Jump to content

All My Children Tribute Thread


Toups

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 10.4k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

I would recommend a few storylines to watch:

1. Brooke/Adam/Dixie gaslighting baby storyline from late 1988-early 1990s. It had all the elements that makes a good story: Family, mystery, deception, romance, betrayal, secrets, lies, triangles, hopes, dreams and trust. It’s the shows quintessential storyline imo, with motherhood being the heart of the story it connects with the theme of the show. It’s the one storyline that played out until the finale of the show and it’s hulu reboot because of the child that was produced from it.

 

2. Janet green ushers in a second golden period for the show. (Early 1991-2000). The feel of the show changes, and we witness a changing of the guard with new leading characters (Dimitri, Edmund, Maria and wildwind). During this time there’s a focus on unconventional families, even more comedy, strong masculine presence, identity theft, a gay teacher, bts drama of a talk show with a tv death,  a whodunnit, 2 major deaths, a pill popping addiction, a alcoholic mother, fan favorite return, long lost children, a baby switch, a plane crash, lots and lots twins and a tornado! I personally feel this period was the prescursor for shows like “everwood” and “one tree hill” I’m  sure others will disagree though!

Edited by DemetriKane
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

@victoria foxton @Vee

 

Well, I'm glad we are now talking about Megan McTavish. Northwestern got her papers and, being a student, I got to go through them.

Her bible along with all the outlines for her 2nd run are amazing.

She wanted David to be Ryan's other brother and for David to have raped Kit (Jackson's sister). Ryan was convicted, if you all recall, because of the DNA match. It was supposed to have been David's they sampled. She wanted to do the rape because, and I quote, "Rape stories are juicy as hell and they are a great way to bring up the ratings."

Her idea for David's mom was that she was a the Madam of a brothel who screwed Ryan's dad.

Instead of what Jim/Brooke we WERE going to have a triangle between Dimitri/Brooke/Anton.  Megan had accepted that storyline, which was presented by others in the room, but vetoed it. She felt that Brooke and Anton would gross out viewers.

Kendall wasn't on by this point but she wanted to bring her back to pair her with Ryan.

 

She wanted to redo that Janet/Fake Will storyline but with Maria. Someone was going to pay a look-a-like to act as Maria's ghost.

 

She was obsessed with demographics. She specifically stated that she wasn't going to have (I forgot all who but I do know Brooke was one of them) on the back burner for the summer because those characters (again, I can only remember Brooke) "scared away the 18-34 demographics".

 

Regarding correspondences I found. There were emails  between her, the network, and others of power revealed interesting things about about Agnes. Agnes was impressed with Bill Bell's shows and how they were handling the ratings corrosion. Agnes told Megan to have less scenes per episode, make them longer, and make them less eventful. She wanted Megan to focus on characters trying to follow their dreams. Megan felt that Agnes was wrong and that everything needed to be action packed and the scenes needed to be shorter and quicker. One thing specifically was that Agnes wanted Megan to write scenes in which Scott talked about his dream of being a film maker to Becca. Megan told that to the head of ABC Daytime and told the head of ABC Daytime that 'nobody in the 18-34 group wants to work in TV or Film'.

 

I can see why Agnes may have liked Megan McTavish. If you read her earlier outlines, I mean at the start of a run, she had a GREAT understanding of character. She even reiterates her storylines to the overall theme of AMC rather well. But she goes off the rails as the ratings move. She becomes more thrilled with the ratings movement and even says she gets a thrill from that. The thrill is was motivates her. Like, she comes off like a pro-gambler or a real estate agent or a car salesperson when it comes to hitting the correct demos. And that is when she falls.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Speaking of McTavish, I finally finished watching all that's available online from Natalie in the well to the resolution of Will's murder for the first time.

Given everything McTavish subsequently did in her career, it's fascinating to watch what I believe were the first characters she officially created: Angelique, Galen, Gloria, and Stephen Hamill.  I have to imagine at least three of them did not work out at all as planned.

