All My Children Tribute Thread

[Adam]

It was a few weeks prior to Christmas, he probably was too busy running his sweatshop workshop. But yeah... I mean AMC was always a tad campy and such, but it always was well balanced. Stories like that one sort of bucked the trend and it kept getting worse as time went on. I got REALLY sick and tired of the contiuing ghost angle that the show really played up in its later years. Ghost Jesse, Natalie guiding that dog to heaven, ghost Dixie, etc.... I dunno.

[DRW50]

Santa was Broderick. I think this was probably a Disney mandate to try to make the show more fun. I enjoyed the story, at least when it moved away from dour overall Laura doubting Santa and became more about Myrtle. I loved her cameo as Mrs. Claus.

[Adam]

The climax of the story that got me officially hooked. Man... I loved the fallout equally too culminating with Janet attempting to blow-up Laurel and Trevor's wedding and then deciding at the last minute not going through it. I wish that was on youtube. Remember her tying up Kendall and that WIG! LOL

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zEtVKCvsQLY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Adam]

Damn! LOL My favorable bias towards Lorraine Broderick is showing. The stories under her run that I didn't really enjoy I try and pass off onto McTavish

I know alot of people hated it, but I stand firmly behind Lorraine's Erica/Dimitri/Maria/Edmund baby storyline. Everyone involved hit it out of the park and while it maybe didn't exactly do the character of Erica any immediate favours, I really liked how all the beats of that story unraveled. Again, another storyline I wish was up on youtube, especially the cabin scenes. There is a bit of the story on youtube when Erica is running around passing Maddie off as Sonya and debating on whether to give her back.

[Jonathan]

It kind of bothered me that Harold the dog figured it out before Trevor and that Harold would be the hero. It was like watching Benji or Lassie.

Edited April 21, 2011 by Jonathan

[DRW50]

I really liked Natalie's appearances - I thought the last scene with Harold was very moving and understated (and also kept a surprise from viewers). It made me choke up. I also thought her scenes with Janet were very good, and with Tim.

I just dislike the ghost stuff when it's obviously being used to make up for bad story decisions (all of Ghost Dixie's appearances).

[DRW50]

I would have liked the story more if it wasn't so rigidly plot-driven. I never believed that Dimitri and Maria would have had sex, and I thought it trashed his character. He was written so horribly for the next year that I assumed he was going to be killed off (which I think he was if McTavish hadn't returned), and I always felt Dimitri had much more potential as a character than Edmund.

The baby swap stuff made more sense to me, and had some of Susan Lucci's best work, especially after her miscarriage.

I also hated seeing Skye used as a plot device for that, although it brought out the best in Carrie Genzel.

[Adam]

Yeah, I agree Dimitri being trashed to prop up Edmund was a bit of an issue. He really went dark during that era. Its moot now because of all that went down between Nader and ABC, but I always felt Dimitri was the type of character that could have been woven better into the canvas and he could have existed successfully beyond Erica's orbit. Its unfortunate that never came to be.

[R Sinclair]

Another reason I hated the Richard Culliton era. Dropped storylines and unresolved beats. If you don't right off recall, you'll see where I'm going in just a second...

Brooke and Edmund hired a singer to perform at their engagement party at the Valley Inn. As they were preparing, they brought her into the dining room, showed her where she'd be performing and this and that. Cut to the end of the episode, everyone's arrived, the dinner's underway and they announce the singer. "The singer" turns around, and it's Vanessa in wig and costume holding Greenlee at knifepoint.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE SINGER?!

[SFK]

[Adam]

May, 1992: Janet is beginning to go into labour while holding Natalie captive and contemplating killing her. Good Erica/Mona scenes in this episode too.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VJn8Hj9ddkk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

(go to the to the 4:23 mark)

Natalie: Killing me is the worst thing you could do Janet. I'm a nurse, remember?

Janet: Big deal! Just because you conned a degree out of a lower institution of learning does not mean you can hold it over me!

.......

Janet: Even if I were in labour.... I wouldn't need a nurse. Women used to drop babies in fields and they survived.

Natalie: Some did, some didn't...

Janet: Well, I'm a did!

Edited April 21, 2011 by Adam

[Pine Charles]

I agree.

I just posted that because I like seeing Greenlee with a knife over her neck... of course, she was a good character back then.

LOL!

[DRW50]

I couldn't stand her then either (all she did was berate Leo for not taking her to Paris).

[EricMontreal22]

I liked it too--and Esther! But I do remember that was when I started reading forums (the old usenet days) and people HATED it.

As for Santa Clause--remember this was just after AMC had been suddenly passed, and quickly, by DAYS. I think she was told to do more wacky stories--voodoo/Jamaica too. Of course Lorraine has done some wackiness anyway, but I'm sure there was a bit of a mandate there (and it did give us some fun scenes--it was out of character for the show but as a short, kinda cute Myrtle story for Christmas I can't fault it too harshly.

[R Sinclair]