AMC: B&E rewriting history again

[R Sinclair]

And of course, it wasn't Brooke English's mother who was "Cobra" and the druglordess of Pine Valley -- because Brooke apparently doesn't exist anymore. It was Eric Kane. He was in drag because he was working through his transgender issues before there was a transgender cause -- which is why Bianca fell in love with Zoe, because in her heart, she was trying to reconnect to the grandfather she never knew.

The whole "poppet" thing killed me! I was in my early teens during that storyline, and I had to ask my mother, who is college educated at the very same college Susan Lucci attended (which no longer exists) what the hell a "poppet" was. She was like, "Baby, I have no idea!" I guess "poppet" isn't a term of endearment black women growing up in the late 1950s and 1960s came across very often!

Speaking of re-writes, I detested the rewrite Richard Culliton did back in 2002 where Richard Fields -- who had that distinct British accent -- all of a sudden sounded EXACTLY LIKE TREY (SHEPPARD) KENYON'S 2002 AMERICAN ACCENT. I'm sorry, but no matter how "hot" Sam Page was/is, his voice was anything but 1950s. I never bought that rewrite for a minute. "Hey, guess what? This actor in his 20s back in 1950something sounded EXACTLY LIKE a 20-something in 2002." "THAT'S how we're able to realize he was Richard Fields and Vanessa Mills' lovechild!" I'm sorry, but there's a certain 1950s diction that obviously wasn't there when Sam Page was doing the voice overs. It was all just a little TOO convenient.

Those are the rewrites that I have issues with when they blatantly insult the intelligence of the viewing audience. This so-called "rewrite" where Kendall claims Mona killed Richard Fields is inconsequential to me. Why, you might ask? Because Kendall could have very well accepted the fact that Mona stepping over Richard Fields while he was having a heart attack could be viewed as her "killing" him. Just like I don't, nor will I ever, view SabineLee kidnapping Spike for 20 minutes and then having an onscreen change of heart is nearly the same as Babe keeping a baby she knew wasn't hers for seven months and then ONLY giving the baby back once she had her own and then kidnapping him and going on the run. Like I said, it's a matter of perception, and this one doesn't qualify -- IN MY OPINION -- as a "rewrite." I view a rewrite as something that changes the course of the show's already established and played out history regardless of any character's opinion. If there wasn't an onscreen flashback of Kendall remembering Mona killing/stabbing/shooting/poisoning/burying alive Fields, or in the case of Ryan's history (where Culliton wrote that he was actually John Ryan Curry -- not Ryan Aloysius Lavery that McTavish rewrote via a letter he found from Chris Stamp months after he died) where someone finds a letter saying "Hey, you know what you told everybody and what was shown printed on a birth certificate to the viewing audience? Guess what, it was all a lie! You're actually not my son, AND you actually didn't CHOOSE to take your mother's maiden name as an adult!" then I'm okay. But if Kendall did say, "My grandma Mona killed Fields by giving him rat poison," then I would be like, whoa... hold on!

[AMCHistory]

I agree there are bigger, worst situations of history rewrites.

One that is making me sick to my stomach that is going on now is the flirtation between Frankie Hubbard and Colby Chandler.

Frankie and Mia Saunders had a son together in college. Mia is Colby's aunt, Colby's much older aunt. Mia cared for Colby almost as a surrogate mother. Is this getting through? Big eww.....

[JackPeyton]

i loved frankie & mia.

[DevotedToAMC]

Oh no I do not agree with Brooke being non existant because it is quite clear, after Dr. David Hayward just brainwashed her (among his other medical geniuses), that he now made her believe she was really married to Eric Kane and, at one point, her enemy's mother in law (Erica). Heck this was right before Brooke English even got into Pine Valley. She just met Eric Kane on the side of the road, had a May to Decembr romance, and boom they got married but then divorced just a couple months later, in which Brooke decided to come to Pine Valley. Despite being brainwashed by Dr. Hayward, she still magically notices Eric Kane as the drug kingpin without seeing his face at all....they have an argument over his dastardly deeds, to which he claims he will frame her "mother Peg" for being behind the drug operation, who is actually Brooke's real mother, not the homeless Jane Dobrin.

[DevotedToAMC]

Well Angie I don't think you will have to worry there because it is pretty much clear they cannot read so they are not reading this

[EricMontreal22]

R Sinclair--agreed 100%. Although that Ryan's father stuff still confuses me (as did the Trey stuff--to be honest a lot of stuff during Culliton's era confuses me)

[dragonflies]

I doubt B&E even know about Frankie and Mia, and if they do, I doubt they care

[R Sinclair]

Culliton had his own agenda with the show and I don't even know what it was -- except that everyone was supposed to be connected to Leo in some form or fashion, because Culliton was clearly living vicariously through Leo's charm and Josh's looks. And Greenlee was obviously his dream f*ck because Miss Girl took over the whole damn show. But that's the only thing I can figure out. If it didn't have to do with Leo and Greenlee, he dropped it like a hot rock. Looking back on it, it's clear to me now. It was Leo and Greenlee -- and then their supporting players were David, Anna, Vanessa, Maggie and Trey all wound up being related to Leo in some way.

But then, to do that, there were some GLARING issues concerning the timelines of things already established on the show -- which Culliton never cared about because he rewrote history to suit his agenda... which was make it all connected to Leo. So, somehow, Vanessa was not only a contract player at MGM as Rosey Mills or whatever the hell, but she was somehow running David's father Charles' drug empire as Proteus after forcing him to commit suicide when David was 12, while galavanting across Europe getting pregnant and giving birth to Leo... and yet still making her way back to Hollywood as Vanessa Simms or whatever the hell to go back to MGM to have a sexual fling with Richard Fields, thereby conceiving Trey -- and also just happened to be there to witness Richard raping a 14 year old Erica. HUH?!?

