AMC: Agnes Nixons mistake

[Khan]

AMC isn't like ATWT or GUIDING LIGHT; it doesn't need long-standing families that have been around since the very beginning in order to survive. But it does need characters who are three-dimensional and empathetic, and that's something they've lacked for a very long time.

[R Sinclair]

I have to agree. I've never viewed AMC to be about "families." I always viewed it as being about Pine Valley and its citizens.

[EricMontreal22]

Agnes is my fave soap writer but come on--she did her fair share of bum stories (and, the Cortland Manor stuff aside--she never was too good at some of her fave kinds of stories--like she always seemed to want to do a gothic storyline, which really wasn't her forte).

B/E's main prob was the show basically had ONE story under them. That's why I actually found Pratt refreshing after them--suddenly we had different stories and characters interacting.

[Khan]

Exactly.

If anything, I think AMC's biggest problem is that Pine Valley no longer feels like Pine Valley. In many ways, the town was its own character; and no matter how hairy things got for many, Pine Valley still felt like the quaint, idyllic home-away-from-home viewers craved -- the sort of place where everybody was on a first-name basis with everyone else, and people generally got along even when they didn't want to. Now, it's just as preposterously cosmopolitan as any other soap town, and that makes me sad.

[EricMontreal22]

While her actual execution was far from perfect, I loved how Francesca James said the heart of AMC was Pine Valley--a sort of eternal Peyton Place. Agnes afterall focused her bible on the town itself--starting there. Not on the families. It prob was a mistake to intro all the big businesses (in the wake of Dallas every soap did this, but) after the show went to an hour... I had no prob with them going to other areas (Center City, etc) for the big city stuff...

[Khan]

That's the way it was for much of the '80's - and that's the way it should've stayed, too. Now, many small towns have at least one large corporation that employs most, if not all, of its' citizens. I get that, and I think AMC had that w/ Cortlandt Electronics. But then, you bring in Chandler Enterprises, and Enchantment, and Tempo magazine, and all the political/race car driving stuff going on w/ Travis' early storyline; and pretty soon, it just starts to look ridiculous.

[R Sinclair]

Also, a large part of it was making Erica into the world's first 4'8" fashion supermodel in the early 80's. I've always fussed for years about the fact that Erica Kane would NOT do all the whining and bitching and moaning she did about provincial little Pine Valley where nothing ever happens, climb to superstardom -- and stay in Pine Valley. It's just not believable. Erica would've picked up and left Pine Valley without looking back. Relocated to Manhattan, Los Angeles or Miami. But, of course, the REST of the show and its characters are still taking place in Pine Valley. So, what do they do? They bring the glitz and glam and Cosmopolitan flair of those cities to Pine Valley to justify the daily "I'M ERICA KANE" persona. Because, if this were really to happen in life, and she stayed in the same town where she grew up with the same people who "knew her when," she would only say "I'm Erica Kane!" once before someone told her, "Bitch, I saw you buying tampons at the market yesterday. Sit yo' ass down."

As an aside, that's why I LOVED the Brooke and Erica relationship. No matter how big Erica thought she got, Brooke never shied away from putting her in check.

[Khan]

"Say that, pastor, say that!"

Erica should have stayed in her fabulous NYC penthouse. Pure, and simple. If it meant not seeing Erica as often -- and by the way, if we learned anything from SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, it's that you can't depend on one character to carry an entire soap opera; so if AMC's survival truly rested upon La Lucci's shoulders, then who's to blame for that? -- if it meant seeing Erica on a semi-recurring basis, then so be it. (If nothing else, we could have been spared many of her more ridiculous stories.) Then, when Mona dies, let's say, Erica could decide to return to Pine Valley permanently, and we see her re-adjusting to life in her hometown.

Julia Barr was probably the only one who could "match" SL in a confrontation. With everyone else (Kate Collins, Susan Pratt, Genie Francis, etc.), it just felt like an unfair fight.

[Soaplovers]

I agree with that, which is why the show has Erica snark with the younger girls since the only female close to her age (other then Opal) is Krystal. The few times Krystal and Erica have gone at it, Erica has wiped the floor with her.

I've liked her verbal assaults on NuLiza, Greenlee, and Annie (but she should be sparring with someone her own age.)

[Khan]

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a damn shame. How can you ask me to take even semi-seriously a soap opera where the majority of females are "30 and under"?

[shadow]

Gotta co sign this right here, JB and SL always brung it.

[R Sinclair]

But, back to Agnes Nixon (sorry for putting up a detour sign), I have to say that, even though realizing how horrible Jean Passanante was alone after the fact, which could've contributed greatly to the opinion I'm about to express, I wasn't exactly in love with Agnes' 1999-2000 stint. I always felt that in an attempt to bring the show back to its roots, she somewhat caused the show to regress. Like, for instance, Junior running away from home because Adam wanted to send him to a top notch boarding school with the winningest soccer team in the country. Through the eyes of Junior, we were supposed to believe that Adam was as horrible a father to him as Ray Gardner was to Tad. Or that Gillian's desire to be a part of the Martin clan was so strong that she denied her feelings for Ryan. Gillian? Gillian Andrassy? The world traveled party girl, heiress, royalty... wanted to be a quaint Martin housewife, learning Ruth's meatloaf recipes? And don't get me started on that gosh dern Becca Tyyyyyyree. That cute lil' virgin with a whole lotta moxy!

Tina Harding, anyone?

I don't know, man. It was just a lot of trying cram the toothpaste back in the tube. For two decades, we've had Erica Turlington Kane taking on the Met, Hollywood, cosmetics companies... Chandlers and Cortlandts with their corporate conglomerates. Dimitri and the whole Count Andrassy story equipped with Wildwind and Budapest location shoots... and now, forget all that, we're back to homespun Martin family, Glam-o-rama, and country bumpkin virgins.

[Soaplovers]

I think the country bumpkin girl Becca could have worked if they had made her a little more 3-D plus she had a good snarky relationship with Greenlee. I liked that she was friends with Bianca and had an issue with her being a lesbian when it came out.

[Khan]

"Becca Tyree...in 3-D!!!!!"

;-P

Word. Short of a(nother) natural disaster - a flood, or perhaps another tornado - that devastates Pine Valley's citizens economically as well as emotionally, there really is no way to bring it back to being an innocent, small town.

[Soaplovers]

I just realized how that read LOL I meant that if the writers' had made her character more then just a cardboard character, she might have lasted longer.