KMan101

Yep. I've always adored Brooke and Erica's relationship and rivalry. It was fun watching them fight over Dimitri for a hot second in 1999. Janet and Erica's strange friendship always amused me, honestly. You could tell Mattson and Lucci enjoyed each other.

Ah, makes sense now. I'm kinda glad they dropped it, on some level, but on the other hand, Barr deserved the meaty material it could have given her. Maybe it could have given Brooke a new life and not be treated as an extra a few years later ... lol

As someone who is currently binging some classic 80s GH on youtube, 1984 seems like a steep decline from 1980-1983. I about died seeing how blunt they were about Don Stewart leaving. It's spot on. They were clearly on the quest for "hot and young" and I'm assuming they thought they could kill two birds with one stone by snagging Richard Van Vleet as Ed (making Ed more of a mix of Mike and Ed). On the other hand though, wasn't Stewart all pissy about being paired with ladies of his own age instead of younger? But still, I believe they probably pushed him out. Makes me really scratch my head why they dumped Tom O'Rourke as Justin (was it to push "hot new Jim Reardon"?).

It wouldn't surprise me at all if they catered to the male lead and got rid of the "girl who causes trouble". How many times have we heard that? I still fume about Ellen Holly's OLTL dismissal. And even in recent years, I'd argue Sarah Joy Brown received that treatment. All the women Phelps drove off GH ... We have lost so many great actresses for mediocre male co-stars. It's such a good movie and always read closer as accurate than fiction, lol, but it blurred the lines really nicely and made it funny.

Ah, thank you! I'm terrible with that stuff LOL.

lol thank you! THIS. However it's so bizarre to hear of a new soap in development. Yes, it's the UK of course, but still. Sigh. How nice.

I do think characters need to be rested. I also think many of the older vets by the 90s were run through the gamut, so I get it. But you transition them to supporting. Unfortunately, budgets, and so many other things, dictate what goes on. I do think AMC tried it's best to hold onto many of them. And as much I detest her, Megan did bring back Tom, Mark, Benny, Livia, Mimi, Barbara, Janet (at least it was nice seeing Kate Collins have fun collecting a check), etc. (the writing was awful but still) and proved almost instantly how easy it was to re-insert them (even if some of them were visits). By that point, certain characters would be a little harder but still doable if the actors were available (and likely some weren't even if they were interested). I also wonder if they were ever blocked from using someone on a more regular basis. Probably. I always low-key hated Skye was on GH for so long when I felt she should have been on AMC. Even if I liked her chemistry with a lot of the GH cast. In the 90s you had SUCH a diverse and great slate of characters (men, women, of color, sexuality, even if they were just talk-tos). It hurts to see the show by 98. God bless them for trying to recapture it in 99/00, but then it went to hell again in 01. Julie seemed like a big missed opportunity later on. Also agreed most of them all aged very nicely. Mark LaMura looked FINE in 2005. Kathleen Noone looked AMAZING in that Hallmark Home & Family reunion thing years ago (2010? 2011?). There has to be something about living in the north LOL. Almost all of the vets from say ATWT aged like fine wine too. It bothers me so many great actors aren't on my screen everyday. I really missed Donna and Ellen in the later years. Sigh. I agree that focus groups aren't the worst idea, if, like you said, were filled with fans and media. But I guess that's what social media does now. Yikes. LOL. EDIT: I also think Washam made an excellent point in that interview that it was different in which they were a group, TOGETHER, at the studio, writing and collaborating. And it shows on-screen. Nowadays, writers aren't even together. And it shows on-screen. Zoom sessions aren't the same.

Exactly, all of those women should have been staples until the end. I adored all of the vast array of different women on AMC. I was so fascinated by all of them. And the men. Agnes made you care even if you didn't want to. I agree on Erica. I think they were sort of going there when AMC ended and Jack walked out on her. Erica could have been living in Hollywood for the last 10 years ... You read my mind on Tara and Jack. Tara could have easily filled the Natalie/Laurel role. I agree you'd of had to kill off Cliff (I still like the idea of him being Jeff Martin instead). It frees Nina and then you can recast Cliff in the future. I thought of that when they brought John James on as Jeff and how it annoyed me Cliff wasn't Jeff and Nina wasn't back. LOL. AMC was butchered by focus groups and network interference. Megan's trash writing, lazy executives/writers didn't help either (I also think Brian Frons has some bizarre hatred for older women and soaps). Reading Washam's interview again reminded me of why I detest McTavish and helps me pinpoint the falling off point that started around 1987-1989 (with Jackie Smith heading things at ABC Daytime I believe), though I'd argue it wasn't as noticeable if you were watching everyday. It's easier to see binging. I do think shifts were needed but by the time Francesca James became EP I think she just said to hell with being harassed about Q ratings and dumped expensive vets and those with low ratings (Washam pointed out Tom Cudahy and you can see the decline from 95-97 before they gave up on him). That whole Q system and the focus group nonsense irritates the hell out of me. Washam was right that characters can't *always* be heavy in story. It had to be so annoying to be told to drop popular characters because they dropped in their 'rating' or twelve women said they didn't like them. Ridiculous.

