Jump to content

AMC: Wednesday, Feb 13


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 32
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

Why I Hate Ryan

By: DevotedToAMC/Jason

Well this paper topic has potential to sell millions of copies around the United States due to All My Children’s popularity and the controversial Moses of Pine Valley, St. Ryan Lavery. So after reading endless rants from me on the jerk, you are probably asking: WHY do I hate him? Just read on for a nice little summary on my hate for Mr. Lavery.

Being a fan of the show for fourteen years now, one need not know that Ryan’s extensive history with the soap is one I know consistently and very well due to how I have seen him since his 1998 debut. Even if it was not one of AMC’s best years, Ryan had a lot going for him during Mathison’s first run: chemistry with Kelsey, Liza, Erica, Bianca, Kendall, Gillian of course, then with the males of All My Children including rivals (Palmer, Edmund, JR, Tad, Jackson, Leo, Aidan, Dimitri, Mateo, Scott) as well as some interesting plots (Ryan/Gillian romance, The Fidelty yacht party, conclusion of the Kit Fisher rape saga, Ryan/Gillian/Jake triangle, Ryan/Gillian/Hayley/Mateo quadrangle, Ryan/Gillian on the run in early 1999, Crystal Ball memories, Ryan/Kendall romance, Ryan/Liza fling, Fallout of Gillian’s death, Ryan reuniting with Gillian and dumping Greenlee-HELLO!!!) . As you can see, there was a lot to be loved about as far as chemistry goes and the storylines-until we come upon the last one I list….Greenlee stalking Ryan.

Anybody will tell you once Ryan broke things off with Ms. Smythe, she went all out on his apartment and destroyed everything he had-from the walls to pictures to literally what was in the apartment! Then she has him arrested for the money he siphoned off from their company to fund the trip he and Gillian went on to rescue Jake Martin from Chechnya. The moment she stood to him and said, “Your money was paid for by Greenlee money!” I just knew that Ryan loathed the witch….and then what did she do? She trapped herself on an island to get Ryan back, yet he never CAME! Who did? LEO!!! Her TRUE soulmate! And he told her he loved her!

It is that piece of history that irks me to no end but let’s not get into it since that is incorporated in depth in my “Why I hate Rylee” essay. Back on to Ryan….his return seemed to be well done and documented by the writers at first but all of a sudden it fell flat. Once Ryan inherited the Cambias fortune, he started becoming the arrogant prick that I see him to this day with his ordering people around, telling Kendall to forgive a woman that nearly sent her to death row one month prior to this….oh and let us also not forget our little prince Ryan playing them both to be against one another. What a real treat that was to watch! Oh and the psychic connection they have? Do not get me started.

Now let’s fast forward to Ryan post Rylee marriage. Let’s face it the guy is cocky, arrogant, and a piece of trash as far as I am concerned. Look who has had to prop him up: Kendall to the SEC stating their marriage was for love and not business, the constant “Ryan is a great guy” comments from nearly 80% of the women in Pine Valley, and now Tad for excusing his behavior just recently when Ryan went all loony on him. Also, what makes him such a Saint to be hailed as the second coming by everyone in town? Shouldn’t they just erect a statue of St. Hypocrite Ryan as SUPER RYAN with his cape, the “R” on his blue suit, and the slicked back military haircut? That way everyone can just pass it on by and worship Ryan at the altar *eye roll*….it would be much better than hearing the cringing pimping from everyone, especially his wife Greenlee who seems to have forgotten the love she had for Leo e.g. “Ryan is the best man I’ve ever known.” Spare us, Greenlee. You are NOT his princess like Gillian was and we all know how much Gillian and Leo are rolling in their graves right about now! (Or are they?? Hmm….). But some bright spots to all of this are when Maria told him off, along with Zach’s quips to him, as well as David hating on the hypocritical ass-so it appears as if St. Ryan cannot fool everybody! And let’s not go into the nicknames, stupid one liners, and just Ryan being….a DIFFERENT Ryan than the one I liked years ago!

*One more final note as to why I hate Ryan-he always has to play super hero and it stinks!

