Oh, yeah, I think you're probably right. Yikes, I guess we're lucky Zaslow left when he did.
No, he did not write her in that way. While she was always portrayed as someone who was upwardly mobile, Marland made that more crass than the Dobsons did. Rita really loved Ed, but it didn't hurt he was successful doctor who could buy her that nice house. She was pretty aggressive about persuing him after he and Holly broke up, but she genuinely cared for him and I think was genuinely jealous of his residual feelings for Holly. She really was a dedicated nurse, not someone who wanted to live a life of leisure. She was furious when he made her quit her job and take care of Christina (not sure I can blame her very much) almost like a penance because she didn't come forward soon enough about what Roger did to her.
Like Jackie, she had a lot of layers to her. Yes, she was insecure, because of her humble background and her aspirations.
Under Marland, he had her become more like Nola--wanting to put on airs, live large, I guess you could say? I'm not sure if it's still available online, but there is episode where she's telling Sara she was sick of pretending she didn't want the things she wanted out of life. She felt like Ed held her back, that he was content with a blah middle-class existence. There were lots of implications that she wanted the kind of life the Spauldings lived. Whereas the Dobsons portrayed Alan and Rita's attraction as mainly sexual, like two people who just vibed, not necessarily that they would fall in love or that Rita was after his money and social position.
If she had stayed on the show, I'm fairly certain Marland was going to have her make a play to become the next Mrs. Spaulding. Which would make her kind of horrible, since Hope was her pregnant niece.
We'll never know now. I wish there was more from that time period available, the affair and the fall-out from it.
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DeeVee ·
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