica, none of these folks are there anymore by early 1981 when they killed Diana. Had ABC or whoever pushed Valerie Starrett out waited a few months, things might have been very different. Marland and Monty wrote for Diana as if she was still a major player. With Starrett still there she might have had more impact in those stories and stayed.

How interesting to read this since I was just reading the SOD issue celebrating GH's 55th anniversary yesterday and Frank's conversation about it as well as a timeline for the show and I found what I read around this particular time period intriguing. I too would like to know more about Diana.

2 hours ago, Khan said:

I still think bringing back David Hamilton's wife and/or children would make for a very interesting story, lol.

Well it would give Genie something to do.

Do we know when was the earliest mention of Laura?