-THE END-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Generally just curious about what makes an AMC character a "legacy character". On GH and Days usually it's their immense popularity, their action storylines and their super couples. I understand "Angie", "Jesse", "Tad" and "Dixie" ( even thought I think Dixie is nothing without Tad) all being legacy characters because their super couples and veteran status. I just wanted to know what made "Julia" a legacy character. I am guessing it was her relationship with Noah? I wasn't watching then so I don't know. I heard before she came back she was only on the show for three years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

She isn't..... no more than Krystal is really. They both have spent about the same amount of time on the show.

I am not to sure why its such a big deal Krystal is lending support to Angie.... its realistic in how its being written.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Julia is a legacy character because she was wildly popular in the 90s and was 1/2 of soap opera's first immensily popular interracial supercouple (Noah/Julia). Her storylines were very real/raw/popular. From getting her face slashed during the tornado in '94 - which led her to run away and meet Noah - to being raped by Louie Greco (sp?) - to having to walk through a picket line at the abortion clinic - to being on the run with Noah/Hayley/Mateo in Jamaica and that entire storyline - to having to finally go into the witness protection program. Those were HEAVY and POPULAR storylines - and hit some major social issues that were hot topics in the news and sort of groundbreaking for soaps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Mary Carney was the best of the Mary recasts. I think everyone I've seen talk about the show has said this, or almost everyone. The show just gave up too quickly. I agree the story was over. I don't think the show ever developed Mary's career enough to make viewers care about that aspect. I remember reading an interview with Ilene Kristen where she talked about how much support she got from viewers with Jill and Frank (I think it was from around then). I don't know if Roger/Delia was always the plan (wasn't he interested in Mary early on?) but I sometimes think they threw that together to try to make viewers feel Delia had no moral high ground. Frank was an interesting construct as a man who looked like the ideal politician yet behaved...like a typical politician. I think that's why he mostly took off once they cast Daniel Hugh Kelly, who fit the duality. 
    • Yes and no. If they had wanted to recast Phillip, then no, he didn't need to return. There were already too many recast Spauldings at this point. Regardless of how you feel about Dusay, Raines or Poser, I think the viewers had trouble connecting to them. I think the viewers loved Rick Hearst, and yes, if he had stayed, then you could've built around him. But with a lackluster Michael Dietz soon to appear, Grant Aleksander anchored the family. Reva--pfft. Yes, she could've stayed gone. I'm unsure what the early reception to Josh/Annie was, but I thought RN and CW had good chemistry. Reva had been gone a while at this point, the audience would've accepted anyone who was good to Josh's children. 
    • Phillip and Rick became BEST friends when they first SORASed the characters.  They had been at the same boarding school and came back together to finish high school. That's when they met Mindy and Beth. The four of them were together a lot and called themselved The Four Musketeers. Initially, Phillip/Mindy and Rick/Beth were paired up until Phillip fell in love with Beth. 
    • LaGuardia, R. (1974b). The wonderful world of TV soap operas. ISBN-13 ISBN-13 978-0345272836 It took Harding “Pete” Lemay, however, a skilled playwright who thoroughly believed in the heretofore unexplained psychological potential of the daytime serial, to transform Mrs. Nixon’s love-triangle subplot into a balanced story contrasting realistic human behavior and that “other world of fantasy and striving. He found story devices no longer necessary.” For example, Lemay said, “I didn’t feel it was necessary to keep Rachel a black-and-white character. I didn’t see her as a villainess… I saw her instead as a human being who had always had bad breaks and who defeats herself because she is so used to failure. When she lost Steve this last time, I wanted the audience to feel her pain as I felt it. I wanted them to feel her tears. Mr. Lemay, along with his producer, Paul Rauch, should be given an Award for the Greatest Contribution to Daytime Serials, for completely eliminating melodramatic cliche’s in a daytime drama, and for their invaluable demonstration that, what viewers really want is drama based on psychology rather than on escapist melodrama. Under Lemay and Rauch “Another World”, which had previously used many tried-and-true soap opera devices (although fewer than most other shows), got rid of them, employed inward writing, and became one of the top two or three daytime television shows. About the only happy event in “Another World” was the birth of Ada’s daughter, Nancy, named after Ada’s dear friend on her deathbed Nancy Wickwire.   Edit to add: Emphasis on "dear friend". Should be changed to "special friend".  
