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AMC: New York Times 40th Anniversary Event

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Jonathan Enthusiast

Jonathan

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Serial drama had a very good and thorough write up but I'll try to fill in some blanks from what I remember. I'm basically doing a brain dump, so sorry for the rambling. There were video cameras there so I'm sure the video will end up some where online maybe on the NY Times arts weekend website or on youtube.

I was really shocked as to how many people were there! I know there were some concerns about not selling out, but fans were out there in full force and I think it was one of the more popular events because the line extended way beyond what was roped off, every seat was occupied, and the panel afterwards didn't have as many people.

The chairman of the event kicked it off with a highlight package with clips spanning the 40 years. It was an extended cut of what we've been seeing on ABC and SOAPnet with that catchy music and cool graphics. It featured the heavy hitters (La Lucci, Canary, Knight), stars who went on to do big things outside of soaps like Kelly Ripa, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Josh Duhamel as well as some of the old timers like Ruth Warrick, Mary Fickett, Larry Davis. And it ended with the clip of Erica saying, "Pine Valley isn't exactly the corner of Hollywood and Vine" and a graphic with the Hollywood sign being replaced with "Pinewood" and the words "...until now," signifying their move to Los Angeles.

So the panel came out. Cameron Mathison escorted Agnes Nixon. She took tiny steps on stage. I felt bad for her, but she is still coherent as ever and so funny. She's still very sharp. Oh, and by the way, she was introduced as the creator and head writer. LOL! I'm sure it was an oversight. :lol: Behind Agnes was Susan followed by Julie Hanan Carruthers, Debbi Morgan, Rebecca Budig, and Jacques Steinberg, the NY times writer and moderator for the event. There was a standing ovation as they came out.

When everyone was seated the first thing Jacques said was something like, "Well it looks like Greenlee can walk." I rolled my eyes :rolleyes: because I couldn't believe he went there. Anyway, he started by saying we're in the company of a true legend in Agnes Nixon, putting her in the company of Steve Allen and Barbara Walters, and other TV pioneers and of course everyone applauded. He asked her where she gets her inspiration from for her stories and characters. She said that it comes from being a writer. Duh! And then she goes on to say that the actors create the parts just as much as the actors do and refers to Susan and she agrees and says that Agnes's stories are told from a myriad of points of view and that's what makes them compelling. Agnes talks about the freedom that was lacking at P&G when she wanted to write a story about uterine cancer (I think on Guiding Light) and how they didn't want the words cancer, or uterus, said on air. So when she came to ABC it was refreshing to be able to tell these socially relevant stories and at the same time entertain the audience.

Susan and Agnes talk about Susan's audition scene and Agnes said when she saw her tape she said, "There she is."

A comment was made by Agnes about how it's a play every day, 5 days a week. JHC chimes in and tells us about how long it takes for the story to go from the writers room, to production, to post production, and eventually on air. And she says that they really ask a lot of their actors but don't try to take advantage of them and refers to Rebecca and Cameron who are taping about 5-6 episodes in 4 days this week. Rebecca corrects her and says 3 days and the audience chuckles. Jacques then asks Rebecca about returning to the show and where Greenlee has been all this time. Rebecca and Cameron are bantering back and forth saying how Ryan is cheating on her.

Then Debbi Morgan is asked about her return and how she had a long absence on the show. She says she didn't leave the show initially because she was unhappy, but because she wanted to spread her wings and do other work like primetime and film. She goes on to say that while she was away, fans would always stop her and ask her when she'd be returning to the show. And she said that she never ruled out returning and that it was always in the back of her mind. Agnes said that ABC research showed that fans wanted Angie and Jesse back so she said let's bring them back and some were saying but Jesse's dead and she said, "Well..." Everyone got a chuckle out of this. Julie was saying, "We saw him take his last breath and he flat lined." And Agnes said, "Well that hospital equipment was really old." It was hysterical. Agnes was really funny.

Susan and Agnes recreate a scene between Mona and Erica. At first I thought they were going to just read from a script, but they actually acted it out. Mona is sitting in the living room. Erica comes home, takes off her coat. She's a bit aloof and terse in her responses when Mona asks where's she's been all night. Erica tries to ignore her by watching TV and then they have this whole conversation on how Erica is trying to steal Phil away from Tara and Mona says something like, "When you see something you want that you can't have, you always try to get it. And that's not right Erica." And Erica responds by saying she "I always wants to win. I always want to win." It was a really great scene and it made me miss that dynamic between Erica and Mona.

At this point, we get to the Q&A portion. I had a question in mind, but I didn't get to ask it. But the questions that were asked were very good and people had very good comments to say. It wasn't an event with shrieking fans but there were a lot of uber fans who were smart and knew the history.

The first question, I almost died because this lady brought up the fact that she had been watching for 30 some years and the two things that she's irked by is that they unaborted the fetus and that the show got rid of Julia Barr.

. The unaborted fetus wasn't addressed by JHC.

The next few questions were for Susan about not winning the Emmy, her favorite storylines, if she ever felt uncomfortable about a particular scene or storyline. etc. In response, she said in the last year or so, Erica's been reactive and not active and that it's all going to change this year. Susan also said that when she didn't win the Emmy people would send her stuff, kids sent her some soccer trophies, one guy sent her his Oscar! But she didn't want to keep it but this person insisted and when she finally won, he flew to NY and they had lunch and she returned it to him.

One woman brought up the fact that she felt like the show lost it's way in the last year especially and said they dropped the ball with the reunion of Brot and his mother. JHC said something about the show that resonated with me and I wrote it down because I actually believe her:

"We're currently refining and redefining the way it used to be." She said that moving forward it was going to be more in line with Agnes's original vision. :D

One fan expressed her worry for daytime TV in general and brought up the fact that Les Moonves was a murderer killing two soaps and says that she is a DVR viewer and that her friends are DVR viewers and how she feels that they are not taken into consideration with the ratings. She's concerned about the commitment of ABC to All My Children. JHC responds and says DVR viewers are taken into consideration but it's still a grey area because advertisers don't believe that viewers are actually watching the commericals on DVR. She said that in the next few months they're going to be exploring more product placement where it's not blatant and still fits with the stories. JHC says that investing millions of dollars to moving the show is both a personal and business commitment to the show by ABC.

There was a fan who noted the chemistry between Rebecca and Cam and where they get it from. I guess they do have fans. :lol: LOL! Cameron said that they're good friends outside of work and how everyone in the cast gets along with each other and how he plays golf with Susan's husband Helmut, etc.

A fan asked if Debbi knew Angie and Jesse were the number 1 couple on the top 40 list on the ABC.com website. She said the she didn't know that and she goes on to say that she's grateful to Agnes for giving her and Darnell Williams a prominent storyline as a black couple. Agnes said that she wanted to bring an African-American couple to the forefront because when she was growing up in the South she saw segregation first hand when she would be on a bus and saw that Blacks were asked to sit in the back.

A fan asked Agnes about a scene between Candace Early and Ruth Warrick and how Donna lost her baby and Phoebe was shaking her and telling her to snap out of it. This fan said that it really scared him and asked Agnes what Ruth Warrick was like. Both Agnes and Susan shared stories. Susan said that Ruth told her that, "Everyone woman should have a 3 year old boy." Everyone laughed and Susan said, a few years later, she had Andreas and she knew what Ruth was referring to.

I think that's about it. It was a fun event and like I said it was definitely an event full of uber fans who are smart and passionate just like us. I hope they do something like this again soon.. :D

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