5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I felt like we were meant to sympathize with Greenlee even then (weren't we already getting the poor Greenlee's parents don't love her routine then?), which I know I should appreciate as Liza also got that type of writing when she was in the same story, but Budig is no Marcy Walker for me. I do respect that many loved her.

I do appreciate that Nixon was trying to give the show its old identity back as best she could with the class element.

He was the last Charlie.

The story was panned - I think SOD named it as one of the worst of 1995. It didn't help that McTavish brought Cecily back and was fired not long after, so they likely had no real plans for her. And beyond Charlie I am not sure if she even interacted much anyone else most of the time.

I dunno--I was a bitter gay teen when it was airing, but I never thought we were meant to sympathize with any of Greenlee's behaviour.  But like a lot of stuff of that time, I have no doubt that it wasn't clear in how it played. 

And I was an obsessive viewer at the time--admittedly with a short history with the show, but from what I remember there was virtually no material with her and Phoebe (or other tentpole characters) to re-establish her connection to the canvas.  I never had any idea who she was and, like I said, I watched very closely back then.

23 minutes ago, SFK said:

Cecily's return, working with Charlie at the detective agency, didn't pop as I recall. Rosa Nevin was a charismatic presence back in the Nico, Julie, Charlie Era, and as Eric alluded to, a classic example of recasts making characters feel like totally new people. I remember watching the He‐Man movie and my mother warmly spotting Charlie, her first and perhaps only reaction to the movie. The new Charlie who Erica dated was so different, and then Lawford... did we get another Charlie after him? I don't think so.

By the way, AMC talk with you old familiar avatars is giving me the warm and fuzzies, much appreciated in these uncertain times.

I definitely feel the same way

Christopher Lawford was a wonderful guy by that stage, after dealing with some demons (I've heard this from Corley and other people I've interviewed--partly when I made the mistake of saying that I thought casting him was a mistake...)

Ha I actually have the Masters of the Universe DVD (don't ask) and never made any connection.

3 hours ago, Khan said:

All I really remember about Rayfield/Cascio after so many years is their Asian-American character, Henry, and how many scenes with him seemed to take place in his family's Chinese restaurant.  (Better a restaurant, I guess, than a donut shop or the dry cleaners, lol).

In general, I'm leery of stories that take place in Heaven (or Hell, for that matter), simply because nobody stays dead on soaps anymore; and if an actor were to return to their show as their presumed-dead character, you have to pretend like you didn't see them before as a ghost intervening in their loved ones' lives (hi, Darnell/Jesse!).

Wasn't this also when Julie Carruthers used a film filter in editing the show, making everyone's eyes hurt? I swear people dropped the show just because their eyes were burning.

7 hours ago, EricMontreal22 said:

 

Are you watching on YT>?  I couldn't find the episode--but would like to revisit more of the Margaret DePriest brief era, which it's been fun following in your summaries.

 

A soap friend of mine send me pretty much all seasons from 1989 till the end... in an unlisted playlist on youtube... I managed to swiftly download absolutely everything (took like 2-3 days LOL) and thank God because 2 weeks later the playlist was gone. The channel was down I assume. But I did manage to download all of the episodes on a hard-drive that is now constantly plugged into the TV and I watch from there. I like to change the brightness/contrast and use couple of Denoise options on the TV to improve my experience.

But... couple of times... when I want to watch on my phone or just don't have time to move the drive so I can clip something for y'all... I've found the same 1989 episodes on archive.org.  They are the same quality of the ones I have. All of them come up when you write "All my children 1989 archive org." I won't put link up, because I know there are people who want to take them down out of spite. Sadly the All my children episodes on archive.org end with June 1992... and thank God I have the rest from the ones I was send half a year ago. I wouldn't start watching a show that I'm going to have a gap in the future. I want a steady viewing experience... and I hope to binge my way through the entire show... We'll see how far I'll come.  

 

8 hours ago, janea4old said:

I don't remember much about them from watching all those years ago, but I do remember that I found Cecily extremely annoying!

Glad to hear I'm not alone in this. When she raises her voice or talks in this high-pitched manner... I get an instinct to throw something at the TV. And yeah, not a fan of the Woody Allen/sitcom comedy situations. There was this scene where she blabbed for 4-5 minutes straight and I should have clipped it for you guys... it was just absurd. Who thought this was funny... I have no idea. Thank God as of late, we are seeing less and less of them. I can stomach it that way. 

8 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

The early 90s teen scene (Hayley, Brian, Terrence, Taylor, An-li, later Julia) worked so well because it wasn't about garden parties/country clubs.  For example,  Taylor/Terrence had conflict due partly to class differences, but also due to race with An-li being caught in between the two.   

I was a tween watching during this time and I absolutely detested the way Taylor repeatedly (and gleefully) referred to Terrence as Lucas Barnes' *BASTARD* son.

Going back a little to the original actors playing Terrence and An-Li, I was similarly uncomfortable. I don't think the dialogue ever put a fine point on it, but at least I got the distinct impression that An-Li was very put off by the romantic advances of this black boy. And it wasn't this notion that her parents wouldn't approve, it was more like An-Li was just not into this dude and maybe I was projecting, but it certainly felt racial to me. I cringed as Terrence kept trying to make it happen. This all seemed to change with the recasts and of course they did end up romantically involved before An-Li ultimately broke Terrence's heart.

