ghfan89

A few rumors I've read going through old usenet archives, was that McTavish and Behr were at odds who to put Edmund with. McTavish wanted to eventually put Edmund and Brooke together, but Behr pointed out that fans were responding to Edmund and Maria more.

The other was that part of the reason McTavish was fired in 1995 was due to creative differences. There was a quote from McTavish where she seemed to the think Noah/Taylor and Julia/Anton were gonna be the big pairings, and Noah and Julia as best friends like Jesse and Jenny. Noah and Julia as a romance didn't really kick off until after she left. 

Many were surprised they show choose to kept Trevor over Natalie when the rumor was the actors didn't get along and they had to choose one. I kept that in mind rewatching some of these 1991 shows, and after the Adam story wrapped, Natalie was basically wallpaper. The story seemed about Trevor with new family members Arlene and Hayley showing up. He seemed to be the one getting more airtime and focus. It's too bad because I preferred Natalie by a long shot, but they really diluted her character, especially once Janet came on the scene. The whole thing was more from Janet's perspective.

Thanks for the analysis, DeliaIrisFan. One thing I did notice was how during the Well story, Hayley was one of the first to put together something was up with Natalie. That "Natalie" was not acting like herself. She put together she was Janet. Flashforward a few months, and Hayley has her head in the sand regarding Will, and the last to realize he's gone off the deep end.

4 hours ago, FrenchBug82 said:

 

I don't know enough about the writing team shenanigans (but thanks to DeliaIrisFan for this fascinating expose) to comment on the role the writing team had in what I am about to say but while the Natalie-in-the-well story had a lot going for it, I never thought Kate Collins - who was wonderful as Natalie both in her calculating days and in her kinder latter days - did Janet very well. It was always too broad and obvious a character for me when she played it, even when the backstory attempted to give her layers.
The latter returns of Janet (especially her killing Trevor) count to me as one of the vilest moments of late AMC (along with the unabortion and Dixie and the pancakes), but the MINUTE they said they were bringing back Janet but played by KC, I knew they were going to write her as the broad crazy stereotype rather than the layered complicated version of Robin Mattson.

 

I do remember an interview with McTavish from her 1998 return. Someone asked her why Janet and Trevor lacked storyline. She said there wasn't a whole lot she could do with a nice Janet. I got the impression she didn't like the humanization of the character Broderick did. IIRC, the last stuff McTavish had written for Janet before then was setting up a bomb at the Trevor and Laurel wedding, circa 1995? Eventually she did write Harold the dog dying.

On 3/5/2021 at 7:06 PM, Chris B said:

There was a Youtube channel I had found with playlists for 87 through at least 90 with a good number of episodes per year and Youtube deleted it! I was just at an episode in 88 where there was an explosion at a party. I literally watched maybe a month and it was getting so good before Youtube deleted it!

All here

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren1987Jan-jul

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren1987Aug-Dec

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren1988JanThruMay10gb

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren1988JunThruDec7.9Gb

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren1989JanThruAug1421.6Gb

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren19892AugThruDec18.5Gb

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren19901Jan02ThruAugust14-16.9Gb

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren19902Aug14ThruDec3116.9Gb

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren19911JanuaryThruJune

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren19912JulyThruDecember21.5Gb

https://archive.org/details/AllMyChildren199201JanThruMay16.8Gb

I remember Taylor Miller pushing for the idea of a Nina and Adam pairing when she returned in the mid-90's.

Flashback to that time Tom hit Travis over the head with a barbell

5 hours ago, titan1978 said:

Thanks for all the feedback about Cliff and Nina.  I loved Palmer and have watched everything I could find of him being menacing.  And Nina is just a stunning lady. But I am immune to the charms of PB.

Did you watch the Nina's birthday episodes that Eric posted? The ones from 1980. Palmer and his Dobermans. If not, those are good ones to watch. There's also when Palmer takes Adam's entire fortune right out from under him, during the masked ball.

6 hours ago, LoyaltoAMC said:

I think Erica the waitress storyline was Broderick. That started after the writers' strike ended. The active storylines during the strike I remember were Travis's fake kidnapping, Tom/Barbara/Skye, with Skye faking her coma, Palmer emotionally blackmailing Natalie over her murder of Silver, introduction of Will and Dixie, Julie/Nico/Charlie triangle, and Cecily having a crush on Cliff. They sent Adam/Stuart/Cindy/Brooke to Paris the full summer, either to facilitate David Canary's vacation or because they wanted to put the brakes on the AIDS storyline till after the strike, or both. 

Thanks, I was thinking the strike went further into the fall than it did. Stan Albers as Josh first showed up around March of 1988 ( the second time, the first time he was on the show as another character in 1985. )

The whole "Sally the Waitress" and meeting Dave story, along with Travis faking a kidnapping for insurance, was stuff that happened during the writers strike. I'm not sure how much of that was originally planned out by Broderick. 

2 hours ago, Vee said:

What in the hell is the "Mystery of Cobbler's Island"?

