5 hours ago, DRW50 said:

There's something amusing and somewhat sad in Megan's letter amounting to, "Yes, you're so right and this is why I am reminding you that you are right unlike everyone else who can't remind you the way I can."

You hit the nail on the head. There's desperation in her tone. She was fighting to keep her job at this point.

5 hours ago, DRW50 said:

She is right about Becca/Scott.

Gosh, I actually didn't mind Becca and Scott as individual characters. But the casting—especially with Scott—was all over the place, and I think it took away from the story. 😬

Did Shane McDermott's Scott ever actually cross paths with Becca, or was it only Forbes March?

I really liked Shane McDermott as Scott. Then they seemed to take the character in a completely different direction, I guess to give him more sex appeal, but I just never bought Forbes March in the role.

A triangle with Rebecca Budig's Greenlee, Forbes March's Scott, and Abigail Spencer's Becca? I'm not sold. Abigail Spencer was fine. So was Rebecca Budig. But Forbes March as Scott? That casting never worked for me, so it was hard to invest in the Greenlee/Scott/Becca triangle.

In regards to her line about her stories being written in 1991 while Agnes was in charge, I'm inclined to believe that.. but I also think that Agnes and co took her ideas during that period and made them work. The Natalie down in the well story wasn't out of left field on AMC because the show had employed a gothic story to introduce a new mansion and family in the late 70s and 80s.

Becca/Scott didn't work.. and I think it was more because of the actor playing Scott then the character of Becca. Abigail Spencer did manage to give Becca some backbone.. and Becca vs Greenlee were pretty evenly matched when the two would have a verbal encounter.

In regards to Janet, I think Megan was right that there wasn't any male character currently on the canvas that would fit as a love interest for Janet. Did she start the Janet/Pierce/Laura cabin dynamic.. or was that the interim writer that did that dynamic?

Erica of the mid 2000s and on was a pale version of the Erica Kane we saw in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. She still could have been front burner.. but more in a career mode and free of that waste of a character Jack.

Here's the thing about Janet. She should never have been full-time, long-term character. If you keep someone like her on the canvas indefinitely, eventually the antics start to feel repetitive, and the writers almost have to redeem her just to justify her staying around.

Janet worked best as a recurring chaos agent. She should have been brought in every so often to wreak havoc—much like Billy Clyde did back in the day—and then sent away once she'd stirred the pot.

That's why Janet was so successful the first time around. She came in, made Natalie's life miserable, threw her down a well, gave the audience a deliciously over-the-top story, and then was sent to prison. It was a complete arc that was satisfying.

When she returned as Jane Cox, the same approach would have worked. Let her stir up trouble for Trevor, Amanda, and the rest of Pine Valley, have her create a little mayhem, and then send her packing again. Used in small doses, Janet was fantastic. Kept around indefinitely, the character inevitably lost some of what made her so effective.

Going back to Trevor and Janet eventually getting together and marrying, if I were Tim Dillon, I would have divorced my father. How do you marry the woman who terrorized my mother? Tim should have needed years of therapy after what Trevor put him through by bringing Janet back into his life.

6 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks. I missed this one.

The Phantom story had some strong moments and was one of Nixon's better Gothic moments in those final AMC years, like Erica returning to her childhood home and taking a bath with a razor blade nearby.

Oh man I really loved those scenes when Erica returned to Mona's home and took a bath. We had not seen that set in so long and it was a treat. If I recall correctly, Erica had a key to Mona's house so it was implied or maybe stated that Erica kept the house after Mona died.

2 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Gosh, I actually didn't mind Becca and Scott as individual characters. But the casting—especially with Scott—was all over the place, and I think it took away from the story. 😬

Did Shane McDermott's Scott ever actually cross paths with Becca, or was it only Forbes March?

I really liked Shane McDermott as Scott. Then they seemed to take the character in a completely different direction, I guess to give him more sex appeal, but I just never bought Forbes March in the role.

A triangle with Rebecca Budig's Greenlee, Forbes March's Scott, and Abigail Spencer's Becca? I'm not sold. Abigail Spencer was fine. So was Rebecca Budig. But Forbes March as Scott? That casting never worked for me, so it was hard to invest in the Greenlee/Scott/Becca triangle.

I liked Shane a lot. He was the only Scott I ever cared about. He fit the bill for a son Stuart raised, and also had some similarities to Cindy.

Shane was let go in late 1996 and replaced with Daniel Cosgrove as this seemed to be when AMC was trying to bring in more generic good looking men, maybe due to the ratings slide (Michael Lowry joined around the same time as Cosgrove, and Vince Poletto and Maxwell Caulfield would join the next year). Cosgrove left in mid-1998. I don't even think he had an exit - last I remember him was being electrocuted. Then March started in spring 1999, I guess. The show never knew where to take Scott. I remember the one before Cosgrove returned, who was some kind of mad scientist; IIRC, fans talked more about his nipples than his characterization.

Becca/Scott/Greenlee came across to me as Nixon going to the Greg/Jenny well too many times, very dated for 1999, as did the whole country club and class envy stories, even if it gave Marian some interesting material. I do put a lot of the blame on Scott, even if I had no interest in Becca or Greenlee either (and I thought Budig was too hard for most of the Liza knockoff material they gave her - if not for Josh Duhamel I question how long she would have lasted). Once Scott was gone and Becca was mostly in a supporting part, busting Leo's chops and so on, she was OK, but she was an easy cut.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by DRW50

9 hours ago, EricMontreal22 said:

I actually kinda agree--that was one storyline at the time I liked. (hides)

I wouldn't have minded "Phantom of the Erica" if I had known or felt going in that that would've triggered some sort of personal metamorphosis for Erica. Like, maybe Erica would finally learn that she had more to offer the world than just her beauty and decide to spend her time doing something more substantial than running a cosmetics company. But I'd been around the soap block enough to know better, lol.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Becca/Scott/Greenlee came across to me as Nixon going to the Greg/Jenny well too many times, very dated for 1999, as did the whole country club and class envy stories, even if it gave Marian some interesting material. I do put a lot of the blame on Scott, even if I had no interest in Becca or Greenlee either (and I thought Budig was too hard for most of the Liza knockoff material they gave her - if not for Josh Duhamel I question how long she would have lasted). Once Scott was gone and Becca was mostly in a supporting part, busting Leo's chops and so on, she was OK, but she was an easy cut.

I was actually okay with Agnes revisiting that Greg/Jenny dynamic—or maybe it was more of a Phil/Tara/Erica setup. But I think we're both saying the same thing and that is the casting of Scott was all over the place, and the character's point of view shifted so many times that it was hard to get invested.

I do think Rebecca Budig is a good actress, but I really only liked Greenlee when she was with Leo. He brought out a more layered side of her. I don't want to say he "softened" Greenlee because that makes it sound like she became weak. Instead, he took some of the edge off just enough to make her more tolerable without changing who she was. (Don't even get me started on Greenlee and Ryan.)