15 hours ago, Maxim said:

And yes... I don't like Cecily and Niko. They are annoying and their arc - not my type of humor. It's like it's supposed to be veeery funny and cute at times which irritates me. Only the fake audience laugh and claps are missing and it will be a perfect sitcom. I hate sitcoms. And Cecily's voice is like hearing nails on a chalk board. I just don't like it. That a personal preference. Niko... is a charming guy, but nothing in comparison to some of the other guys in the show. Again... Personal preference.

A very good friend of my nephew & a sort of a friend of my brother & sister-in-law who in a time of need even lived with them for awhile, is named Niko after this character. His mother loved Niko when she was pregnant with him so I can guarantee at least one fan of this character & storyline in the Greenville, SC market. 1 down, how many to go? If I were forced to decide between Niko & Sonny, in terms of liking or disliking Maurice Benard characters, I'm sorry to have to inform you I'd choose Nico. Not so much preference as reverse pref? GH fans  may understand.

49 minutes ago, Contessa Donatella said:

A very good friend of my nephew & a sort of a friend of my brother & sister-in-law who in a time of need even lived with them for awhile, is named Niko after this character. His mother loved Niko when she was pregnant with him so I can guarantee at least one fan of this character & storyline in the Greenville, SC market. 1 down, how many to go? If I were forced to decide between Niko & Sonny, in terms of liking or disliking Maurice Benard characters, I'm sorry to have to inform you I'd choose Nico. Not so much preference as reverse pref? GH fans  may understand.

Hahhahah, then that character served it's purpose! Love this. 

34 minutes ago, Maxim said:

Hahhahah, then that character served it's purpose! Love this. 

Just tying to help out, poor Nico.

12 hours ago, EricMontreal22 said:

I dunno--I was a bitter gay teen when it was airing, but I never thought we were meant to sympathize with any of Greenlee's behaviour.  But like a lot of stuff of that time, I have no doubt that it wasn't clear in how it played. 

And I was an obsessive viewer at the time--admittedly with a short history with the show, but from what I remember there was virtually no material with her and Phoebe (or other tentpole characters) to re-establish her connection to the canvas.  I never had any idea who she was and, like I said, I watched very closely back then.

I definitely feel the same way

Christopher Lawford was a wonderful guy by that stage, after dealing with some demons (I've heard this from Corley and other people I've interviewed--partly when I made the mistake of saying that I thought casting him was a mistake...)

Ha I actually have the Masters of the Universe DVD (don't ask) and never made any connection.

I loved Greenlee, also loved her mother, Mary whatever Smythe so well played by Anna Stuart who has been quoted saying that if it were up to Lucci she would never work again! Also Mark Pinter as Greenlee's dad. It was a kinda P&G time on this Agnes Nixon ABC show.

 

@Maxim Not sure you'd be interested (if you haven't already seen this) as you are well into 1989, but it's much of May 24, 1988. Starts at about 50 minutes in.

 

14 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

Just tying to help out, poor Nico.

I loved Greenlee, also loved her mother, Mary whatever Smythe so well played by Anna Stuart who has been quoted saying that if it were up to Lucci she would never work again! Also Mark Pinter as Greenlee's dad. It was a kinda P&G time on this Agnes Nixon ABC show.

 

Never work again or never work again on All My Children?

3 hours ago, Efulton said:

Never work again or never work again on All My Children?

The latter! Just on her show, AMC!!! Anna thought Lucci saw her as competition, locally.

20 hours ago, Contessa Donatella said:

A very good friend of my nephew & a sort of a friend of my brother & sister-in-law who in a time of need even lived with them for awhile, is named Niko after this character. His mother loved Niko when she was pregnant with him so I can guarantee at least one fan of this character & storyline in the Greenville, SC market. 1 down, how many to go? If I were forced to decide between Niko & Sonny, in terms of liking or disliking Maurice Benard characters, I'm sorry to have to inform you I'd choose Nico. Not so much preference as reverse pref? GH fans  may understand.

Nico and Cecily were very popular at the time and I too, know someone who named her son after the character of Nico.

7 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

Nico and Cecily were very popular at the time and I too, know someone who named her son after the character of Nico.

I know someone now whose daughter is named Alice Hope. I've known plenty Kaylas. Nico is a good name. I cannot even think of Cecily without thinking of THE ODD COUPLE.

6 hours ago, DRW50 said:

@Maxim Not sure you'd be interested (if you haven't already seen this) as you are well into 1989, but it's much of May 24, 1988. Starts at about 50 minutes in.

 

Thank you soo so much. 🌹

I'm up to 26th of June, 1989 🌹

Marissa's lies and past are creeping up on her. The triangle with Natalie and Jeremy continues to be entertaining. From Marissa being blackmailed by Trevor... To Natalie battling with herself if she should fight for Jeremy or just... Leave him for good. Not the most riveting soap opera, but...  edible.

Dixie helped Tad recover from being beaten up by Adam's thugs... This is classic soap opera cliches. The good guy hero, the naive pregnant girl and the psycho old man. 

Erica battled with her adversary, whose name I forgot... (this mob looking guy that was blackmailing her into doing business with him) She swiftly and smartly managed to make him back off, proving to Jackson that she can survive on her own. And now we are up to the press conference for Erica's cosmetics line. Travis and Barbara are the pair of piranhas waiting to chew Erica to pieces in the future.

I'm not gonna comment on Melanie and Davis... Because it's absolute filler. ❤️