EricMontreal22

Yes, and it turned out it was Braden, of course, Ryan's handsome older brother (another terrible new actor). Who of course memorably later would be a mummified corpse in Jonathan's hideaway. Good point. By the end of AMC Broderick really did seem the only one (aside from Agnes Nixon, which wouldn't happen) who could save it, but it's easy to have blinders about all the errors in her runs--and her 90s run is a fave of mine (and yet, aside from Jamaica Voodoo, a story partly done to appease ABC I have it on good authority, to compete with DAYS at the time--and in a sort of give and take situation where such stories would allow them to get approval for controversial more realistic stories like continuing to tell Kevin's story). She also wrote the horrible Tanner Jones story. But I do think your take on the strengths of both writers at AMC is spot on. Yes, this was what a writer told me. He also, though, said that their goal with AMC, more than some other soaps, was always to try to have a wild mix of different types of stories and he felt they were trying that in this case (and to be fair, that *was* what AMC had a rep for whenever I read 70s and 80s reviews where it's either praised or criticized for, more than other soaps, completely running the gamut of types of stories, often in the same episode).

Oh, I agree. In fact I think it could have been a fine story if they just felt a deep friendship or even (though I know Elliot would have been thirty or so) some sort of mentor/maternal relationship on Brooke's part. It makes sense (at least by sane soap opera standards) that Eliott/Josh would want to see how Brooke's life ended up and try to make up for things. Like I said, the problem was the execution. And like I also said, totally an Agnes Nixon story--one of her big misfires And one other particularly annoying thing about making Eliott a potential love interest is poor Brooke, one of my fave characters, had such an insulting track record with men in the 90s. Some, like Tad and Edmund merely ended up with someone, I guess they loved more. Then there was Pierce(s), then Jim, then Eliott, one after the other. RIght, poor Kevin in the Holidays explosion. I don't think he had ANY story under McTavish before hand either--just appearances. OK a Page character during McTavish's run sounds familiar, but I can not place her and the Net isn't helping. Who was she? I do agree with you about the good parts of her run. I also *completely* agree with your final paragraph, which is one reason I often defend McTavish (it may help that I got hooked on AMC during the period when McTavish first took over from Nixon. ANd she definitely does need the right EP (which is true of many HWers, but particularly her). Certainly she seemed to get AMC better than anything else, despite having worked as an actress on GL and briefly on that writing team (it was said when she was promoted that Agnes Nixon had been priming her for the job). Unfortunately the writer I know who worked under her during that period and then was promoted under Broderick, refused to discuss McTavish (though, unlike some writers, I think he liked working with her, fine.) And yes, soaps *still* rely on rape too much and handle it more often poorly, but McTavish is particularly egregious in this respect--I mean Bell (sometimes) was pretty bad in this case, and JER of course was far more irresponsible than anyone about rape stories, but...

You know, I hate to say it, but I suspect the Brooke and Elliot/Josh Waleski story was Agnes Nixon who was co-headwriter still (officially) when that story happened. She does have misfires, and this story was WAY more Agnes Nixon's style than Jean's. I know that period is often credited to Nixon handling the Bianca stuff (she came out two months after the Eliott story was wrapped up) and Jean doing the rest, but speaking to members of the writing team that wasn't remotely true (and you did notice a sharp shift shortly after Bianca came out in 2001 and Nixon left as official co-headwriter. The whole speech from Becca (a failed Nixon character--I think she wanted a return to old school young heroines like Tara--remember she created Greenlee to be an Erica type foil to her) is VERY Agnes Nixon. Thankfully, whether this was a late change in story or not, they never had Brooke fully forgive Elliot. That era (Agnes Nixon was co-HW first briefly with Elizabeth Page, then with Passanante from Spring 1999 till the end ofJanuary 2001, according to the credits, but according to an interview with the show for AfterElton, Agnes Nixon mostly had mapped out the next few months and story beats of Bianca's story) was pretty schizo, but especially before the Bianca story got rolling, you did get a sense that Nixon was trying to restore a sense of community back to PV after McTavish's second run. Characters interacted more, there was more of a small town vibe and intergeneration connections, and they had B stories that seemed her style like poor Marian trying desperate to be accepted into Enid Nelson's snobby society group. I admit that, even with the shiplash in tones, I really did look forward to AMC every day back then. Honestly though *hides* I liked aspects of the storyline and never quite get why it was hated as much as some other stories. I think the execution was poor, but it does fit into a classic AMC theme of whether one can and should be forgiven for their actions and if they can ever redeem themselves through subsequent actions. And I stand by my statement--Eliott was an Agnes story, and one we can't blame Jean for. An earlier episode (I had completely forgotten Tina!) with the full writing credits:

Yes--he was O'Shea's associate headwriter and took over from her halfway through 1987, though that Emmyw as for O'Shea's work I believe.

Ha I don't remember the twin brother *at all*. Didn't Born at some point say that he had been promised that ultimately his character would prove not to have been the pornographer and be Brooke's love interest (which makes no sense from anything we saw)? I hate to suggest it too, but you could be right about him having personal problems at the time--certainly he played vile stuff as Mitch. I always thought the Kit stuff with McTavish happened early on! She did some good stuff--building up the Kiefers, etc. But I believe her stint started with all that stuff with the "ghost" (who turned out to be another abused blonde woman set to torment Adam about his memories), the psychic tattoo, etc. Of course considering some of what was to come--as much as it's useless to speak this way--it all somehow doesn't seem quite so bad, at least to me. (As you know, though, I have a rep on here for being a McTavish defender which isn't really fair ) I appreciated that Broderick seemed keen on keeping some of the less showy stories, etc. I've mentioned it before, but when I was working on my MA essay about homosexual soap storylines (etc) I spoke to one of her major writers who said how important it was to her to keep Kevin on the canvas and in a viable way (in 1997--while the network was still scared to give him a boyfriend though they were inching there--they had the whole storyline with Kelsey, which struck me as pretty realistic, the gay conversion storyline--a tv first!--etc).

I remember that well, and the entire storyline as well as Roscoe's upset with it all (funny enough at the time I had never seen him as Mitch, etc--I had only been watching soaps since 1991). Funny, I knew him from The City, where he played nice guy Nick, so I didn't know that he was usually cast as a baddie... I might be completely off time wise, but I think the story changed direction when McTavish came back to replace Broderick?? Anyone remember? I actually liked an awful lot of 1997 AMC (Tanner Jordan and Jamaica Zombies aside) though it wasn't as strong as Broderick's 1996. 1997 AMC still had a lot of great stuff, and "felt" like Pine Valley. ANd of course then we got McTavish 2.0....... Tonya had just been in the famous Stephen Sondheim flop Merrily We Roll Along which mostly cast very young, inexperienced actors. Looking at footage of her back then (it closed just at the end of 1981) I could totally picture her as Angie, and she would have been closer to the right age. But of course I'm glad we got Debbi. Ha, yes. I believe Labine talks about this in her Welovesoaps interview.

I adore Loving but I could never explain the Clay/Alex story at any of the stages I've watched (either when it aired or since on YT) Yet on the Loving FB page it's a fave of many... (Maybe just cuz it went on so long )

Thanks for those early GL links--I'd seen a couple but I admit when it comes to 15 min GL I have particularly been tracking down Agnes Nixon's run, so hadn't seen a lot of these.

Finally watched--too short but mostly sweet. You were skimming, so it's forgiven, but I need to point out it wasn't Dutton she mentioned. She was confused by the question but was obviously talking about when The City ended (maybe there was some talk about her character going to AMC which I hoped for?) She said the producer of The City was producing Port Charles and had asked her to join her, and her husband at the time was going out West anyway to work on a tv series so it made sense to go. Jean D Burke was the EP of The City and immediately went to AMC, of course, and JHC was a producer and then an EP at Port Charles and later replaced Burke at AMC--and I can't seem to find any cross over production crew between The City and PC, but... That's my guess? SHe did get married in 1997 to Donn Thompson and it seems like he did work behind the scenes in TV from what I can find. Although Roc did start on TV just over a year after Debbi left AMC the first time so I could be completely wrong. It is too bad it wasn't a bit better researched--Debbi herself seemed slightly confused (fair enough) about what show she was Angie when... But I would have loved to have heard some mention/question about the character going to Loving/The City and how she was approached to do that (I still find it crazy that they didn't have Angie return to AMC for a few episodes first). We have already heard about her issues with AMC and the promise of Generations for why she made the hop that time.

