AMC: Smart Move?

[Sedrick]

Before I start, let me preface this thread with the announcement that I am no Gallup Poll and the results of my findings are not scientific...LOL

I come from a family that is made of up of former diehard AMC watchers...old school viewers from the early and glory days. In fact the mid-size Texas city in which I live was AMC-mad through the 80's and 90's, fans of all ages, male and female, who didn't mind letting people know they loved AMC. TONS of people. I remember back in the early 90's when Michael E. Knight made his second return when Tad came from back from the dead (the period when the show came thisclose to finally knocking Y&R out of the top Nielsen spot)...my entire hometown was glued to the screens and buzzing daily!

Fast-forward to the recent years. These past few dreary years I wouldn't be kidding when I tell you that I think my older sister and myself are perhaps two of the few people who still even watched...around here a large amount of people stopped watching not because of OJ Simpson, but due to one storyline in particular: the whole Erica steals Maddie and passes her off as Sonya debacle. After that plot for some reason the various fans I knew personally found other things to do with their lunch hours. I myself firmly swore off the show forever following the travesty of the un-abortion and have stuck to my vow not to watch AMC again...

Well color me shocked this week following visits with several friends and family over the Christmas holiday...here's why...

In the past week I had conversations with between 15-20 former AMC viewers (around town I'm jokingly called the "TV Encyclopedia" because since I was a kid I have always kept up with all the news in front of and behind the scenes in regards to TV)...when I informed these people that Angie and Jesse were coming back to the show, the reaction was unlike anything I've ever witnessed firsthand in regards to my passion, daytime drama. The majority of these people were African-Americans, most of whom had grown up watching the original love story, and most of them had long since stopped watching AMC. But when I played the role of my town's very own Late Breaking Soap News Reporter and spilled the news of the return, almost all of these people got excited and nearly ALL of them vowed to tune back into the show to see the couple return, and they were all dead serious! It was all quite funny and touching as many re-enacted their favorite Angie & Jesse moments, and plenty even recalled Darnell Williams when he was a dancer on SOUL TRAIN in the 1970's.

I was shocked completely by this! I remember last fall I was going around town and beating my soap-lover's drum heralding the return of Genie Francis to GH and the 25th anniversary of the wedding everyone stayed home for in 1981...the response I got from plenty of folks was a basic "So what?"

Now I am being hounded for the date(s) of Debbie Morgan and Darnell Williams will show up!

So in my conclusion (and the following is only my own opinion) I am going out on a limb here and saying that AMC may still have some life in it yet...from what I can tell you, and what Victoria Rowell has been beating the drum about recently, is the intensity with with African-Americans have traditionally been arguably one of the most loyal and devoted audience blocs for the soaps...many have said that Y&R has retained its #1 spot for decades thanks in large part to its black viewership....back in the day AMC was able to lay claim to those same viewers. I can personally testify to the fact that Black viewers have always held a special place in our hearts for AMC, and the landmark coupling of Angie and Jesse helped to solidfy that place. I can tell you that as a kid there was something extremely powerful for me to see their love story play out in the same grand sweeping manner that all the other famous (white) supercouples were treated to, and to this day I count Morgan and Williams still as two of my favorite actors of ANY genre. Judging from the reactions of my friends, family, and neighbors, the same could possibly be said for them also.

This is not to say that the returns are going to shooting AMC back to the top of the ratings...hell, this isn't even to say the ratings will go up a point. I just found it incredibly fascinating that the returns have caused such strong reactions with this segment of the audience.

Despite my own sour feelings towards the program currently calling itself AMC, I have decided I too shall tune in to see Angie and Jesse, no matter how bad the writing is bound to be.

[Jonathan]

I agree with your post 100%. I definitely believe that if soap ratings are to rise, then TPTB need to cater to the African American audience. I remember back when I was about 10 years old, visiting my mom at the hospital where she worked, eating lunch in the lounge and seeing a lot of African-American nurses, hospital staff members just watching All My Children and the Derek/Mimi/and the other guy love triangle. (Sorry I forgot his name.)