Ah, makes sense. I should have looked him up LOL.

lol I'm dead

Man, this just writes itself. Siiiigh. SO many missed opportunites for Nina. But then, sadly, Brooke was aged out so who knows how well Nina would have fared. AMC had so many leading ladies. It was a shame we lost them (Natalie, Donna, Ellen to name a few) and some of them could have been brought back later along with others (Hillary, Dottie, Cecily - though McTavish wasted her) Early early Janet did feel different and more like a 'real' character. She definitely became a caricature instead and that's probably why the wheels fell off. I can even see Nixon all for the idea, personally, on some level. It's not the worst. But somewhere along the way it became a parody. I will say I was always mixed on Robin Mattson's Janet. I liked it on some level (I always kind thought McTavish was punishing Trevor by having him stay with Janet LOL and then I felt she punished Edmund; was it for the actors off-screen behaviors?) but I always missed having Natalie. I don't know, I felt it would have been nice to have them both but I'm assuming Kate Collins wouldn't have been interested with Kiberd there (I'd have kept Collins over Kiberd but that's just me and I think she chose to leave right?). No offense to Melody Anderson but they made a poor choice having her play dress up as Natalie. She wasn't the worst recast we've ever had though. AMC always works best when steeped in realism. Yes you can do wacky [!@#$%^&*] but when they did, it was always steeped in some realism. It was believable on some level and they also made sure to do a good job explaining everyone's motivations. Even if you hated the character you could understand them. I just adore how greats like Agnes and Bill and even Irna set up their soaps. They had a formula, it worked. They knew characters needed friends, family, careers ... when you lost a character, you replaced them while also developing new successors to characters. It's a shame those that get it and were the successors are now content doing breakdowns or retired. "Supporting" characters became too easy of a mark for shows that needed to trim budgets. I'd argue sets and supporting characters matter just as much as the writing. It all adds up to a believable and interesting show.

Bingo! This. I think you and I have always had the same idea regarding Josh. He SCREAMED "Mark's Son". But noooooo ... McTrash wanted another Kendall and wanted the shock factor of undoing the abortion. All it did was undo her out of a job. Agreed. During the quarantine last spring, I binged a ton of AMC and once I hit the Natalie in the well ... I could see McTavish all over it. I know she gets a lot of credit for 92-95 AMC and I will definitely give her some but the tone changes. It does become a bit of a parody at times. I feel like writers like Megan and, say, Ron Carlivati 'get' soaps but then write them as a parody. Or mean-spirited and ridiculously convoluted. Natalie and Dimitri on paper seemed like a good idea but yeah it was hardly interesting. Shame. Meanwhile, I can't get over thinking about Nina and Adam being paired together. Sigh. I feel like Nina could have really had a place in the 90s and 00s apart from guest spots. It was kinda crazy you introduce her adopted son but then don't use her. Same thing for Tara. Like ... the show is clearly struggling from 92-97 BTS And having seem some of the Damon Lazarre / Goldie Kane stuff ... yes it's a bit yikes and seems a tad contrived to have Travis play hero for Erica (who does a good job on her own) but overall it works because of the actors (Charles Keating can sell anything and I'd argue Shaffer is underrated as the "gone/aging starlet" Goldie). It's easy to make fun of but you know what, I'll be damned if it doesn't work because I understand everyone's motivations and no one seemed made to be stupid for it to work (though I haven't seen all of the story of course). The idea of Silver is good but they kept killing them off ... lol I'd argue Barbara probably filled that "sister I hate" role and I'd argue Susan Pratt's best role is Barbara Montgomery. I love me some Babs.

THIS. All of this. It's time to move on from The Talk. I assume they clung to it because they didn't have to bother finding a replacement. Well, it's time. Let's see ... The Talk imploded ... The Chew imploded .... Hey, ABC/CBS, how those soaps lookin'? (At least ABC has something solid in GMA3 but that doesn't seem long-term to me despite them treating it as such). And to be fair, ABC could "easily" put AMC/OLTL back on the air tomorrow while ATWT and GL are being kept locked away by evil P&G LOL. I know fans are like "gimme back ATWT" but yeah that's not likely.

Very true. It was really .... WHAAAT? lol. Very contrived. But I'm good with Adam now. I wonder why they never brought Danny back? He has a whole history with Leanne (who was actually fun when she was introduced way back when).

Very nice. Looking forward to this one. They were well cast as mother and daughter. (Of course I would have preferred Blanchard playing Nola's daughter but Nola had one foot out the door so I get it). Drew could get on my nerves though but Blanchard was always talented. Shut the front door! Both Blakes! (I ignore the orginal "Blake") LMAO. Will be incredibly nice to see Sherry Stringfield and Kimberley Simms. I very much look forward to this one. Can't wait to hear them reminisce about Michael Zaslow. Siiiiiigh. Loved him.

