Marland Monday: Going to Have to Face It, the 1986 Emmys Screwed Up
Oh it’s Monday again, meaning it’s…
Marland Monday!
Yes, Mondays is when I write about Douglas Marland, one of my favorite writers in the soap opera genre. Let’s get to it, shall we?
The Daytime Emmy nominations were announced last week. I felt a little sad; I hardly knew anyone that was nominated. That’s how it is these days; I only watch Young and Restless occasionally (side note: Give Beth Maitland a good storyline, Young and Restless! She deserves it!) Marland won several Emmys, a special one after he died in 1993. However, in the ceremony, I’m going to concentrate on today he lost. But to whom? Let us explore.
We’re going back to the summer of 1986. Fergie just married Prince Andrew (now I want to tell her to run Fergie run!) Howard the Duck was going to come out in two weeks and it surely would be a hit. Robert Palmer had a hit with “Addicted to Love” with models with bright red lipstick pretending to play guitar surrounding him. The eighties, I tell you.
On July 17, 1986, Jenifer Lewis would sing “Addicted to Love” while steamy love scenes played behind her on the 13th annual Daytime Emmys. I was definitely rooting for Marland. As the World Turns was up for eleven Emmys. The year before they only were nominated for two Emmys (Brian Bloom won for Best Younger Actor) Then Marland came onboard. That year he introduced the Snyder family, Barbara became a bad girl, and one of the best mysteries I’ve seen (I’ll have to devote months to this storyline when I write about it) and the 30th anniversary show. It was all so good.
Guiding Light my other soap was nominated for Best Writing as well. By then I took a break from the show that would last until 1989. I had loved the show always, loved it especially from 1980-Spring 1985. That spring was when Lisa Brown and Michael Tylo left. Charita Bauer had died but the show didn’t have Bert die (when they did, it was so badly done) The show was off. It was trying to be like Dynasty and Dallas, they were trying to make my favorite couple Beth and Lujack like General Hospital’s Luke and Laura by having B&L chase down an evil guy named Largo (I’m not making this up) who headed an organization called Infinity. Please don’t expect it to make sense, it doesn’t. Then they killed off Lujack (Vincent Irizzary, and yes, I’m still bitter about this!) and had Beth go back to Phillip way too soon. It didn’t make sense. There was lots of behind the scenes drama-in one year the head writer had been replaced three or four times-and I knew my beloved Beth (Judi Evans) was going to leave soon. But Pam Long had been nominated for her writing stint, but if I was going to be honest, I was Team Marland all the way.
ATWT’s big win happened with Best Supporting Actor, when Brian Bloom and Martha Byrne happily announced John Wesley Shipp received the Best Supporting Actor award for his protrayal of Douglas Cummings. I was thrilled; he deserved it. He thanked Marland, executive producer Robert Calhoun, then the three actresses he worked with the most: Giulia Pagano (who played DC’s assistiant Marcia Talbot) Julianne Moore (Frannie, love interest) and Kathryn Hays (Kim) The latter now makes me tear up.
My beloved Vincent Irizarry (Lujack on GL) Jon Hemsley (Holden, ATWT) and Brian Bloom lost Best Younger Actor to Michael E Knight (Tad, All My Children) Knight was super popular so I understood why he won. Kathleen Widdoes (Emma, ATWT) lost to Days of our Lives’s Leann Hurley for Best Supporting Actress. For Best Younger Actress Ellen Wheeler on Another World won, but that was a given, she was playing twins. If you played twins on a soap, you were a shoo-in to win. David Canary played twins on All my Children and he won. Julianne Moore won her Emmy when she played Frannie and Sabrina in 1988.
But let’s get to the nitty gritty: the Best writing Emmy!
The nominees were…
General Hospital
As the World Turns
Guiding Light
The Young and the Restless
Clips were shown of all four shows. Come on, ATWT! You’ve got this!
And the winner is…
Young and Restless?
Wait a minute! No! Did they watch the murder storyline? Did they see all the twists and turns it took? Bill Bell gave a gracious speech, but I was miffed. Y&R also won Best Director and Best Show. When I do see clips back then, it was well done. I was just mad Marland lost.
But wait! We have a twist!
Marland did lose, but to Pamela K. Long. Huh?
The Emmys blamed a clerical mixup, saying Pamela K. Long’s team won the Emmy, not Bill Bell’s team. They wanted the Emmys back. Bill Bell told the Los Angeles Times telling his team they had to give back their trophies was “the most unpleasant job of my life.” Writing about it thirty-six years later I’m angry on Bell’s behalf. How could something like this happen? They later said there were “so many names it was confusing” That doesn’t make sense. Have two winners that year. Let the Young and Restless people keep their Emmies. But no, they were given back.
It was just so screwy; Pam Long and her team accepted their Emmys with no TV cameras. It was unfair. I don’t remember being angry about it, I honestly thought, well, that’s how people are. I had survived two years of middle school and been bullied all that time. I had experienced what I now realize was a sexual assault. I knew life was unfair; this whole screwup confirmed that. It also helped me realize other things:
- Even if you do your best work, sometimes you won’t get acknowledged for it. Keep doing it though. You’re not writing for the awards, you’re writing for yourself first and foremost.
- If you do win an award, you might win it a year late, and not for your best work. Smile, thank everyone, then take the award and run.
- People screw up. Sometimes life doesn’t make sense but keep going.
Marland knew that. He kept going, then he would be nominated again. Tune in next week, when an outgoing Tom wins, and the world turns for more Emmys. Stay tuned!
