On one such job, staging the DeSylva, Brown, and Henderson musical Good News!, he worked with Broadway dancer Edie Cowan and pianist Ethan Mordden, both of whom went on to professional careers as, respectively, choreographer and writer.
During his tenure on The Doctors, a variety of new acting talent were added to the program: Kathy Bates (Phyllis), Glenn Corbett (Jason Aldrich), Carol Potter (Betsy Match), Ted Danson (Mitch Pierson), and Jonathan Frakes (Tom Carroll), among other actors.
The show thrived on the taboo, showcasing bodies and a perverse combination of sex and violence, including a deflowering in a barn, a sexual assault in a shower, and one story in which a woman seduced the rival for another man's affections in a lesbian storyline.
Despite its controversy and the fact that the cast included Steve Carlson, Jane Elliot (fresh from her run as Tracy on GH & Carrie on GL), and Lara Parker (famous as the witch Angelique on the cult Dark Shadows) and that it was produced and sometimes directed by daytime veteran actress Susan Flannery, A New Day in Eden only lasted 66 episodes.
(One story, where a child previously thought to be dead was found to be alive and living in England, was a dual role played by future Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore.)
He was also credited with bringing original cast members Helen Wagner and Don MacLaughlin back to the center the show as Nancy and Chris Hughes, after they'd been bumped to recurring status in 1982.
He also reached back to Lisa McColl's 1965 stint on short-lived ATWT spinoff Our Private World, giving her a son, Scott Eldridge, hitherto unknown to viewers, who tracked her down as an adult.
Marland was also responsible for adding the first gay male character on an American soap opera to his story during his tenure, Hank Elliot (Brian Starcher).
The story was short-lived (Hank was featured for about 18 months), but groundbreaking; the soap opera became a pioneer for others who wished to put gay male characters, heretofore unseen, on their respective shows.
Marland diversified the previously white canvas of As the World Turns, introducing an Amerasian character as the child of a Vietnam vet, and also featuring a story of a mixed-race couple marrying and having a baby (and showing negative reactions to the marriage and birth).
Another story featured town matriarch Nancy Hughes helping a young, illiterate African-American girl (played by singer/actress Lauryn Hill), learn to read.