AMC: Monday 12.7.09

[R Sinclair]

As long as we can get PETA to look the other way -- cruelty to weasels and all that -- I'll be more than happy to call up the first available furrier. Snuff that sonofabitch out!

[tina m]

Aidan's character was RUINED! I can barely watch these scenes where he's threatening Kendall. That's never been him.

[EricMontreal22]

Wasn't that the point? She was at a loss and pushing herself around--of course the View would never have done anything

The Aiden stuff is so ridiculous, and yet the actor isn't even sinking into the material but really his character's always been such a weird mess it doesn'\t bug me...

Aiden was hot. But compelling? What show were you watching?

[Vee]

Thanks to the loss of Pratt, my timetable for Faux!Liza seems to have been accelerated. I predicted AMC would throw up their hands in desperation and attempt to pair her with Tad to recapture the "old fires" no sooner than, say, February or April of next year. As we all know, being paired with Tad, Mr. Middle-Aged Zoloft, these days is like being sent to the boneyard. Then that would fail a la Taylor, and she would be gone. At this rate, if Liza is really headed for Tad, we may be rid of her by March.

[DRW50]

I actually liked Aidan and thought he was somewhat interesting when he was with Maria, Kendall, and later, Greenlee and Annie. I don't mean compelling as in peeling the layers of an onion, some great psychological character, I mean as in someone who gets my attention and makes me want to watch a scene.

There must be some sort of joke somewhere in two women who are so completely different as Liza, and yet both will have probably lost their men to Krystal.

[EricMontreal22]

Ha I actually am starting to like fauxLiza i really really hate to admit...

Carl0--fair enough. I used to be a fan of the character I just think he's had so many chances at story and romantic pairings that he's really dead weight and sholda been off the show some time ago...

[Vee]

Has anyone else listened to the Daytime Confidential podcast? Take them with however many grains of salt as you wish, but the comments about AMC and OLTL's situations are pretty stark. Supposedly no one wants the AMC HW job because they think it is dead and Frons is desperate to get AMC's demos above OLTL to justify keeping it over OLTL. I don't want to root for AMC to fail, and I do want Lorraine B. to help the show, but I also refuse to see OLTL die for it in this condition, when it is allegedly over budget and time compared to OLTL.

As to Tad - they need to have him grooming a "new Tad," some kid, either related to him or from the families we know. That's his role now. I don't buy Tad in hot love stories. This man has been gray, overweight and had that look in his eyes like he's ready to eat a gun for at least six or seven years. He's the sad clown, cryin' on the inside, smilin' pretty for the people while he fantasizes about how to kill himself. It's depressing to watch. I say just bite the damn bullet, bring back Dixie, let her drive their family stories and let him train some new kid. Make him the elder. Stop this foolishness.

You know what, I'd also recast Liza again. What the hell. That cherry's been popped - twice already, actually, I believe - and the show needs a woman in that rough age range who has business stuff going on. Get some solid soap vet (Liz Keifer? Mary Beth Evans?) to come on and do the part, and ignore everything Jamie Luner's recast ever did. Or get Skye back. Or both. Why not?

I also have long been pushing getting Nina back long-term to shake [!@#$%^&*] up with the Cortlandts and bring on her kids, but that's a third option.

[EricMontreal22]

I like having Tad around but I kinda agree--that seems like it would be the best role for him now.

Interesting re Daytime Confidential--to be fair while I don't want OLTL to be a sacrifical lamb either, looking at this practically it does make sense--Frons and crew IMHO obviously had to pick one shw to move to LA and keep around longer, and AMC was chosen...

[DRW50]

If it were me, which it's obviously not, I would slowly phase Tad out of the show, I would say over about six months, and bring in some new Martins or other characters around his age who are more viable. I think Tad has become the face of much of what has gone wrong with AMC over the past decade and it probably hurts the show more than helps if he stays around, because people remember what his character once was and what he is now, and they remember when Tad used to be funny and charismatic and a decent guy.

I think bringing Liz Keifer in is a great idea. She's a wonderful actress, very charismatic, and a real spark plug.

