All My Children Tribute Thread

[Maxim]

Up to August 11, 1989

Please register in order to view this content

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

Everything is getting messy and confusing again. How is this possible?

I was just enjoying the show... and giving MDP praise... when all of a sudden... none of it makes sense. 

Marissa and Jeremy's storyline... with Trevor...  is about to end... with Jeremy just LIKE THAT finding out the whole truth and Marissa confessing without much pressure. I'm sorry, but NO. Marissa has been able to get herself out of more dire situations through lies and distortion of reality... we've seen what she is capable of.

She could have thought of a clever way to change the narrative so that Jeremy gets off the trail of evidence. And even if he did find out... she could have imagined a smarter way to spin it... than beg for forgiveness and say - I did it because I loved you... (Is this the ghost of Silver Kane that has possessed her?) I expected a lot more from the character of Marissa. 

It was too sloppy, too fast... and Jeremy acted out of character - he was kind of brutal with her and... too dismissive and cold. Wasn't this supposed to be the woman he was beginning to fall in love with again? The woman he tried so hard to protect from all these imaginary foes and misfortunes?  I would have loved to see him hurting and confused... struggle to choose what to believe, how to act... more than... just call Marissa a freaking liar and throw her out like a homeless cat... in these cheap, melodramatic scenes. He only had an eye witness who claimed to have seem Marissa and Trevor together before her "kidnapping". Marissa could have claimed that someone PAID that eyewitness to lie. Many options were available how to get out of this.  But now... they just wanted to be OVER with this storyline in 2 episodes. It was so apparent.

Why did we even need to see Trevor secretly record Marissa and him having sex... if this was not used to terrorize her for couple of more weeks and build up to the final reveal. It would have been so shocking and more powerful if Jeremy had taken Marissa's side... even married her... and THEN to find all of it - why not even play that disgusting video on their wedding day or something soapy like that. It could have hit harder. THAN THIS. 

And now ALL OF A SUDDEN we get a COPY-PASTE of the exact twist that happened last year. But back then it was Silver Kane who was threatening Natalie's life. It's done in the same way... I'm pretty sure even the dialogue is similar. 

Marissa, who has been cold-blooded and very crafty with escaping responsibility till now... is now acting like a desperate stupid housewife... hiding a gun and cornering Natalie in the hospital elevator. Is this supposed to be dramatic? Scary? That's out of character for Marissa to do it in such a sloppy way. It was okay for Silver, because Silver was emotionally unstable and very insecure. 

ME NO LIKEY. I've seen this done better last year. Marissa was not that type of character... she was the calculated bitch who knew how to spin things in her favor. I'm struggling to believe this.  

NEXT STORYLINE.

And we also have THE absurd bizarre reveal that... or at least it seems like it... ERIC Kane is alive and on Erica's door... about to reveal himself. After Mona just told Erica some hard to believe story about Eric owing people money just before he "died". Is this all that you could come up with? This was very insufficient for me. 

MESS. 

I would have loved if this was not Erica's actual father. Maybe he isn't... maybe I'm acting prematurely. We'll see. But the face is EXACTLY  the same. Ugh.

MOVING ON 

And another mess - Nina is back in town and crying in every scene she is... I'm not up for that ride. I can't stomach Nina. Don't ask me why. Reminds me of Caroline Spencer OG. I was not needing her return at all. Now I'm going to have to suffer through her being perfect and crying every episode. God, make it stop. 

Overall - the show has fallen down to JUST bearable 2/10 for me. While it was 10/10 just couple of episodes ago. I'm going to continue watching in the hopes that Agnes Nixon brings more quality when she arrives in couple of months. I only have 3-4 more months of Margaret De Priest. Maybe she will get better again, we'll see. 

Sorry for the rant. I just was LOVING it... and that's why I get mad when storylines get messy and ruined at the end.

Please register in order to view this content

[alwaysAMC]

Oh no!  LOL - isn't that funny how just a week or two can change our opinions quickly.  I barely remember 1989-1990.  My memory is spot on starting 1991 and I still can't wait for you to get there to get your opinions haha.  1991-1996 will forever be my favorite AMC era.

[Maxim]

Hahaha, yes... sometimes even one episode can ruin a storyline and make it unwatchable. I'm so disappointed, because in the beginning of August... the show was firing on all cylinders. I'm sure my irritation will pass... soon. I also can't wait to get to the Agnes Nixon era. Can you believe... I'm so ashamed to say that as a soap fan, I haven't ever seen a single episode written by her. I have no idea if she is good or bad, but I've heard only praise... so I'm excited. I also have heard before that 1990-1992 were strong years... 

Please register in order to view this content

[DRW50]

@Maxim I suppose all this tells you what negative responses the stories must have been getting (maybe aside from the Dixie/Adam stuff). I feel bad for Nancy Addison.

I'm sure you probably already know this, but IIRC the only reason Nina returned was because of fan or network backlash to the Angie/Cliff pairing.

Taylor Miller is very striking in her first run, but they never allow Nina to mature the way she should have. 

I also have come to realize that I just don't enjoy watching Peter Bergman.

[Cheap21]

Lets talk Trevor and Janet! How did people feel about them? I watched of and on in the mid 90s when home so didnt mind them but reading up on them, its wild that they gave them a happy ending in the 90s, complete with redeeming her and making her one of the pillars of the community. WTF?! Knowing how psychotic she was, what she did to Natalie and later with the plastic surgery, deception and revenge around plotting her way back into his life, Trevor should have NEVER married her. She essentially raped him and got pregnant but they would use that baby to romanticize a love story for them

 

Please register in order to view this content

I remember how much Trevor hated her. How did he go from this to loving her? Were they popular as this happened or did hte fans not like it?

 

The Dillons exit. Some of the flashbacks are kinda cringeworthy. Brooke  talking like they are old friends when Janet tried to target her and steal her life too

 

Of course years later Janet snaps and kills Trevor but no one should have been surprised

 

Also I was reading one of the comments and someone said James Kiberd was a terror on set and ended up getting fired which is why they wrote him out and eventually the whole family. That poster said he was harassing tot Kate Collins, which caused her tot leave and the sentiment was that they should have sided with her as she was the bigger asset. Is any of this true? I wouldnt have minded if Trevor was recast or written out in the early 90s bc I found him to be sanctimonious

[DRW50]

@Cheap21 For whatever Megan McTavish's word is worth, she alleged that Kiberd harassed both Kate and Felicity La Fortune.

I did understand why people didn't like the Trevor/Janet pairing. I'm not sure if it's the choice I would have made either. However, the show had written both characters into a bubble by the time the relationship began, and James and Robin did have chemistry together. The show had spent a year trying to redeem Janet, including her saving Amanda from a well, putting up with Timmy going off the rails and targeting her, etc. 

I don't think they were massively unpopular or beloved by fans.

[alwaysAMC]

I remember as a teen thinking with Robin in place as Janet, and her redemption arc, it made sense.  I've read so much about how Kate hated James (a la Vivian Vance/William Frawley), but I've always wondered how Robin got along with James.  Once they brought Kate back as kooky Janet, they sort of undid everything that happened, but yeah in the moment, I remember buying the Trevor/Janet pairing.

Edited March 24 by alwaysAMC

[Maxim]

I absolutely didn't know about that backlash. Thank you for informing me. I personally prefer Cliff with Angie... even though they haven't been given a proper storyline. They get 1-2 episodes every 2 weeks or so. If the writers want me to invest... I gotta see more. 

I hate Nina. Just don't like her. She symbolizes the most irritating aspects of soap characters for me. And Cliff - talk about boring. This man makes me fall asleep. That's why at least with Angie... something is happening. Nina and Cliff together... are a complete snooze fest. 

 

[Contessa Donatella]

Racism, plain & simple. People's worst impulses shown, at that time by the number of vile, anti cards, letters & phone calls.

[Soaplovers]

I think Cliff/Angie didn't work for two reasons.... Racism and the fact that they were part of two very popular super couples that had recently ended.

Even if Cliff/Angie were of the same race... fans still wouldn't have accepted them as a couple because in their minds, Cliff belongs with Nina and Angie belongs with Jesse. 

Sometime soap fans can be a tad too crazy and in need of some kind of intervention.. and are part of the reason why soaps began their decline because of their refusal to allow characters to progress/stories to evolve.

[Contessa Donatella]

Soap fans both embrace change and repel it, one of the things we're polarized about. 

