I'd totally forgotten about the winner, and nipple rings - I didn't realize AMC had gay porn stars. Then again what other role could Boyd fill?

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).

Not to mention that if it had been a gay man, many viewers would have said he deserved to die. I guess it Tom Hanks and that maudlin, asexual movie to belatedly convince people a mass media culture that it wasn't OK for gay men to die.

This type of thing should feel so dated, that episode from 1995, and I guess it is, but when you see the episode, or some of the old comedy from back then (like Kathy and Mo), it still feels like it's with you today.

I guess he was the first gay male character on AMC.

I kind of wish they'd cast him as Michael. I get the whole "idea" of casting a slab of beef as Michael, because he was a star quarterback! and he was a war hero!! (funny how we never heard Michael mention fighting Don't Ask Don't Tell), but the story was about the idea of Michael, never actually caring about the character himself. I might have cared more with this guy in the role.

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.

Yes. She initially chased after Mateo.

Who are the others you forget?

Tad having fun at Erica's expense:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Sd_hOd2Vnok" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I did the math and Susan Lucci was 60, going on 61 in this scene and Michael E. Knight was 48. She looks a hell of a lot better than he does. So much for men aging gracefully.

Edited February 19, 201213 yr by ellabelle

Men can age gracefully if they take care of themselves. (David Canary is proof of that.) Unfortunately, MEK chooses to let himself "go" a bit.

MEK lost his looks fast. Even before the weight gain his face had just kind of 'set in'.

MEK said recently in an article that Frons wanted him gone from the show and had for years. Well, he didn't take care of his appearance enough to pull off the older sexy romantic lead, he didn't want to slip into a Joe Martin-type role, and he didn't want to be the bad guy, which could have been explored more in depth post-Greg Madden. Well, what's left? TPTB didn't know what to do with him. The Damon storyline could have been much better if Hillary had been involved or if they'd done something - anything - with it after Liza slept with him, but they just shoved him off the canvas.

Compare MEK's aging with, say, Walt Willey. Walt is 7 years older than MEK, but WW looked a heck of a lot better around that same time period. Heck, he was doing a love scene with SL in 2003 in which they were both scantily clad in front of a fireplace, and the man looked HOT even though he was in his 50s. Or look at Vincent Irizarry - he's the same age as MEK, but to me there's no comparison between the two.

VI is heavy set too though.To be honest I don't think of any of the men listed in the last few posts as being sexy. Susan looks amazing though, she looks like she is in her 40's in that clip.

^ I think they both look better than MEK does.

November 1985 TV News

Bob Eucker was on a soap opera?

I guess you don't remember his stellar performance as "Clell Lightner" on FROM THESE ROOTS?

(I'm kidding.)

I remember that episode. I believe it was the first one that Agnes Nixon and Elizabeth Page were credited for. The guys all had brunch together at the Valley Inn and the women were all at the Glamorama.

At the time I loved that episode as it really signaled the change that was coming. Watching it now the dialogue is pretty lame and Janet is so out-of-place, although I guess it was a slight improvement over the laundry-folding Robin Mattson was reduced to for a year.

I know a lot of people hated the conversion of Cortlandt Manor into the Glamorama but I didn't have a problem with it and thought it was a shame that it only lasted a year or so before they stopped using it (surprisingly. I think it was under AN that it stopped being used).

The dialogue in hindsight is pretty substandard, especially considering often even at its worst AMC had above average dialogue--but I felt the same way. I liked the change it signalled and by that point really I don't think there was any big loss or disrespect to history by converting Cortland Manor which seemed to be the main upset.

To be fair, I believe by the time it was phazed out (and much of the attempt to return Pine Valley to a smaller community with class issues) AN had handed over most of the writing to Jean Passanante who was credited by then. (I still would love to know how AN worked with JP and reacted to some of her stories).

"Clell Lightner"

Sounds like something I used to put in my hair.

Sounds like something I used to put in my hair.