Since Laurence Lau is available, I would have him in a recurring capacity, to help get Angie and Jesse out of the hell Pratt put them in, and perhaps, if Greg has any kids, they could move to Pine Valley and get stories. And if they can have Enid return for some appearances (is the actress still alive? Is she still acting?), all the better.

[Vee]

But that's not why it was moved to L.A. AMC was moved to L.A. because it could no longer afford its own space in NYC; it was over its budget and its schedule and continues to be, and apparently the facility in California is much cheaper. If OLTL had been in the same position, it would've gone instead, or been cancelled. AMC is moving to try and save it and get it on budget. The celebration is just trying to pretty that up.

Oh, this thread is gonna morph real quick. As to Liza, I like Liz Keifer a lot but I think Mary Beth Evans is closer in appearance and has more marquee value; also, she is very capable of playing a bitch, as her Katherine stint on GH proved before they brought Stefan into the mix and things went south.

[EricMontreal22]

I know Tad isn't too beloved on here but I think it's a mistake to write off such a major role at this stage and while I;'m mixed on what they've done to his character, I think it woud be a mistake to write him off especially to replace him with a charater a good chunk of the current viewers have no memory of (though I'm all for brinng back either of the characters you suggested)

[Vee]

I also think tossing Tad would be a death knell. Same thing with Viki, Dorian, schlubby Bo or even Blair on OLTL, who might not look like much these days but holds up a huge portion of her end of the canvas. Yes, people rightly have issues with Tad's character, but that can be fixed. What can't is what happens when a lot of people find out Tad's leaving, there's no Dixie, etc. and all they're going to do is say, "OK, I guess the show's over." He's a tentpole now.

I don't agree with what DAYS has become but during their insane purge they knew enough to keep a certain amount of tentpole characters to establish their new canvas, not that I think much of it. If Sami, or Maggie, or Bo and Hope were gone, that would be it.

[DRW50]

I don't mean to make it sound like he's unpopular, but I think the character is just dead. I think he has anti-chemistry with most of the women he's paired with, I think his credibility as a father is long gone, and I think that the Martin family in its present state is one of a trifecta of do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do moral scolding (Ryan and Zach are also in this group) which make the show hard to stomach at times. I think his presence onscreen is depressing and drags people back to what AMC will never be again.

AMC is obviously trying to shake things up with this move, and I personally don't see any way forward for Tad. I would say he could work as a mentor figure, but with the way he has mentored JR right into being such a screwed up human being, it would take a big change in writing.

I can see MBE as Liza. I'd just like to see Liz on the show in some capacity. A recast Skye, or a new character, whatever.

[Vee]

In talking more about ideas for Tad and Dixie, I'm gonna take an unpopular stance and say that I could understand what Cady McClain was trying to do when she brought Dixie back as this sort of angsty, black-garbed, cosmopolitan "woman of the world" a couple years ago - she was trying to break out of the bland hausfrau "what have you done now, Tad?" mold Dixie had fallen into. And I get that, because when she went to ATWT for the first time I didn't expect much; I'd hated Dixie for most of her time on AMC, and when she got to CBS I was stunned by Cady's ability to turn on a dime. She was and is incredible and I thought she brought a lot of that conviction and fire back to AMC. She was trying to broaden the character and get her out of that endless boring rut with Tad where one of them cheats or lies and they break up for awhile, while Dixie does nothing of her own. That's why she supported that David/Dixie story before her second exit. I could understand that. And I thought the concept of Dixie returning world-weary, somewhat mysterious and changed was a fine idea - it's how they did it, [!@#$%^&*] with the Zendall fans, screwing Tad and Dixie over re: Madden and Kate, that ruined her.

If, however, you can modulate that approach to the character, give her some bite but balance it with the Dixie we always knew and loved, then you can have Cady running the story for Tad and their end of the Martin tentpoles, doing the big drama and stories, while Tad has the support role for her and mentors someone else.

[DRW50]

I think that could work for Dixie, if they were willing to suck it up and bring Cady back. I thought her character could have gone to very interesting places late in her first run, when she became so cold and started wearing all the odd hairdos.