Imagine if Erica walked in ...

Jack got an awful lot of role-playing sex, didn't he? Between Brooke as a lingere-clad would-be criminal and Erica as a French maid...

I'll disagree about this point. I don't think AMC ever lost it's family values in story telling. There was always a sense of familial unity on the show in some form, even in the later years. I will say the one thing that did suffer on AMC was it's overall sense of community/environment and it's friendships. Even with AMC's more campy storylines there was always some heart to them it was very rare to find a character who was truly bad on AMC because there was always some form of redemption given to the characters and that was almost always done on the basis of love and family. What you are talking about to me sounds more like OLTL then AMC. OLTL was always the show that was the colder, grittier, risk taker where evil had a face and had several names and in some cases flourished. That was the show where damaged characters truly thrived. AMC was never played that way to me. AMC was for the most part always bright and happy even at it's darkest it was still significantly brighter then OLTL at it's darkest.

I agree.

I agree with that, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4bxV_M6L24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be1S3j0UgJo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuqF3tYiTtM

It's great to see this again. This was Jill Larson's best story on AMC.

..

Edited February 16, 201213 yr by Pine Charles

I love this episode.... More Erica vs. Brooke, snark from Phoebe & Enid, and early JFAP...

Edited February 16, 201213 yr by Pine Charles

Geez, these scenes with Julia and her friend in the hospital made me tear up a bit. At first I was annoyed that for whatever reason all the ABC soaps at this time (minus Loving) had stories about heroines who were watching people die of AIDS (it seems, for lack of a better word, trendy), but these scenes are beautifully acted and written, and bring back too many memories.

By the time I started watching AMC I felt like Julia had no personality beyond being Noah's girlfriend. At least here she seems to have some type of view of her own.

The show seems so incredibly heavy at this time.

McTavish';s 1995 run WAS heavy and/or over the top. I think this may have been the real reason ratings were slipping, allowing Behr to fire her.

Wasn't there at the time some campaign to feature more AIDSS education sotries or characters on TV? I swear there was something like that... Of course it tied into Julia's genuine scare.

Holy crap, I can't believe Cecily was actually trying to pass herself off as a high school senior! Then again, she didn't look much older than Brian Gaskill...

I guess these were some of the plans for Cecily which later seemed to be scrapped. Were they trying for Cecily/Del? Oh, it looks like they were pushing Cecily/Charlie even here. Bleh.

I never knew Joel Fabiana, dull as ever, was on this show.

At least they had a few fun scenes with Joe and the kids, goofing off. You saw that with Joe very rarely.

They definitely were trying Cecily with Del. It woulda been better than her and Charlie, but like I said I had no love for her (only years later seeing some of her 80s stuff did I get the appeal).

Fabiana played Chandler lawyer Barry Shire for YEARS--I think he was replaced for some reason ten or so years back.

June 1974 TV Star Parade

Ha how long did he last?

I agree.

So do I. While in the past decade AMC had some really dire times (as did all soaps), they still seemed to manage SOME sense of warmth and family--granted many times better than others, and I suppose it could be said this started in the 90s. Still I found for the most part McTavish's first run wasn't all that out of character from classic AMC--it had changed like all soaps had by then, but that's one reason I never truly get people who have said AMC more than other soaps lost its identity. At any rate, I know Khan and others feel differently, which is fair (I know KLhan and I disagree on the merits of Gottlieb's OLTL as well)

It's strange with McTavish - I'm not sure any writer has been so OTT and dark at the same time. I guess Reilly, but I don't think she was ever that far out. It's a shame because she's actually a good soap writer in many ways. This particular era, although Janet's story is absurd, seems less out there than her 1998-1999 run; perhaps that's down to FMB, or to Disney not being around. Her 2006 stuff also isn't as OTT as I had expected. It's just very dark and damaged, and Erica is stuck in a huge rut, which is always glaring.

Wasn't there at the time some campaign to feature more AIDSS education sotries or characters on TV? I swear there was something like that... Of course it tied into Julia's genuine scare.

That's right. There was some type of council or summit on issues - I think one was teen pregnancy.

This is actually the only time I can remember a soap doing a story where a gay man is dying of AIDS. ATWT did it, offcamera, but everything else was straight men, women, or kids, or supporting characters who seem fine when oncamera.

I really wish they'd brought the actor in another role or kept him around longer. He's quite good.

Fabiana played Chandler lawyer Barry Shire for YEARS--I think he was replaced for some reason ten or so years back.

Yeah, I think he replaced Larry Pine in that role. Pine was good sleazy fun.

Ha how long did he last?

A year or two I think.

I loved the Adrian/Opal stuff--some of the best material during that hated McTavish run (which in hindsight doesn't seem as bad, I hate to say lol) Did he get an actual exit with Belinda?

I love this episode.... More Erica vs. Brooke, snark from Phoebe & Enid, and early JFAP...