I actually wonder if Gloria, the only one who ended up lasting, was even intended to: I kind of got the vibe early on that she was originally going to be the victim of a less far-reaching whodunit, maybe limited to the Cortlandts, and they changed it to Will when the actor left.  In any event, I was surprised by how much I liked Gloria.  The actress/character were wasted in later years in such unfortunate stories, from what I saw—somehow I still remember even her scenes from the ads for that Maria/Erica baby switch story, when I wasn't watching the show, were like nails on a chalkboard—but she was about the most riveting part of the show for a good month or two after everyone discovered Natalie was alive.  And I'll be damned if I didn't feel for Gloria in the rape story, manipulative and problematic as it clearly was.

With Angelique I was actually expecting the worst, given the general concept and how short-lived I knew she would be, but surprisingly I thought she had her moments.  (Sometimes perhaps unintentionally hilariously, like when Angelique still couldn't speak and was just watching all the teeth-gnashing at WildWind after she was wheeled into the party, but I'm not sure what more any performer could have done with that.)  I assume Angelique was meant to last longer and they cut their losses, but I also suspect the triangle they were setting up with Dimitri and Erica when the uploads cut off was originally intended for Dimitri and Natalie.  Am I wrong, or did Angelique just vanish for weeks after her intro, while Natalie dropped Dimitri with barely a second glance, and Dimitri showed no inclination of wanting to reconcile with Angelique at that point?  Did Kate Collins announce she was leaving right then?

As for Galen and Stephen, I am guessing they were meant to be long-term romantic leads?  They weren't terrible, and I'm not 100% sure if Stephen/Dixie was cut short more to make way for Tad's return than for any other reason, but it foreshadowed McTavish's challenges making "good" characters compelling/dynamic.  I had heard of Galen but had no idea she was actually recast in such a brief time period, so I was as surprised as most viewers would have been 30 years ago, but the character still didn't take.

To be fair, I picked these four characters even though I know McTavish must have had a major hand in creating Dimitri, and I actually think Lucas Barnes—Terrence's father—pre-dated Angelique by a day or so.  But Broderick and Washam were still credited above McTavish in Dimitri's first episodes, and I really doubt Lucas was intended to stay on the show longer than he did, or move beyond a supporting role.  (Although if the actor were interested, they absolutely should have kept him around and given him more to do!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

And I stand with her Periodt. 
 

I have to agree with Agnes a bit about their scenes, I mean they’re both right it should have been a balance of both slower character scenes and a action packed scene. But as for the characters chasing dreams I’m team Agnes, AMC was that place for that. Almost all the women were on the make so it’s within theme. I disagree with Meghan about the young adults being interested in film and tv. and IMHO Bill Bell was just as obsessed with Agnes show, he started giving his black storylines more room to breathe as Jesse and Angie were slowly moving out of Pine Valley! And practically stolen her their storyline Dru/Neil/shemar/Olivia is a fleshed out version of Jesse/Angie/Eugene/Yvonne.

Edited by DemetriKane
Link to comment
Share on other sites

   .@allmc2008 Wow! i never knew that. It's even worse than the trash that aired. Very dark and cringey.  What i remember from that time. Was Gillian & Ryan going on the run. Which felt like an eternity. And MM trying desperately to make Kit and Edmund happen. I also remember how bad Nan Martin's son was. He clearly didn't  inherit  his mother's acting talent.

