AMC's Top 40 Couples

[RomeAt50]

I hated Zach this past year, and a part of me was relieved when he left but I won't deny that Zendall had and to some extent still do a pretty big fanbase and were one of the most popular couples and argubly the most popular couple in the last 5 years. I can understand why people hate them, especially after B&E and Pratt started writing for them but I do think they deserve to be high up on the list. Maybe they are a little too high but their close to where I would expect them to be.YMMV.

I don't think whether people have a real life platonic friendship or not is necessarily relevant to the chemistry they have onscreen or how believable a couple their characters make.

[CSF]

Zach and Kendall in the top 10 is appalling. They shouldn't even be ranked. I was surprised to not see Kelly and Linc and Erica and Tom, or did I miss those two?

What is really sad about those photos is that you look at the sets and everything in the background and up until JHC came to AMC, that is what AMC looked like. Since her reign of terror, Pine Valley is just unrecognizable.

[R Sinclair]

They have a loud, rabid, obnoxious fanbase. There's a difference. And measuring popularity... how?

That's what I said.

While I think the Top 10 is indeed an embarrassingly ridiculous ranking, even I have to admit they should be ranked. McTavish wrote them the best out of the three head writing regimes. They were a couple that made sense together. However, once she was fired, B&E and Pratt just made them horrible to watch. So, even though I think they deserve to be ranked, I definitely don't think their one good year makes them top 10 material at all!

[Khan]

Word - and my fear is that the move to L.A. will just make everything look even more so, too.

I miss Bill Mickley's distinctive set design, and Carol Luiken's ability to dress toward character not toward cleavage.

[All My Shadows]

Word. I actually loved their first New Year's Eve together, when they danced at the casino. I was looking forward to enjoying them as a couple, and for a while, I truly did, but...well, you know the rest.

[EricMontreal22]

It's easy to forget that Zendall were briefly quite good--I remember being a bitconfused when they were first paired up together but immediately finding them a refreshing change from the other couples on the show. How quickly that seemed to change...

[AMCHistory]

How about the death of Beth Martin, Arguable, one of the most powerful performances in daytime history. Judith Barcroft knocked it out of the park.

[Jonathan]

Didn't see it. Any clips? Or is this during the time when the tapes were recycled?

[CSF]

I was very turned off by the show when JHC started (and still am), but did she dismiss them? I never understood the sudden change in all the sets, how did all that happen?

[SFK]

I've never seen it, but I'm pretty sure it still exists as this was late '70s and I've seen clips of Ann and Paul arguing over the baby's future. On a related note, Robin Strasser really disliked her character Christina Karras from the jump as one of her first scenes was of Christina telling Anne that her child would be born retarded and should be institutionalized.

I don't have it here with me, but in the AMC 25th anniversary Complete Family Scrapbook, there are picturs of the final Anne, Gwyn Gilliss, and she REALLY looks far gone, like at the end of her unraveled rope.

[SFK]

I have worked with Carol Luiken, she is a lovely lady with a warm voice and smile. I don't know what AMC was working on, and it never dawned on me to ask ("So, just why were you fired?" Tacky.), but she certainly doesn't seem like the type of person you would ever want to lose on your team.

ETA: I have bits and pieces of old episodes on tape, and it really is funny how Erica is being dressed younger than she was ten years ago. The baby Sonya/Bianca's got anorexia era was the last of Luiken, and if you'll remember, that's when Erica still wore suits and had her hair cut short. That look did "age" her, but age isn't exactly a four letter word. Susan does look great, she can still pull off her sleeveless numbers as inappropriate as they may seem at times, but Susan Lucci's looks are her business (literally), and I have no doubt in my mind that she'll know exactly when it's time to cover up for good.

[All My Shadows]

The Beth Martin saga was 1976/1977ish, so the beginning part is probably gone, but there's definitely a good bit of it still out there, I would say.

And yes, I think I know the Gwyn Gillis picture you're talking about! I'm seeing the one where her Ann is on a chair/sofa wearing a blue housecoat and looking positively sick.

[EricMontreal22]

I swear one of the anniversary shows (maybe the 20th?) had a clip of Anne crying. Robin S wasn't on long but I've seen two episodes with her on, so I assume at least some of the Beth stuff is there. God AMC should just release some of this stuff on DVD--hasn't the relative success of stuff like Peyton Place on DVD proven it would at least sell enough to make a profit?

[EricMontreal22]

Moody currently does the sets--and OLTL's. I assumed that was a cost saving measure. Funny how OLTL, with the same designer and smaller studio, still has vastly moreinteresting sets--again it speaks to what a crap EP JLC is. The best set on AMC is the decrepit Wildwind which is almost 20 years old.

[All My Shadows]

Yeah, there's so some good Ann/Paul stuff in the 20th anniversary episode (which is up on YT). Robin played Christina up until she moved over to OLTL to play Dorian, so most of her run is still around. She's in the episode with Tom and Erica's wedding.