All My Children Tribute Thread

[SFK]

Funny you should ask that, because when she was sitting there staring at Trevor I did have some politically incorrect thoughts on the subject. But yeah, she seems extremely well-adjusted for Lily. Shayna Levine gave the first glimpse of extroverted yet socially awkward Lily that Leven would make more famous.

[DRW50]

I'd forgotten there was a quick Lily recast before Leven. (and randomly, if you Google Shayna's name there's a closeup of some woman's rear end in a skort thing - don't quite get that).

I wish I had never heard about Leven's offscreen antics because I thought she did a great job as Lily yet it always colors my opinion of her work.

[SFK]

LOL, I totally Googled and saw that earlier when I was figuring out the Mischa thing.

[SFK]

Do you think that's her? Not a bad tochis.

Oh, and Erica's wearing the infamous suit we discussed months ago. Forget which thread.

[DRW50]

I'd forgotten how much random, raspy shouting Dimitri did. Those stories really did a number on him. I wish I'd seen more of his first few years.

[Kylie]

Ugh, there's Dimitri doing what he did best--bitching and yelling at Erica. I can't believe Dimitri and Jack are painted as the loves of her life.

[ellabelle]

Didn't Michelle Trachtenburg play Lily for a while?? I think she was Lily in the early/mid 90s.

And ditto Kylie - Dimitri was a pompous ass to Erica most of the time.

YES! IMDB to the rescue - Michelle Trachtenburg played Lily Benton Montgomery from 1993-1996!

[SFK]

Yes, she was the original, definitive child Lily.

[Cheap21]

Dimitri is the love of her life at least to me. He was the best pairing she had and too bad AMC ruined them when they ruined him

[Kylie]

I thought that for awhile, and believed it right up until her miscarriage. After that? I never wanted him near her again. There's a scene between them that I'll never get out of my head, and it literally tainted them to me forever. He was marginally better than Jackson, but not by much.

[DRW50]

Watching AMC's 1995 Christmas episode was such half and half, although more good than bad. The scenes where Liza left the Martin home, had a very strained encounter with Marian, then Tad told her about her life and the scared girl she'd been under all the seeming success, the girl he'd known in school, ending in the two of them kissing - fantastic, amazing stuff. MEK and Marcy had such chemistry in her first year back - sometimes I forget that. The scene was just incredibly done, and is a far better way of showing Liza's vulnerability and showing a man "getting" her than the horrendous stuff a year later where Jake went around berating her 24/7.

Stuart pleading with Scott about not being bigoted towards Michael was also an incredible set of scenes. I thought they were just going to say, well, Stuart loves everyone, so let's make Stuart our bastion of tolerance. But no, he instead went into a detailed, heartbreaking story about the people who cared for Cindy in her last years and how many of them had been gay and how many had had AIDS. This scene really got to me. Would we see anything so direct, or moving, or such use of history, on a show today? The daytime soaps wouldn't do it, and the primetime soaps are generally too busy choking on their own hipness or sleekness to ever show a hint of emotion.

I also loved the short, warm scene of friendship and understanding between Gloria and Michael, and the humor of her saying she was relieved to know he was gay because she wondered why he hadn't responded to her flirting.

And, in the midst of a story I did not care for at all (Brooke/Pierce) there was a tender bond between Janet and Brooke over losing their daughters.

Now, on the negative side - I was struck again by just how unpleasant the Santos family dynamic was. Papa Santos was such a caricature, who always found reasons to hate the partners of his children. Is that unrealistic? Probably not. But it's extremely draining, and forced, and makes their family scenes almost impossible to watch. The shaming of Hayley for being an alcoholic, and that extremely disturbing scene where Hayley wanted to leave or defend herself and Mateo seemed to grab her kind of forcefully to keep her in place - a harbinger for the major control issues and dourness that would define these two for years.

The scene of Cicely, who never even knew Liza, cackling and being very nosy, aggressive, and bitchy with Opal and Dixie got on my nerves. I'd forgotten how out of place and, frankly, annoying she was.

Edited December 3, 2011 by CarlD2

[DRW50]

So nice to see actual closing credits, with new scenes, and the final, beautiful shot of the Christmas tree.

[Khan]

Once upon a time, I felt the love of Erica's life was Mike Roy. The more I think about it, though, the more I think that "honor" should go to Nick Davis. If not for certain circumstances getting in their way - namely, Nick's decision to leave Pine Valley for good - those two would've ended up together and married in the end. I'm sure of it.

[SFK]

But don't you think her relationship with Nick had a lot to do with her daddy issues and perhaps played into her neuroses/inability to grown up and come to terms with herself? I mean, maybe that's not a "bad thing" but I've always been weirded out by their relationship, Nick being Mona's pal. I wish I could have seen how Mona dealt with that. Obviously, they worked things out having witnessed Nick's loving visits back to town.

Edited December 3, 2011 by SFK

[Khan]

Of course! But part of the "fun" would have been watching Erica gradually, over the course of years, work that all out.

Besides, one could say the same about ANOTHER WORLD's Mac and Rachel.