OLTL’s Marcie: Moving on with Michael
Although Al losing his memories has received mixed reviews from Marcal fans, co-head writer Michael Malone is happy he can now get on with Marcie’s life. “We finally can start telling stories with these people,” he says referring to Kathy Brier‘s Marcie and Nathaniel Marston‘s Michael. “We never thought we were going to have to do this, to get them back to the beginning, but here they are and thank God.”When ABC terminated Marston’s contract last summer and killed Al, the couple’s future looked bleak. However, Marston was rehired and worked back into the story first as an angel and then in the form of Michael McBain. “Good always comes out of [something like] this,” says Malone. “Now he’s got brothers and a mother and a wonderful job at the hospital.”The actors are happy, too. “I think this relationship is going to be a little more mature,” says Marston. “Maybe a little more heat between them, a little more sexual tension. Because there was no tension between Marcie and Al. Everything was a given because they were so in love.””It’s been an interesting roller coaster ride and this is a new loop,” says Brier. “I think the fans are happy that Nathaniel’s here. They’re excited to have us back as a couple, which is an amazing compliment.
“There are lots of different levels for me and Nathaniel to play with,” she adds. “How much of Al still stays around? Even though he doesn’t know that he’s Al, his spirit is still in this person. She’s in love. She fell so far head-over heels in love with this guy and she doesn’t know why. I would love to play that conflict.”Both agree they’d like to see the couple happy for a while. “The general consensus of people who produce these shows is that if a character or characters are happy for too long then the audience will lose interest,” says Marston. “But I think that people would be happy to see Marcie and Michael happy with one another. People need that positive image of couples and relationships. I’m disheartened by the fact that soap operas don’t play to that at all. And maybe this time they’ll go the opposite way and not do the cliche thing and break us up right after we get together. The reason that people responded so heavily to Marcie and Al is that it went against every soap opera convention. People want some happiness. They need that. You’ve got other characters on the show. Give them conflict.”Brier agrees, but doesn’t think “it will be smooth sailing.” If they do have conflicts, however, she hopes it comes from internal sources, not a third party. “I would love to see this young couple that is in love go through the hardships of what it’s like to be in a relationship, of being in a new relationship. You don’t get to see enough of that on daytime, young couples that truly care about each other just trying to get through the day. The [comical] situations of just going through every day. There’s a lot of stuff that we could mine and investigate with these two.”
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