All My Children Tribute Thread

[EricMontreal22]

Carl posted this entertaining read about AMC in 1991 in one of the threads now in the archive, that I came across by chance. I hope he won't mind me re posting it here:

ALL MY CHILDREN Has a Better Half

Even the Strongest Stories Need Support

By Donna Hoke Kahwaty

Report Card

Acting: B-

Continuity: A

Plotting: A+

Character Development: C-

Couples: B

ALL MY CHILDREN has come full circle, rising from sixth place in the ratings - where it often found itself in the past two years - back up to a solid number three, and sometimes even number two. No doubt the release of Head Writer Maggie DePriest, and the subsequent reinstatement of creator Agnes Nixon as head writer, helped accomplish the jump.

Under DePriest, AMC was floundering. Stories and characters - even those who had been on the show for years - were not well-defined. Watching ALL MY CHILDREN was like watching the antics in your office - you know the people, but their conversations aren't particularly interesting on a day-to-day basis. Likewise, one only needed to tune in to All My Children once in a while to see what everyone was up to. And the truth is, it wasn't much. And it got worse. Erica went on the run, Skye tried to kill Barbara and Silver's ghost plagued Natalie. The show was on a downslide and losing viewers.

Good plotting returned along with Nixon. Stories no longer meandered, but steadily moved from point A to point B in classic soap opera fashion, branching out to affect other characters and kick off new stories. Nixon is a master of the ripple effect. She began the Jackson/Erica/Travis triangle (Walt Willey/Susan Lucci/Larkin Malloy), which was an instant hit, delivering the tension that a daytime love story needs to survive. Introducing Barbara (Susan Pratt) and Tom (Richard Shoberg) further intensified the drama. Barbara's daughter by Travis had leukemia, and her only chance of survival was another child conceived by the couple. As a marriage-busting ploy, it beat having a wife return from the dead.

AMC's plotting is such a major strength, in fact, that reading advance story is as compelling as watching the show. But it takes convincing characters as well as good stories to make a show work, to make it compelling to watch. In this respect, AMC is only half working right now. While the plots are foolproof, the characters are often wanting, and not interesting enough to watch for themselves.

All My Children has a habit of bringing on new characters who are not fully developed. They hire actors to play out a story requiring one dimension, and, when that story is over, the character has nowhere to go. At this point, AMC usually takes one of two paths. Option one: Give the actor a story that is completely wrong for his/her character, thereby confusing the viewers as well as the actor. Caera's (Genie Francis) incest story is a perfect example. She was brought on as a femme fatale, and now she's a victim. It doesn't wash. Dixie (Emmy winner Cady McClain) would have been a much better choice; her father, Seabone Hunkle, was a louse, and viewers care about Dixie. Instead, the exceptionally talented McClain is wasting away following her front-burner year (and why hasn't Will [Patrick Stuart] had a decent story since he's been back?). Opal's (Jill Larson) relationship with Palmer (James Mitchell) is another bad move. Opal has taken away Palmer's edge, which he had always maintained, even when he was in love. He no longer spars with Myra (Elizabeth Lawrence); he's just one more casualty of the AMC Emasculation Syndrome. And Opal whines too much.

AMC's second most popular bad character remedy: Recast with someone who will fit the story better. The most recent example is Brian Bodine (Matt Borlenghi). The original Brian (Gregory Gordon) auditioned twice for his part; AMC should have been sure of him at that point. Why weren't they? Probably because the character was never fully developed. He probably still isn't, and may well go the aimless route of David Rampal once the Hayley/Brian love story is over.

A tendency to rely on larger-than-life eccentricities to make new characters interesting also creates a problem for All My Children. Once the story that fits that eccentricity is over, the character blends into the mainstream, often without a solid identity. Witness Opal, Hayley (Kelly Ripa) and Trevor (James Kiberd). All three started out unique and ended up shadows of their former oddball selves. Had they been more developed from the beginning, this wouldn't have happened. Characters wouldn't take 180-degree turns, like Barbara did when she met Tom. She lost all her verve. How is anybody supposed to identify with a character who has no direction? Character personalities should be developed in and of themselves, not merely for the sake of a particular story.

