AMC: Monday, August, 18, 2008

[EricMontreal22]

I *think* they will. The Brook/Julia Barr tragedy aside (it's not as bad in terms of the actress because she's not on her last legs) , AMC even at its worse has been good to its vets--keeping the really long term important ones (Myrtle, Palmer, Phoebe for years) on contract even though they often can't work very much--Phoebe got a wonderful episode funeral even though anyone who had watched for the 8 maybe even 10 years before might have wondered who the Hell she was. I suspect Agnes Nixon still being around plays a big part here and I'd worry if she left us (God forbid) before Myrtle or Palmer. But James M actually is looking better recently than he has for years--I love and miss his character too...

[quartermainefan]

I really trace the decline of AMC to the cursed day when they wrote Opal in and turned Palmer from the main villain of the show to this comedic buffoon. The fried chicken story was the straw that broke the camel's back and I quit for a time. I returned to the show to watch Palmer and the nazi treasure and was happy to see him marry again to that evil drug dealing woman, but Palmer was about stories not couples. Opal destroyed his character. I wish more AMC people uploaded classic episodes to YT the way DOOL and GH fans do. I would love to watch Palmer again from his peak period of the 1980s.

[EricMontreal22]

There are a few good Palmer eps though mainly revolving around his control of Nina on YT--the 1989 oone just posted this week is a late example. I did love him with Opal I admit but I was yougn and new to the show--the Chicken Shack was a bit much.

[Steve]

You mean the day Opal returned and was paired with Palmer, right? While I agree that the Chicken Shack story was really stupid and demeaned the character quite a bit, I wouldn't say Palmer wasn't about couples. I loved his pairing with Daisy and I think she was always his soulmate, even though she did give Opal a makeover to make her more palatable to Palmer.

I have trouble embedding things from You Tube on here, but one of my MySpace friends, Superposter of the Year, recently posted clips from the July 17, 1984 episode that you can find on there. It features Palmer and Daisy, among others.

[EricMontreal22]

I loved Daisy--she made a lot of cameo returns up till '95 or so (the big 25th anniversary when dozens of characters came back for oftne only one or two lines--man that confused me as a 14 year old with no internet to ask who everyone was)--I wonder what Gillian Spencer is doing now--has she written for soaps since she was on AMC's team?

[AnonNona]

I think people are puzzled about Palmer's absence because all the spoilers for this week said that he was going to be on, although that's not the first time this has happened.

[quartermainefan]

Palmer and Daisy were magic and they are one of the best couples I have ever seen but unlike today when it is all about pairings for fans and "Zendell this" and "JoVan that" and "Jasam for Liason" for GH, Palmer's couples were usually just platforms to get him into a story. Donna was his wife, but the story wasn't really about Palmer and Donna, the couple, but about Donna cheating on him and Palmer being mean. Same for Natalie really, it just was used to get a new story going. It really didn't matter who Palmer was married to as long as it allowed him to be mean to somebody.