All My Children Tribute Thread

[Liberty City]

You mean Lacey Chabert? In all honesty, I much prefer Christina Bennett Lind.

[FrenchBug82]

I liked CBL fine but she wasn't really given anything memorable enough for me to judge her the best over ED's extraordinary run.

So genuinely interested why you preferred her? Any particular reason? Did you dislike ED? Was it the storylines? Or is it just one of those je-ne-sais-quoi things?

[Pine Charles]

Nathalie Paulding portrayed Bianca during the anorexia storyline.

[Liberty City]

For me, Eden Riegel whined too much when she spoke and played the role too amateur in terms of Bianca's mannerisms. Lind, from the moment she stepped on set, portrayed a more adult, confident and stronger Bianca.

[SFK]

I agree. Obviously, ER had the lion's share of Bianca's storylines but I found CBL's portrayal a lot more likeable.

My friend and I had tickets to see Susan Lucci's Broadway debut in Annie Get Your Gun. When we got to the box office, we saw the notice that she was out and her standby would be going on. Devastating. We later found out that she had fallen ill and couldn't go on.

I don't know if this is truth or rumor, but it's been posted on this board that a sick Susan was almost replaced with Lisa Peluso but Susan cut that noise real quick.

[FrenchBug82]

Interesting. Had never thought of it this way. Thanks for answering

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[Joseph]

Lisa as Erica?? That would be interesting to watch LOL even if she looked more like a possible Kendall at least age wise

Interesting I caused a feud so ER is for Storylines, and CBL for her acting, and I actually liked CBL found her cute and charming 

[Vee]

Lisa basically played another of Agnes' Erica clones as Ava on LOV so it's understandable they'd think of her. But Susan was right to shut it down. There can be only one.

Lind was a passable substitute for Eden, but I'd point to the above there too.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Vee

[Skin]

Eden was the only Bianca to me. 

I always felt SMG played the better Kendell. I felt that Minshew played Kendell for 2-3 years tops and then they transformed her into something else because the writers got tired writing that character and she became a basic soap heroine. 

[FrenchBug82]

Agreed but that's on the writers, not AM. She could play bitchy-but-fragile very well but the writers did exactly what you said and made her basic.
It is a story as old as time on soaps and has happened many times before: writers often do not know how to sustain a "bitch" type character over the long run without softening them. They seem to think a woman can't be tough and complicated and a romantic lead we can root for without dulling her edges almost to nothing. And when it is a recast they feel very free to change the nature of the character (see Y&R Victoria for a similar trajectory)

Which in turn is why Erica Kane is such a tour-de-force because that's one of the rare that managed to sustain herself over decades without becoming dull for the sake of being more likeable, which Erica often was not.
 

[allmc2008]

Are you a troll?

[Skin]

I agree with you, that this is more on the writing side (I would say maybe 75%), however I also think the writers wrote towards the strengths of the actors they had. I personally think the soap would have had a greater appetite for making Kendell more dynamic if they had a stronger actress. Minshew always skewed towards being a romantic leading actress more than a dramatic one. She eventually grew towards a more mature dramatic presence, but it took the better part of a decade for her to get there. 

This is ultimately why the show ended up being split between Budig and Minshew in it's last years. Budig brought the dramatic tension and bitchy soap presence in spades, while Minshew brought the more tender romanticism of a quintessential soap heroine. They both had in excess what the other needed badly. 

If Kendell had a Sarah Jo Brown or SMG caliber actress I think AMC would have played with having a Carly on their own show for better or worse. 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Skin

[Pine Charles]

I think they were referring to any temporary replacement actresses to Lucci as Erica (if Susan had gotten ill, ect.).

[allmc2008]

Oh, Okay.

[Joseph]

 

That's Right or like when she made those TV Movies or When she was on Dallas, sometimes I think Lucci is a Vampire never got tired or sick or aged