All My Children Tribute Thread

[Steve]

I really wish someone would post more episodes from this era.

I loved how naive Erica was about her affair with Brandon; it was obvious to everyone around her that he wasn't leaving Sarah but Erica just didn't believe it.

Palmer was such a control freak to everybody but Daisy who didn't let him manipulate her. This was before Donna slept with Chuck in Switzerland.

Nina's fantasy was a great way to show why she agreed to go along with Sybil's scheme.

As a youngster, I was riveted by Betsy and Wally fighting their feelings for the sake of Devon's mental health, but seeing the scenes here as an adult this story just seems so lame.

[DRW50]

I can see where the story with Devon and Wally and Betsy might get some interest. I think when we're young we sort of like stories like this that seem pure and straightforward.

I guess Betsy just left town alone?

[Pine Charles]

Didn't Devon go lesbian for a bit? I remember reading it was short-lived, however, because viewers protested.

[DRW50]

There was a story where she thought she was in love with her psychiatrist Lynn Carson (Donna Pescow), who convinced her that she was just projecting all of her feelings onto Lynn because Lynn had taken a central role in her life.

[Pine Charles]

Thanks!

I would like to see some of those episodes.

[DRW50]

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[danfling]

As I recall, Dr. Lynn Carson (Donna Pescow) was Bonnie McFadden's pediatrician who was also a lesbian.

I loved Devon! She is one of my favorite All My Children characters!

There is a Progressive Insurance commercial in which customers are greeted by Flo and are very suprised to see her. Right after Flo greets the little baby, a woman with long hair is seen smiling. She strongly resembles Trisha Pursley, who played Devon.

[DRW50]

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[NickDavisAMC]

That was a great story. I remember thinking it was the daytime version of "9 to 5," or "First Wives Club," only much more fun.

[DRW50]

It was a fun story. I enjoyed every minute, along with the friendship between Janet/Skye/Erica. I was sorry to see it end and go back to misery 101.

[NickDavisAMC]

I remember how the writing and storytelling was leading up to the scene when Devon threw herself into Lynn's arms. Yeah, it was groundbreaking, but somehow the whole story had kind of an "Afterschool Special" feeling about it. Tricia Pursley and Donna Pescow did the best they could do with the writing and the direction, but it just didn't quite work. I'm guessing ABC Standards and Practices was watching this story like a hawk, down to every last line of dialogue.

Edited January 30, 2015 by NickDavisAMC

[NothinButAttitude]

Don't know if someone post it already but:

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Talk about powerful, eerie, and ahead of it's time. Soaps would never do anything so gritty nowadays.

Another promo:

Edited January 25, 2015 by Nothin'ButAttitude

[NickDavisAMC]

Whoops. You were right. It WAS Dr. Lynn Carson. I don't know where I got "Franklin." Must have been thinking about Rosemary Prinz's character on "How To Survive a Marriage." ;-)

[ellabelle]

The whole Erica rape story was riveting to me, and it's still riveting now. I was 14 when that storyline started, and even now at 36 there are some scenes I can't watch in one sitting because I find it too disturbing - I have to pause it and walk away for a while. It was soapy, thrilling, tragic, and scary all at the same time, and you could see these characters hurtling toward the edge of a cliff, but you couldn't do anything to stop it. Erica, Dimitri, Kendall, Mona and Bianca were so incredibly watchable from early 1993 through spring 1994.

As much as I loved that storyline, there were a few things that I wish the writers had done to flesh it out more and provide a better motivation for the characters. First, Kendall knew exactly how old Erica was when she was born, so it didn't make sense to me that she hated Erica for "throwing her away." Erica was clearly too young to raise a child. I could understand Kendall hating that she was deprived of a life of fame and glory and wealth because Erica went on to be THE Erica Kane without her, but it just was strange that she hated Erica for a decision Mona made. Mona even told Kendall that SHE made the choice to put her up for adoption, not Erica, but Erica was the one who bore the brunt of Kendall's wrath. Second, again because Kendall knew how old Erica was, even if she wanted to believe that her father was not a filthy rapist, even if she wanted to believe his lie that the sex was consensual, no one disputed Erica's age. It was her BIRTHDAY PARTY - Richard Fields knew how old she was. Erica told Kendall it happened on her 14th birthday. It should have been obvious to Kendall that Erica was too young to consent and this was -at a bare minimum - a statutory rape case. I thought it would have made Kendall more sympathetic if Richard Fields had insisted that Erica claimed to be older, that she pretended to be 16 or 17 even, and Kendall had clung to that belief because she didn't want to believe the truth.

The other thing I wish the writers had done was explained Dimitri's motivation a bit better. He really pushed Erica to accept Kendall as her daughter and for them to have a relationship. I've always assumed that he did so because of his own experience with Edmund, and he thought it would be better in the long run if they accepted each other as family as quickly as possible. The problem was that he came off as pushy and arrogant and frankly stupid because he had no parenting experience but was telling Erica how to parent her own kids. I also wish that his motivation for helping Kendall find Richard Fields had been flushed out a little bit better. Dimitri was a control freak, and I think he agreed to help Kendall because he figured she'd search with or without his help, and if he helped her, he could at least exert some control over the situation. I think he also naively believed that she really would find closure and would drop the whole thing. Unfortunately I don't think the writers did a great job of having him explain his actions, and it turned some fans against the Erica/Dimitri pairing as a result.

[NothinButAttitude]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zbrdEFAAiM