http://www.mytakeontv.com/2012/04/05/catching-up-with-all-my-childrens-alicia-minshew/#more-9145

A pretty interesting interview with Alicia Minshew I just found. She talks about the original 2-hour AMC ending, Prospect fail, La Lucci, if she'd visit Port Charles, what's next, etc. ;-)

I loved Natalie during the saga with Jeremy. I thought Kate Collins did the vapid, selfish blonde thing very well. Once Natalie was paired with Trevor, I lost interest in her. I liked Janet, especially when she was being crazy in a humorous way - but I found it hard to believe that both women were THAT into Trevor Dillon. Uncle Porkchop just didn't seem all that appealing to me.

I just didn't see anything appealing in Trevor. Sure, every soap occasionally needs an odd and quirky character, but I found it hard to believe Natalie would go from men like Adam and Alex and Jeremy to Trevor. Dimitri definitely seemed her "type" - rich, powerful, domineering, handsome. I didn't think she had great chemistry with Michael Nader though. Susan Lucci and Finola Hughes were definitely his best pairings.

It would have been interesting to see the sophisticated cool blonde Natalie (the one before Trevor got his hands on her) with someone like Jack, and given how much Erica and Natalie disliked each other, Natalie with Jack could have been fun. If they hadn't killed her off, Natalie with Caleb Cortlandt could have been intriguing as well.

ICAM! I loved Natalie & Jeremy. I know some people thought Nat lost her edge after the rape, but I think she still had fire until she was paired with Trevor. I never got their appeal as a couple.

Natalie & Jack would've been great and it seemed like they were heading in that direction after her divorce from Palmer but sadly it never happened. I can just imagine how upset Erica would've been with Jack if it had!

I read that KC gave an ultimatum: that either JK leave or she left and they choose JK because he got more fan mail, apparently. That shocked me. IA that they should've kept KC and gave JK the boot.

I know that this was a well recorded incident. I believe Kate left on maternity leave and the Producers came up with this idea. Based on the collected mail, it was decided who would stay and who would go. James and Kate were forced to work together in the next weeks in some of the most passionate Natalie/Trevor moments with the conclusion of the Carter Jones story, ending with Trevor rescuing Natalie from a fire in their home.

I do not know why people were so enamored by Kiberd and Trevor. He was getting billing as top star of AMC with much press and screentime. Then, as soon as Collins was gone and the Natalie recast fizzled, it was clear that Kiberd was not leading man material. Kiberd had contributed to his undoing as Trevor would not have a successful romance or popular front burner storyline. His hubris had been his own undoing with AMC as he would not have as popular a screen partner, man or woman, since Collins.

I wonder if the animosity was ongoing as Kiberd and Collins never shared 1-on-1 scenes in any of Collin's returns as Natalie.

Unlike Kiberd, Natalie had multiple popular pairings and floated through the canvas seamlessly. She started out as the spoiler in the Jeremy/Erica romance, then phased through the Cortlandt, Marick, and Chandler family storylines. To me, Collin's equity to the show was clear.

I knew KC didn't get along with JK but I didn't realize she gave TPTB an ultimatum. Too bad they chose to get rid of her instead of him.

Palmer... maybe. There was a relationship there. I think she realized that it was not love after the marriage. She cared for him after he was shot by Adam's thugs, and they had built a sincere rapport. Let's remember, Palmer was quiet the charmer when wanted to be. That was how he married so many women half his age.

Yeah, Natalie did love Palmer but I don't think she was really in love with him, which is why she found herself drawn to his son, Ross.

You know what I think hurt Kate Collins on AMC more than anything? Candice Earley's departure. As captivating as KC's beauty was, there also was the sense that she was ... frigid ... emotionally. Natalie's friendship with Donna, though, seemed to warm the character and make her more accessible. Once THAT was gone, well.....

I loved Natalie & Donna's friendship and how it evolved from Nat barely tolerating her to Donna becoming the only person she could open up to.

I have a cute shot of Bar/Tad too:

Too bad this pairing was ended so abruptly. Barbara ended up with Travis/Tom and Tad with Dixie.

This is a great picture. She looks beautiful. From the very first time I saw the movie in the theatre, I thought Soapdish borrowed the visual of Kate and Susan for Montana and Celeste.

I disagree. Because Kate Collins (who does not look nearly as zaftig in that photo as she did on the show, BTW) and James Kiberd weren't getting along, I think the game-plan was to have Nat hook up with Dimitri after the Natalie-in-the-Well story, with the possible explanation that she found it hard to forgive Trevor for not knowing it wasn't her he had married. Unfortunately, although Collins and Mike Nader looked good together, he just didn't have the right kind of chemistry w/ her, so those plans were scrapped; and as soon as the whole "Angelique" mess was worked out, they decided to pair him with Erica instead. (Let's be honest, just about any man could have chemistry with Susan Lucci. I learned that much the night she co-hosted the Daytime Emmys with Drake Hogestyn.)

