AGain it's way too easy to blame Frons I guess, and I don't mean to in this case give ANY credit to McTavish (any positive credit) but it did seem at the time, and for what little it's worth the gossip said as well, that the "shock death" of Dixie was mandated over the show.

I was under the impression McTavish pitched the idea to Frons and he rubber stamped it. She felt Tad and Dixie's story was "exhausted" and would be better served by her offensive death.

IMO, there are several interesting ways to give AMC's younger set the shot in the arm it needs. The only trouble is that most of them would involve recasts, probably with daytime newcomers. They could bring back any one or two out of Petey, Sam, and Maddie to mix in with boringColby and Asher.

IMO, there are several interesting ways to give AMC's younger set the shot in the arm it needs. The only trouble is that most of them would involve recasts, probably with daytime newcomers. They could bring back any one or two out of Petey, Sam, and Maddie to mix in with boringColby and Asher.

I know! With the amount of kids these characters have had over the years there is more than enough 2nd/3rd generation to go around. Everytime they try though it never seems to work. Partly because I think the writer's think they can trot out a character with the last name Cortlandt or Chandler and expect magic to happen due to those names. The writing clearly shows a lack of investment on their part. It was flawed, but the teen set of the mid 90's was quite adequate. Very socially relevant of the time too.

I know! With the amount of kids these characters have had over the years there is more than enough 2nd/3rd generation to go around. Everytime they try though it never seems to work. Partly because I think the writer's think they can trot out a character with the last name Cortlandt or Chandler and expect magic to happen due to those names. The writing clearly shows a lack of investment on their part. It was flawed, but the teen set of the mid 90's was quite adequate. Very socially relevant of the time too.

I don't think they'd have the guts to get really socially relevant today, as appropriate for today, at least. Having a gay character or a pregnancy/abortion or a drinking/drug problem isn't really edgy or daring anymore (unless they really took the time and did it like no other show has done before), but damn, they even can't give us that. We get boCo and the two fools who want to plow her, a boring triangle only seasoned by the chemistry between Damon and Liza.

During the show today, I had a fleeting thought...we know Damon has ADHD, we know he goes nuts when he's off his meds, we know he's feeling lower than dirt right now...what if he attempted suicide? And we saw this, and instead of the show sending him off to an imaginary treatment hospital to receive imaginary care, we actually went with him, Cathy Craig style? Agnes would be proud.

Even the mid-90s teens were generally more socially relevant on the surface than in their characters or storytelling. The teen pregnancy stuff turned into ways to trap a man and ways to break up the stuporcouple Bobby/Anita. Laura's homeless and poverty story was socially relevant compared to the rest and they did a decent job of always keeping low self-esteem and fear of abandonment in her character, but that was undercut by Laura being a miserable and sanctimonious bore all the time. The stuff with Anita's father having her examined to make sure she was still a virgin was socially relevant, but again just turned into tedious teen romance stuff. Aside from Kelsey that group rarely seemed to have the charisma or drive I think good soap teens have. They all floundered. Unfortunately that's tough to find on soaps now because none of them know how to write for teenagers, to give them identities. I guess the last really popular teen on AMC was, what, Hayley? Or Bianca?

Edited January 11, 201114 yr by CarlD2

Bianca I guess, really. I actually liked the late 90s Broderick set, but I get what you mean. That did seem to be the last time they actually made some sort of effort though (well there were later half hearted attempts like the awful E popping teens under Passanante).

Whatever happened to Miguel, speaking of?

I was under the impression McTavish pitched the idea to Frons and he rubber stamped it. She felt Tad and Dixie's story was "exhausted" and would be better served by her offensive death.

Well, whatever the rumor was, Cady said it was JHC who didn't "get it" when it came to Dixie until the 2008 ghost story, and 'The Writer' who reacted miserably to Cady's criticism that "buried in his own poop" torture isn't cool. Cady doesn't seem to be the one to mince her words in any other interview, so I think if she either believed or knew Frons was the one who mandated Dixie's death, she'd say it: "I told the writer I thought it was a mistake to make Tad a torturer and I thought that at least Tad and Dixie should have a sit down with the kids to say 'you know what dad did was wrong, don't you?'. I didn't realize she wasn't open to my opinion. I also wanted Dixie to be strong and not such a victim and I think that annoyed her. Hey, I get it was her show and Julie's show, but I just couldn't live with the "torture is okay because Tad was trying to save his kid" thing, and we had two weeks of grisly, buried alive in his own poop TORTURE of Dr. Madden. Torture is NEVER okay, NEVER cool, NEVER funny, NEVER acceptable."

