Doug, lol.
Like I said, it was weird about Stephanie. They added her, Joey Thrower's Kevin, Lee Ann and Jason to the final Tour of Llanview opening in September, played her a fair amount that month with Jason in a very Malone way, and then had her trading barbs with Lee Ann and closer to Joey in October. Then with no preamble they very abruptly write her out in a single day to go to Chicago, and Robyn Griggs is immediately removed from the opening as JDP is re-added (the final change to the 80s opening, I think - strangely Luna and Blair are never added despite it being the same timeframe).
A lot has been said about Griggs alienating people BTS at her various soaps and Joey Thrower talked about her being an issue at OLTL, so I assume that between her initial story pre-Gottlieb/Malone being so lousy, their adding a bunch of new people plus her offscreen behavior, they just quickly did a 180 and decided to cut bait on Stephanie in this period. I don't know if Stephanie comes back before the spring '92 story where she returns following Carlo's death (and is used simply to end that story). I suspect not. I do know Thrower's Kevin is back shortly. Why they sent him away for a few weeks I really don't know.
I know Pat Elliott (Renee) said they should've told the Eber story with Asa and Renee so the audience could invest in it vs. two new people. Asa and Renee's relationship was growing very toxic at this point but I don't think that would've worked - I understand her point but it would've ruined Asa permanently, and the audience didn't want to watch him do that. I do think some of the stuff with Doug and Jane is well-written especially as she talks about how their relationship first turned abusive, and how she can't remember if it hurt the first time he hit her. Gottlieb was very clearly trying to educate during this period with this story and the Wanda subplot about female medical care, and it's always admirable for daytime to do that and was well-scripted but a bit too didactic, especially in the Eber story with random all-new characters. Maybe they could've brought back some minor past players instead to do the same short story, like one of the O'Neill girls or (shudder) Wade and Mari Lynn.
By
Vee ·
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.