All My Children Tribute Thread

[Vee]

I just remember being annoyed by Lauren Roman, period.

I thought Brooke's storylines were embarrassing and forced for most of the '90s, but granted I started in the early '90s. I just often felt she was past it and they were trying too hard, but it was the stories that sucked above all. I didn't fully appreciate Brooke until she was gone, and when they did bring her back and put her with Adam it was clearly where she needed to be to fully click again, and she was great. (The same was true in 2013 with her mixing with the Chandlers and Dimitri)

Edited August 1, 2021 by Vee

[Faulkner]

LOL Brooke’s stories in the ‘90s were comical and humiliating. It always felt like someone high up hated Julia Barr yet the writers were still directed to write for her. As a teen, I appreciated JB, but I always rooted against Brooke (whether it was against Dixie, Erica, or Maria or anyone). She was a sopping wet blanket.

[Jonathan]

When Edmund and Maria took off as a couple and joined Dimitri and Erica as part of the Wildwind “crew” it left Brooke and Julia Barr as an outsider. Unfortunately, the stories the writers came up for Brooke were mediocre at best.

[Vee]

Exactly. Every story she had was bad by the time I came around. I didn't buy her with Pierce or various other hunks, but I also barely remember Pierce at all. I was not there for her heyday with Adam, etc. And it took her return in the late 2000s for me to fully get the scope of her skills. She was great when she returned, and she was great as a tentpole of the show in 2013 with that family and with Michael Nader.

[DRW50]

The only interesting thing about Pierce was when James Fitzpatrick was in the role and he was haunted and edgy. After he was fired, they made the character as generic as can be (and had started before then). The attempt to make him a romantic charmer with Maxwell Caulfield was a snore.

Brooke was often seen as a self-righteous and sanctimonious bore by fans at the time (at least online), and having her adopt a daughter named Laura and go back to the Laura well over and over didn't help.

There used to be a site online in the late '90s that was mostly just there to make fun of Brooke as this ridiculous alcoholic ego-driven diva, sort of a "choose your own adventure" type thing, complete with her drunkenly throwing herself at  Michael Delaney and his boyfriend Brad, etc. 

[Vee]

Oh, that's hilarious. I remember the endless lampooning of Brooke online at the time (which was extremely merited, IMO) but not that. I also remember the entire town seemingly rushing to perjure and incriminate themselves during the Jim saga in comic fashion which was ridiculous to me.

[DRW50]

I can't even remember how much is real and how much I'm just putting together myself, but there would also be choices like, "Laura left a message. She's in trouble again. Do you go save her, or do you go to the bar?" And Marian would also be there drinking. And the homeless shelter was called The Brooke English Homeless Shelter in huge letters, and the people who worked there hated her, etc. 

Yes, the Jim story was really terrible - at the time I was not as hard on it because at least it was something of an  umbrella story and had some good use of characters like Phoebe, but it was terrible. And the ending with Tad freeing her by faking evidence  (a safe deposit box with photos of various kids of Pine Valley) had very troubling implications for what was to come with McTavish in AMC's last decade.

[Kane]

 

 

Pierce was just Jeremy without the accent: an artist who had past with Trevor from their days as mercenaries, who spent several years living in isolation while trying to cope with his tragic past, which included a woman he loved and lost.

I liked him with Janet - although I hated it when he dumped her and she became obsessed with Brooke; I'm very grateful that the powers that be changed their minds about letting go of Robin Mattson and having Janet get plastic surgery to look like Brooke - but the character should have left with Fitzpatrick.

[DemetriKane]

Wow. Throw the whole thread away, I can’t. Brooke will always be the unsung hero of Pine Valley to me.

Edited August 2, 2021 by DemetriKane

[Pine Charles]

Yeah??

 

Please register in order to view this content

 

[DemetriKane]

@Pine Charles absolutely!! And you know it’s true 

Please register in order to view this content

.

Edited August 4, 2021 by DemetriKane

[Jonathan]

 

"You leave my nose out of this!" 

Please register in order to view this content

[marceline]

YouTube served up this clip to me. It reminded me of just how much I hated the baby switch storyline. I hate most baby switch storylines. I'll always hate how Bianca only got one slap. We should've had a good five minutes of Biance beating Babe with a lead pipe.

Please register in order to view this content

 

[FrenchBug82]

See, this clip is why I do like the baby switch storyline in hindsight as maddening as it was back then.
It gave wonderful material to a lot of good actresses and we felt what the characters were going through. Even if it was to hate Babe and Krystal's selfishness and then self-pity, we cared.

I miss actually genuinely caring about something that happens on a soap.

[amybrickwallace]

Very well said.

Please register in order to view this content