I know! With the amount of kids these characters have had over the years there is more than enough 2nd/3rd generation to go around. Everytime they try though it never seems to work. Partly because I think the writer's think they can trot out a character with the last name Cortlandt or Chandler and expect magic to happen due to those names. The writing clearly shows a lack of investment on their part. It was flawed, but the teen set of the mid 90's was quite adequate. Very socially relevant of the time too.

Which is, essentially, what they did with Damon (slap a "Made by Tad & Hillary" label on him). Complete with built-in social issue: that brand new disorder called ADHD. Suddenly, we were supposed to automatically care about this character that showed up three weeks ago via another character we never heard of before (Bailey).

During the show today, I had a fleeting thought...we know Damon has ADHD, we know he goes nuts when he's off his meds, we know he's feeling lower than dirt right now...what if he attempted suicide? And we saw this, and instead of the show sending him off to an imaginary treatment hospital to receive imaginary care, we actually went with him, Cathy Craig style? Agnes would be proud.

That's a good idea... The thing is, under this quasi-leadership, we've done "the journey" thing. JHC loves her "journey" fails. We "journeyed" with Zarf on his transition to Zoe with transgender support groups. We "journeyed" with JR and his battle with cancer and his chemo support group. I think it would be just more of the same to go on a "journey" with Damon and his post-suicide attempt/ADHD treatment. No matter who writes, it just comes across as a lackluster "Look! SOCIAL ISSUE! See? We're meeting the AMC quota...! Now, back to Rylee!" These stories, which should ideally take at least 6 months to a year to tell honestly (especially a transgender story), are started and finished within 4-6 weeks.

Even the mid-90s teens were generally more socially relevant on the surface than in their characters or storytelling. The teen pregnancy stuff turned into ways to trap a man and ways to break up the stuporcouple Bobby/Anita. Laura's homeless and poverty story was socially relevant compared to the rest and they did a decent job of always keeping low self-esteem and fear of abandonment in her character, but that was undercut by Laura being a miserable and sanctimonious bore all the time. The stuff with Anita's father having her examined to make sure she was still a virgin was socially relevant, but again just turned into tedious teen romance stuff. Aside from Kelsey that group rarely seemed to have the charisma or drive I think good soap teens have. They all floundered. Unfortunately that's tough to find on soaps now because none of them know how to write for teenagers, to give them identities. I guess the last really popular teen on AMC was, what, Hayley? Or Bianca?

Hey, man! That was my group! I was in high school alongside Laura, Scott, Kelsey, Bobby, Anita and Kevin. The 1995-1997 teens will always have a fond place in my AMC memory... no matter how much I hated Darlene Tejeiro Dahl Tejeiro.

Sorry, I take it back. I did like Kevin, Kelsey, the first Scott, and until about late 96 or so, Laura. It was more Anita/Bobby I had the big issues with for a while. But at the time did you ever think Bobby looked a little old for a high school student?

Edited January 11, 201114 yr by CarlD2

I had had such a steady diet of 90210 bythen that I don't think his age really stood out to me...

I had had such a steady diet of 90210 bythen that I don't think his age really stood out to me...

You probably knew his Spelling background and were immune.

I didn't watch 90210 that often so maybe this is why. I just remember thinking, "Why is this stammering man who looks like he just got off the street still in high school."

Oh right! He was on Models Inc immediately before--I did find that kinda odd (even though back then I didn't watch Melrose, for whatever reason I think I saw the full season of Models Inc...)

Very disappointed at this rumor. It's no secret I am a longtime Kreizman/Swajeski supporter from the GL days, thought Kreizman did well in his couple months at ATWT, and enjoy AMC now.

I have been fortunate never to see McTavish's work on any show, but nothing I've read inspires confidence.

I think bringing back Leo would help the ratings. Josh Duhamel doesn't seem to be really busy these days, they should court him.

Edited January 11, 201114 yr by jfung79

Umm well he is busy filming Transformers 3... LOL I don't see him returning to soaps anytime soon--

Umm well he is busy filming Transformers 3... LOL I don't see him returning to soaps anytime soon--

Is he? Darn! Argh.

Haha yeah, as much as I'd love him back on AMC, it won't happen. His career finally seems to (slowly but steadily) be on the rise--he had five movies last year, ius one of the leads in an action franchise, etc...