And the thing about all of that was that allegedly Agnes Nixon was sitting in on story meetings around all of this rewriting of history.

And this is when Culliton is pitching story for episode #8442:

(recap from abc.go.com) Vanessa is shocked by Trey's growing suspicion that Richard Fields is his father and begs Trey to let the past stay buried. A hospitalized Anna refuses to see David. David seethes over Jack and Anna's closeness, but learns that the evidence against him is in Anna's office. Opal warns Erica that making up with Chris might not be an easy task. Erica's plans of a romantic dinner with Chris go up in smoke when he fails to appear. Erica is horrified when she hears Trey's voice (not knowing it's him), standing alone in the raw space of her new apt.. Opal and Myrtle worry that Erica's troubled past with her father could jeopardize any future happiness she might have.

Culliton: "If she plans a candle lit dinner for him in the--

Nixon: "For Chris?"

Culliton: "For Chris -- he doesn't show up. And it triggers the memories of that night, of the candles burning down and the father not showing up."

Okay, now my question is, if she is sitting right there, listening to all of these ideas and stories -- why doesn't she raise questions -- and if she does, what on earth could the answers have been? I ask, because whatever is able to convince a writer of her ilk to accept such contrivances that border - if not cross the line into history rewriting, why couldn't it have been worked out to get us dimwitted ironing housewives to accept them? Nothing against Nixon, mind you, but everybody keeps wanting her to come back as a consultant -- and I'm like, really? She allegedly was "consulted" on the Unabortion and gave it an alleged thumbs up... so, I don't know. I can't really sit here and say "B&E" are rewriting history as if it's a new feat that's only come up under their tenure. So MUCH history has been rewritten since McTavish's 1997-1999 stint and Culliton's 2001-2002 stint that I think it's become acceptable in the company to mangle stories just to serve the plot of the moment. But to echo what Kay Alden said in her lecture last year, someone somewhere along the line HAD to have said "Hold up! Wait...! You wanna do WHAT?!" before it even got to where it ended up. But no one is, or someone is, but they're not in the position to do anything about it. I know if I were in Nixon's position, I would've had MANY MANY MANY questions and would've needed MANY MANY MANY explanations as to how we were going to get the audience to buy half of the crap he apparently got through.

[Vee]

Sorry, Sinclair. I thought Agnes and Culliton were excellent together. Agnes also had a lot more plans for Vanessa until Frons arrived, fired Marj Dusay, fired Culliton, and told her she wasn't needed.

Also, Trey was set to be a huge character that was totally wasted because Frons said he was lame.

Further, I don't believe that Agnes was for Josh Madden. Of course Megan would say so. Megan and ABC love to tout her "relationship" with Agnes Nixon but from what I've heard supposedly it went south years ago.

[R Sinclair]

Sorry, Vee, I thought Culliton was horrible. I always love the "So and So had such huge plans for whats his name, until Frons, JHC, McTavish or Imperial Stormtroopers came along and put an end to it." So, what... in the mean time we have to be subjected to plot driven, history rewritten, viewer intelligence insulting garbage until they do? But, whoops! Too bad, Frons or somebody comes along and they never got the chance to write it. Trey was a dud. Vanessa had become too cartoonish, and that was under Culliton. The way Nixon and Passanante were writing Vanessa was entirely different than Culliton's version. I think Culliton is a good salesman. He's an excellent dialog writer, so he clearly has a way with words. But in my opinion, what he pitched and what he produced were on completely different ends of the spectrum.

That's exactly my point. If she wasn't for Josh Madden, then she should've stood up against it. If she did, then clearly it was ignored, therefore what's the point of having her "consult" on anything regarding this show if they're not going to listen to her consultation? I don't believe for one second that she was excited about a monumental, women's rights story she created that made history was being butchered by an unrealistic sci-fi story. But someone along the line should've had the guts to fight for the show's historic integrity. Plus, she's 80 years old. Agnes is probably at a point in her life where all of the corporate aspects of storytelling simply don't interest her anymore and is picking her battles, if at all. I felt in her AAT interview from ten years ago with Connie Passalacqua that she was disenchanted with all of the tracking reports, internet research, focus groups, notes meetings, etc. that have interefered with telling story.

[Vee]

That's up to them to listen to her. She can't do anything about that. But from my understanding, under Culliton she had a pretty active role and I felt did good work. As for why anyone would listen to Agnes Nixon I think her name speaks for itself.

Also, I liked Trey and I remember a lot of USENET loving him.

[Sylph]

So... What problems exactly do you have with this pitch?

[Kylie]

That whole candle light dinner, Chris not showing up thing, is a rewrite in and of itself. Erica did the EXACT same thing for David and it didn't trigger any memories.

[EricMontreal22]

Well Alicia Minshaw confirmed that Agnes Nixon was often seen aroudn the studio the first few years of McTavish's return as well... I think she sits in every so often and even now is probably aware of the show but just doesn't have the time, capabilities and position to lead the show like she did. Those Culliton/Agnes clips were from the excellent A&E Biography (remember when they did that show and not jsut bad reality shows?) and I hate to say this but she coulda been there partly to make it look better...

I have to say though, my main complaint about Culliton's period (and I admit all this was made worse because that was the time I was living in Europe and only caught up on AMC every so often) was just how many characters and stories were DROPPED. More than any other period I can think of. (Has Amanda even mentioned what happened to Timmy Dhillon who's still somewhere in PVHospital?)

[EricMontreal22]

Vee I love you but that's COMPLETE conjecture on your part. I very very very much doubt Frons, for all his idiocricy told Agnes she was no longer needed. if the woman would stya at AMC in a bigger capacity Frons, would allow it. I guarantee. Of course how long he'd allow it is another thing...