I actually think it was smart of ABC and The View to have two African-American hosts. I think that is partially the reason why The View has been able to maintain it's high ratings post-Rosie.

[CassieFan]

I am so happy that Angie and Jessie are coming back home I hope some other characters (Brooke, Undead Dixie, Liza, Mia, Di, Bianca, David) will follow them.

[DeeeDee]

Amen!

[David_Vickers]

This former viewer is definitely fired up and will be watching AMC in January. BTW, it's DEBBI Morgan, NOT DEBBIE! I've seen this misspelling of her name at this site and DR and other places and it's pissing me off that people are misspelling this soap vet's name. Please people spell Ms. Morgan's first name correctly!

[EricaKane70]

Well I'm happy that amc is bringing on more African americans. I wasn't watching when jesse/angie were on, so I'm looking forward to seeing them. As an erica fan I hope the rumor about her new love interest being AA is true. We also need more frontburner AA hopefully 2008 will be better for miniorities. An I used to watch oltl all the time when Evangeline was on I miss her.

[Graciecat]

Jesse and Angie are before my time, but I agree that bringing them back is a brilliant move. It's always seemed so strange to me that most soaps, but particularly GH and AMC, have so avoided employing African American actors in recent years, when there is such great potential for a large AA audience. Bringing back the first black super couple is definitely a step in the right direction.

[EricaKane70]

Amc might want to give Ms. Victoria Rowell a call, she might just come to pinevalley if they give her an offer she can't refuse. She would be great as a nuMimi but they would definantly have to get a nuDerek and then they could bring the last dani back.

[Kay]

I remember seeing Angie & Jessie when I was a kid. I have been watching the crap that's on AMC of late. I'm barely hanging on, but I will MOST DEFINITELY be watching when they return. It does help that I like seeing acting by all demographics--not to mention they all have the same problems-- the people in charge of these shows need to recognize that minorities would be devoted to shows that featured characters that reflected their own segment of the population. Indeed, my sis only watched OLTL because of Evangeline and they keep teasing us with this coma crap-- but not showing her face-- it's pretty ridiculous. They need to go on and pay REG what she's asking and get her back on the show.

[DeeeDee]

Now that Angie & Jessie are back can Brooke be next?

[jacks]

I'm only 19 but I've been watching AMC on and off since I was about 4 or 5. I remember Jessie coming back for a bit, I think he was an angel or something but then he left. I watch GL out of loyalty to my mom and saw him as Griggs for awhile so I think it'll be interesting to see what happens next. Didn't AMC have a Latino supercouple in the 80's too with Sonny from GH? It seems like with the growing number of Latinos, Asians, African Americans and Native Americans, projected to make up half of the whole country in the coming years, it only makes since for soaps to become more multicultural and inclusive. I even give props to ATWT for their nuke storyline because even that is a step towards more diversity of characters. Right now, most soaps like Rowell hinted at, are pretty exclusive.

[DevotedToAMC]

I am fired up about Rebecca Budig and Jesse/Angie returning but I was not fired up over Bianca's recent appearance. As usual, the show just brought her back to spread her words of wisdom and make it all better with a sprinkle of her pixie dust

[Faulkner]

Victoria Rowell as Mimi would be TOO amazing. It would be a different role for her, but it would also give her opportunity to bring out her trademark FIERCENESS. Perhaps they could grab Davetta Sherwood as nuDani, but that would be overdoing it.

When I started watching AMC as a wee lad, Jesse was dead and Angie was with Cliff. I did get to see Angie with the lookalike Jacob on LOVING and THE CITY, and I've seen Angel Jesse many times, but I always wanted to see the real deal.

I will tune back in to see them for as long as I can stomach AMC's shite writing and production values. There's always the chance that this will turn into a disaster like GH's heralded returns.

[CassieFan]

I would so like to see Danielle and Reggie in Pine Valley

[dragonflies]

I say RUN DEBBI & DARNELL RUN! They're going to ruin their return the way they did Greenlee's and the way Maria, Julia and other returns are. AMC has YET to do ONE character return right.....