    • ITA. While I'm all for vets being featured, the show has boxed itself in by not adequately developing a younger set. It's like Kyle's realistic options are Claire and Audra with Summer gone. Chance is barely used. Noah and Faith are off-canvas now.  Abby's story has been run to the ground in all the wrong ways. There's a Newman/Abbott war going on and Abby is on the sidelines? Give me a break. Abby shouldn't be a hostess, but at either Jabot or NE and right in the middle of all this stuff. Abby and Adam should've formed an alliance as the not Nick/Victoria kids.
    • Absolutely. On any other show, Frank Ryan would have been a shining romantic hero. I think they made Delia so impossible so you would feel as though he had a right to cheat on her. But he was a deadbeat dad, neglectful of the women in his life, even neglectful of his family, ridiculously ambitious. Once in a while he'd show some integrity, and then he'd go back to being a self-centered jerk. But he was definitely an interesting character.  When Pat was married to Delia, it was two incredibly neurotic people caught together in a very toxic relationship. Again, fascinating to watch. Yeah, when those first contracts ran out, the people leaving caused a big issue. Almost like they did too good a job with the initial casting.  I actually liked the first recast for Mary. (I think her name was Mary Carney?) Part of the problem was after being so front-burner for 3 years, Mary and Jack's story was basically resolved and they had to fall back on the tired "marriage vs career" trope. Then they brought in the second and third recasts that were total misses. Plus, they were ramping up Siobhan's character. It seemed they were more interested in focusing on her once Mulgrew left. 
    • Thank you, all - so helpful! I didn’t realize Ross was Phillip’s bio uncle - how cool!  What happened to his real parents, and I’m assuming Ross didn’t like Alan for swapping the babies? It does sound like the writers might be making some things up then with A-M and Phillip feuding, but we’ll see how it plays out. Phillip currently is in a home with a woman’s voice in the distance (not sure who this is yet), and he keeps looking at a newspaper with the Spaulding family picture. They finally revealed his face in a Friday cliffhanger, but it was so obvious his voice was Grant A’s haha. He has such a distinct voice to me. Very interesting, so are Fletcher and Rick at odds then since he was the brother? Honestly in the year since Rick has been back in SF, they’ve rarely, if ever, been in a scene together that I recall. The storyline with Blake right now getting pregnant off a one-night stand with Rick from a bar night after Blake was upset with Ross, and not knowing who the father is…. sounds similar to that Meredith storyline in a way haha.  I remember someone posted an episode from the 80s of Rick smelling this scarf and Phillip lifting weights (so funny/strange), which made me think they were close friends in the beginning.  I’m guessing this storyline put them at odds - did they ever recover before they both left SF or will this be a fractured friendship when Phillip returns? Sounds like I need to know more about this Beth character, as she’s pretty important to Phillip’s backstory. So I wonder if the lady he’s talking to in these current scenes is Beth, if they’re still together?   That must be when Rick went to Chicago then and met Annie during the years he left SF. Thanks, again - this was all helpful background/context as I get to meet Phillip for the first time. I just have to get it out of my head he isn’t the bad Alec McIntyre (AMC) haha.

      Please register in order to view this content

       
    • Hmmm... I don't know if I agree the show has been doing this with Sonny since the mid-90's.  He was more anti-hero than hero back then and had a whole lot of baggage.  He also had some very decent qualities. This was long before his bipolar diagnosis.   I have said this so many times on this board, but the true ending for the Sonny character was leaving Brenda at the altar.  Not because I wanted that or anything.  I was upset for days and might still be 25 years later.  It was just Sonny finally doing something very unselfish and leaving Brenda for her own good and well-being.  The family and life he craved he realized he couldn't achieve because of the business.  That to me was the end of Sonny's arc. It's unfortunate MB didn't make it primetime and came back a year later lol.
    • I shouldn't write like an authority, which I do too often. It's how I feel but I respect that others did appreciate the writing last year with Sonny.
    • What are the additional surprises that Leslie has up her sleeve?
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy