AMC: Thursday 6/3/10

[Khan]

I forget who said this, but...a protagonist is only as good, or as strong, as his/her antagonist. If Robin Strasser and/or Victoria Wyndham had been so dull as Rachel, believe me, Jacquie Courtney wouldn't have been even half the fan favorite she was as ANOTHER WORLD's Alice.

Exactly. ;-P

[SFK]

"Actress"? No Meryl Streep. But Amanda Setton definitely has sex appeal and is good at playing that devious streak we're talking about, plus the dark Roya Megnot-like looks that make her believable as David's daughter (and the wicked kookiness that definitely make her believable as Vanessa's granddaughter). But as we know, she's uninterested in doing a soap anyway.

I was not impressed by anything I saw acting-wise from Vail Bloom on Y&R, I thought she was pretty zzzzzz like Marissa, BUT I think she's a sexier more appealing boring which is really not saying much. I still don't see her coming out of her face as some sort of match for Annie though, just a slightly more interesting version of the Marissa we have now if only for superficial reasons. This is like a casting merry go round here, but to me, Eden Riegel would be more on the mark for an amped up Marissa recast (I am not out of my mind, not actually suggesting it, just speaking in terms of type and ability).

[SFK]

That's interesting Khan. In other words, the more we love to hate, the more we root for the good girl? Or at least want to see her stick around because we enjoy watching her be put through the wringer?

[SFK]

???

[Khan]

Oh, honey. ( ;-P ) I hope you're not lumping me w/ the others in that category?

Now, I want Greens away from David, and vice-versa, but not so we can have a(nother) Rylee reunion. I just think David -- who I really want to care about, as a character, even if the writers' choices for him often make that difficult for me to do -- is much better off with someone who isn't quite so country-dumb, lol.

And on the one hand, I can totally see everything you've said. On the other hand, however, at least part of me wonders whether the writers are worried that they've written David into a corner (again), so they're having him "grovel" at Greens and Marissa in order to make him more sympathetic, for lack of a better word.

Two words: Ghetto. Booty.

[Khan]

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Steve/Rachel had their fans, too. (Imagine, ladies and gents, the fanbase wars that would have erupted over Steve/Alice/Rachel if the Internet had existed back then. You think the Nuke and Ruke (or LuRe) contingents are ready to declare fatwas on each other in the ATWT thread(s)? Please! Blood would have been spilled.) But yes, because Rachel presented a viable threat to Steve and Alice's happiness, the more willing she was to go to the mat, so to speak, in order to win Steve's affections away from Alice, the more Alice's fans rooted for "their girl" to win Steve in the end. In a way, therefore, having Rachel as her antagonist seemed to bring out the best in Alice (just as Rachel was always at her best whenever she felt cornered). Rachel might have been "one of us," but in many eyes, Alice, and her romance with Steve, represented a sort of fairy-tale ideal for viewers, where the good, or virtuous, girl triumphs over adversity to win the heart of her Prince Charming.

Does that dismiss Rachel's iconic status, though? Of course not. Rachel being the "heavy" in that love triangle does not diminish the impact she made on viewers any more than it does for GUIDING LIGHT's Nola, who'd been the spoiler in Kelly and Morgan's romance; or even AMC's Liza, who was a spoiler (among several, she was just most prominent) in Greg and Jenny's. Not that every great love story in soaps needs, or needed, an obstacle in the form of a vicious third party (although, frankly, it's tough to think of one that didn't have it). However, in all three cases, try to imagine the romance with other obstacles in its path and without that particular third party. Is the romance as heartbreakingly memorable? Would we have rooted as deeply for them to overcome the odds?

Two other points:

1) It is to the credit of writers like Doug Marland and Agnes Nixon that they could create vixenish characters such as Rachel and Nola (and others) who could generate viewer interest and appeal outside that basic love triangle. Nola, for instance, would never have been successful in a romance of her own with Quint, had Marland not given that girl emotional layers to plumb through. So many other writers who create these immediately disposable interlopers in romantic storylines forget that. Simply being the One to (Love to) Hate in the storyline is not enough; it never guarantees the audience will still care about that person after the lovers have reunited at the end.