That was when Damon Lazzare and Goldie Kane were hypnotizing Silver to kill Erica. It was around fall of 1987.

I'm going through some of my uploads, and these are some beautiful scenes with Erica and Nick. She tells him about her father issues. Thank you, BlueRose8506 for originally uploading this.

2 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

 

I guess DePriest had been seen as a success at DAYS and AW, but she was never a good headwriter. Was she the one who had the silly Marisa story and broke up Natalie and Jeremy after years of them being built up?

Yes. David/Lanie was started by Broderick, but continued with Depriest. They were still around after that, but I think Agnes's next attempt at a young love story after she returned was Emily Ann and Joey, which also coincided with the return of Billy Clyde.

10 hours ago, Vee said:

Can anyone illuminate for me a bit the circumstances surrounding Agnes' (according to Wikipedia) return to the HW slot in late '89? What did that entail? I always assumed she'd done the Cindy/AIDS and Laura hit and run stories, but I guess that's not the case. I didn't realize she'd been (officially, anyway) gone as long as she had, and where her hand guided things or didn't. My kingdom for @EricMontreal22's return...

Cindy/AIDS and the Laura hit and run stories were under Lorraine Broderick. 

21 minutes ago, j swift said:

Question: Did Mark Dalton and Silver Kane ever live in Pine Valley at the same time?  Were they half-siblings as well, because I think Goldie was not Mark's mother?

Yes, Mark was on the show through at least December 1988. The 'real' Silver came on the show as Noelle in 1987, then died May of 1988. So Mark was actually on the show before, during and after Silver.

12 hours ago, DRW50 said:

 

It was an unpopular storyline - even with James Mitchell, I believe. The most interesting part for me was the Opal/Palmer split. I never really believed he would have stayed with her as long as he did, and the fallout (along with the reveal of her son Adrian) was good drama. 

It didn't make much sense, so I am not surprised. I do know HamiltonBernique has the climax of the Lars Bogard story up. It was during that yacht party where they were celebrating Jenny and Tony's engagement and he fell overboard.

Edit: Found it, Lars goes overboard after a fight with Palmer, falls in the water with an American flag toward the end of the video

They sort of brought the Nazi thing back in 1998. Palmer was hiding a bunch of Nazi paintings. Anyone else remember this?

4 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

I remember post adam, Gloria was a background character save for chemistry testing with Jack..and than working for Dr Kinder while he was providing Erica with pills(she got dropped from that angle with Janet being placed in the story).

Now that you mention it, Gloria did get more material under McTavish.

One I read about, but never saw was Samantha on OLTL. The original actress, Julie Montgomery, left the show, and had her in a car wreck. She woke up with plastic surgery with Susan Keith in the role, who was a miscast. The writers then wrote that Sam didn't like her plastic surgery and found a different surgeon. She had another plastic surgery, and was back to being Julie Montgomery again.

On 5/17/2020 at 7:07 AM, BetterForgotten said:

She talks about Maureen Bauer's death on GL - she takes responsibility for it, but says she "researched" this decision a lot, and the "research" said the audience was indifferent to the character. She says the writing of the story made people care "too much about the character," so when they killed her, the audience was "out of its mind". Goes on to say this was a "teaching" moment for her - IMO, she tries to victimize herself here a bit, and the backlash from Maureen's death still stings her in some way

Tina Sloan (Lillian) said that GL actually planned to put Ed/Lillian together and only the tsunami-sized backlash after Mo's death changed their minds. I can see arrogant JFP smirking and rubbing her hands and putting all this together, then cursing the fans when her ideas went up in ashes. The network or P&G must have stepped in.

10 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

 

Yes to the first, no to the second. JFP and Pam Long made Rachel a killer. 

 

Thank you. Yes, I see McTavish didn't come until the next year on OLTL. Although, both stories (GL/OLTL) were under JFP's watch. I wonder if it was JFP's idea to make Rachel a killer, because on Y&R Hilary was made a killer under JFP.

The Amelia/Rick/Maureen interview should be interesting. I know JFP loved Lucy/SS so I wonder if it was her idea to cut the Gilly/Alan-Michael story or the networks. I do think I read a rumor Patrick Mulcahey quit over them not letting him do the David/Bridget story. 

Wasn't Megan McTavish also the one that had Roger blaming Gilly for all the problems at WRCW, so she quit to work as a personal assistant to Griffin, who she almost had an affair with until he turned out to be her father? Yuck. Then not long after she went over to OLTL and made Rachel a killer out of nowhere.

Laurel was pointless, but the culmination of her death, and Janet revealing Jason as a homophobe wanting to kill Michael Delaney on the witness stand was well done.

5 hours ago, titan1978 said:

I also have never enjoyed Jackson.  Give me Dimitri or Travis any day.

You know, its funny. You go back and watch episodes in the late 80's and Jack actually seemed to have a personality back then, after Travis left so went his personality. Nick Davis and Mike Roy were my favorites for Erica, but Dimitri was okay, aside from when he helped Kendall track down Richard Fields, and he went downhill after that whole Maria affair disaster. They almost turned him into a villain in 1997. 