Edited by victoria foxton
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • I was watching some August 1987 episodes and they brought back so many memories. I had some thoughts: Lisa and Jamie were so dull. Lisa was such a nothing character. It boggles my mind that so much story was centered around her in such a short amount of time. Joanna Going is a talented actress, but the material was just not there.  It was so good to see Wallingford and Mitch again. I know there was talk about Felicia a while back, but these episodes reminded me how integral Felicia was for the show.  Sally Spencer was done so dirty. She is turning in superb performances in an icky storyline. I wish she had stuck around longer. She has chemistry with everyone. The McKinnons should have lasted longer. Spencer had some strong stuff with Stephen Schnetzer and Mary Alexander. AW waster such a talented actress by getting rid of her. Justice for Cheryl too. I also missed Ed Fry when he left. Sandra Ferguson was a star from the moment she came on. She was charismatic and just popped. She had immediate chemistry with RKK and blended in well with Wyndham and Watson. I'd forgotten about the teenage Matthew.  I have no memory of Peggy Lazarus. She must not have lasted long. Was the original plan for John that he was going to turn out to be the twins' real father?      
    • If the new and improved copies that @rsclassicfanforever has uploaded can be manually moved into the "by month, by year" folders, that would be awesome. I personally don't think it's necessary to keep the older versions (which either have Dutch subtitles hard coded on them, or are lesser in picture quality). That's a lot of valuable drive space that could be cleared. Just my view but can appreciate others may feel differently. The structure had been by month by year previously, so I think it would be easier to conform to that, where so much prior work to get it to that format has already been done. Hopefully you can "drag and drop" so the new copies are in the right month/year? Re Clips, I never look at them now we pretty much have the episodes in full. Appreciate others may use, however. Thanks for all your hard work here @BoldRestless!
    • Oh yes defintely, Josh Griffith repeats and repeats the same storylines.
    • Isnt’t this storyline similar to the Cameron Kirsten situation though? Sharon thought she killed him. He ended up being alive and Sharon was being tormented with thinking she was seeing his face everywhere and that’s how we got that iconic scene with her and Nikki in the sewers.   I understand in Mariah’s case this is different circumstances but it does seem like a play on that whole thing. Maybe I’m wrong. I just wish if they were going to make any character follow in Sharon’s foot steps it would be Faith. Mariah wasn’t even raised by her, and her personality is different. I would expect her to take a different path. I understand I could be completely jumping ahead because the storyline hasn’t even played out yet but we’ll see. 
    • Thanks again @Paul Raven Monica was completely without redeeming qualities at this point. I always found the whole Monica = Carly narrative regressive, as I don't think shows comparing characters so heavily is ever a great idea, but she's actually worse than Carly was. Was it the Pollocks who had Leslie have a miscarriage?  Giving her a child, especially by rape, was not a good idea, but a part of me wishes they'd committed to it just to see what story it might have had in later years.
    • @janea4old Your detailed explanation and delving into the psychology and motivations is no doubt the opposite of what we will see onscreeen. As @ranger1rg stated we will get a few scenes and some sketchy explanations. Like the adoption of Aria, most of it will take place off screen.
    • I'm suddenly fearful that DAYS is going to pull a Flowers-for-Algernon stunt and Bo's progress will be reversed.  While @te. is stuck on Abe's tiny bedroom, I can't stop thinking of the size of Bo's huge hospital room.
    • Okay, why are Paulina and Abe sleeping like that?!  I'd take a screen grab if I wasn't lazy, but come on.
    • All caught up on this week's episodes. Deidre Hall has done the best work of her career with this series of episodes. That is her tribute to Drake. Every acting choice has been perfect. From her reaction the moment John flatlined, to her snapping at Abe and Paulina (what a smart, realistic writing choice), to her grief playing the text message over and over. Josh Taylor did the best work of his career in the scene with Kayla telling him John had died. Everything about his facial expression, voice, pronunciation, everything was so different from what he usually does. He was overcome with the emotion of it and any of his acting tics disappeared. Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso were great. One thing I noticed with the flashbacks of John/Marlena and Bo/Hope is that Bo and Hope are constantly smiling at each other. The chemistry those two have cannot be faked. It's clear the writing team decided to clean up Bo and Hope and give fans a happy ending for them, neatly wrapped up in a bow. The juxtaposition of Bo and Hope reclaiming their happiness thanks to John, while Marlena is dealt life's harshest blow from John's sacrifice, was another great writing choice. Marlena even saying that to Eric, that she is paying for Bo's recovery with John's life, was such smart writing. Susan Seaforth Hayes was used very effectively between the two storylines. I really enjoyed the scene of Kate talking to Philip, calmly stating that she will make Xander pay. Overall, the show should be lining these episodes up for the Emmys and Deidre should be carefully choosing her scenes for her own reel. She deserves a Best Actress Emmy for this work. The first time I have felt that way about her work. Peter Reckell should submit himself for Guest for the scenes where he found out Victor is dead because he was genuinely heartbreaking. Josh Taylor should throw his name down for Supporting Actor for his scenes. The show deserves a Writing and Best Show for what they've done with the episodes around John and Bo. It was heavy stuff and I feel for the actors. I am so impressed with what they did.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy