All My Children Tribute Thread

[EricMontreal22]

HAHAHAHA Right

[EricMontreal22]

Were ratings slipping and Frons told her to pull out all the gimmicks? Because her first two years, especially in hindsight (or as a viewer coming off of the Sex and the City hour from Rayfield), really had a lot of great stuff--and a lot of great potential that was dropped with suddenly dropped characters, etc. And then it did really start on a lot of dark, weird, Ryan/Zack/Greenlee/Kendall heavy, gimmicky stuff. I think she still managed to have some really good scenes (I know that's not the HWs job--but when some well written and longer scene work exists on a show exists under one headwriter and not another, it does say something), but... And like I said, by midpoint in the satin-slayer story it didn't even seem like she was writing anymore--it was just autopilot.

[Khan]

Please, as if I would debase myself in such a manner.

(Anyone know any good lawyers?)

[allmc2008]

I have been wanting that for years!

[danfling]

If Dorothy Lymn would not be available to play the role (and she said that she was available and would have played Opal at the time that Jill Larsen stepped into the role but no one from the show asked her to do so), then I still think that a sister for Opal could be a good idea.

This sister could be the snooty, upity sister who was never like Opal. She tried to adjust to Ray, but she withdrew all communication when Opal bore a bi-racial son. So, she would have been somewhat familiar with Tad and Jenny.

This sister could have claim to have owned a very up-scale nightclub in New Jersey which was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. As it turned out, her co-owned it with her husband, and it was nothing but a glorified strip joint. (This would be revealed later.)

Crystal could have worked there once for a night, but she could not adjust to the life of an unclothed woman.

This woman could have a Jenny-like daughter who was unaware of the realities of her parents' buisness.

For casting this role, I would suggest: Ronnie Claire Edwards, Ann Wedgeworth, or Vicki Lawrence.

[danfling]

Also, when Susan Lucci moved to Hollywood (when her son was born), she returned saying that Erica had been a waitress at a restaurant because all the film roles that she got were for topless roles.

This sister of Opal's would have been her co-worker in California. The sister would claim to Erica that she had in her possession of old photographs some very unflattering pictures of Erica and would try to blackmail her. The pictures, though, would not exist.

Edited January 11, 2013 by danfling

[EricMontreal22]

Ha! I never knew that detail.

[ellabelle]

That gap of time is one where they could have come back and said that Erica did something/something happened to her/she met someone, etc. since she was off the show for about 3-4 months.

Hell, if they wanted to make Josh Erica's son, they could have said that she found out she was pregnant by Tom after she was in CA, and she gave birth and either didn't want the baby or maybe it had health problems and a nefarious doctor (ie Greg Madden) told her the baby wouldn't live and then stole it or something. That would have made a hell of a lot more sense than what we saw.

[allmc2008]

I hope they can retcon Josh by stating Erica and Jeff had an affair after her break up with Tom. Maybe they could state she got drunk before she went to the fat farm and went to visit Jeff (Did he leave already) and she got pregnant that way.

Basically, I hope someday they will retcon the story so the abortion would still take place along with the birth of Josh. The Gregg Madden stuff during Josh's introduction wouldn't be erased (though I wish it would be).

[EricMontreal22]

I agree with what Kay Alden (reportedly) said, that at this point there's no reason to retcon Josh, it just would be more trouble and confusing to viewers than it's worth--and he's dead, even by soap standards. I still liked the character a lot by the end, and HATED Pratt's version of Zack going all killer and "SAVE HIS HEART FOR KENDALL" on him--but at that point especially mcTavish was all for over the top ideas, and I'm sure when she pitched the unabortion to Frons that's why he took to it, he seemed to like and encourage her gimmicks.

[Adam]

I had no issue with Josh being killed off, but it was the way he was killed off. Zach's character already was pretty much lost at that point, but that killed any likability. For me anyway.

I always though what they should have done is have Josh fatally injured in a car accident, and have him donate his heart to Kendall that way. And play the story up from Erica's point of view... losing her only son juxtaposed with the conflict she felt over his existence and how he came to be. Erica barely even flinched when Josh was killed. I found that very off putting.