I can agree with that about Krystal. I go back and forth on her. I think some of it is I was salty they offed Macy on B&B (again) and Bobbie Eakes moved to AMC and they were pushing Krystal while shoving Dixie and Brooke off the canvas (and I'd much rather have had Bobbie as Macy but soaps are gonna do what they do). Kinda like how ATWT loved to hire ABC cast-offs and have them dominate airtime. Just an irritance. LOL. But I do agree having non-connected characters IS needed. I felt bad for Julia Barr and Jackie Zeman/GH around this time. They were clearly 'aged out' by terrible executives in charge (I also assume they had a very nice contract and salary by that point so they were expensive and 'easy' to axe). I blame Frons for Barr and Zeman, but Phelps had her share with Zeman. So many actresses have been treated like [!@#$%^&*] while their male stars are glorified.

A little behind in the discussion but I've been immersing myself in what I can of classic AMC on youtube and sigh .... so good and fun. I could go on for days and days. I just had to watch the Lars/Palmer yacht fight (I couldn't imagine that with Robert Milli as Lars). You have gotta love it as they fight while an instrumental of "Anything Goes" plays in the background. I miss a well produced soap. Even when the stories were a bit ... yikes ... they sold the hell out of it. Peter Bergman as a recast Jeff Martin would have been better than random Cliff Warner filling that spot, making Jeff irrelevant. Bergman can get on my nerves as Cliff but he's the "perfect" soap actor for the 80s. I can see why audiences loved him even though Miller acts circles around him. And my god, Heather Stanford as Nina? So so so sooooooo bad. Holy hell. I also didn't think I'd like Matt Connolly so much. I'd argue he and Nina had far more chemistry than she did with Cliff/Bergman by that point. Just saying. I died everytime he called Palmer "dad" and Palmer died inside. Nina absolutely could have been a longer running character. I get she was played out by 1989, but they didn't let Cliff and Nina get away from their relationship. Even Miller seemed frustrated. Nina could have been paired with a slew of men. Edmund, Dimitri, Jackson. Jackson was 'working for' Palmer in 1988 while showing an interest in Natalie. It's also a shame Ellen, Mark, Ross, Julie couldn't be weaved in later. (I know Mark popped in of course, but he should have been recurring at the very least, if LaMura was interested; and I know Noone was on Beach and Passions of course but still ...). I guess there comes a point in time where it becomes harder to re-introduce them, but at the same time, is it *really* that much different than demanding the audience care about someone new when a built in character with history could fill that spot? The audience who didn't know them now will. It's just laziness. In the 90s, Kelsey and Bobby felt like missed opportunities. TC Warner was incredibly likable, much like Melissa Hayden on GL. Shame they didn't keep them and develop them. But they were too 'plain' I'm assuming for what the soaps wanted to be by 1997. I get the idea of developing Caleb in 2010 but when you have Ross and Nina ... why not weave them back in? I know the show was dead by then but still ... we wasted so much time on say, Krystal ... I thought once she could have been Ellen's daughter Devon. You know soaps loved to change names. Just like "Ally" should have been Emily Ann Sago in 1997/1998. Missed opportunities galore but I can sometimes see why they went with a new character instead. You do have to have new characters but no one was allowed to thrive in the Kendall/Ryan/Greenlee/Zach/JR/Annie years of hell. Sidenote, crazy watching 1999 and seeing Ryan actually being likeable, even during the stupid Braden/Kit rape [!@#$%^&*] show. Gillian sure helped. Always was a mistake killing her. Also in 1999 it was a shame the Erica/Dimitri/Brooke triangle fizzled out. That was fun.

Right? I agree completely.

The Baldwins seemed to have had a 'resurgence' (YMMV on quality of writing LOL) around 2001-2007 but they haven't done much at all with them since Mike's on-screen death. Adam Barlow is around and he's hot, so that's nice, LOL. He is Mike's son after all so I like his place on the canvas. Thinking back, they were way too quick to off Susan. I didn't really see the point, it seemed just to be a shock death for the sake of it.

😂 So true. He's always wasted. I don't see it being any different here. Griffith has no idea what to do with anyone. I don't even see the point. But I like Burgi so kudos to him for picking up a paycheck LOL

So talented. RIP Mr. Briggs. And I'd have to agree, Coronation Street isn't in a bad spot. It's a little lethargic but watchable. I'm only currently seeing clips at the moment but I will be checking out full episodes.

lol, I NEVER watched it on television. I mean, I've watched just about everything classic/old. It was NEVER rerun and if it was I was too young to pay attention LOL. I've seen bits. I know it's massively popular. I always wanted to watch it. I guess I could have found it on YouTube LOL

Pretty much my feelings on it. lol. I will give it a watch at some point. I never really saw much of the original. It's not like it was rerun much, if ever.

Makes my heart hurt. The show has really fallen. I mean ... Phil and Kat? How desperate can you be? LOL Sounds like the show has reached the point most of the US soaps reached years and years ago. Sigh Though I'd say the UK soaps had been on that trend since around 2001 when shock plots became popular (more-so Corrie, but EE has been on a decline since the mid 2000s I'd argue) and it's finally caught up to them (along with the poor creative decisions). It's left them a hollow show. They also seemed to be on a never-ending recycling the producer/writer trend as well.

The show feels so ... desperate. It's sad.