EricMontreal22

Ah that makes sense, since by the time of the episodes I'm watching Corvina had gone back to Hungary but Anton is still kicking around as part of the Wildwind household. I didn't realize it was less than a month before the turn over (Hal Corley taking over from McTavish.) Man they got rid of that storyline fast.

I really tuned out the storyline even when it aired (and back then I used to watch AMC closely--so that says something.) From what I recall, Anton (who felt betrayed when he found out Dimitri was his father) and Corvina teamed up with Kendall--for some reason inside an antique ceramic leopard were papers that proved that Anton was the rightful heir to Wildwind. But it turned out Kendall (I think with Anton and Corvina's knowledge) had forged them?? Why a ceramic leopard? Ask Megan McTavish, but I remember endless talk about this damn leopard...

Chaotic is right, although I think I have it figured out pretty easy at least till the end of this week lol I do wish I was savvy enough to save these--it's so great that we have episodes on Youtube, etc, but it really does make a difference to see a "broadcast quality clean" copies when watching. I wish I had the wherewithall to somehow save them. Side note--I can't help to think the new writing team (well new HW anyway) are slightly mocking one of the least popular Kendall stories I remember as when Kendall shows up to the wedding everyone makes snide allusions to her "ceramic leopard" (including Kendall herself when she talks to Del about all the mistakes she's made.)

Right--to be fair Schemering was a big fan of AMC but I think he was making a point of one criticism it did get. And I do think this is why certainly some of the older soap press seemed to be slow to warm to the show (if it happened at all.) That switch of styles even in one episode didn't seem to be "pure soap" the way they liked (I know he was also part of the 1970s "new soap" trend, but Bill Bell's tonal consistency seems to really concentrate this style.) And you're right about McTavish and how even her first most successful run, with Nixon claiming "executive head writer" status, not only does she rely more on the outrageous storylines reportedly FMB felt were happening too often, but her writing increasingly becomes just heavy and dark all around--even in these May episodes, when many of her storylines are still playing out, you can see Corley and others (and he vaguely referred to this when I got to talk to him) trying to add more humour, etc. Like the dumb Cecily/Charlie internet storyline which suddenly starts up isn't good, but in small doses does help re-balance the show to more what you'd expect from AMC (and granted in this last batch of episodes did lead to a genuinely funny scene where Cecily was sure her mystery man was Jackson.)

As some people here know, I'm an unapologetic Russell T. Davies fan (maybe ironically, although I enjoyed the early stuff, the one TV project of his I've lost any interest in is the Who stuff.) Ever since seeing the original Queer as Folk when I spent 6 months in the UK at 18 when it first aired, I've watched basically everything and even the lesser stuff have enjoyed. It sounds weird because he has some writing tropes (every series has at least one long politically minded rant monologue) that I'm not a fan of, and he's not remotely subtle, and yet it doesn't bother me with his works. Anyway, I don't want to give away any spoilers (although, if you can call it a spoiler, there's a big one in the opening flashforward scene) until I've heard from anyone else watching who wants to discuss. Here's what I wrote on FB Very brief, NO SPOILERS, first impressions on Russell T. Davies' new show, Tip Toe... I love it, but I admit Davies is one of my favourite TV writers, so no surprise there. Still, he's managed to make me actually like an Alan Cumming performance--no small feat! The first episode does have maybe one too many of Davies' bravura long speeches all of his shows have, but by episode two it has really found its rhythm (a good RTD TV episode always leaves me slightly breathless when it's over.) Unlike most of my favourite writers, Davies is never especially subtle. But, as usual with his projects, that feels very warranted for the story he's telling. Odd release format for the series--it premiered with two episodes, and next week concludes with the final three. Trailer here. https://youtu.be/SWIR5sGTVjM?si=_kFB2oEPzb05Zmr0