Hmm, maybe they originally intended for Dimitri to play the field a little more, but I think when you bring Dex Dexter to daytime, the game plan is to ultimately pair him with daytime's Alexis. Maybe they didn't want that to look too obvious in the beginning hence his initial gothic Angelique/Natalya s/l.

I am still reveling in my Kate Collins love this weekend:

This is a great picture. She looks beautiful. From the very first time I saw the movie in the theatre, I thought Soapdish borrowed the visual of Kate and Susan for Montana and Celeste.

Good call, I would not be surprised. Kate and Susan very recognizable into the early 90's.

Hmm, maybe they originally intended for Dimitri to play the field a little more, but I think when you bring Dex Dexter to daytime, the game plan is to ultimately pair him with daytime's Alexis. Maybe they didn't want that to look too obvious in the beginning hence his initial gothic Angelique/Natalya s/l.

True that. In a way, Erica was like Grand Central Station: sooner or later, every train passes through.

True that. In a way, Erica was like Grand Central Station: sooner or later, every train passes through.

LOL, I'm sure she would love you for that analogy!

So many good posts in the last day or so! I didn't feel that Dimitri had the right chemistry with Natalie, and IIRC, it seemed like Natalie was just going along with a relationship with him because she was mad at Trevor.

Re the Kate/James feud, my understanding is that KC refused to come back to AMC in 2006 if JK was there, and that's why they killed off Trevor.

I loved Dimitri with Erica right up until he secretly helped Kendall search for Richard Fields. I could not understand how someone who claimed to love Erica would do something that he had to know she'd view as a horrific betrayal. I could not understand why she eventually went back to him and remarried him when Jack had proposed as well in Oct 1994.

I LOVED Erica and Adam together. They had such wonderful chemistry together. Unfortunately, trust was a huge issue for Erica, and Adam proved right away that she couldn't trust him: he lied about having a twin, he lied to her about starring in Raising Kane, and he faked his death to test her love for him, which was a big fat failure because Mike Roy was back in the picture. If Adam hadn't done that, if he'd given her good reason to trust him, they could have been wonderful together, but neither one of them was really mature enough to be together in 1984/1985. I loved their second marriage as well with them constantly at odds. I would have loved to see her eventually really fall for him. They seemed to be going that direction in 2008/2009, but unfortunately the writing was so bad that it wasn't a joy to watch.

It really felt to me like after 2004 or so, AMC just gave up on seriously trying to pair Erica with anyone. She had brief interludes with Sam Wood, Caleb Cortlandt and Ryan Lavery that were horrible to watch and the aforementioned whatever it was with Adam. They hinted very briefly at something there between her and David in 2010, but then dropped it. It felt like the writers just threw up their hands and said "whatever, we'll just put her back with Jack again."

The one relationship I so wish they'd come back to and further explored was Erica and David. The chemistry between VI and SL was just off the charts, and it was obvious from the very brief scenes in 2010 where they tied each other up and played mind games with each other that there was still something there. The only times I thought David was a remotely decent human being were when he was with Erica and Anna, and it would have been nice to have that back instead of the one-sided villain we got most of the time.

They flirted with a possible Dimitr/Brooke pairing during that whole Jim Thompson story, wouldve liked to see how that developed.

Kiberd was def difficult, I think even his future wife Susan Keith admitted they didnt get along at first when they were paired on Loving LOL..

Did he and Mattosn get along?

What is JK's deal?

LOL, I'm sure she would love you for that analogy!

Don't get me wrong: Erica was my entire reason for living at one point. However, Joan Rivers' "murphy bed" comment from two decades ago wasn't too far off the mark.

I still think the only viable romantic relationship left for Erica was with Nick Davis (and if Larry Keith had been alive, you bet I would have advocated bringing him back for AMC's finale). Megan McTavish ruined Erica's reunion with Mike Roy, and Brandon Kingsley was just too long ago (although, I would have LOVED to see him come back and possibly romance Kendall in a May/December relationship). But Nick? He understood her better than even Jack, I think.

Edited April 8, 201213 yr by Khan

What is JK's deal?

I'd love to know that too. I do not recall many people having bad things to say about him outside of Kate Collins. Obviously, Susan Keith got over her negative opinions if she married the man.

True that. In a way, Erica was like Grand Central Station: sooner or later, every train passes through.

Except Tad and Edmund - of course, Brooke shared them with others, but not Erica.