2) When it comes to "good girls" like Alice, writers also forget that you have to keep the nemeses to a strict minimum. If there's one antagonist in particular who makes her (or him) exciting to watch, then keep it there. (Perfect example: OLTL's Viki and Dorian.) Only Erica Kane, who was never exactly virtuous, can get away with having multiple nemeses throughout the decades. Otherwise, give that character more nemeses, or different ones, and he or she really will come off as a pathetic, whiny victim.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

I just love Annie.....Melissa Claire Egan is the best Actress on this show, and has been for a long while now. Love her. As for today's ep..I thought it was fantastic. I loved the JR/Annie, Scott/Annie moments the most. I am really liking this triangle AMC has going on. Of course I am rooting for Jannie . I particularly enjoyed the intense scene they had after JR came in after his run. These two have such a fierce connection, I love it. And I don't get how JR can think theirs no connection between them. He's kidding himself. As for Annie/Scott...I liked their scenes to, but....I just don't see them as nothing more than good friends. I don't see as much chem and potential as much as I do with JR/Annie.

Caleb asked Erica how many kids she had....she said 2. I know a lot people here hate when it's mentioned, but there was also Josh. I hate how AMC and Erica ignore Josh!! Yes it was a mistake to suddenly reveal him as Erica's unaborted fetus decades later, but it happened, and I think it's ridiculous how he's totally shut out now that he's dead. Anyway, whose cell phone was that that Caleb was looking at outside at the end of the episode? Was that Erica's? What was up with that...

Thanks Cheap21 and Clear Drama for the screen caps!

ehh...I don't know, I just think their are better fish in the sea besides him lol! I can't see him and MCE interacting romantically either...

That scene was hilarious LOL! But...I did think SL was a little bit over the top in the scene following the commercial break. She was pretty bad imo

This was the best thing AMC did with Annie! One of the only right things Pratt did, IMO. I loved his take on Annie, and what he did with her throughout his whole run as HW...

[Khan]

Try as I might, but I just cannot get behind a so-called triangle where a psycho killer (Annie) is torn between two men, one who is a virtual blank slate (Scott), and one who is (thanks to years of bad storytelling) damaged goods (JR). Who the [!@#$%^&*] am I supposed to root for, AMC?!

Now, I'm not saying it was the greatest story ever told, but Agnes Nixon did have the right idea in putting Scott in a triangle between Greenlee and the "Virtual Virgin," Miss Becca Tyree. It could have worked, too, had the network and bad casting not sabotaged the damn thing.

[SFK]

Agreed, there aren't imo any rootable pairings here. This is purely "sit back and watch what these crazy folks do next" type stuff.

[Clear Drama]

I think it all comes down to what do people want w/ the character.

If they want Annie to remain true to who she is to the core and not to mention have prbly the hottest scenes and angsty RL on this show, they'll stick w/ JR/Annie

If they want to attempt to redeem her character to some cute goody goody..something that w/ her past is just not easy for me to buy but you know...they'll stick w/ Scott/Annie

But something I noticed even when Scott kissed her long ago from that naked out of the pool scene or was rubbing lotion on a contrived put her in a bikini scene in the middle of a public park no less...he has never generated this type of chemistry w/ her.

There are also people that say JR isn't good for her b/c it'd just be a quick thing or flame...People this man carried BABE! FREAKING ARABELLA CAREY! The biggest whore/RL/family tension maker in all of PV and made that RL rootable to a point we wanted her dead so he could move on. Annie should be a lay up.

[JackPeyton]

Daneil Cosgrove would be welcomed back as Scott, by me anyways. Also, him and Budig seem like they could be great...

And Jacob Young is fantasstic.

[DeeeDee]

Amen.

[Steve]

My favorite episode this week so far.

I loved the JR/Annie scenes and Erica's delusional fantasy that Jack was sending Greenlee away to clean elephant cages at the circus!

I'm liking Ryan/Madison more and more.

I don't think Brittany Allen has been that bad that the role needs to be recast. When Marissa was threatening to take care of Annie if Scott didn't she actually showed some depth. Now that David has told her she needs to fight dirty, I'm hoping Marissa can become interesting.

I'm probably the only one, but I like Adam Mayfield as Scott and don't want him recast either. Not feeling any chemistry between him & Annie, though.

[Cheap21]

I think she would be way too extreme. No offense to Amanda, but she does give off that trashy porn star vibe. I think she's too sexy for the role and while I want a new change for Marissa, that woul be too much. Even when they glammed and cleaned her up on OLTL, she still had that going for her. Vail has alot of sex appeal, but hers is alot more subtle. Its not so in your face if you get what Im saying. I guess ti helps for me bc she was always wearing skirts, dresses and suits over on Y&R and she played a lawyer, which is what Marissa is aspiring to be.

[marceline]

Okay I'm asking again: who was Tina?