All My Children Tribute Thread

[Jonathan]

 

Ahh the memories.  I love this show.

[soapfave06]

Started randomly watching some December 1995 episodes. It is so nice to see the Michael Delaney stories. While cheesy at times it is a simple, realistic storyline that brings together the whole community versus some convoluted mess. I wish we had more of that towards the end. 

 

Was this teen scene Anita/Bobby/Laura/Scott/Kevin popular? I do enjoy Scott/Anita/Kevin. Laura is okay at times and Bobby I completely do not like. Wasn't Kelsey part of this teen scene or was she older?

 

Skipped on to the Cutting Edge climax where Laurel ends up dead. Did the seemingly sensational ending give the show a ratings bump out of curiosity? Or was the event spoiled prior to airing?

Edited March 7, 2018 by soapfave06

[DRW50]

 

The ratings weren't all that fantastic at this time, I believe, which is one of the reasons that FMB was let go early in 1996. 

 

Kelsey was a part of that group. 

 

Later in 1996 or in 1997, Soap Opera Weekly had some article which had someone at ABC Daytime saying the teens weren't really that popular and that viewers felt they had been forced into the show (which they were). 

[Vee]

I also never liked those teens - except Kelsey.

[You're Soaking in it]

 

The network wanted a teen set in 1995, as part of correcting the crash course of infinite evil twins / bombings / and general pull-a-plot-device-out-of-a-bag that Megan McTavish was driving on. That's what developed. I thought it was well done, and - along with other storylines - more tonally true to AMC. 

 

The ratings were not as good as they were, like every other soap, pre-OJ-trial. Disney's acquisition of ABC was a major catalyst for letting Felicia Behr go... and her dismissal was in fact pretty shocking. At the time, AMC's only two Outstanding Drama Series Emmys to date were won under Behr... and currently AMC had Emmy noms across all major show categories. The Emmys were held a month after FMB's exit, and AMC took home their first Writing Team - Lorraine Broderick as HW - award since, well,  7 years ago when Broderick was Head Writer. To me, things were positive, and the changes that started happening after the Disney takeover were reactionary and not well thought out. 

 

So Francesca James was brought in as EP - and she described her vision as more experimental in production style, as well as more boundary-pushing in terms of story direction. I mean, I guess she was those things, though I tend to think about half of what she pushed out didn't resonate. At times I felt the show was imbalanced, and sometimes just too damn sad. And then there were times it was pretty fantastic. That teen set stayed mostly through FJ's time on the show.

 

By then, McTavish was back, and 1998 was a total poop-storm.

Edited March 7, 2018 by YurSoakinginit

[Soaplovers]

The teen bought on in 1995 started being phased out in mid 1997 with both Bobby/Anita leaving to go to college... then Gillian was added to play against Scott/Laura/Kelsey/Kevin.. but by 1998. Laura was written out and Kevin vanished as well.. and finally Kelsey left and I believe Scott did to by 1999... and Gillian stayed till like 2001 when she was killed off.

 

While this teen set didn't compare to the heyday of the early 80s... they were a fairly strong set and way better then the shows late attempts in the 2000s.

[victoria foxton]

They were a pretty good teen set. I loved Kevin and Kelsey's friendship. I wished AMC could've done more with Kevin. Anita was dull as dishwater. I wasn't the biggest fan of Bobby. But i didn't hate them. I liked original recipe Laura. Who years later Jeannie P character assassinated.

[DRW50]

 

I grew to loathe Laura after they had Brooke adopt her - she became so sanctimonious and bitter. I remember when they even had her being bitter toward Santa Claus. It almost felt like a parody by that point. 

 

The best thing about her was her sweet chemistry with Shane McDermott's Scott - so of course he was "hunkified" with the bland Daniel Cosgrove. 

 

I grew to like Laura more again when she went back to her roots in late 1997 - unfortunately that was just done for the disgusting Jim storyline, and she was carted off.

 

I could not stand anything about Bobby. That role was badly miscast. It's a shame they only cast Christian Campbell (who could have been perfect) years later, by which point they only had Bobby on as a filler. 

[victoria foxton]

Do you know whatever happened to Shane McDermott? I still remember him and SMG from when they were on Swans Crossing. I had given up on AMC by the time CC was playing Bobby. I loved CC in the gay movie Trick. 

[DRW50]

 

http://www.slashfilm.com/shane-mcdermott-airborne-interview/

 

http://shanemcdermott.com/

 

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/All-My-Children-star-Shane-McDermott-arrested-12343197.php

[victoria foxton]

Thanks but seeing this made me feel sad for Shane. I hope he gets help. He has to be around my age yet he looks so much older.

Edited March 7, 2018 by victoria foxton

[Pine Charles]

These promos were the sh*t.

 

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[DRW50]

SMG was just burning charisma back then. I bet fans must have really hated Kendall, or been fascinated by her...probably both. 

 

The hysteria Susan Lucci could get in her voice in dramatic moments could be so effective.

[Khan]

I just couldn't get past the fact that history had been rewritten in order to make Kendall's existence possible, and that the quality of the writing under Megan McTavish was becoming more and more trashy like some horrific, mid-afternoon talk show.

Edited March 18, 2018 by Khan

[Vee]

SMG had a magazine profile around that time which is one of the first things that got me deeper into soaps - my gay little ass had a bit of a crush on her.