Lorraine Broderick as AMC head writer

[EricMontreal22]

I think we just have to credit Kendall with de-SORASing and think to ourselves that the rape s sometime before the show started. I hate to say this but Agnes deserves some of the blame too--she discussed at the time in SOD when they changed Kendall's age (remember when she joined the show she was either younger or older but fans were so upset within a few months they changed the age again--I forget all the details) to make it fit fans memories more--maybe she was just a mouthpiece for McT but she still had a fair amount of say at the time

[Khan]

Frankly, I think Agnes Nixon has had no say in anything AMC- or OLTL-related for a very, very, very long time. Not even during the early '90's, pre-MMT, when she supposedly returned to her HW'ing duties (w/ Wisner Washam and LB) after Maggie DePriest was let go. These days, in fact, I am of the opinion that AMC has not really felt like AMC since Jenny's death -- and that was back in 1984! Don't forget: there was a time when Lorraine Broderick was HW'ing, not just during the mid- and late-'90's, but during the mid- and late-'80's, as well; and as popular wisdom says, that was not exactly the greatest of times in Pine Valley, either.

What were we talking about? Oh, yeah. Kendall. True, Eric, Kendall started out in her mid-20's, but it was clear from the get-go that Sarah Michelle Gellar was entirely too young to play someone of that age; so, instead of doing the "right" thing and at least recast with someone more age-appropriate (or, hell, people, why not just scrap the damn story, and suggest Kendall was Eric's kid instead?); they messed with history, and suddenly, Erica's too young to remember the Sixties, let alone Woodstock! (I hate FMB and MMT so damn much for that decision, I can't begin to describe it.)

[SFK]

It's kinda crazy to me that in real time Kendall would have to be at least 41 years old, even if Erica (not Susan) was only 15/16 when the show started.

When SMG Kendall came, it *felt* like she was playing her age, maybe a year or two older, but I do remember a scene where she was having champagne at a party and someone quipped about her being underage and she had a line like, "I *am* older than I look..." or something. So basically, they were selling a 16 year-old as 22/23 which would jive with AMC's timeline. And now she's been de-SORAS'd about 5 years.

[EricMontreal22]

Right--they hired SMG and people had probs with her age so it was raised--obviously when she first showed up at Enchantment she was meant to be a teen even if they didn't say so (and they hired a teen...)

Khan, I HATE how much credit people give Agnes for any good stuff we've gotten on AMC when she's not there, but I gotta disagree a bit. Yeah she hasn't been involved in OLTL in any direct story way for AGES (maybe she had some say as story consultantor ABC Daytime but I doubt it)--she coached and helped her successor in the 70s the gret Gordon Russell we know, and Malone has said that she was a great help and someone he could call about the show when he started on it--and that's pretty much it. AMC is different though--I think McTavish deserves some credit for the 92-95 period--I hate how some fans won't admit she did anything good and claim Agnes wrote it all, but Agnes still was at story meeting we know back then, would still head the list of AMC writers each year for the Emmys, and still had occasional onscreen credit. (And she DID return in 99-2000 as co headwriter for Bianca' cming out and some stuff, though it was planned from the start as a limited return but I'm assuming you don't mean this era). Anyway I think she was very much pro Kendalls's story in the early 90s anyway, she talked about it an awful lot to the press and back then she had enough say to get rid of something she truly hated. IMHO

That said I do largely agree with you--but my intiial point (I think I had one) was it's WAY WAY too late to forget Kendall ever existed, sorry

[Khan]

Forget real time, in "soap opera time," Kendall would have to be as old as Tad and Charlie! Instead, she's younger, suggesting -- yes -- that Erica was pregnant at one time during the mid- or late-'70's, and WE DIDN'T NOTICE.

Of course, they COULD have said Erica was actually pregnant w/ Tom Cudahy's baby when she left town, briefly, to make her mark in Hollywood (but ended up on a "fat farm" instead) -- but, oh no, that would've meant using logic (not to mention, actual history) and we can't have that, can we, Ms. McT?

