The Town of Odyssey

Monica Stone wrote: I noticed that Kathy Buchanan hasn't been writing as much, too. A year or so ago, she was writing a majority of the episodes. I noticed most of the writers have episodes they fall back into writing. Marshal Younger mainly writes Perkins family episodes, Phil Lollar/Bob Hoose usually write the Rydell Saga, Kathy Buchanan often writes episodes featuring Buck, Jules, Wooton, Penny, and/or Connie. Phil Lollar and Bob Hoose (and now possibly Abigail Geiger) often tend to write just about anything with any characters and that's their schtick. So, considering the content of the episodes, the writers do not surprise me. I'm just surprised that some of these episodes will actually be in album 70 at all. But I predict this will be a very solid album! All of the episodes look really promising.

A lot of Odyssey writers have taken breaks from writing over the years, maybe Kathy is doing that now, maybe. I honestly don't really like this kind of "schtick" of characters the Odyssey writers are in. Years ago the writers had two switch around because there were less charters and less writers. I mean it's not as bad as I make it sound because I think all the writers do the characters they write repeatedly very well, but I do wish there was more variety. On another note, we have no idea about episode order, here is my guess:

December 17th: Unrelatable ( I really hope this is Lets Call the Whole Thing Off, but I think this is more likely, since Unrelatable is the album cover).
December 24th: The Christmas Bells
December 31st: Jumping Off, Jumping In (or Let's Call The Whole Thing Off)
January 7th: Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
January 14th: The Protector
January 21st: Auto Response ( this better not be Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
I basically Just switched off between Phil Lollar episodes and Marshal Younger episodes .

CarlR wrote: honestly don't really like this kind of "schtick" of characters the Odyssey writers are in. Years ago the writers had two switch around because there were less charters and less writers. I mean it's not as bad as I make it sound because I think all the writers do the characters they write repeatedly very well, but I do wish there was more variety.

I didn't say the writers were completely tied to their schticks. I was just pointing out that many of them do have certain characters/stories that I think they personally enjoy writing the most and therefore do write for the most. And that's not bad.

Part of me really likes that sometimes the writers mainly write certain characters. Take, for example, Marshal Younger with the Perkins episodes. I think he has a clear vision in mind and can maintain the best consistency with the Perkins family if he is the sole writer. IMO he has done a fantastic job developing and writing the Perkins family. I can see how having writers split writing the episodes could change that a bit. But of course, that's where teamwork comes in. And the writers are obviously a team and they plan things together. Marshal Younger may be writing the scripts for the Perkins and likely pitching most of the ideas for their episodes, but I think all of the writers work toward the final product. So honestly, I don't think it bothers me.

Kathy Buchanan may be taking a break due to her husband Sean's death in 2019. That's probably why she didn't direct "California Dreams". No reason other writers can't write for Jules.

Monica Stone wrote: Also, Jules could possibly have a subplot in one of the already-revealed episodes. I find it a little strange that the album description boasts that it continues the storylines and characters. The only storyline that seems to be continued is the Rydell Saga/Aftermath — and that's merely 1/6 of the episodes!

Yeah, they're really cheating with that description.

CarlR wrote: A lot of Odyssey writers have taken breaks from writing over the years, maybe Kathy is doing that now, maybe. I honestly don't really like this kind of "schtick" of characters the Odyssey writers are in. Years ago the writers had two switch around because there were less charters and less writers. I mean it's not as bad as I make it sound because I think all the writers do the characters they write repeatedly very well, but I do wish there was more variety. On another note, we have no idea about episode order, here is my guess:

December 17th: Unrelatable ( I really hope this is Lets Call the Whole Thing Off, but I think this is more likely, since Unrelatable is the album cover).
December 24th: The Christmas Bells
December 31st: Jumping Off, Jumping In (or Let's Call The Whole Thing Off)
January 7th: Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
January 14th: The Protector
January 21st: Auto Response ( this better not be Let's Call The Whole Thing Off )

Agreed. The writers need to learn to write for more than their favorite few characters, this would make the show feel more unified and less predictable. Did Nathan confirm they are releasing on Thursdays on the club?