And when AMC wants to push that pet story, they have a predilection for ramming the new characters down viewers' throats (before they've been given a chance to care about them), to the detriment of its proven actors/characters. Phyllis Lyons (Arlene), Kelly Ripa and Genie Francis are talented, but they take up more than half the show. To watch them is like turning on a movie in the middle; you don't really know enough about them to be engrossed in their actions. But that doesn't mean that stories about the children of alcoholics, or incest stories, are not well-developed ideas; they are. AMC just needs to develop characters equally well. And they must introduce new characters gradually, like they did with Katie Kennicott (Greta Lind). By the time she got involved with Joey (Michael Brainard), she was familiar. Likewise, Joey was introduced slowly before he got a front-burner story.

Joey is one of AMC's backbone characters - those played by actors talented enough to imbue their characters with personality and depth with little direction from writers. Michael Brainard is in good company: Brooke (Julia Barr), Tom, Adam (David Canary), Erica, Jack and Natalie (Kate Collins) are all vertebrae in the Pine Valley backbone. No story is completely lost as long as one of those characters is in place, and that is to the actors' credit. These thespians know how to deliver, to make any scene work. The anguish of Michael Brainard's Joey overrides Emily Ann's (Liz Vassey) one-note obsession and Katie's too-good-to-be-true morals. David Canary makes Adam's desire to win over his child believable, and helps to obliterate the horrendous acting of the students at Pine Valley High. How old is that Z (Brian MacReady) character anyway? He looks thirty. AMC has trouble doing credible teens. Canary is aided in his plight by Phyllis Lyons (Arlene), a talented newcomer. Lucci is similarly fortunate in working with Charles Van Eman, who makes lovesick Charlie very appealing. It's too early to tell how Kate Collins will fare in her dual role (Nat and sister Janet) but she certainly is talented enough to pull it off and All My Children is to be commended for giving her a chance to demonstrate her versatility. And, of course, the Tom/Jack/Brooke triangle was the triple crown. It was a perfect set-up that couldn't miss with these three actors in the saddle.

This triangle could never have developed if AMC didn't cultivate normal friendships among characters. Donna (Candice Earley) and Natalie, Jack and Tad, Brooke and Jack, are just some examples of characters who are actually friends. From real relationships come real stories - stories that make more sense, and flow. Jack and Brooke have been through as much as some super couples and All My Children - a good matchmaker - is always quick to recognize when a couple belongs together because of history, as well as chemistry.

But history, or continuity, has forever been an iron strength of this show. AMC rarely misses. In large part, this is because Agnes Nixon never removed her hand from the till. When Natalie fought to get a fair divorce from Adam, Stuart saved the day by threatening to reveal another time when Stuart stood in for Adam. That Stuart, not Adam, secured Adam's divorce from Erica is a little piece of information viewers may have forgotten about. but AMC didn't; they saved it for precisely the right moment. All My Children is also very good about remembering characters long gone, as if they were real people. It's not unusual for Enid (Natalie Ross) to mention her son, Greg. Phoebe (Ruth Warrick) talks about son Lincoln often, and, when Brooke lost her daughter Laura, Phoebe recalled the loss of her own daughter, Ann, who died years before. It's natural to do this, but most soaps don't.

One of AMC's strengths used to be humor, but lately, some of the most laughable things surely aren't meant to be, e.g. Hayley's drug trip on the roof or Ceara's flashbacks, in which Genie Francis sported pigtails. All My Children needs to make better use of naturally funny actors, like Walt Willey, Charles Van Eman and Louis Edmonds (Langley) - who isn't used nearly enough - instead of trying to artificially create humor with characters like Opal. It comes across flat. Scenes like the one where Jack babysat for Jamie are infinitely more funny.

While it may seem that All My Children has a lot of problems, they aren't that far-reaching. If the show took the time to more fully develop characters, and then hired more fully developed actors - rather than the inexperienced performers they tend to cast- to play the parts, it would be top-notch.

[Khan]

OMG, I actually remember reading that article!

[EricMontreal22]

HA. I think I missed it--there were months where Iw as never here back then.

A lot of what she says I think is true--though it's interesting that several of the characters and actors she really lvoes and sees having a big future--didn't--and some she sees as burning out too quickly, etc (Opal, Hayley...) did.