[Maxim]

Up to August 15th, 1989

The Age of the copy-paste! 

Please register in order to view this content

As if someone said "Let's just repeat what we did with Silver last year!" and... they killed Marissa off. And guess how? You guessed correctly. In the same way they killed Silver off - she just... shot herself in accident. LOL. In storytelling... when you kill someone off, you really NEED a strong reason to do it. If you do it randomly, you are showcasing the most lazy and uninspired habit of writers. In my drama school we had a professor who used to tell us - if you get too many people dying in a play... and it's not Shakespeare... then... it's NOT GOOD. Pass on it. 

So, yeah, Marissa croaked and all of a sudden David is acting like young Norman Bates. I'm not saying that this storyline doesn't have potential - the young hero turned psycho after losing Mommie dearest... but I doubt this will be written well. I can't wait to see MDP go. 

ANOTHER NEGATIVE

Erica, acting like a cartoon network character... decided she will run off to New York to investigate if Daddy is really alive. I'm sorry guys, but that was the moment to call a doctor and have her examined. The fact that Jackson and Mona are letting her do this... tolerating her monologues about Barney-the-clown... is mind boggling to me. I don't care if that ugly clown is ERIC KANE - Erica is acting like a crazy person. And becoming increasingly annoying in this fake storyline. I miss my 1988 Erica. I want her back. I want my Lorraine Broderick Erica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW TO THE POSITIVE!

Adam has started his campaign to drive Dixie crazy, get her involuntary confined to a psychiatric hospital and steal her baby basically. I doubt he will achieve it... because we have that all so handsome Tad (who's been gaining some muscle lately and showing off) there to help her. The storyline is basic serial cliche... but I love it. The characters make it work. The actors make it work. Adam is really THE DEVIL! Planning to do this to Dixie... after she just had her child kidnapped... is inhumane. And I'm giving Dixie the "Raising star" award - she entered the picture... stumbling and messy... but in a year... she has become one of the most magnetic presences in the show. And I can almost forgive her for sleeping with a married man. But I won't. And I truly believe what is happening to her is karma for what she did to Brooke. Sorry, not sorry. You open your legs to married man... you reap your consequences, bish. 

Highlight - Adam... starting to gaslight Dixie. What a monster.

Please register in order to view this content

 

[Soaplovers]

I think the Marissa story could have ended with her dying trying to save David's life.. and that could have been the fuel to make David push away Lanie and Jeremy because of the intense guilt he feels for his mom's death.  It would have made that story end a bit differently then the Silver storyline.

@Maxim This move by Erica in 1989 is in character because one of the driving forces in Erica's life was her father and his abandonment of her.  She always was waiting for him to come back for her, and she blamed Mona for driving her father away and keeping him away.   So this news of her father possibly being alive reignites a long buried hope that she could find him and have him finally love her.   Mona and Jack know better then to prevent Erica from trying to find him.

The whole Adam gaslighting Dixie story is a classic gothic story and it works very well because it is in Adam's character to pull something like that on one of his wives.  He uses different tactics based on the personality of his current wife.  And I think the story also works as sort of karma for Dixie after being the other woman during his marriage to Brooke.   The story works because it's rooted in character.

Although I never liked Brooke.. and I always was team Erica anytime Brooke and Erica would spar.

Also, I know you loved Karen... but I think the reason she was made the kidnapper was because the actress wanted to leave the show.  There's an interview with Ellen Wheeler that stated her reason for wanting to leave the show after playing Karen a short time.

[Maxim]

Oh I agree about the Daddy issues and obsession. I was more referring to the clown stuff. Chasing a ghost and a clown is a little more caricaturish than what I would have liked. Her monologues about Barney were a bit too absurd. And unintentionally funny.

If this storyline was written so that she gets suspicious he may be alive slowly and not by some clown that dances in front of her... Then it would have worked better. 

But I agree that her fixation is in character. My focus is mostly on the way it's being written. I am in no way saying that she is not obsessed with her father and him abandoning her. That's been repeated by the show every single month now for a year and a half. I got it. LOL. 

I agree about the Adam... Dixie storyline and that's the one part of the show that is working the best for me.

[alwaysAMC]

I rarely meet someone who isn't a Brooke fan, or at least doesn't like her!  Please tell me why!!

Please register in order to view this content