GH, GL, ATWT, SB- Brand NEW INTERVIEW with BRIDGET DOBSON!!!

[JackPeyton]

Truly one of the most jaw dropping, shocking moments on SON... and that is saying something.

[juniorz1]

Yup, it sure was. The AIDS talk went on for pages and pages after that

[EricMontreal22]

I wonder if it was the same poster which blew up with a page long post to me all about how I had the most extremely shitty taste of any human being, nobody liked me, my avatar was ugly, bla bla bla. (I admit, after a few people actually told me I needed to report the post to a mod, I was a little unimpressed that their advice was to just ignore it )

Oh well, water under the bridge and all that.

[juniorz1]

FINALLY! PART 3 has been POSTED!!!

http://pierin26santabarbara.blogspot.it/2013/04/my-exclusive-interview-with-bridget.html

[EricMontreal22]

Great read, much more interesting than part 2 where Bridget seemed to not want to talk about anything specific. So P&G didn't like Marland's original ATWT bible? Is that why he was just there for 13 weeks?

[Khan]

Yet, soap pundits have praised what he was able to do for ATWT in such a short period of time, especially in regards to the Bennett/Lisa story. I wonder if the problem was that Marland didn't want to make ENOUGH changes for ATWT, whereas the Dobsons appeared more willing to make the show sexier and more youth-skewering.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Who knows? Marland did go on to make GL a little more youth-skewing than the Dobson's previously did with P&G's approval.

ATWT seemed to be in a desperation mode by the late 70's, both creatively and ratings-wise. Given that that Dobson's successfully contemporized GL, I wouldn't be surprised if their mandate from P&G about ATWT was to take it a notch or two higher.

[EricMontreal22]

I was gonna say, didn't Marland have a rep at that era *for* writing for teens and youth stories? That's certainly what Schemering's GL 50th Anniversary book claims (going as far as to say many fans thought he sacrificed older characters for the young when he joined GL.)

"ATWT seemed to be in a desperation mode by the late 70's, both creatively and ratings-wise. Given that that Dobson's successfully contemporized GL, I wouldn't be surprised if their mandate from P&G about ATWT was to take it a notch or two higher.ATWT seemed to be in a desperation mode by the late 70's, both creatively and ratings-wise. Given that that Dobson's successfully contemporized GL, I wouldn't be surprised if their mandate from P&G about ATWT was to take it a notch or two higher."

Right--also P&G did at the time have a philosophy that HWs got stale at one show and every few years they'd rotate them.

[Khan]

He did. But, at the same time, Marland also displayed respect for core characters and families. Conversely, aside from Tom, I'd argue that the Hugheses' influence began to wane for the first time when the Dobsons took over ATWT.

[DeliaIrisFan]

She seems to have some pretty big blind spots in her memory of their stint at ATWT, no?

For instance, I assume she meant that GL was the highest rated soap on CBS by the time they left, not the # 1 soap in the ratings, period? That was GH, from which P&G had of course just hired Marland away. At any time prior to that, I could see a soap writer being relatively oblivious as far as that distinction. But every account I've read makes it sound like all of the soaps on other networks at that time - especially CBS/P&G, which had fallen so hard by the early '80s - were under intense pressure to compete with the ABC shows. Also, if ATWT was actually back to being the # 1 CBS soap in the ratings by the time the Dobsons left (and maybe even the # 1 soap for a week or two...I think it briefly surpassed GH, et al the week of Steve and Betsy's wedding?), that was only after Marland left GL, right? For most of that time, Marland's GL was pretty consistently the highest rated non-ABC soap.

On another note, did the Dobsons stay at ATWT for three years? I thought they left and came back at some point. It would have been interesting to hear what that was about.

I still find the Dobsons' trajectory from GL to ATWT so fascinating. The two just seem like night and day, from everything I've seen of their material. I wish someday we'd get some insight into that transition, but this wasn't quite it.

[EricMontreal22]

And yet didn't some accuse them of repeating stories at ATWT that they had done at GL?

She definitely has blind spots--in her earlier interviews too, but fair enough. But yes, at least credits wise, ATWT had a few writers who didn't work out and then they returned...

[EastMA2]

Bridget is kind of a delusional mess. ATWT was never #1 when they were writing the show. Not even for a week. I'm assuming that Steve & Betsy's wedding wedding MAY have made ATWT #1 that week, (no confirmation on this)but the Dobsons were long gone by then.

We won't even go into her delusion about being the only people to ever be offered to create a show that is all their own. Remember being locked out of the studio of your own show Bridget? Obviously others had more power than you.

Bridget is kind of a delusional mess. ATWT was never #1 when they were writing the show. Not even for a week. I'm assuming that Steve & Betsy's wedding wedding MAY have made ATWT #1 that week, (no confirmation on this)but the Dobsons were long gone by then.

We won't even go into her delusion about being the only people to ever be offered to create a show that is all their own. Remember being locked out of the studio of your own show Bridget? Obviously others had more power than you.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I thought Steve and Betsy's wedding occurred during their second stint. I guess it was soon after they left?

[EastMA2]

The Steve & Betsy wedding credits on youtube list Tom King & Millee Taggart as headwriters.

[Soaplovers]

The Dobson's did some interesting things during their first stint as headwriters of ATWT.. from December 1979 thru spring 1981. They bought back Joyce (back from the dead).. and put her back with Grant while Lisa was determined to expose that Joyce was up to her old tricks. They also created Lyla and Margo, had Margo sleep with James Stenbeck.. while having Margo and John be father and daughter.. plus had the Dee rape trial.

However, they did deemphasize Chris/Nancy, wrote off Don Hughes, killed off Jay Stallings, and paired Steve with Carol.

It seems like a lot of hit and miss.. while the Dobson's GL seemed to be firing on all cylinders. It shows that not all headwriters fit on all shows... the Dobson's fit in well at GL, but not at ATWT.. while I liked Marland's GL, but disliked his ATWT.