IMO, Edmund was wasted by keeping him the mourning widower for way too long because TPTB desperately clung to Edmund and Maria as a supercouple (which I don't necessary buy into because years later it seems that they had less fans than touted by the show),and hoped that they could lure ELR into a return.

When they did pair him up, it was with TKFP (who looked like a sort of cheap blonde version of ELR), and then with his ex-sister-in-law. While JC and FH had some chemistry, I think FH had more chemistry with MN's Dimitri.

In 1998, after the Jim fiasco when Brooke and Dimitri were flirting, it could have lead to reunions for Brooke/Edmund and Erica/Dimitri. Given the Maddie kidnapping, the foursome might not have all lived at Wildwind, but it would have made Brooke and Erica family, and that was the opportunity missed in 1994.

Erica and Brooke as family definitely was a missed opportunity. Although, I have to say, next to Brooke, Maria was definitely Erica's best rival during the 1990's at least. Eva and Susan had excellent chemistry together as sparring partners. Erica was one of the few who actually called Maria out as the sanctimonoius, hypocritical shrew that she truly was.

The Edmund discussion reminded me about this candid interview with ELR about the whole mess.

Edmund was originally supposed to die in Feb 2004 as a consequence of the gunshot he sustained on New Year's Eve at the hands of those people Carlos and Juan Pablo were involved with.

John has sought to dispel the nasty rumors that you got him fired.

ELR: That was so not the case. It could not be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, they wanted to fire him a year ago. I went to [ABC Daytime president] Brian Frons and begged him to keep John so we could at least leave around the same time. Even a year ago, I was already considering not staying at AMC, and I said it would be really bad timing for them to fire John a year before my contract's up. I didn't want to have to sell our house right away if he lost his job and got work [outside New York], and I wanted to keep him near our daughter, Kaya. Frons was understanding and everyone was as accommodating as they could be.

When they finally decided to let John go earlier this year, they gave him only three weeks notice. That kind of floored us. We both went through an incredible depression during the whole last month of him working there. Our characters and our personal lives are intertwined —there's nothing we can do about that — so that made it very final for us. All My Children had been everything to us for many years. The beginning of the end was heartbreaking for us.

John didn't want it. He was devastated. He would've stayed at AMC forever. They stopped writing for us once they knew we were breaking up. I guess they knew I probably wasn't going to stay past my contract so... I don't know what they thought. It's not like I've had a phenomenal story line since Edmund's been dead. If they weren't going to write for Maria and Zach, why not write for Maria and Edmund? I guess they decided to give Maria some story on her way out by killing Edmund.

Edmund's end — turning evil, pretending to be disabled and then dying off — was so negative. And Maria's children have been so disrespectful to their mother! It's been a horrible destruction of both characters. I don't know why they felt they needed to do that. As soon as Edmund died, I went running to Zach — which was so not Maria.

I feel like they played the children so heavy-handedly that nobody really cared whether the kids were crushed over the death of their father or not. It squashed any caring for Edmund and all the years he spent there, because the kids were such monsters about it. The heart of the situation is that these kids lost Edmund, who was their only real parent from the time they were little, since Maria had been missing for years. You rarely saw the grief. You only saw that they were brats just for the sake of being brats. It was very careless story line.

Edited January 9, 201312 yr by LeClerc

I blame this mostly on Megan, which may not totally be fair, since I think Frons, ABCD and Disney were just as accountable for taking out their displeasure with an actor on the character, which lead to many OOC moments and just mean spirited storylines.

Edited January 10, 201312 yr by EnglishTea

Do we know what John Callahan did to get on McTavish's sh*t list? Her initial method of killing off Edmund (having him take a bullet for Maria) would have been a noble end for the character, so something must have gone down subsequent to that.

I'd like to know as well, LeClerc. I know John Callahan was having an affair with Amelia Heinle (ex-Mia), which caused much drama on-set, as well as the end of his and Eva's marriage. But surely, Megan didn't take that personally? (OTOH, maybe she wanted to tap Amelia's ass and was jealous? Who knows, really?)

