Lorraine Broderick as AMC head writer

[DRW50]

I think they acted in a similar way because AMC wanted viewers to be confused as to whether Alex was really Anna.

It was odd to dump that story on AMC, but in the end, Anna was a much better fit there than she was in the abysmal returns Luza wrote for her later in the decade.

[EricMontreal22]

I wasn't sure about bringing her GH character to AMC, it seemed an odd fit but I grew to really like her on the show and was sorry when she left. I've peaked a few times when she's returned to GH but can't say anything there has made me wanna stay watching.... But I wonder why they didn't just bring her on as Anna from the get go?

HAHA I think in my excitement I did miss it

[DRW50]

I think they were trying to hedge their bets, as bringing Anna to AMC after her years of complex history with GH may have been a big gamble. I think they were also trying to set up a mystery, they thought "Is she Alex or is she Anna?" would get attention. Unfortunately, the whole brouhaha over Michael Nader's firing and the general lack of chemistry between Finola and John Callahan put a damper on things.

[LeClerc]

Can someone tell me about the behind-the-scenes stuff with Cecily's return in the mid 90s? Was her return a huge deal when it was announced? Did Rosa Nevin end up quitting or was she fired?

[DRW50]

I think Rosa was fired, along with Lawford.

[Adam]

Cecily and Charlie had that whole internet dating thing (again AMC latching on to something that would go on to become very culturally relevant) and they married and then left the canvas... I assumed they both were let go for the old storyline dictated reasons. I don't remember why Cecily even came back in 1994? Did she have a big storyline that demanded her return?

[quartermainefan]

That story was the end for Palmer. Mr U wasn't bad, but Opal was the kiss of death. It was such a brilliant idea that he never had a story again after being one of the main characters who drove story for a decade.

[DRW50]

Yes, I heard somewhere that James Mitchell wasn't thrilled with this either, and with the later stories like the Cluck Cluck Shack. I think both Opal and Palmer were better off when they split up; even though the stolen art story wasn't very good, I did like his story with Vanessa.

[SFK]

Not that I remember, and sadly, I can't even remember one scene shared with Phoebe. I do however remember plenty of scenes of her and Charlie sitting five feet away from each other at their desks at the P.I. office, IMing and giggling without realizing they were talking to one another.

[DeeeDee]

YES!

PalmNess is LOVE.

[SFK]

I thought the Mr. U stuff was fun, IIRC, the bulk of that was a summer s/l because I recall watching it with my grandparents. Cluck Cluck was so out of character for Palmer, harkening back to his Pete Cooney roots, I wonder why JM didn't like it. I thought that was fun too.

[You're Soaking in it]

I doubt any of TPTB will ever admit this, but Alex was intended to BE Anna Devane. Network infighting prevented it from taking place the way in which AMC had intended. GH's then-EP Wendy Riche was said to have agressively fought to keep the Anna character off of AMC; she viewed it as property of GH. Ultimately, it's a property of ABC. But Angela Shapiro, the head of ABC Daytime, gave in to Riche's opposition, switched gears on AMC, and prevented "Anna" from being on their show... until Riche was ousted.

Then, suddently there is no conflict and Anna is free to appear in AMC's storyline. However, nearly two years had gone by and Alex had become so established as someone different, that it would have been implausible to suddenly make her into Anna at that point. So here comes Anna as Alex's twin.

That's how I understood it went down.

[SFK]

They were a good match, and Marj Dusay was born to play a kooky AMC diva. I think Agnes Nixon would have had a ball with her. Or did she? I'm not good with years and writing regimes like yall are.

[You're Soaking in it]

I'm pretty sure she was a Nixon creation.

ETA: Before anyone chimes in to tell me McTavish's name was on the credits when Vanessa came on, I recognize that. But what many people don't recall (or never even knew) was that McTavish had lost creative control of AMC at the start of 1999. ABC was just playing things very close to the vest... I think McT's 1998 stint was looked upon as a major embarrassment, and they wanted to quietly take her contract over to OLTL.

It wasn't publically revealed that McTavish was no longer writing AMC until the soap press kept digging at the rumors. In late-Spring, they confirmed that Agnes Nixon had already been head-writing the show for some amount of time... and also then confirmed Elizabeth Page and Jean Passanante as co-headwriters. They cited that McTavish was now a consultant for ABC Daytime. But it didn't take a genius to figure out she was in fact writing the "headwriter-less" OLTL.

A side note: At the end of 1997, reportedly Nixon altogether walked off the AMC writing team in protest of Lorraine Broderick's dismissal... though ABC would never confirm or deny this.

ABC really tried to downplay all these events... and like I said, it was almost as if ABC was embarrassed to say what was going on with McT at that time.

[SFK]

Angela Shapiro was the one big on all the ABC soaps being in the same universe, right? Rae Cummings was her doing. Initially, she wanted to buy Felicia Gallant from P&G but they wouldn't sell and that's how Gretel Rae got resurrected.