Terrific episode! This is literally about a month before I started watching--such a great group of characters. Why did they drop CHarlie--he's not brilliant but not terrible and at least looks the part. (I still can't believe how long Lawson lasted in the role). He must have been dropped soon after this as I honestly don't remember him on the show at all--just my friends saying when new Charlie came on how horrified they were with the recast, LOL.

Agnes Nixon was official HW at this point, which brings up something. The Nataliein the Well story WAS officially credited to Agnes nixon, though McTavish had apparently become associate HW by then and you can sense herinfluence. It wasn't until May 1992 (which I think was the Who Killed Will climax which I've read was largely Megan's story--and she did copy tons of elements of it for the Who Killed Michael story) that McTavish was official HW. Even as a kidnew to the show I remember being shocked not to see Agnes Nixon, who Iknewabout as I had already read Al lHer Children from the library, no longer listed in the writing credits--though she did still always go up to take the writer Emmyback then and aparenbtly was official listed as Exec HW.

Belinda left town on her own, when Adrian didn't want more of a relationship. Adrian stayed for a brief relationship with Tina, then Matthew St. Patrick left, and Adrian went on a mission. Tina, a non-character, vanished without a trace.

Edited February 17, 201213 yr by CarlD2

It's strange with McTavish - I'm not sure any writer has been so OTT and dark at the same time. I guess Reilly, but I don't think she was ever that far out. It's a shame because she's actually a good soap writer in many ways. This particular era, although Janet's story is absurd, seems less out there than her 1998-1999 run; perhaps that's down to FMB, or to Disney not being around. Her 2006 stuff also isn't as OTT as I had expected. It's just very dark and damaged, and Erica is stuck in a huge rut, which is always glaring.

Except, to me, JER's dark was often more... I dunno, I guess I'm thinking about when Passions became all about rape rape rape and hermaphrodite incest. While McTavish certainly liked rape, for the most part her dark stories seemed to have her at least trying to do something credible and maybe even well meaning (even when it was a complete missfire and in such awful taste like Tad burrying someone alive). Certainly her 90s run was helped by both FMB and Agnes Nixon being more involved. I also think '98-99 she was encouraged to go more out there due to AMC still trying to get their ratings up and being influenced/dominated by DAYS craziness--as was some of Broderick's run. Hence the sudden jump on telephatic tattoos and stuff. And I agree with the last while of her 2003-2007 run, it just got way too bleak (which is why I do believe the rumours of her using her soap bible Purgatory for story). Does anyone know what month they are currently in on SoapNet? Wiki lists McTavish ending Feb 2007--and then says no hHW listed from May to July when B/E came in--so I wonder about March and April. I remember at the time (as I've mentioned) that it was said more and more that McTavish was no longer even writing the stories, and things did seem to fall apart--and not even in her usual OTT fashion, just more like nobody was even there.

That's right. There was some type of council or summit on issues - I think one was teen pregnancy.

This is actually the only time I can remember a soap doing a story where a gay man is dying of AIDS. ATWT did it, offcamera, but everything else was straight men, women, or kids, or supporting characters who seem fine when oncamera.

I really wish they'd brought the actor in another role or kept him around longer. He's quite good.

I agree--I would have been fine with the role being expanded but for such a brief little PSA type thing, it was well done and acted. I wonder if Agnes or someone put pressure on making him gay--of course they may have known they were working on a gay story anyway and it was a warm up, but Agnes Nixon has spoken about the mixed reaction to having Cindy have AIDS. Many complained that it should have been a gay man as that was more common. Her argument--which frankly I think is justified--was she wanted people to know it wasn't just a gay disease which in '87-'88 was still something many honestly didn't know, she also said in that '88 Paley Center video that she was trying to do a gay story but didn't want it to be an AIDS story, something I can respect too (as a teen dealing with my sexuality, I found it a little depressing that it seemed like for a while whenever a gay character would pop up on TV it was for an AIDS story).

Yeah, I think he replaced Larry Pine in that role. Pine was good sleazy fun.

Pine was great, and who I still think of in the role. I think someone else played him more recently.

A year or two I think.

The 90-91 or so era Nixon wrote seemed to have a few characters they weren't sure about.

Belinda left town on her own, when Adrian didn't want more of a relationship. Adrian stayed for a brief relationship with Tina, then Matthew St. Patrick left, and Adrian went on a mission. Tina, a non-character, vanished without a trace.

Right. Tina is one of several AMC characters who would absolutely never cross my mind--and I have to mentally search my brain for a bit. She worked at SOS or something right.

And I guess Chris H as Chuck lasted less than a year... It's always funny to read the big introductions in the soap press for actors who barely lasted. I found a soap magazine from 2003 that both proclaims the guy who played Carlos (arguably the worst male actor they've ever had--my mother who, for some reason, is kind to a fault when it comes to soap acting actually said "he really is NOT a good actor" about Carlos, which coming from her is pretty major) is set to be the show's center hearthrob, and the high hopes for the America's Sexiest Man winner (who I don't think even got more than one scene--and is kinda scary looking from the photo, complete with two nipple rings which seemed odd for AMC to me--thank you Frons for that innovation, maybe he voted for him).