[ellabelle]

This would have been SO much better. I get that Erica was very conflicted over Josh and that he really wasn't meant to ever exist as far as she was concerned, but if they were going to have him be her aborted fetus, I would have liked to see more conversations between them with him struggling to understand why she didn't want him when she was pregnant, him asking her how she felt about the 'abortion' as she went on with her life, if she ever regretted it, etc. I also REALLY wish that they'd spent more time playing up what an ENORMOUS violation this was of Erica. They kind of touched on it, which might have sufficed for another character, but we're talking about someone who was brutally raped when she was practically still a child, who gave birth to a baby as a result of that violent rape, and who suffered tremendously over the years as a result of the attack, the birth, and the removal of the denial she'd lived with for so long. To me, the realization that Greg did this to her should have had a more lasting effect on Erica. I guess MMT was too busy trying to tell the story of Erica and Jeff living happily ever after with their fetus to care.

I hated Josh's existence, but once they made me like him, it pissed me off to no end that they killed him off like that and managed to make an ever bigger ass out of Zach at the same time. Erica seemed numb for most of Josh's death, which is how Erica tends to handle a lot of trauma, but I would have preferred to see the eventual breakdown and her realizing that she'd come to love this son she hadn't wanted, and now he was gone. I think killing off Josh was the only way to "undo" the unabortion, but the way it was done was just terrible.

[EricMontreal22]

I admit, I liked Josh and had a crush on Colin E--so I'm biased, and I liked the relationship he was starting to have with his sisters, and I admit, liked the dynamic of a Kane *male* member (as much as the '00s were obsessed with the legacy of the Kane women--the legacy seeming to basically be rape by the end...). But I definitely agree with you overall--that was my bigger problem by far. Zack, particularly under Pratt, had been decimated, but then to have Josh leave for months because he had been embezzling from the casino (wha? why?) only to come back to steal more and then be brutally shot and ZAck to demand the heart and not even seem slightly conflicted at any stage even though Kendall loved Josh by that point... I guess that was Zack at his most Sonny--which people feared would happen when Pratt came on. The only good was I remember there being a pretty good death bed scene between Josh and Erica where they finally really expressed their troubled but loving feelings for each other, and a couple of other good Erica moments. But that was it.

(I also never get why they didn't do more with Josh and Greenlee--I am not sure if that was under B/E or who--they had one one nighter and a few moments like being trapped in an elevator and I felt they had really great chemistry--Greenlee became much more interesting than she had been for years with Ryan, but it was instantly dropped).

I remember some moments--like I said above, but maybe I embelished them in my memory--I should check youtube (but I do remember they seemed too short), but yes--that would work much more and it would be far more interesting to have Erica be conflicted and from her POV than from Zack.

[EricMontreal22]

Agreed completely. Sometimes when I say I liked Josh people seem to think that means I approve of the anti-abortion. Not at all. But it pissed me off double that they DID do that, and then they barely even scratched the surface of the drama that could have come from it. The only time I remember Erica and Josh really discussing it was as he died--as I said a touching but quick scene (from my memory). I was all for bringing back Jeff, but the casting sucked (as much as I like James in other things), and it was barely played anyway (I don't think he even had an exit), and I barely remember him interacting with Josh either. A lot of that is Megan's fault, certainly I think the anti abortion was entirely her fault--one of her totally crazy ideas Frons loved--but I do believe if it had happened under the regime say ten years earlier, with less network interference and focusing on always driving focus group faves, etc, she would have played it out better.

[Adam]

I have a question regarding the character of Taylor Roxburry-Cannon. I am watching some episodes on youtube from early 1994, and one of the stories going on at that time was Terrence and Julia with Taylor interfering. It was interesting to see the Taylor and Julia feud beginning with Ingrid Rogers in the role, but Rogers couldn't play bitch that well, at least in my opinion. Is this the main reason they made the casting change in 1995 and brought in Kelli Taylor? Or did Ingrid leave on her own? Because I am trying to envision Ingrid playing unhinged Taylor, and I can't.