I actually had forgotten how key Kendall still was in these May 1995 episodes--we just had Laurel and Trevor's wedding where Kendall discovers her and convinces her not to do anything--and then Janet is "struck by lightning" but no one will believe Kendall at first. This was the storyline where originally Janet was going to try to bomb the wedding right? Or was that something else. As it was, she had a gun and Kendall implied Janet was actually going to try to kill some people but it was all very very vague what exactly was Janet's plan (especially with armed guards everywhere.) That said, it was nice, as it used to be, to see the interaction of a large group of the canvas at the wedding. (I forgot about the storyline of Gloria leaving her mental health clinic to readjust with Pine Valley society and honestly how well it was handled, including Grace Kiefer being the one to welcome her back to Myrtle's and talking about her own difficulties readjusting to society. Honestly, while the various plots move faster than they would by the 2000s--which I appreciate--there still have been a number of genuinely well written scenes where characters just reflect on their feelings, another thing that at the time I guess I took for granted. I remember in Christopher Schemering's soap Encyclopedia from the 1980s he said that one criticism some soap fans had about AMC was that there was tonal whiplash often going from story to story, but as you imply, I think that was a strength and it's nice to see they still managed that in the mid 90s. It also has the benefit of when you are tired of a storyline, there are enough stories in play that you know that any one episode (mostly) will not just focus on that story. Random--it looks like they've already had to deal with replacing some music due to rights. While I was surprised to hear genuine pop songs in the background of the Insomnia Cafe scenes, there was an episode where they threw Laurel and Trevor a disco themed bachelor party. They had a dance sequence (where Alec is jealous because Matteo pulls Hayley to the floor and they connect through a dance) to one disco song which had the worst generic synth "boopy boop" type music but I swear muffled in the background I could hear Donna Summer singing Last Dance. And then after they say they're going to slow it down with Saturday Night Fever's How Deep Is Your Love--but instead all we hear is more generic synth "boopy boop" music, so... The only reason this interests me is that it means someone in charge of these streaming releases (or maybe it was done before for the foreign markets or something) has actually gone through the trouble of replacing licensed music and not just, say, muting it or something.

I sure hope she does. I wondered why she didn't have much of a career after Saturday Night Fever, but I seem to recall she might have already had a "reputation" by that point? (Again, I hate to use that term because, especially for an actress at that time, I think that could be completely unfair, but I do recall reading something.) Funny to think how Pescow would end up on AMC as well.

Loved reading your thoughts. I've just been sampling through this stuff, but in general it reaffirms my own personal feelings on Loving (a show many here know I have a ton of affection for.) Namely, that I love the early stuff under Marland with heavy Nixon interference, and want to see more, and I think it remained mostly compelling, although definitely a mixed bag and a mistake to lose the college identity, until 1987 or so (was that around when people think Nixon had stopped ghost writing? I know Ralph Ellis was the credited writer but in the credits didn't have a separate headwriter notation--Wiki, for what it's worth, seems to think Ellis continued for a year after Nixon, "reportedly" left.) And then the late 80s Taggart/King stuff kinda loses me. It's fun to see some episodes just to see more Loving history, and certain actors, but it all feels generic (so many bland office sets, etc...) I do agree that, not too surprising, when Babbin came on as EP (and gave that great interview) the show picks up, but of course she always only agreed to do a year as a favour to Nixon and that's really not long enough for an EP to correct course. It's not until 1992 that the show feels like it has an identity to me again. Now, I have a huge bias because back when I was 12 I discovered Loving (I had never even HEARD of it before) in fall of 1992 due to the AMC Carter Jones crossover which I remember had a lot of ads run during AMC. Even though it was halfhearted, focusing on college students (though the actual college element also was pretty quickly dropped) again made sense and they lucked out in finding a compelling young cast--I think some complained the show focused too much on the younger characters but I didn't think the balance was too off (and I think it also made sense for Loving to focus slightly more on the young cast than the other ABC soaps at the time, if partly to make it distinct.) I know 1992 was rocky--wasn't that when Haidee Granger was at odds with her HW Addie Walsh who then left and according to one of the SOD interviews with Paul Anthony Stewart at the time, they had no HW for a while? So the show was still, plot wise, often a bit of a mess, but I liked the cast (actors and characters) a lot and always looked forward to the show at the time. I also really like the Taggart/Guza stuff, and I think that's when I really got hooked on the show when it aired. Not sure why they were replaced by Nixon (when she could have swooped in as HW at one of the less compelling eras) but I have to assume it was to appease ABC and one of the final ditch efforts to raise ratings. Oddly, I don't remember the soap press making a big deal about her HWing the show at all, but then again by that time the soap press didn't seem to focus on writers much at all. I admit to having rose coloured glasses with Agnes Nixon but I still think her year on the show was really compelling--a mix of her usual stuff with social issue stories (Shana and Leo's child with down syndrome, Steffi and bulimia) but also leaning very heavily into the Gothic--which Nixon seemed to feel was a good fit for Loving given that during her 1980s run on the show the Jonathan-Devil story was one of her last storylines, one that in her story proposal for she obviously seemed delighted with. I mean Nixon's run started with the Dante and his "pussycat" Curtis in a cage story, and then ended with the whole Gilbert "haunting" stuff. But I think the balance mostly worked, especially for a 30 minute soap. I actually think when Addie Walsh and Laurie McCarthy took over from Nixon they undid some of her more compelling stuff, but no matter as we relatively quickly moved into the Loving Murders era...