Cady McClain on some of the behind the scene politics of 2006, which lead to the pancake death

 "I made the mistake of saying what I wanted. Sometimes with a show, you've got to smell the atmosphere, and you've really got to consider the politics, and see what is happening. It's taken me a lifetime to learn this, but I did not recognize there was much heavier network influence at the time, that was playing heavily into the politics behind the scenes. 

So when I was taken to lunch, I was asked "What kind of stories do you like, Cady?" and I was like "You're asking me?" Instead of saying what I should of said, "Whatever she wants to write is going to be great." What I did end up saying was "I like social justice storylines. I really loved anything what Agnes was doing in the 80's with AIDS and homelessness." 

And I just watched the writer that shall not be named look at me like she wanted to kill me because she had a story already. It just didn't enter my little pea brain that I was making that story go away by what I was saying. I didn't even realize I had that power at that time. I had no idea. 

So, that became a very difficult year because I think she was very angry with me, for ruining this great story idea that she had, and I got the brunt of that, and I've talked about that before. I don't think it was right or fair personally to take your anger out on an actor, but I've seen it done before. If somebody doesn't like you, and they have to write for you, that's going to be a tough year for you, and it was for me.

I literally had to do a "I wanna kill myself" story for three months straight. And going to work, and doing monologues about how much you want to die is really hard on you personally. We play on a field of emotion, and you can't help when you're doing a very difficult storyline everyday, to take some of that home with you.

After three months, I began to get angry, as anyone would that would be forced to do something that was really painful. It almost felt like torture. That's not a good feelings, and you get snarky and bitchy and angry yourself. Then I had an epiphany, which was "Cady, just let it go. Just shut up, and go do your job. Just entertain people and don't let this get to you." 

By the time I had made that turn, I had a conversation with that writer that did not sit well with her. It wasn't like I was an a-hole, I was saying "Could you please consider..." I was polite, but I wasn't totally in line, which is what you have to do in a job like soaps where they are writing a script five days a week. Its an enormous undertaking for writers.

So, by the time I had my epiphany, she had already made up her mind, and poisoned pancakes was going to her final word on the subject. Which I have had to live with ever since."

Full interview

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/cady-mcclain-guests-on-digests-podcast/

On 7/13/2020 at 11:18 AM, carolineg said:

 

Not even sure Guza cared much about him in the 90's?  He has and always will be a pesky road block for Sonny.  Jax's character has never really developed outside being a white knight.  IR is lucky he had chemistry with VM and Laura Wright because he would basically be a footnote without it.  IR gets the leftovers while Mo gets GH built around him.  His politics aside, IR was almost as popular as MB in the 90's but has basically gotten B stories since 1998.

2010 was actually the first time Guza wrote S&B as an actual bonafide couple, if you think about it. 1994-1995 was Labine.

During his first stint in 1996, Sonny was with Lily and Brenda was with Jax. S&B had longing moments, but they weren't together that year. I seem to remember Jax's first wife that also had a history with Mac (who he somehow knew from Australia) was suppose to be a Cassadine, but none of this was further explored after Guza left.

Guza was gone most of 1997 to do Sunset Beach. This was the year of S&B cave sex and subsequent reunion along with Tinman.

Guza came back in time to write Sonny leaving Brenda at the alter, and Brenda's subsequent breakdown. Guza also wrote Brenda's 1998 reunion with Jax up through her death.

Then when VM returned in 2002, Guza reunited her with Jax and the fake marriage to Jason. S&B didn't have much going on during this time aside from the amazing grace montage and the goodbye kiss on the docks when she was leaving.

And I feel like he only put them back together in 2010 because he wanted to do the Dante triangle/reveal that got axed. 

Gloria Monty on the Luke and Laura rape 

In September 22, 1998 SOW. Gloria said that she helped
to create the scene and she directed it, but didn't write it.
She says, "I refuse to call it rape. Someone told me that
sequence would never fly today because women are different, and
they would object to it. That's nonsense." She said she
intentionally directed it to have what really happened to Laura
vague in the audience's mind. "You heard her scream 'No, but we
cut away before. You didn't know what ultimately happened,
except that they had sex. I wanted the audience to wonder, 'was
it a rape?'" She says the truth came out later in more subtle
scenes and THOSE are the ones she wrote, rather than the rape.
She says that these later scenes were overlooked.

"After the seduction, Luke went to see her in the hospital. He
brought flowers and she smiled and said, 'Thank you,' and, most
importantly, she accepted the flowers. She acted as if nothing
had happened. She could have looked at him the way that she did
and accepted the flowers, if she thought that what had happened
was a rape. The night of the seduction, this man had one day to
live. He was going to die. She came into the disco, and he kept
telling her to go away. In an emotional sequence like that, if
she had started running out and he caught her and dragged her
back, then I would also say it was rape. But if the man says,
'Get out, get out, please leave,' and you stay. . . then you're
crossing the line."

Yes, I liked they had Remy's mom come by for the Jesse return. Did they ever bring up Creed Kelly though? Wasn't he the one originally thought to be behind Jesse's death?