Khan

IIRC, David Jacobs hated the kidnapping story because he felt it played upon every parent's worst fears. Imagine if it were your kids, he seemed to be saying, what if you knew your kids were alive and 'out there,' somewhere, even as everyone else is saying otherwise? Not to mention the fact that it all was supposed to be the machinations of Abby -- a plot point which Donna Mills felt would've ruined her character, forcing producers to rewrite the start of the story. On the one hand, I can see where Jacobs is coming from here. Stealing Bobby and Betsy from Val does feel like an awful thing to do to a character. To me, though, watching Val literally lose her mind as she tried coping with their supposed deaths -- something you could argue Val never really came back from emotionally, given "Verna Ellers" and everything else that happened to her over time -- was just as uncomfortable as, say, watching Karen get strung out on prescription drugs. In other words, there comes a time when a writer has to put aside the awfulness of seeing one of their creations go through such an ordeal and realize that they're onto compelling, if unsettling, drama. But I will say this: DM was right to protest Abby's initial involvement. Granted, it muddled the story's beginning a tad (I'm still unclear as to Scott Easton's motivation for appeasing Abby and arranging the kidnappings/black market sale), but making Abby an out-and-out villain in this, especially the hell she went through several seasons before when her ex abducted Brian and Olivia, had to have been the work of some hack story editors who mistook the character for...well...I can't think of any primetime soap bitch who'd do something so foul.

Edie Adams, I think.

And those who know their Douglas Sirk films would say, "That's PRECISELY the point."

And BW looks as if she's recovering from the flu.

The previous owner saw him on the screen and promptly broke their lease.

I've seen him, too. In six months, he'll be on DAYS. Guarantee it.

Jess and Nash were good together, if only because neither BW nor FM can act. Natalie, OTOH, deserved better than Jared (although John ain't what I had in mind).

Was she right to protest? Yes, if only because making Brandy crazy was a cheap way out of an impossible situation. On the other hand, I don't blame Erwin Nicholson for seizing an opportunity just to have Brandy leave Monticello for good. I wasn't alive to see the triangle, but going on what I've read about it, it seemed to me one of those can't-win stories where no matter who Adam ended up with, a large amount of the audience was going to be unhappy.

Megan McTavish got bored.

What did we learn about Douglas Marland, the person? * He was not a "warm and fuzzy" type of person. * He lived and entertained lavishly. * He had a temper and could be "intimidating" but he also was "loyal to a fault." * He had Gloria Monty's picture taped inside a toilet lid. Seriously, he and I had so much in common, it's almost scary. (Except, my lid has John Conboy's picture.) Thank you so much, Brandon, for that informative session with SBH. I am literally envious that you get to talk with her. I am only sorry she and Marland did not mesh well as writers. If anything, he needed her sense of "high romance," as she put it, because Marland could be rather...cerebral when it came to that stuff.

That's what I mean about some couples not having staying power. Jack and Erica could have endured 1001 breakups if the romantic feelings between the two were strong enough. But they weren't. At best, Jack and Erica served a purpose in each other's life for awhile. As soon as that purpose had ended, however, they should have reconciled as good, close friends, like Nick and Erica had.

Listen, just about anything would have been better than Project Orpheus. I realize Agnes Nixon and Lorraine Broderick might dig the occasional far-out tale, but they should know by now that that [!@#$%^&*] just ain't them.

Neither did Susan Pratt, apparently. As a character, Claire Ramsey was just all over the place. In a way, she was like Robin Strasser's, Dr. Christina Karras, on ALL MY CHILDREN. As valuable as she ended up being to the show's history, you just couldn't get a handle on what kind of person she was. I feel like if the show had made some definite choices before she hit town, instead of leaving her character somewhat ambiguous for the audience, Pratt's time there would have been more successful.

I think MEK and Cady McClain weren't thrilled, because it was repeating what they'd done the last time Dixie was "dead." If anything, it would've been better just to reset the clock, so to speak, and say the years between Dixie's first and second resurrection was some horrible nightmare and that Tad was in fact dealing with a back-from-the-dead Dixie for the first time.

Don't get me wrong: there are some super-couples -- AMC's Greg and Jenny, GL's Quint and Nola -- whom I've adored immensely. And I'm not opposed to star-crossed lovers being destined for each other, per se. Number one, though, it cannot be made true for every couple. Some couples have that sort of staying power naturally (DAYS' Doug and Julie comes to mind) while others don't (ATWT's Holden and Lily -- sorry, Mr. Marland, but it was inevitable that they'd outgrow each other). More importantly, the problem is that TPTB are too willing to give instant gratification to fans where breaking up and reuniting couples are concerned. I mean, the minute a couple is finally together -- BAM! -- they're talking divorce already. Then, as soon as the divorce is finalized, it's like we're gearing up for the big Sweeps plot twist which will reunite the lovers once more...so they can be split apart yet again. Pretty soon, it's as if that's all that that couple does, w/ no signs of life outside the romantic and marital merry-go-rounds. Subsequently, you have couples who've been married three, four, five times, and it just looks ridiculous to the uninitiated and longtime fan both. If a man and woman on a soap are "meant to be," then okay, fine. Just don't rush anything. If they're together, then let them stay together for awhile. (To me, it's a myth that "marriage equals death" on soaps, perpetrated by actors who get antsy about airtime and writers who get lazy when it comes to weaving characters in and out of each other's lives.) If they're apart, then take as long as you need before putting them back together. Remember how long Mark and Ellen were apart, for example? And in the meantime, the two were allowed to move into different kinds of stories, explore other relationships, before they were on the road toward reconciliation. The longer you can delay the moment of reconciliation -- and I'm sorry, but I think the whole "shortened attention span" theory is poppycock, people will hang in if you give 'em something to hang onto -- the more gratifying it will be for everyone concerned.

AFAIC, that's always the problem with Ron: "Oh, no, he'll never go there! That's bad taste, even for --! OMG, the son-of-a-bitch just went there! "

Chances are, if they had brought back Julia Medina, either they would have done absolutely nothing with her and then let her fade away, or they'd reveal her to be something really stupid, like Victor Lord's other secret mistress and Viki's biological mom.

Not every great AMC couple stayed together, you know? Some, such as Tom and Brooke, split up eventually. Unfortunately, Tad and Dixie came about when realistic marriages (and separations) were a thing of the past. Now, everybody on a soap opera is "destined" to be with someone else, no matter what.

Oh, God. Whoever decided to run with that hot mess of a a tale needed not only to be fired, they needed to file for mental disability insurance.

Yes, Carl, Kathryn Harrold lasted a year as Nola.

Please tell me Doug Marland wasn't still head-writing the show at that point. I'd hate to think he was that inconsistent with a character he had created.

Good point, ellabelle. OTOH, I've always assumed Bianca changed because her ordeal with anorexia had humbled her.

I still remember when David Canary had to play Ray Gardner in JR's nightmares.

Agree. Re: Bianca -- I think it helped to have Bianca off-screen, living in Seattle with Travis, Barbara, Molly and Sean, for much of her childhood. We didn't see her as often as we did "Junior." So, unless they wanted to suggest something truly awful, like Travis molesting her, I think the writers could have included any tidbits from her childhood and no one would have been able to protest.

As crazy as this sounds, ladies and gentlemen, Kendall should have been played by someone in the same age range as Hillary B. Smith (soon-to-be-ex-Nora, OLTL) and Josh by someone as old as, say, Ben Browder ("Farscape").