Marland Monday: “Craig, You Are The Father!”
Hey there! Hope you had a lovely MayDay. It’s Monday and what does that mean?
Marland Monday!
Yep, you know the drill. If you are here to remember Douglas Marland, one of the greatest writers in the soap opera genre, congratulations. You’ve come to the right place.
This week we are celebrating two births.
Remember what I wrote about February sweeps? Same with May. Lots of births, weddings, big things going on. It happened thirty-five years ago, and for a brief time, there was happiness in Oakdale for the Montgomery family. And someone got his just deserts. Read on…
I’ve written here about star crossed lovers Craig Montgomery (Scott Bryce) and Sierra Estaban (Finn Carter) After Sierra found out Craig slept with her mother Lucinda (Elizabeth Hubbard) she ran off to San Francisco to find an old friend/flame, Tonio Reyes (Peter Boynton) He proposed marriage. Confused and upset, she said yes. They moved to Oakdale. Tonio was just-ugh. He told Sierra she had to have a curfew. A curfew. She was in her twenties, working as an assistiant to John Dixon (Larry Bryggman) Well, forget that job. A woman’s place is to stay home. He set it up so Steve Andropolous (Frank Runyon) lost his business and go bankrupt. Steve was Tonio’s only real friend. Apparently Tonio never learned in friendship school, you don’t let your friend lose their business. That was the final straw for Sierra; she left him. Also he cheated on her with Barbara Ryan. Did I mention he was a skunk? Oh, he was a skunk.
But before all of that, Sierra had one night of passionate lovemaking with Craig. If you’re thinking “Oh, she got pregnant.” Bing! We have a winner! Craig however, was sterile. Or he thought he was; he had two surgeries to get it fixed. One surgery worked, one didn’t. But it looked like Tonio was the father. Sierra was adamant: She wasn’t staying married to Tonio. If she had to be a single mother, okay. She would show her baby it wasn’t okay to be controlled by someone else. Craig was now dating Iva Snyder (Lisa Brown) so some things weren’t meant to be. Unless…
Sierra gave birth to a beautiful baby boy she named Bryant. Dr. Samuels (the Gyno to all the Oakdale women) told Sierra that Bryant’s blood type didn’t match Tonio’s blood type. There was no way Tonio couldn’t be Bryant’s father. When this was revealed, women across the country watching this breathed sighs of relief and cheered.
Tonio went off to pout like the big baby he was. Sierra told Craig he was the father. In 1987, DNA testing wasn’t available for paternity (or maybe it was? It wasn’t for soaps though) so Craig wasn’t sure. Sierra insisted; she had only been with two men so it had to be Craig. Confused, Craig talked to his mother’s boyfriend Dr. Casey Peretti (Bill Shanks) and decided to get a medical opinion. What I love about the moment (which starts below at 11:57) is God, Craig wants this to be true. He wants it so badly he can taste it. But he doesn’t want to even dream it’s true, because so much had gone wrong. He gave Casey a brief history: how his other doctor said it couldn’t be true, hence the second operation. Casey thought for a minute, then said maybe something happened that reversed the first operation.
Right after Sierra and Craig slept together, Craig did a stint in prison for murder (he didn’t do it) but he got in a fight with some prisoners (Craig, it could’ve been worse, babe. Look at St. Elsewhere’s Jack Morrison) Then Craig thought back. He remembered he was cornered by one of the prisoners. He popped Craig in the groin area.
Craig’s face lit up with utter delight. He was the father. This would’ve been the moment that Maury Povich would’ve told him “Craig, you are the father!”
He jumped up and realized it was true. He told his mom Lyla, then ran to tell Sierra.
Almost everyone was happy about this turn of events. Lucinda was delighted; at first she thought Tonio was the bee’s knees, but that changed when he decided to blackmail her on several matters (This will be covered next month-trust me) Craig and Sierra decided to get married right away.
This is where the almost comes in: Craig had to tell Iva what was going on. There had broken up a little while before, but there had been a possibility they would get back together. Iva tried to be a good sport. Unlike Tonio, Iva was warm, kind, and knew Craig should be with Sierra. She let him go with grace and love, then went to Sierra’s hospital room and wished her good luck.
And Tonio? Did he follow Iva’s example? Eh, not so much. He went off to pout, then visited Sierra again. “I don’t know what else to say.” Sierra looked at him. She did care for him, once. But she had changed and wanted to be independent, to be an equal with her husband. She thanked him for coming. He walked out, then Lucinda did a victory dance that he wasn’t the father (okay she didn’t, but you get the drift)
Of course, the happy ending wasn’t going to last long; Scott Bryce was leaving the show in a month to try his luck in LA. He would get a recurring role on Facts of Life’s last season as Rick, Jo’s new boyfriend. Nancy McKeon had seen Bryce on ATWT and was a big fan. I was just delighted to see him working.
So for a brief moment in Oakdale, everything was working out. I knew it wasn’t going to last, but it was great to see.
And the second birth?
Mr. Marland’s birthday would’ve been this Thursday, May 5th. Here’s the odd thing: our birthdays are exactly a month apart. Oh Mr. Marland. Happy early birthday, man. Celebrate with your parents. Celebrate with Lisa Brown, Kathryn Hays, and Michael Tylo. I wish you could’ve stayed here a little bit longer.
Tune in next week.