It was early 1996 right? I don't think I've come across them--obviously she was on when Kelsey moved in with the Martins. I also seem to recall she wasn't on very much (a couple of episodes?) and I don't think she interacted with much of the cast. (Oddly, I don't remember her returning for the January 1995 anniversary week when SO many past characters came to the Martins' new house warming but I haven't watched those in a while, and some of the actors barely got more than one line.) I do remember reading at the time an interview where she was very clearly actively campaigning to return to the show in a more permanent capacity--and also remember hearing gossip (and I have nothing to verify this at all, so I don't want to be unfair) that she was difficult to work with... I don't know if this meant her behaviour, or she had trouble falling back into the soap opera rhythm, or what. Her subsequent screen credits are nearly non existent (a waitress in the show Six Degrees which I actually watched but forgot even existed...) but she HAS done a relatively fair amount of theatre work, mostly regional, since which makes me assume it wasn't an issue memorizing lines, although it takes different muscles to memorize lines for a soap than for a show you rehearse for a few weeks. She's still alive--has anyone heard anything from her in the past while?

Mona was the first soap (and soap actor) death I experienced I think, and even though I'd only been watching for two and a half years before, it really affected me.

And ooh boy, you guys weren't lying. I mean I know at this time it became trendy/cool for men to wear boxers (even in Jr High, I remember that you had better not go change for gym class unless you were wearing relatively baggy boxers) but did they have to be ugly plaid?

Thanks--you're a lifesaver :P

OK, I hate to ask, but where exactly in which video do we see Trucker in horrible underwear? :P It's hard to keep up!

And even more "random loving episodes" uploaded in the past day--most of this seems to be from 1993 Taggert/Guza era (I think shortly before Agnes Nixon returned) which is an era where I was quite heavily invested, so a lot of this is at least familiar...

I think initially they thought he would usually go by Matt, in general, even Julia calls him that at one point? In the later August/Sep episodes he seems to get called both but yeah, pretty quickly I remember them only ever calling him Mateo.

Well, I've watched the 12 episodes Pluto TV is currently streaming of AMC in the end after all. Like I said, while they were airing late August/early September for the first few weeks (we got in the end about 20 episodes) which was the turnover from Hal Corley's interim period to Lorraine Broderick, and I was really enjoying it, more than I even remembered (and this was a fave period of mine when I watched "live") we now have jumped backwards to, I believe May 1995 if my calculations are correct. This cycle started with the episode where Erica falls and injures her back (that modelling sequence on a two story tall firework display or whatever is just brilliant camp--what is going on??) It also, judging by the credits, is exactly where one or two episodes in the credits change from listing McTavish as HW to Corley. The show is not nearly as compelling as it would be just four months later, but--from my modern point of view, watching a bunch of episodes at a time, I'm still pretty impressed. As I said before, what I had forgotten about is just HOW many storylines are going on at the same time--and most are interesting enough that you don't really miss when one story isn't featured for a couple of episodes. And also how quickly everything moves. I won't do a long post like I did last time, but the main focus is on Arlene just arriving to town, and Hayley bailing on her wedding to Alec (we get a bit too drawn out flashback memories to why Hayley is so triggered--finally we see the entire sequence and that she walked in as a young teen on her mom and the man she was having an affair with, Arlene being creepy/inappropriate explaining to Hayley how she has these sexual needs and making Hayley cover for her to her dad--who dies.) The other main story is that Janet has been discovered living in the "Wildwind mines" (where the infamous well is) and is just waiting for Trevor and Laurel's wedding when Amanda, who can't handle crowds so won't be there apparently (?) can be kidnapped. OH and of course the other main story is the start of Erica's addiction storyline (she's still in hospital, constantly crying out that she needs more pain medication. And with my own recent extreme sciatica health issues, I admit she fully has my sympathy. And we have the start of the Edmund/Maria in vitro fertilization storyline. What's interesting is ALL of these storylines which obviously were started by McTavish will all be still playing out in other ways in the August/Sep episodes. But unlike with so much bad soap writing, they will have all significantly developed and found new layers--Corley/Broderick have finessed them to be much more... subtle, or maybe that's the wrong word, but complex. Still, it's not bad at all. And as that makes clear, you can see that this really is a time of writer transition. Seabone (remember him?) is still on the show, working at the Cluck Cluck Shack and he would be quickly written out, for example. They're still trying to make Anton work and he would soon be written out too. But we still get a great variety of characters and tones of storylines, something that by the 2000s would be mostly missing with AMC (and maybe most soaps.) Even the fact that they still find reasons to bring in Myrtle, or Phoebe, or Peggy for that matter for a random (but well written/integrated) scene every few episodes is something I would soon miss from the show. I can't blame McTavish for all the stuff that doesn't work--the internet romance (but they don't know who it is) between Cecily and Charlie has just started and would STILL be playing out in the September episodes and I appreciate it being a lighter/comic storyline but it mostly doesn't work, except for some funny scenes when other characters are involved (and that's not just because now, as opposed to 1995, the Internet has come a long way--even at the time I remember thinking it was a lame story.) We also have the introduction of some major new characters. Including Matteo (who actually in his opening episodes is better than I remembered) and the Santos parents. I am not sure which writers to credit for this... Laurel's brother, Michael Delaney has also just came on (he's in town for Laurel's wedding but they actually give a good reason for why we weren't aware of him before) and I know from my discussion with Corley that this was him and his team's doing, since basically one of the first slow burn storylines they wanted to get going was the gay story despite how patient they were with it. I was also surprised SMG as Kendall was still on (she's with Del) though it's obvious they already know they're about to write her off, as she seems to be making a final attempt at redemption with Erica. Anyway, I think tomorrow Pluto TV should cycle in a few more episodes so we'll see if they stick with this run, or... not.