[DRW50]

Thanks for finding that. It's striking sometimes just how tough they were on Opal back then - they also disliked her friendship with Erica. It's a credit to Jill Larson that she made this work, as I think a lot of fans never believed Opal with Palmer.

And there's more of that biting criticism of Ceara which I remembered when Genie was going around recently saying her Y&R writing is the best since her Agnes Nixon writing.

It's a shame they got rid of Brainard and Van Eman after this. I wonder why they did.

[Khan]

No, I mean I actually remember reading the article in SOD. (Sorry if that wasn't clear.)

Edited September 17, 2011 by Khan

[EricMontreal22]

No worries, I'm glad you didn't mind me posting it.

It's funny, this was probably JUST before I became hooked on the show and I remember my sister's best friend who used to watch for years with her mother and father (she stopped watching shortly after I started watching lol, though her parents still watch) all loved Opal and Palmer. Of course I had no history with the characters, but I assumed everyone must have.

I wonder if introducing the merricks' soon after, which was so modeled on the Cortlands in some ways, was an attempt to brign back some of that gothic power trip now that Palmer had been seemingly calmed down...

She does seem to think the Ceara incest story was written well from a plot pov but not character--I wonder if Ceara was introduced under Depriest or Nixon--when she was a femme fatale. I only saw the fall out of that storyline, and at the time I remember being enthralled by it but I didn't know the character too well, I was 11,and it was the kind of thing I had never seen talked about on tv before, so... Those all probably played a part.

And yes it des seem very odd they got rid of both Charlie and joey literally within months after this. I wonder if there was some reason.

[Pine Charles]

Eric,

This is only a random example (from all the clips), but Helga is @ 6:15 here:

Please register in order to view this content

[EricMontreal22]

HA thanks--I can find the others from there. Such a great clip, and I actually kinda remember nearly all the scenes. Ihave to say the one thing I don't miss from that era, in hindsight (it never bothered me then) was the music. It got worse during the Behr/broderick era where it seems to just play on and on, in a way it sounds more dated than the 80s music does.

Edited September 17, 2011 by EricMontreal22

[Y&RWorldTurner]

LOL! What?! I have to see this. It sounds so ridiculous (especially for a story that was supposed to be serious).

Edited September 17, 2011 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Pine Charles]

I don't remember that scene, but I so remember Ceara's suicide attempt. She was on a bridge and about to jump into the river.... Erica, Jeremy & the cops were there to talk her out of it. I remember her seeing her rapist dad's face in the water.

[DRW50]

Erica was there? That's kind of like an awful foreboding for Erica's own rape story.

I wonder what her dialogue was.

"Ceara, you can't die! Who else would I have to show me just how out of style clothes can truly be!"

[SFK]

Granted, I was in elementary school, but I definitely remember glamorous Nexus and sordid Foxy's, and I didn't even get that they were in separate locales. It was seamless (and exciting) to my young mind. Capitol tried something similar with Atlantic City, having the Cleggs for example take very realistic limo rides up I-95 to Jordy's casino. In hindsight, I think it was pretty damn brilliant to give Erica her satellite life in New York. It's absolutely realistic that Erica would have had to go there to achieve the career she did opposed to trying to make her an international supastar out of Pine Valley, and it was beyond feasible given Manhattan's relatively close proximity to the Philly burbs. The perfect answer to what the '80s were calling for in terms of glamour while staying true to the show. Wish I could relive it.

[DRW50]

I guess in later years they just changed it to Erica fleeing town due to personal problems (when she worked as a waitress in Sea City, or that weird thing when she was a showgirl).

So I wanted to ask my Natalie question. Do you think the character was as interesting after the rape storyline?

I know Kate Collins didn't seem that thrilled about what the show did to Natalie and Jeremy.

[EricMontreal22]

I admit as an 11 year old I found it absolutely chilling. I'm not sure if now I'd laugh or not--I tend to get wrapped up in those kinds of stories unless I find them really offensively done, which, despite now realizing it does sound liek Ceara's character was a flop, to put it mildly, it doesn't seem the story was done that way.

[Pine Charles]

Maybe I am wrong, but I could have sworn Ericawas there.