You're right, Vee, I probably do have unrealistic expectations.

For the record, though, OLTL ceased being appointment viewing for me probably after "Buchanans of the Old West." I'm sorry, but time travel? No.

That ended up being different, some might argue WORSE, than was planned - due in large part to the Writers Strike. The story continued for much longer than originally anticipated. I didn't enjoy it that much, either.

What's funny, though, is that I kind of liked the "revisit" of the story last year (save for Melissa Archer's attempt at a Mexican-accent... she sounded like Ricky Ricardo doing Irish!)

No, they'll honor the '70s when they make Schuyler Joplin and his doctor mother two of the Craigs, and add some Woleks and Halls. I don't expect that, though.

I'll admit that Long certainly brought energy to OLTL. Her tenure along with the tail-end of the Labines, ironically, was probably the only time I found OLTL interesting under EP Jill Farren Phelps. And I'll also admit that after Long / enter McTavish, I found OLTL to be pretty soul-less all the way until JFP and McT were out. BUT... that isn't saying much. Because I thought it was REALLY bad otherwise.

Hey, I'm not saying Long's OLTL was golden, lol. I'm just saying I had more fun watching it then than I had before.

I think the current OLTL honors that era, along with the Gottlieb and 70's eras, pretty effectively today.

Perhaps. But I don't think Carlivati's nearly as clever where the humor is concerned. Back in the day, OLTL's sense of humor was far more earthy than SANTA BARBARA's.

No, they'll honor the '70s when they make Schuyler Joplin and his doctor mother two of the Craigs, and add some Woleks and Halls. I don't expect that, though.

You're right; I should clarify. I didn't mean that comment toward characters, as much as I did "socially topical."

Broderick was also a part of Nancy Curlee's team.

And you know what? As much as I wish we could return to those days, I have to admit, GL was more on fire when Curlee wasn't on maternity leave than when she was.

There was a lot of energy with Long, although a lot of it was sort of "I'm dancing as fast as I can." I do wonder what she would have been like with a different producer.

OLTL has had so many different flavors. I don't mind the show moving forward, I can almost prefer that to half-baked nods to previous eras, without actually knowing what made those eras work. It's just when you have someone come in who obviously has no use for the show aside from pushing their own issues, as I think happened with JFP.

AMC though, did have a very unique flavor, and character, for so long. I think when they lost that, around the late 90s, they were never the same. I think that recapturing that is the key to any future they have, if it's even possible.

No, they'll honor the '70s when they make Schuyler Joplin and his doctor mother two of the Craigs, and add some Woleks and Halls. I don't expect that, though.

But why couldn't they make Schuyler and his mother Craigs, or reintroduce the Wolek and/or Hall clans? What is so terrible about honoring the fact that there was a OLTL before 1994 (for the Todd/Marty fan contingent), before 1985 (for the Mitch/Tina contingent), or before 1979 (for the Buchanans contingent)? Frankly, it pisses me off that Kevin and Joey belong to the Riley family biologically, yet the show has done everything they could to sweep that under the rug save for retconning that Viki or one of her alters not only cheated on Joe Riley for both pregnancies, but actually did so w/ Clint and just couldn't remember (again).

Seriously, whenever Asa would say words to the effect of, That Kevin/Joey sure is a real Buchanan, I would sometimes literally get up from my chair and walk out of whichever room I happened to be in. He's not a Buchanan, you ignorant hayseed s.o.b.! He's a Riley!

Edited December 11, 200916 yr by Khan

There's nothing wrong with it; I'd love for them to do it. But the reality is it is not likely to happen.

And unfortunately the Rileys have not had an identity on the show since the mid-70s. And Kevin was raised as a Buchanan. So yes, while he reaches out to Joe and his past from time to time - including during Carlivati's debut episodes with Asa's funeral - he is in many respects a Buchanan.

So yes, while he reaches out to Joe and his past from time to time - including during Carlivati's debut episodes with Asa's funeral - he is in many respects a Buchanan.

As Nola Reardon (GL) would cry, "Oh, I hate that name!" LOL!

There was a lot of energy with Long, although a lot of it was sort of "I'm dancing as fast as I can." I do wonder what she would have been like with a different producer.

You know, I'm always surprised by the fact OLTL/ABCD never tried to snap up someone like Gail Kobe (GUIDING LIGHT), Robert Calhoun (ATWT/GL), or even Michael Laibson (ATWT/ANOTHER WORLD/GL) whenever they were free for OLTL. In my mind, those three (yes, including Laibson, regardless of what many have said about his work) represent the kind of producer I'd want for my soaps: those who know how to get stellar performances out of their actors and crew.

I think they brought JFP is because OLTL had been sleeping for almost two years and they wanted results, but they didn't seem to care that she basically gutted the show.

I know Kobe was supposedly difficult to work with at GL but it is interesting she never went to another soap after that. Perhaps she wasn't interested.

I think they brought JFP is because OLTL had been sleeping for almost two years and they wanted results, but they didn't seem to care that she basically gutted the show.

Jlll was a consultant for ABC Daytime from the time she left AW to the time she took over OLTL in December 1997. Before she took over OLTL, there were reports that ABC wanted her to EP AMC.

I know Kobe was supposedly difficult to work with at GL but it is interesting she never went to another soap after that. Perhaps she wasn't interested.

