Marj Dusay

[Khan]

 

Believe it or not, I think she's worthy of their praise, in that respect.  Even when she was a HW, you could count on Jean Passanante to deliver some hard-hitting, well-scripted moments.  (Jennifer's death on ATWT comes to mind).

 

As a HW, JP wasn't terrible, per se.  IMO, she was one whose ideas often looked challenging or provocative "on paper" -- even something as initially tasteless as Brooke dating her daughter's killer might have won over more people, if more time and care had been taken with it -- but a big problem with me (and why I resist criticism that Doug Marland's work on ATWT and GL often came across as too cold or brittle) was that JP was too often all head and no heart, or not enough.  Pat Falken Smith famously said if she didn't cry at least three times a week over her own work, she knew the writing was no good; and although Marland might not ever have been down for the floridly sentimental, I do believe you could feel when he was excited about his writing.  But with JP...well, it's like what Sheffer once said: a bomb could go off on her head, and it wouldn't phase her.

 

Simply put, I think JP was too often caught up in the mechanics of laying out the story -- there's a reason why Agnes asked her whether she enjoyed working puzzles -- and never stopped to put herself into what she was writing. 

 

Of course, there's a downside to being TOO emotional with the work, and that's excess, or paucity of logic -- which, IMO, defines stuff like Leah Laiman's solo turns at DAYS and AW, and Michael Malone's second go-round with OLTL.

Edited January 31, 2020 by Khan

[Vee]

I may be wrong, but I believe a good portion of the Phantom Erica/mask story was Agnes. I know the mixing in of Vanessa and the resulting romance with David was. It had her oft-repressed gothic flourish, good and bad. (The final example: The Celia mystery on AMC 2.0)

 

IIRC Rebecca Budig always credited Jean Passanante for the build of Greenlee and Leo, and I'm sure she was instrumental, but I know the entire original Scott/Becca/Leo/Greenlee quad was Agnes' classical young love archetypes in play again (which, again, Pete and Celia on 2.0 were another example of); those are her models and I believe all four characters were created to her spec under her eye. It didn't work that time, of course, because fans didn't cotton to Becca or the talented Abigail Spencer, or the drippy Forbes March Scott, so Budig and Duhamel broke out. And who knows how much control Agnes had at that time. Sorry, this is so OT.

 

I think Jean was AMC's worst HW, ever, but that's me. I could and probably have written bad papers on Malone's insane second OLTL run. It was often terrible, but never boring or impersonal.

Edited February 1, 2020 by Vee

[Khan]

 

You're not wrong.  I figured Agnes had a hand in that story when Erica, who was still reeling emotionally from being disfigured, showed up at Pine Valley High School for some kind of press conference.  To me, it seemed like something Agnes would do.

 

Earlier today, I wondered whether Marj Dusay could have succeeded on OLTL -- perhaps, as Irene Manning, during the wretched Tale of Two Todds storyline?  Not that I'm knocking Barbara Rhoades, but I think Marj was better suited for that kind of melodrama.

Edited February 1, 2020 by Khan

[Soaplovers]

Mryna Craig and Blair Warner's mom is her two best rols...imho

[Khan]

 

Agree!  With Pamela Capwell Conrad a very close third!

[amybrickwallace]

 

I third that emotion!!

[Mitch]

I love this scene..and makes me sad what Alex could have been under Marj if they wrote for her. She was a more street fighter, grittier Alex, but she never would be the drug dealing, house mouse they made her into later...(imagine Alex sitting by while Alan basically had Lizzie trapped in the mansion?)

 

During the horrible drugging Alan storyline there was an hilarious scene where Alan passes out behind the couch, MarjAlex continues to berate him, then turns around and kicks him (unseen behind the couch) "Oh get UP Alan!" The way Marj did it made it seem like an adlib on her part but most likely not but it was the best part of that storyline.

[Gray Bunny]

 

I wonder how GL/Rauch/E&B etc. would've used her (if at all) had she remained there in a recurring capacity in 1999 versus jumping ship to a contract role at AMC.  It was characters like Alex, Ed, Eleni, etc. that would just disappear around this era of GL without an explanation until long afterward with some casual reference that they left town / went back to Africa, etc. 

[Mitch]

I have no idea why the would let her get away..Alex vs. Annie would have been much more fun then another retread of Jeva vs. Annie..and a stupid trial where the damn clone had to be mentioned again.  I think Marj would have stayed around even on recurring if she was actually given things to do..but I remember her saying she wasnt scheduled after her inital scenes so.. Dumb especially with India back..imagine Alex gloating to Blake that whore India was screwing Ross!

 

E & B were really bad at letting support characters disappear for weeks at a time but shoving Reva/Josh/Cassie Mob/Princes...down our throats.