Marland absolutely handled Roger's wrap-up beautifully. No character deserved a spectacular ending more. He had the core characters who had an involved history with Roger involved (Holly, Ed, and Mike), which added to the impact. Where I think he failed was not really having a good plan of what to do with Holly, post-Roger. Maureen Garrett just seemed to be hanging around for most of the spring and summer.
And you're right - Cindy Pickett was apparently never sticking around past the end of her contract in 1980, so Marland had zero time to focus on the Phillip parentage situation with her in the mix as Jackie. I assume Marland had eventual plans to reveal to Phillip that Jackie and Justin were his biological parents, but I'm curious as to how far out that was going to happen. A few of the key players in Springfield knew by early 1981 (such as Hope, for example), so I always figured it would have been in play by spring or summer of 1981, but that never occurred.
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zanereed ·
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