Kobe was also very old by the time she took over GL, she might not have wanted to work as hard after that at her age.

Man, killing off Laura Cudahy really was dumb. Because, just imagine if Bianca and Laura had become good friends, yet had to deal with their mothers being each other's nemesis?

Well, to the credit of Nixon/Passanante/Page, they did try to do this with Bianca and a de-SORAS'd Laura Kirk, but... the less I say about that, the better for my blood pressure, being an African American male, and all.

I felt it was the most intense and exciting OLTL had been, quite frankly, since the peak of the Paul Rauch/Peggy O'Shea era. I, for one, never cared for the so-called "golden age" of Gottlieb/Malone/Griffith. I felt that show was the work of people who piggybacked their own stories and characters onto OLTL's canvas in the name of "reclaiming its roots", and to hell with those who thought otherwise.

You've described exactly what I think of McTavish's 2003-2007 "Purgatory" stint. Exactly! Pilfering from her own bible and hoisting it upon AMC in the name of "refocusing on families" which it sooo was not! The "Legacy of Rape?" Are you fcking kidding me? You seriously want me to believe that this is what Agnes Nixon envisioned when she created Mona and Erica Kane? To become a family of women plagued by rape?

If not Beldner, who seems to just want to sit in the corner and (poorly) edit scripts: Hal Corley.

I love you for that!

I'm saying, AMC has not felt like AMC since 1991 - and even there, I think I'm being generous. I watched the show before then, and for a few years afterward, out of a sense of loyalty to certain characters (namely, Erica, Mona, Phoebe, Brooke, Palmer, Joe & Ruth, Myrtle, Natalie, Tad, Dixie, and maybe a few others). Yes, Broderick co-head-wrote during the amazing 1987-88 season, when we had the one-two punch of Mark Dalton's drug addiction and Cindy Parker's battle w/ AIDS (not to mention, Laura Cudahy's death). But can you really build your reputation as a writer on one good year, people?

It depends on what you consider "good."

Haven't you, R Sinclair, said you fell in love with Lorraine's AMC?

:

As a proud Anti-Megite, I have to say that you can hate it all you want, but her last two stints without Agnes speak for themselves. She takes a machete to the show's canvas. She didn't do this show any "good." Like the saying goes, "even a broken clock is right twice a day" -- doesn't mean she deserves praise for it.

Susan Lucci credits Agnes Nixon with everything. When Erica was on the run with Carmen, people who already thought Agnes was ghostwriting (LMAO! I initially typed "gaslighting") the show RANNNNNNNN with a quote where Lucci mentioned something about Agnes Nixon being involved with the Erica character as if Agnes was writing that entire Erica on the Run storyline. Of course, she didn't write the whole "Free Erica Kane" rock concert with that gaggle of little boys dancing outside the prison, because Agnes only wrote the GOOD stuff.

Nevertheless, I'm sure Agnes was involved in plotting (in the 1993 behind the scenes video, FMB says that it's her job to take the "wonderful stories that Agnes and Megan give me" and put them on the air), but that concept of Erica being raped as a 14 year old girl and blocking it out for 2 decades? Come on... that reeks of McTavish's trademark style of rewriting history that has followed her from story to story, show to show, for years! That doesn't seem like Nixon's style at all. Nothing about her previous works ever hinted at rewriting the history she's already and purposely set in place.

Don't put words in my mouth R I said that McTavish deserves a lot of the credit for what made it to air in the first half of the 90s--you can hate it that's not my issue my issue is fans who hate (IMHO often with good reason) her later stints and then claim that they loved 92-95 but that was obviously ALL due to Agnes. You never have said any of this so I'm not laying issue on you We agree about thre silliness of giving Agnes credit for anything a fan has actually liked on the show in the past while (you're right Susan loves to name drop her--understandably of course after all this time, but).

I do think Agnes, who is brilliant but not perfect, has had story misfires and i don't think the rape backstory is entirely "anti Agnes" though (but I'm having trouble backing that up right now I admit). Then again I don't mind the rape or the 90s Kendall story at all--in fact I liked it even with the fact it required some typical soap opera disepnsion of belief. I do agree making Eric such a monster as to have sold her was a bit much--while the whoel alcoholic storyline was played a bit silly (though I otherwise loved the intervention with Myrtle and Mark) doesn't it make enough dramatic sense that a woman who had, LOL, blocked out a rape for 20 years, had HUGE father issues, the rape was by a friend of her dad's and done largely cuz her dad typically was negligent, and then her own daughter is raped and starts to suffer blocked memories--oh and she had a problem with substance abuse already--isn't that reason enough to explain Erica's sudden aocoholism, etc? Did we really need the final twist that her dad sold hervirginity? Like someone else said I think it went a bit tooi far to make Eric, after the fact, a complete monster (yes I know things liek that happen in real life but...) sorta liek they did with Victor Lord the last time when the DID and sexual abuse was IMHO enough.

Well, not to make this sound so arbitrary, but if they really wanted to have Erica raped (since Megan loves raping women)

R when did Agnes ever say Erica's backstory was loosely based on her own? I have NEVER EVER heard her say that in fact she has denied it in some interviews.

None the less, I adore Agnes and I think she does the stories much better than McTavish, but AMC had a history of having characters redeemed by rape, etc, pre McTavish--Agnes has a history with it. McTavish took that further, I agree but it's not totally alien to the canvas