AMCHistory

In soaps, so often the best pairings are unexpected and almost out of left field. Think B&B’s Clark/Sally or Owen/Jackie. AMC’s Opal/Palmer. Y&R’s Lauren/Michael Who do you want to see paired up in 2023? Y&R Victoria and Chance: Who doesn’t love two big families coming together? There is a bit of a forbidden fruit here since Chance used to be married to Vic’s sister. It would give Chance’s portrayer the chance of a front burner storyline. He’s talented and deserves the chance. Maybe Chance helps protect Victoria as she gets threatening notes from a back from the dead JT. Chance and Vic go into hiding, leading to romance. Y&R Daniel and Kevin: They have had more chemistry with each other than their romantic pairings. Maybe Chloe gets stuck abroad for a few business trips, leaving Kevin to feel like a single dad. Daniel offers a helping hand, knowing what it takes to raise a child alone. The long hours together leads to an innocent kiss, or something more?

Agreed. Lots of A characters in the spoilers. I’m very excited that Summer will have some emotional material to tackle. I am liking the new portrayer and am hoping Y&R finally puts her acting to the test. Let’s see if she can tackle some meaty, emotional, material from Phyllis’ faux death. I want to give Devon and Abby a chance, but I am yet to see a spark between the portrayers. Shocking, since Bryton has sparked with everyone he has been paired with in the last decade! The spoilers mention closing out Leanna’s appearence. I hope we get more Nina and Mamie too. Mamie mentioned wanting to catch-up with her family before leaving town. Nina and her son need some time too.

Brandon and Martha have come and gone so much over the last decade. I wish I could say I would miss them. They are better as individuals v. a couple. Seriously, their chemistry is so cold. If they separated the characters, they would have so much more potential on canvas. And don’t have them pair up with their default spoilers (eg Jan, Phillip). Belle and EJ were hot. Shawn D is encumbered by being related to too many of the ladies on canvas.

Ron does a lot of things right as a writer: he mines a shows history, he brings back vets as much as possible, he infuses comedy/camp… Where he breaks down is in execution of his story ideas. The pacing of his stories are always off. He tells more than he shows. He does not balance the A/B/C stories well, it sometimes feels like there is only a “A.” I think with the right co-HW or breakdown writer he would be golden. It’s the day-to-day where his concepts fall apart. For example on GH, Maxie coming home with a mystery guy is interesting. Him going after Felicia and the Aztec jewels is interesting. Only, we barley saw Felicia and the jewels before the story met its climax. We didn’t have enough hints to the backstory of Felicia and Levi’s father. It was all told to us over the span of two weeks, and the story is over. Contrast that to Felicia’s latest return. Her tension with Anna over Maxie getting invoked with Peter. Revisiting Felicia’s own traumas with Faison. She ultimately ending Peter’s reign of terror. I think RC could have had a similar idea with with Levi, but his execution of the story was awful.

AMC - The ornate green sofa from Wildwind. That was the show’s scene stealer for a while. YR - one of the mural walls, either from Chancellor Estate or the Abbot Mansion. Those thing scream Midwest wealth to me.

Wow, this is everything I wanted in a 90210 relaunch. I love the characterisation for Brandon, like he lives in his own white bread world that he thinks everyone admires, but they feel sad for him. Steve and Janet as the real/steady relationship is perfect. Lindsay Price and Ian both excel at comedy. They can be the Dunphys ala Modern Family. Always in trouble because of miscommunications as they keep up with their careers and growing brood. I guess the only thing missing is romance. Are Valerie and David the “will they, won’t they” couple? Does Donna rotate through men to keep the cast and storylines fresh (alas season 5-6 of the mothership)?

I’m guessing the poor showing at the 50th gala could have been spring break driven. Maybe the party was announced long after many of the actors with families made travel plans. Josh Morrow, Amelia Heinle, Crystal Khalil, are not ones to miss out on a gold party. They all have school age kids.

I completely forgot that the main reason PC feels like PC again has been the reduction of the Mob related stories and influence. They still happen, but it’s not the only thing going. Sonny and Jason are not the lead in every story. I admit I loved the early mob days. I just have a visceral reaction to the Steve Burton and his version of Jason. Is it wrong to say he is my least missed actor? The show is always better balanced with him off canvas. Heck, I even liked Billy Miller’s version of jason more!

Andrew is leading man material. I am watching him closely, despite his supporting role. The show clearly wanted Charles S. back for Beyond Salem, but could not lock him in with GH. The creation of this adult Andrew is a welcomed surprise. Who else do you want to see Andrew interact with? I would love to see him with Stephanie, and play up the fact that they grew up together. That was interesting decade with both Brady women raising families out West. I think some cousins become best friends, and I can see that here. I wish Sonny was around. He and Andrew would have been a hot couple. It would have give cousins Will and Andrew some good family tension.

This was a turning point for me and my appreciate for the FV/RC team at GH. Let’s make it clear, they did save the show. I think ABC was fine letting the show guzzler at 50 and replace it with another talk/lifestyle show. FV/Ron brought home the vets that made Port Charles feel like home again: Finola, Kristina, Jacklyn, Lynn, Genie (wow, when you look at this list you really realise how marginalised women over 40 at GH were). The early days of the Brad/Lucas romance was groundbreaking, two gay front burner recurring characters allowed to kiss more than once a year? I think ego ultimately took over to RC. The stories became very surface even with all the right players (I’m looking at you Levi Dunklenan and the return of Stephen Clay). He started playing favourites and picking fights with the same vets he brought back. The Sean Kanan dismissal had shades of the Cady McClain/ Meghan McTavish moment at AMC. Cady openly chided Meghan for marginalised Julia Barr and was unceremoniously written out despite being in an unresolved front burner storyline, which has been building up for 5 years. Sean was in the same boat. Michael reclaiming his Q identity had been in the works for decades. The push and pull between the q’s and Corinthos could have driven the stories for another decade. Kanan’s untimely and permanent dismissal was a short sighted ego play on RC’s part. What is FV and RC’s relationship today? They seemed unbreakable at one point. Is this jab directly to FV?

I am loving that cast members are getting more than once pose. They are not copy and pasting between opening versions. I especially love Amelia Heinle’s hair flip today. Let’s see how long this lasts.

With the 50th gala at his conclusion, I am sorry to say it was a dud. I don’t think we’ll be talking about scenes from this party. There wasn’t an emotional payoff. Where was the 50 year montage? Where was the memorable moment that can only happen at a 50 years gala? I think the last time this show did a “memorable event” well was Kay Chancellors fake funeral. We had memorable scenes we still talk about today (eg Traci and Lauren’s reconciliation), we had deep cut references to reward long time fans (eg Dina admitting she has never visited Colleen or Abby), and a springboard for a major story (eg the return of Victor Newman and his renewed romance with Ashley). I wanted something as emotionally fulfilling, well written, and high stakes as this. The 50th gala was a dud.

I loved the Webber/Scorpio house, and how people entered from behind the living room. Is was the perfect “barge in” set, whereas other sets had their entry door stage left/right. Or, you could easily have someone hiding behind the couch, eavesdropping on whoever was having a convo in the foyer. I guess Mac and Felicia are homeless now.

Eek - how is that the brownstone? How is it even a townhouse layout? That’s a bummer.

Where does Elizabeth live? It does not look like her cottage anymore. It looks like a redressing of the old Webber house Laura grew up in, later owned by Mac and Scorpio. Great casting for Elizabeth’s kids. The three boys look like they could all be related.

The font change helps a lot. I still don’t understand the skyline and what it has to do with a small Midwest town that probably has one sky scraper. Chance and Amanda premieres today. Gorgeous.

Love Carnes, but he’s made it clear he is not coming back. Who do you want to see step into the Lucas role? It needs to be an actor with some daytime chops. This is not a role worth recasting if not. I can see JP Lavoisier doing a good job, and he is a FV favourite.

I remember Paul, Lauren, Diane, and Andy arriving at Victor and Nikki's wedding together. Did Lauren and Diane not have a formal falling out? I do not remember much Lauren/Diane time from Susan's last run. But Lauren was much more a recurring player at that time. Other than chasing after Paul, she did not have much of storyline until she fell into the Fisher orbit.

Doesn't Charlotte just post like this every couple of years? I'm not sure we need Eve back. I'd rather they save the money and bring back Shane so we can see him interact with the kids he has on canvas.

Did Mamie leave the party? Is Veronica Redd's return engagement over? Or are we going to get the Winter kids scene with her later? What a waste of a cameo if this is all we got.

There are definite growing pains with Brooklyn. Her acting style still reads child, when it will need to read young adult to fit-in with her contemporaries. I can see the show wanting to bring back Emma full time to live with grandma Anna down the line. The best thing Brooklyn can do is take acting lessons and mature her acting style, beyond grinning smiles and exaggerated facial expressions. I can see Emma going the way of Robyn Richards. We all loved Robyn, but her acting style never matured. Against the strong teens set of her day - Lindze, Scott, Adrienne - that flaw only become more apparent. I was not surprised when it came time to recast, and boy was Kirsten loved for quite some time.

What is Amelia and Thad's current relationship status? They seemed to be reconciling around his last stint. What an unnecessarily dark turn for that character. Fans were so happy to see him back, and how seamlessly he fit back on the canvas. I wouldn't mind a Mac drop-in too. Kelly did a great job her last few appearances. I was hoping that would become more of recurring role since the JT mystery was left unresolved for so long. I bet Chance could use the visit and the support from his cousin. Maybe a Mac/Adam fling could work out too?

To all the naysayers, what would you do to fix the current Y&R opening visuals? I remember in the old days of this board there were so many talented artists. I would love to see someone conceptualize a better/modern opening concept..

I want to love Leanna's return but her performance is so stilted. I think a lot of it is the writing/ directing. She seems to be scheming for scheming's sake. How many times can she interlope and say, "did I just overhear..." She was a smarter and sharper character in her earlier runs. She was not just a listener/repeater, she was a plotter. Her machinations were memorable. She was the type of character that never needed an excuse to do the wrong thing. Now she's just a nosey yenta. See below for an example of Leana's quirkiness in full effect:

Teresa left right before the internet, and the Soap Communities, really became a thing. It's like she disappeared into the ether. I don't subscribe to SOD anymore, but I did for decades and I cannot remember her ever being included in a "wear are they now feature." It was not like she was a short-term character. She was on the show for 7 continuous years! Heck, Eva LaRue was only on for four years in her original run, and she had a "where are they now" mention almost every other month. I would love to know what she has gotten into since leaving TV.