I always saw Edmund's exit as more due to age and Frons - Edmund was going nuts before McTavish came back.

Actually, SFK, I wrote once a little story about how Belle, now out of prison, abducts Erica on an important night for La Kane (it was the launch of some business venture -- I forget which exactly) after weeks of stalking her, and then drags her back to her lonely house somewhere in New England. (Shades of "Misery," I know.)

The twist, though, was that Belle kidnapped Erica, not to torture her some more, but to convince her to give her Erica Kane-loving son (picture a more kind-hearted version of "Project Runway"'s Jay -- burly, gay, definitely into funny-looking hats) his big break as a fashion designer. Belle loves her little boy, but she's dying and she wants to ensure he can live on after her. And the irony is that Erica is actually blown away by his designs!

Of course, her adoration is enough for Belle's son, who hates what his mother has done, and who helps La Kane escape. Later, when the authorities have tracked Erica back to Belle's, Erica returns the favor by urging Jack not to press charges. And basically, the story ends with Erica forgiving Belle (as a mother, she can relate to why Belle did what she did -- even if she thought a simple phone call or letter might have sufficed), Belle dying in the hospital, and her son becoming a Pine Valley mainstay, setting up his design house in town, with help from Erica, Opal and (I think) Myrtle.

WIN!

Speaking of Faux-Silver - I love her from the clips I've watched; too bad she couldn't have stayed long term,

The real Silver wasn't as good, IMO.

I love this clip of her when Erica attended the Gaby Awards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDe-sZHb1BA&list=UUrAQoHm88snxJef4xHyZj8w&index=141

Never saw that full Gaby clip (thanks!) but Erica mouthing "I love you all!" always cracks me up whenever I watch the All About Erica video.

WIN!

I second that! Khan, write your own Bible and have a lawyer sumbit it to the writing team at PP AMC so you can get a shot as a writing intern or something. You know, work your way up.

I'm not sure who the Project Runway guy is, but just from what you've described, I can totally picture this sweet kid of Belle's.

Edited January 10, 201312 yr by SFK

I always saw Edmund's exit as more due to age and Frons - Edmund was going nuts before McTavish came back.

Ageism was definitely prevalent starting with the Disney invasion and Frons. I don't think it was quite 40 plus, more like 50 and over as the targets.

Edmund's murder in my mind is when Megan went from keeping things together to slowly, then quite rapidly going off the rails. By June we had fight club and the obsession over Ryan's "sample"... and of course the groundwork was already being laid for the unabortion. The only good story going on at that time was the Di/Dixie charade.

AH I completely forgot about Di--I liked her. Such a waste. I think I blocked out Fight Club Ryan that was just... odd. I guess it was going for something different in soaps, and I appreciated in a way that they tried to give Ryan depth with his abusive father, but it didn't work. (And then his sister was killed off by Megan's last major story the Satin Slayer--no wonder people found the show a mess and too dark in the second half of her 2000s reign). In this clip I will say at least they made the fight club look semi decent budget wise...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TjqmhQKrxY

And I think, overall, I'd agree with you.

I always saw Edmund's exit as more due to age and Frons - Edmund was going nuts before McTavish came back.

Yeah frankly his destruction started under Rayfield if not even a bit before (it was under Rayfield he would love Maria up and feed her drugs). McTavish at her worse is way too eager to do execs bidding, but I doubt it was her decision.

That ELR interview is one I'd never read and just--wow. What an awful situation.

Umm I have most initials down but who is TKFP

Yeah frankly his destruction started under Rayfield if not even a bit before (it was under Rayfield he would love Maria up and feed her drugs). McTavish at her worse is way too eager to do execs bidding, but I doubt it was her decision.

That ELR interview is one I'd never read and just--wow. What an awful situation.

Umm I have most initials down but who is TKFP

That Kit Fisher Person

LOL. "That Kit Fisher Person"

Yeah, I wasn't a fan of what little I had seen of her.

Edmund's destruction sucked. I really hadn't minded Megan's return up until then and then it really did all go to hell. Such a shame. The show had a lot of things in place at the time and could have really been revitalized.