Christ Jesus. If so many people had not done such a bang-up job [!@#$%^&*] this show up over the past 15 years, maybe - just maybe - we wouldn't have to suffer the indignity of NYC losing possibly one of its' most beloved institutions next month.

[EricMontreal22]

I dunno I think the move would have happened anyway sadly--it seems soaps are dieing off, quality played apart in general but only a part--and NYC will lose them before LA... (which is SOO wrong)

[Khan]

Not necessarily. You have to remember, Agnes doesn't own AMC, and hasn't for a very long time. She could voice her disapproval, privately, to the higher-ups, but if they were gung-ho on MMT as "the future of AMC" - and I think they were - then there wasn't a damn thing she, or anyone else, could do about it.

Besides, what ELSE is she going to say to the press? "This story does not jibe with Erica's history, and I think Megan's a hack for even thinking of this!"?

[Khan]

Not erase Kendall's memory, per se, but put her in better perspective, for lack of a better word. I mean, once you put it out there that Erica attended Woodstock; that she had her first kiss there, let's say, w/ some hippie dude who once lived on a commune or out of his van, but who is now a chef/restaurant owner with grandchildren of his own (and, God willing, played by Paul Michael Glaser); and that this all occurred in that hazy pre-1970 period where Kendall was also allegedly conceived; then the show can never again get away with casting some pretty young thing fresh out of NYU or Juilliard as her "oldest child," Kendall.

[Sylph]

Khan, Khan, Khan, Khan, Khan. Forget Kendall!!!! Who cares about Kendall?!?!?!??

What do you think about the whole Lorraine Broderick situation?

[SFK]

I can hardly believe that's never dawned on me all of these years of watching this show. Of course that very thing just happened on OLTL with Dani and Jack.

Re: Kendall being Tom's baby, that would have been kind of tricky with the birth control pills and all (did we ever actually see her swallowing one, or did Tom just find them"), but that would have been perfect timing by retcon standards. Instead of it being about Erica not wanting to get pregnant, it was really about hiding her pregnancy. Perhaps she skipped a pill or two and ended up getting pregnant and she planned to secretly give the baby up. Susan was also pregant in real life at the time, they could have even had Erica flash back to one of those clips remembering how afraid she was that Tom would find out as her face was getting fuller yadda yadda. Interesting idea Khan.

But I can't say that I didn't enjoy the Richard Fields stuff. I don't know if SL's ego played a hand in any of this, but I'm sure she wouldn't have been too thrilled about Kendall being cast with a damn near thirty year old actress either.

[EricMontreal22]

It's true that Agnes rarely speaks badly (if ever) to the press but she DID have much more say at that time even with ABC owning the show--and the Kendall story, even the legacy of rape that McTavish went so crazy with weren't things foreign to Agnes' own storytelling--

[Khan]

Ugh, Don't get me started. I'm not watching these shows anymore (college keeps me busy), but I am keeping up via SOD and...no. Just...no.

No, she took 'em. As much as she wanted to please Tom, after all, she was also dead-set on becoming a "star". So, she had no choice.

But...you know...no one ever said those pills were one-hundred-percent effective. ;-)

Problem w/ THAT scenario? It makes Erica look like the world's most selfish bitch for keeping a child from its' father - and America's Favorite Football Hero, Tom Cudahy, to boot. Seriously, if you thought kidnapping Maddie was hideous, that would've had the audience crying out for her blood.

At that time, though, La Lucci would have put up w/ ANYTHING to get a halfway decent Emmy reel, including working alongside an actress that made her look, well, her age.

[Adam]

*sigh* Its gonna be so different watching AMC knowing its being filmed in California. It will never feel right again.

[Khan]

Tell me about it! "DRAKE HOGESTYN JOINS AMC!" You know it's coming.

[Jonathan]

You think so? I don't agree. It's sad that they're moving their home for nearly 40 years but if all the hoopla wasn't reported about the move, come January, you wouldn't know the difference.