I go back and forth on Eric returning as Barney the Clown. I liked the *idea* of him coming back because it represented a chance for Erica to confront the demons of her past and get over her abandonment issues, but it ended up making them worse with the way he walked out on her again, and walked out on Bianca as well. Plus it's hard to watch the interaction with them NOW, knowing that we'd later find out he'd basically traded her to a pedophile rapist and sat there smoking cigars with the bastard while Erica was upstairs sobbing and traumatized at barely 14.

I thought the actor cast looked fine next to Erica as her father, but I thought he looked too young when standing next to Mona. I loved that Jack didn't take any crap from Eric.

I'm kind of amazed the show waited 20 years to bring the Eric Kane character to the canvas.

Edited February 24, 201213 yr by Jonathan

It may have been one of those things where they never planned to bring him on at all. I know Agnes can be a fanciful writer but I'm not sure I can see her saying, "Hey, he's a circus clown!"

It still baffles me that he came in right after they fired Mark.

He died off screen in the early 70s, and his role in Erica's life was such a big part of the character that they not have brought him on before for fear of having to make Erica deal with those issues he caused... and then would Erica really be the same Erica everyone knew and loved or loved to hate?

The timing with her being in love with Jack is interesting, and it makes me wonder if the original plan involved Erica addressing those abandonment issues and getting over them as a way to clear the path to her having a mature long-term relationship with Jack as "the one". If you look at it that way, then him being a clown might have been a metaphor for the absurdity of Erica putting so much importance on him and his abandonment when she had this awesome man right there with her.

It's interesting that the dream she had about being at the circus involved her birthday, considering the story TPTB went with a few years later about Erica being abandoned by her father on her birthday and Richard Fields raping her on the floor in front of the cake.

It may have been one of those things where they never planned to bring him on at all. I know Agnes can be a fanciful writer but I'm not sure I can see her saying, "Hey, he's a circus clown!"

It still baffles me that he came in right after they fired Mark.

If - as I've theorized in another post - Eric was brought back so Erica would be forced to deal with her Daddy issues and grow up, then having Mark around might have been viewed as interfering with that. I think they could have done both, and it would have been interesting to see how Erica and Mark interacted as siblings with Eric around, but TPTB had a tendency to do stuff like that - like cutting the romance with David so it would be a "distraction" to Erica while Bianca came out.

It's interesting that the dream she had about being at the circus involved her birthday, considering the story TPTB went with a few years later about Erica being abandoned by her father on her birthday and Richard Fields raping her on the floor in front of the cake.

That's actually chilling. I assume it was unintentional...

Did they ever make a big deal of Erica's birthdays before the Fields/Kendall story?

That certainly was not the "early" eighties.

I also thought Eric looked too young and still dashing for Mona which made me fill in my own blanks about the nature of their original relationship. I think it also would have helped if Albert still had his dark hair to really sell the Erica connection like swarthy Gerald Davis did for Rachel.

That said, Stratton and LaMura did resemble one another and having no Mark around was a real lost opportunity. Those Kane stories sort of danced around one another, Eric wasn't there for Goldie and Silver either. A lot of lost opportunities for the family of the show's most famous character. I would have preferred all of that family drama over Erica and her daughters and... gulp, son.

Edited February 24, 201213 yr by SFK

What a loss that those inane little media buzzwords weren't around in the 50's or early 60's.

Phoebe: Charles, did you see the entirely too youthful man your mousy little secretary claims is her husband?

Charles: I didn't think much of it.

Phoebe: Peg had a word for it, on her way to drop off a package to her supplier friends. According to Peg, why she's...she's a...a...cooter!

That's actually chilling. I assume it was unintentional...

Did they ever make a big deal of Erica's birthdays before the Fields/Kendall story?

Why assume it was unintentional? It could have been a case of the writers paying really good attention to detail, going back and looking at what the dream was right before she found her father. Wasn't Agnes involved in the creation of the rape storyline? She knew her characters and their history. I started watching regularly around 1990, and I don't recall her celebrating a birthday, but then again, Erica is not the sort of character who would have ever wanted to be reminded (after age 25 or so) that she was getting older.

This may already all be on Youtube, I'm not sure, but you may enjoy it or find a few new clips. Early on the camera also shows more of Walt Willey's inner thigh than he may have cared for.

HaHa.

Edited February 24, 201213 yr by Pine Charles

I also thought Eric looked too young and still dashing for Mona which made me fill in my own blanks about the nature of their original relationship.

That (Albert Stratton's casting, and "Barney the Clown" ish notwithstanding) might have been one reason why they wrote off Eric so soon after bringing him back into Erica's life. Plus, given Agnes Nixon's recent comments about Erica (that she must never outgrow her insecurities, which I think is hogwash, but whatevs, Aggie), it's possible she decided that bringing closure to Erica and Erica's relationship would have brought about an end to Erica's ongoing journey toward happiness.

In retrospect, I don't think there was anything too wrong in bringing back Eric as a circus clown. Yeah, the idea (that Eric would join the circus) seems...odd. You have to admit, though, it's much better than saying...oh, I don't know...that he faked his death in order to become a spy (hi, Mike Roy)?

Edited February 24, 201213 yr by Khan

^ He didn't fake his death to become a circus clown. He embezzled $ from a film project and faked his death to avoid creditors/business partners and possible criminal charges. At least, I think that's what happened. It's been a while... him being a circus clown was something that he probably did because he needed the money.

What I never quite understood was why? Why did he need to be a circus clown? Was this to represent Erica's eternal childhood, or something? Was this some type of synergy with the miniseries It?

Maybe because it was more...um..."colorful" than saying he faked his death and became a janitor or something..? Maybe he missed showbiz and thought being in the circus would be the closest he could get..?

Edited February 24, 201213 yr by Pine Charles