Jonathan

Hearing about the Who's the Boss revival led me down a rabbit hole of Judith Light videos. Judith's answers in this interview are so thoughtful especially when she talks about the autistic boy at 5:23. You can tell she was appreciative of her time on OLTL.

A La Lucci interview I have never seen! Regis Philbin as guest host on the Late Show with David Letterman.

It's ironic that Nicole Wallace's stock has risen in the last few years on MSNBC. When she was on The View, she was completely underutilized.

Watching this storyline back, Adam is really creepy. Not a "campy" kidnapping storyline (except the bear). Erica mentions pressing charges for attempted rape.

Ah ok makes sense.

Anyone know how / why Marlene McPherson was chosen as the reboot's initial head writer? That seemed like a hiring out of left field. Was she a fan of the show? Did she have a previous working relationship with Ginger Smith, Jeff Kwatinetz, or Rich Frank?

I think it's this interview but for some reason it won't play. https://www.blogtalkradio.com/tolnsoaps/2013/07/12/toln-soaps-live-with-michael-fairman

I don't remember who interviewed here, but it was back in 2013. I'm sure it is in this thread. In the interview she said that she realized that the reboot had a couples problem i.e. Brooke, no Adam; Dixie, no Tad; Zach, no Kendall, etc.

Agree. Again, a homegrown choice. She captured that small town feel of Pine Valley. In listening to one of her podcast interviews, you could tell she was passionate about the show.

Great interview with KLG regarding Regis and the last time she saw him. https://www.today.com/video/kathie-lee-gifford-remembers-regis-philbin-we-never-had-one-cross-word-88335429542

What I hated about McTavish's writing is that she re-wrote history so that characters were instantly related to each other e.g. Greenlee and Jackson, being one example. McTavish bragged about weaving characters and their stories together but it was often forced and not organic. I didn't mind the Culliton era. I've been quite entertained watching past episodes on YouTube. The show was much better when Culliton was writing than when Pratt or Kreizman / Swajeski wrote the show. Looking back, this bothered me a bit. Everyone was instantly in Bianca's business. McTavish was too into her umbrella stories, which I don't think was always necessary. I enjoyed the 80s soaps when there was an "A" story and "B" story and once A concluded B took center stage. Occasionally, stories would cross but they did so organically when it made sense.

Well, JFP did improve the lighting at OLTL. You're probably right. I shudder to think what JFP would have done to All My Children. I mean she did kill off Maureen Bauer, right? Good Lord, she probably would've killed off Erica, Adam, and Brooke!

Very true @DaytimeFan. All the past EPs prior to JHC were homegrown. JHC was an outsider and when she was installed as EP, I had a feeling things were going to go downhill. My gut feeling is that JHC was trying to just keep her job, telling everyone (actors, writers, BF) what they wanted to hear. I loathe managers who do that. I just re-read this article with Marcy Walker where she had it on good authority that JFP was coming over to AMC (I believe this was right after JDB was fired). I don't know if she would have been good or bad for AMC. JFP had a knack for raising the demo ratings, but to what or whose expense? Behr came back as VP overseeing all three ABC shows, so this is true. It's too bad her position was phased out. She would've been so much better than Frons.

A lot of people had that feeling. My guess is that Behr was a better leader overall and had the right balance of creative and managerial skills. Remember, the EPs had to get story approval from the network. Behr strikes me as an EP who went to bat for her writing team and was good at "selling" and persuading the network heads. Yes. She also gave us Fusion and ConFusion..... and the dance marathon that lasted 2 weeks on those sets! I was a little surprised to learn that Broderick was HW for fewer years than MM. Broderick had four stints as HW but cumulatively only served as HW 4-5 years.

The drop in quality happened when JHC took over and mis-managed the show. At the end of its life, All My Children was like a poorly run factory manufacturing products sans quality control. OMG, ya'll need a cold shower. LOL. Definitely not Lord.

The music at the end of this clip gives me chills! In sync right when "Maureen" turns around. This was when the show still put a lot of attention to post-production and music scoring. It got really lazy under JHC.

Oh, I was thinking the same thing! I wish someone would arrange that interview!

Oh I can't wait to watch this! ETA: Lorraine messes up some of the details. She said that Kevin Sheffield was Palmer's nephew. She also said that Kevin's mother was played by Marj Dusay. I love when she said that she would never kill Darnell 😂

Wait, Gil falls off a tightrope? 🙄 Yes, I recently watched this. It's a great interview.

Yeah, poor Agnes.

That's from 2014. This clip is also from 2014. It's hard to watch. Do you have a link to this?

This video clip of Kelly and Mark is kinda cheesy, but credit to them for participating. Agnes was in poor health at the very end, but she was always willing to talk about her Children.

LOL! Leave Ruth alone! You try needlepointing and reading a teleprompter at the same time!

Ah ok. Such a shame. Tom was a good guy. I thought my ears were deceiving me but the record that DJ Jesse is spinning in this clip is "Major Tom" by singer Peter Schilling. 4, 3, 2, 1..... I love the 80s! I can't believe All My Children was able to get clearance for this song. They probably could never rebroadcast this episode though.

Can anyone elaborate on the storyline involving Brooke, Tom, and his best friend Gil? Gil had attempted to rape Brooke. How did this storyline come about? Seems very plot driven. Was this story meant to create some conflict in the Cudahy marriage?