Sorry I thought, naively, my link would go to the playlist they created of the 11 episodes.

That uploader now has through March 17 1994 uploaded.

Sloppy mistake, but I assume he just looked at some site that listed what year Debbi played Angie--which obviously included Loving...

Yaye for more March 94 Loving!

Peggy O'Shea was brilliant. She left I agree due to disagreements with Rauch I think... But the writer right under her was S. Michael Schnessel (at least from the credits) and he was the one who replaced her as HW (he was there until 1990--I've heard very little about him but apparently in the final years was quite ill with AIDS related illnesses). But he seemed more willing to go with Rauch's ideas. He took over officially in Summer 87 which does seem to be when the show became so much more camp.

1989 seems to be when audiences, who judging by ratings were loving the Rauch stuff before, seemed to lose patience or interest with everything. These reviews have made the rounds but I'll repost them just to give a sense of how Critics reacted to Rauch... 1984 (just when Slesar was joining and before Rauch came on, who replaced him quickly with the Corringtons--who he knew from Texas--who didn't last long either) 1986 1988 (from one of my fave soap writers, Chris Schemering) And just cuz I have the files here, an article about Joe Stuart's take over of OLTL in the late 70s.

Have I??? Who do you think you are asking?? Though we call them "psycho-biddy" films

I was watching some 1984 OLTL episodes (from before and then after Paul Rauch became EP in July) and watching the writing credits--does it drive anyone else how completely off they are on OLTL's Wiki?? LOL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_One_Life_to_Live_crew

Sure!

Geraldine Page is in my top 3 actors. Back then, especially, there was no way either of those actors would have agreed to a daytime soap in a regular role. I mean yes Kim Hunter had done an arc on Edge of Night, etc, but Page and Bridges' careers were still more prominent than hers was when she was on a soap. Wait--Cranston has a book and mentions Loving?? Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg is semi active on FB. A couple of times, and maybe after a couple of drinks, I've been tempted to message him and ask him about his memories (if he has any) of the pilot film. But then think better of it. (Though, I mean, surely he's tired of all those questions about Brideshead Revisited, or his dozens of Rolling Stones videos and would find it refreshing, right?? FUn random trivia considering Larry Kramer's passing--he directed the original Broadway production of The Normal Heart. Opening just a month or two before was Broadway's first gay AIDS drama, the now forgotten, but IMHO better written hit, As Is. He didn't direct that, but the impossible to find, except for 15 minutes on youtube, cable TV version of As Is from 1986 was directed by... Michael Lindsay-Hogg)

Thanks for a great article!

So very strange! Agnes' archives I went to had the As The Earth Turns bible, but she's listed as co-creator with Irna and Ted Corday, so that makes sense. (it also had two radio "outlines" as they called them--one for Dr Joyce Jones, which was an Irna show Agnes did write for and was at a time that Agnes could have done the actual initial creation--and... Ma Perkins. Which... Maybe she or someone involved in the archives had a copy in and just threw it in there? Talk about random!) Also--re Bell and Nixon. Bell co-created Another World. We know that Irna only wrote it briefly, the implication being her plan to go full out melodrama for it didn't suit her actual style. And then the show floundered under Lipton (there may have been another writer before him) and then Agnes Nixon came on in... 1966 I think. If Bell was co-creator, why didn't he go to that show? Instead, in 1966 he went to Days of Our Lives, which he was not, as far as we know, a creator of...

*waits impatiently for the Debbi video*

Thanks!! I missed that issue somehow, though I was trying to get all the AMC ending mags, I wonder if I can find a scan.

Oh, that's more than fair. Im certainly not talking about MW now.

It probably helps that, besides Vincent's, they've been edited. But I agree. Even the Ladies of Loving reunion, which had a *bit* of that at the start, was much tighter and show-centric. Wow! Lots of work put into that. Funny enough, I just found a SOD which voted OLTL as worst show of 1989.