Monica Stone wrote:

CarlR wrote: honestly don't really like this kind of "schtick" of characters the Odyssey writers are in. Years ago the writers had two switch around because there were less charters and less writers. I mean it's not as bad as I make it sound because I think all the writers do the characters they write repeatedly very well, but I do wish there was more variety.

I didn't say the writers were completely tied to their schticks. I was just pointing out that many of them do have certain characters/stories that I think they personally enjoy writing the most and therefore do write for the most. And that's not bad.

Part of me really likes that sometimes the writers mainly write certain characters. Take, for example, Marshal Younger with the Perkins episodes. I think he has a clear vision in mind and can maintain the best consistency with the Perkins family if he is the sole writer. IMO he has done a fantastic job developing and writing the Perkins family. I can see how having writers split writing the episodes could change that a bit. But of course, that's where teamwork comes in. And the writers are obviously a team and they plan things together. Marshal Younger may be writing the scripts for the Perkins and likely pitching most of the ideas for their episodes, but I think all of the writers work toward the final product. So honestly, I don't think it bothers me.

Yeah, I agree!

-- Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:32 am --

AIOrocks101 wrote:Kathy Buchanan may be taking a break due to her husband Sean's death in 2019. That's probably why she didn't direct "California Dreams". No reason other writers can't write for Jules.

Monica Stone wrote: Also, Jules could possibly have a subplot in one of the already-revealed episodes. I find it a little strange that the album description boasts that it continues the storylines and characters. The only storyline that seems to be continued is the Rydell Saga/Aftermath — and that's merely 1/6 of the episodes!

Yeah, they're really cheating with that description.

CarlR wrote: A lot of Odyssey writers have taken breaks from writing over the years, maybe Kathy is doing that now, maybe. I honestly don't really like this kind of "schtick" of characters the Odyssey writers are in. Years ago the writers had two switch around because there were less charters and less writers. I mean it's not as bad as I make it sound because I think all the writers do the characters they write repeatedly very well, but I do wish there was more variety. On another note, we have no idea about episode order, here is my guess:

December 17th: Unrelatable ( I really hope this is Lets Call the Whole Thing Off, but I think this is more likely, since Unrelatable is the album cover).
December 24th: The Christmas Bells
December 31st: Jumping Off, Jumping In (or Let's Call The Whole Thing Off)
January 7th: Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
January 14th: The Protector
January 21st: Auto Response ( this better not be Let's Call The Whole Thing Off )

Agreed. The writers need to learn to write for more than their favorite few characters, this would make the show feel more unified and less predictable. Did Nathan confirm they are releasing on Thursdays on the club?

No, but they have done it on Thursdays for the last years.

-- Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:33 am --

AIOrocks101 wrote:Kathy Buchanan may be taking a break due to her husband Sean's death in 2019. That's probably why she didn't direct "California Dreams". No reason other writers can't write for Jules.

That is exactly what I was thinking.

-- Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:42 am --

What would you want as a order of episodes?

CarlR wrote: What would you want as a order of episodes?

1. Unrelatable
2. Jumping Off, Jumping In
3. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
4. Auto Response
5. The Protector
6. The Christmas Bells

There should be at least 2 episodes between Perkins shows, and Christmas episodes should be at the end of albums, in my opinion.

Nice! I will ask Nathan in a few weeks

-- Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:20 am --

I wonder where Search for a Sunflower and Hurricane Perkins will appear???...

CarlR wrote:Nice! I will ask Nathan in a few weeks

-- Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:20 am --

I wonder where Search for a Sunflower and Hurricane Perkins will appear???...

Most likely Club Episodes for 2021. I went ahead and added them to club season 8 on the wiki. I doubt they already recorded album 71.

Yeah, If you look at the recording dates for most of the Club episodes this year it is July, just when those two were recorded.

Since the town is back up, just wondering what everyone thinks of the episodes in Album 70 so far? 4 episodes have been released and I love them, (especially Unrelatable.