All My Children Tribute Thread

[Pine Charles]

I remember them gearing up for Janet stealing Brooke’s life - which would’ve ultimately meant Robin Mattson getting the boot and a dual role for Julia Barr.

 

Fan outcry led to the story getting dropped and Robin Mattson keeping her job.

A part of me would’ve loved to have seen JB take on a dual role.- and I’m sure RM would’ve been kept on-screen a while for the “mirror” scenes - but I know it was for the best that it was ultimately nixed.

If memory serves, Janet’s motive was Brooke “stealing” Pierce and Laura away from her.

I remember the scene of Janet hatching her plot and looking at the mirror - with Julia Barr as the “reflection.”

I also remember a scene of Janet hiding in Brooke’s closet, intending to clip a lock of Brooke’s hair to perfectly match the color (just like she did with Natalie). 
I wonder where Janet would’ve imprisoned Brooke...??
A well would be too obvious.

 

If you could ponder a guess, what would Janet’s mental diagnoses be??....

Schizophrenia with a dash of Borderline Personality and Body Dysmorphia disorders??

Edited March 19, 2021 by Pine Charles

[DemetriKane]

Me too! Julia would have rocked that role. Tbh, after everything they put her through and took from the character. I could buy Brooke losing her grip on reality for awhile.

 

I remember that storyline, and I remember rooting for Janet  too. I didn’t like them putting Brooke in that situation. I had fallen in love with Janet’s new family unit. Brooke needed to be across town adopting Kelsey baby with Edmund!!!!

 

@KMan101 I pretty much agree with everything you said.  You’re right, Skye was good on GH but she belongs in PV! 
 

@Soaploversyea I know, I’m saying she never should have came back. It was plenty of ways to keep her connected that’s also why she always needed more family members. I would have actually wrote a short story of how her friends feel disconnected and/or cut off from her. If they would have kept all the big business in NYC Erica could still bump into old neighbors. They had the teens running to the big Apple every year what if they ended up at Erica’s?!

[Pine Charles]

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OMG!!.....

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Pine Charles

[KMan101]

 

Ah, makes sense now. I'm kinda glad they dropped it, on some level, but on the other hand, Barr deserved the meaty material it could have given her. Maybe it could have given Brooke a new life and not be treated as an extra a few years later ... lol 

[Pine Charles]

Yes.

I believe what ended Janet’s plot was Dr. Kinder kidnapping her (which also involved Liza & Skye, as well as Erica, due to her earlier association with him as his patient).

[Soaplovers]

Janet/Erica hiding Kinder's body was so genius..and both hated Brooke...with good reason.  I always rooted for Erica when she was opposite Brooke..tbh

[Pine Charles]

Erica was always jealous of Brooke’s intellect, I believe, while Brooke was always jealous of Erica’s charisma.

DIXIE, not Erica,  was actually the woman to directly f*ck over Brooke the most (first in ‘89 with Adam, and then again in ‘94 with Tad).

Edited March 20, 2021 by Pine Charles

[KMan101]

 

Yep. I've always adored Brooke and Erica's relationship and rivalry. It was fun watching them fight over Dimitri for a hot second in 1999. 

 

Janet and Erica's strange friendship always amused me, honestly. You could tell Mattson and Lucci enjoyed each other.

[Pine Charles]

For sure!!

 

And this was good, too:

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[FrenchBug82]

Also. Not that I wanted them to keep JB to prop up SL of course, since JB and Brooke were fantastic on their own merits, but I also think getting rid of any character that could go toe-to-toe with Erica as equals ended up hurting Erica. With a character like that, having someone her own age and a similar affectionate relationship with the audience taking her down a notch or two from time to time is necessary so that she doesn't become insufferable. Krystal and Greenlee weren't exactly the adversaries that could do that effectively for the audience.

[Pine Charles]

I concur 100%!!

 

Do you feel Maria was a worthy adversary??

Edited March 20, 2021 by Pine Charles

[Soaplovers]

Barbara Montgomery was a close second in terms of being a good adversary.  In some cases..a better one because she wasn't trying to be a goody 2 shoes like Brooke.

 

Of the younger women...I would Annie and Erica had some good verbal exchanges...along with Jamie Lunar's Liza.

[j swift]

I think of Maria as more of a good girl yin to Erica's bad girl yang; much like Tara was with Phil.  But, she did inspire the iconic "St. Maria of Wildwood with her push up bra tending to the sick and needy" in Erica's Woman of the Year Speech.

 

Barbara and Brooke felt like rivals on an equal playing field.  They were accomplished ladies who posed a real threat to Erica's happiness.  Whereas Krystal was the kind of gal men would settle for when they could no longer handle Erica's needs.   After all, Barbara was present for another of Erica's most iconic fights when they spewed the word bitch to each other more times than have ever been heard in daytime tv. 

 

BTW in Pine Valley or Llandview if someone offers you the Woman of Year trophy, you should definitely decline the honor because it was always the worst night of that woman's year.

 

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by j swift

[FrenchBug82]

Verbal exchange is not quite the same as what I meant. It is entertaining but it is different from having an equal keeping you in check in the audience's mind. Trading verbal barbs is fun stuff but it is easy. Having an enemy who knows your number and is not afraid of you and can look at you in the eyes as an equal in the audience's esteem is quite another thing and is important for the show's balance.
Erica was Erica. She was quite an unsufferable person if you think about it. That's why Mona was so important in humanizing her and I think the rivalry with Brooke was helping in a similar way.

 

Which brings us to this. I agree. I only mentioned Brooke because Brooke way outlasted Barbara and we were talking about her disappearance in the last decade of AMC.
By that time, every woman who went up against Erica, verbally or more rarely otherwise, you always felt that if there was something at stake other than verbal sparring, Erica would wipe the floor with them.

Brooke was her equal in intellect and accomplishments. And fan affection, if not fame.
 

I am not the most objective person to ask because I never cared for Maria at all. But, obviously, no. Only reason to me she could even be mentioned in this conversation is because the one unforgivable thing Erica ever did was at Maria's expense so that gives her, in theory, moral superiority over Erica.
But in terms of intellect or charisma, Maria has nothing on Erica - or Brooke IMO. She was "likable" (not to me but broadly speaking) but that's not enough to go up against complex layered characters. Maria has things going for her (again not to me but broadly speaking) and she was strong - but I never got any depth from her.

All I will say is try to picture any other character mentioned here deliver the lecture Brooke gives Erica about Bianca in the video shared a few comments up and you can't think of any other "rival" that would have enough weight for Erica to listen.
Picture Krystal or Annie or Greenlee or Maria. You'd just roll your eyes. Erica would just have to reply who do you think you are with contempt and the audience would probably side with her, despite agreeing with what is being said.
Erica couldn't do that with Brooke, at least not from the audience's POV. She could say the words but the audience knew who Brooke was and Brooke had earned the right to lecture/advise her.

[Soaplovers]

I found Brooke to be a privileged rich girl...and very judgmental. So I loved when Erica would burst her balloon.

 

And other than a few menm..she always took Erica's leftovers.