WOw, thanks. Judging from that clip she's... not a good replacement. I remember at one time there was a full episode uploaded with her (I think this was in the WOST days years and years back so I haven't looked for it since.)

Very annoying (especially as I was also really getting into those storylines.) The Pluto model just isn't set up for following a soap. (That said, I've now watched all the 6 May 1995 episodes they've been airing lol...)

Well i missed a couple of days on PlutoTV because they seemed to be showing the same episodes with no new ones, and then today suddenly we've jumped backwards to 6549 (which is around I guess when the original online episodes started airing last Fall???) Grrrr

I have to say, I found Peggy vacuuming up Erica's pills genuinely funny. I forgot about Anne Meara's character. That's another thing about AMC at this time--it still had a lot of side characters. They REALLY are pushing how masculine Michael Delaney is, and that both Dixie (despite being with Tad) and Gloria (a character I always liked though I remember many fans didn't) are into him. I assume as a 14 year old I had no idea where this was going, so it's interesting watching it now.

Ha what a missed opportunity. I've never been a Drag Race watcher, but has anyone impersonated her or Erica on Snatch Game or whatever it's called?

She's not wrong. Some of the interaction felt fine but also compared to seeing RuPaul on tv shows now, she seemed stiff as well to be fair. What was odd was in the reactions to RuPaul's song performance, they closed up on Opal at one point and she looked agog. I dunno if she was meant to look impressed, or horrified (maybe it's telegraphing her kinda homophobia later on--btu I think I'm reading too much into that :P ) though there was a funny line from RuPaul earlier to Erica asking about who Opal is how to get her a makeover. Some other thoughts--there's been a fair amount of location shooting. More than I remembered, in all these episodes. Some makes sense--the Willow Lake stuff has been a mix of location shooting and sets. But for instance in the last one there was a scene between Derek and Taylor that had no reason to be done on the street and could have been on a set. They also showed the outside a few times (and people having scenes there) outside the coffee shop that became a big hangout around this time Insomnia. And it reminds me a lot of the location stuff for The City (in other words it doesn't look so great lol) This would have been a month or two before that show premiered--I wonder if it was a test, or an idea to do more of that with other soaps. I will say again you don't realize what you have till its gone--in general all the sets are more detailed and look more lived in even then we'd get ten years later (ugh remember ConFusion bar and the yacht club?) and not just due to more extras. With the Janet story ramping up they even have an extremely large looking, detailed set of the Dillon's house and front yard. Oh and Trevor has just abducted Janet--and is keeping her in an abandoned meat locker (as close as he could find to a well he says) I totally forgot this detail which I suppose was referenced when we found out years later that Janet killed Trevor and put the body in a meat locker? I also continue to be impressed with how many storylines they keep spinning (and moving) at the same time. Even the Erica pill story will be the focus for a couple of episodes, and then back burnered but, unlike now when they use less actors, they'll continue to still have Erica in scenes in other storylines.

One of the funniest AMC episodes aired today on Pluto with RuPaul being the guest on The Cutting Edge--and for some reason the completely obnoxious Bobby Warner, who has been set up to make homophobic comments about Scott (if people remember, they set the storyline up to seem like maybe he would be the gay teenager) is SOOO excited to see Ru perform...

HA!

Yeah this was so inconsistent--I believe what's her name (the Masquerade killer) on The City also auditioned to be on AMC even though The City had Jack from AMC in an episode (as well as a cross over with OLTL I think??) Funny, Jeremy's in the episode, does he know he can check on his friends by turning on the TV?