On 12/23/2024 at 11:35 AM, Liberty City said:

All because she was living in Los Angeles and, that's the only reason she came back, because of the serial's move to the west coast. She signed a one-year deal, with the option of a second, and opted to not choose the option. From Soap Central (published October 12, 2008):

❝ Now a year into her return, Budig opted not to green-light an option that would have allowed her to stay with the show for another year. The toll of having to lead a bicoastal life -- husband Bob Guiney lives in Los Angeles, where he had Budig settled after her 2006 exit from All My Children -- has become too difficult. ❞

She would have stayed longer if her storyline was better. I kinda figured she wasn’t sticking around, she was on almost everyday but her storylines felt C/D level. She was a sidekick in her own storylines. I remember watching and saying to myself “This would be a great Emmy tape for Missy Egan” while Rebecca was standing on my screen watching it play out too! 
 

I could have seen her sticking around if they took the character down a new and exciting path. Putting her back in the Ryan/Kendall orbit was a dead zone it was as if we were stuck in 2003.
 

Greenlee needed a new challenge in life. Maybe paired with someone like Frankie, or JR.  I also thought it would have been interesting to see her character paired with Brot. The only exciting thing she did in that entire year was have one night stand with Josh. 

Edited December 26, 2024Dec 26 by DemetriKane

16 minutes ago, DemetriKane said:

She would have stayed longer if her storyline was better. I kinda figured she wasn’t sticking around, she was on almost everyday but her storylines felt C/D level. She was a sidekick in her own storylines. I remember watching and saying to myself “This would be a great Emmy tape for Missy Egan” while Rebecca was standing on my screen watching it play out too! 

I could have seen her sticking around if they took the character down a new and exciting path. Putting her back in the Ryan/Kendall orbit was a dead zone it was as if we were stuck in 2003.

Greenlee needed a new challenge in life. Maybe paired with someone like Frankie, or JR.  I also thought it would have been interesting to see her character paired with Brot. The only exciting thing she did in that entire year was have one night stand with Josh. 

Sorry but, I don't think anything would have made Budig stay after the first-year. She made it very known: doing bicoastal living was not working for her.

It never ceases to amaze me. Anytime I listen to one of these soap spaces/podcasts and AMC happens to come up it always turns into an AMC roast in comparison to OLTL. 

If I were a new fan with not a lot of knowledge of AMC I would believe this was one of the worst soaps to ever exist. Like they truly act like I the show was never good. 

I'm so tired of hearing OLTL was doing huge ratings and turning out Shakespeare when it was canceled. You can tell these people weren't real AMC viewers.

Rant over!

@Liberty City Okay.

Edited December 26, 2024Dec 26 by DemetriKane

I'll admit that AMC was not in very good shape when it was cancelled and that it hadn't been in many years.  But to suggest that OLTL was running proverbial rings around them just because their ratings might have been higher...?  That's absurd.  The truth is, I thought OLTL had become just as unwatchable as AMC and thought it would've needed a miracle in order to save it, ratings be damned.

8 minutes ago, Khan said:

I'll admit that AMC was not in very good shape when it was cancelled and that it hadn't been in many years.

The return of Lorraine Broderick turned it around, though... she was writing stories in those final months that genuinely could have continued beyond the network broadcast finale. She just... came in too late.

8 hours ago, Liberty City said:

The return of Lorraine Broderick turned it around, though... she was writing stories in those final months that genuinely could have continued beyond the network broadcast finale. She just... came in too late.

I completely agree with you. Lorraine Broderick did bring many characters back from the dead toward the end to wrap things up, but it worked. She managed to re-balance the show in its final months, making it more enjoyable. For once, I didn’t feel like vomiting every time the “fab four” – Greenlee, Ryan, Kendall, and Zach – were on screen. Broderick created a better balance among all the characters.

46 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

I completely agree with you. Lorraine Broderick did bring many characters back from the dead toward the end to wrap things up, but it worked. She managed to re-balance the show in its final months, making it more enjoyable. For once, I didn’t feel like vomiting every time the “fab four” – Greenlee, Ryan, Kendall, and Zach – were on screen. Broderick created a better balance among all the characters.

It did work; even Cady McClain was signed to a one-year deal, so her return was an in-the-works thing pre-cancellation, so Broderick obviously had plans for long-term story-telling, and it's a damn shame she never got the chance to do it.

1 hour ago, Liberty City said:

It did work; even Cady McClain was signed to a one-year deal, so her return was an in-the-works thing pre-cancellation, so Broderick obviously had plans for long-term story-telling, and it's a damn shame she never got the chance to do it.

ABC DISNEY wanted the shows gone. They shot like 15 pilots for replacements. Nothing was gonna save them with who was in charge at that time. 

Broderick was only rehired to close out the show. The network regularly refused to use her or any of Agnes' creative stable (outside McTavish, and that's a whole other can of worms) unless they needed to placate the fans - first with the brief run for the Los Angeles reset to write Adam out with Brooke, then for the final months of the show. Had the show gone on Frons would never have allowed anyone from Agnes' inner circle to take over.

Okay, I try not to be judgemental, but Brian Bodine was quite the little boy toy in 1992, wasn't he? Going from An Li to Hayley to Dixie. How did viewers react to this? Not to mention what sounds like a quick ending for Dixie & Craig.

4 minutes ago, Franko said:

Okay, I try not to be judgemental, but Brian Bodine was quite the little boy toy in 1992, wasn't he? Going from An Li to Hayley to Dixie. How did viewers react to this? Not to mention what sounds like a quick ending for Dixie & Craig.

I do wonder how people would have felt if Matt had stayed as Brian for the Dixie/Brian story. The recast allowed them to just make him a brand new character.

33 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

38 minutes ago, Franko said:

Okay, I try not to be judgemental, but Brian Bodine was quite the little boy toy in 1992, wasn't he? Going from An Li to Hayley to Dixie. How did viewers react to this? Not to mention what sounds like a quick ending for Dixie & Craig.

I do wonder how people would have felt if Matt had stayed as Brian for the Dixie/Brian story. The recast allowed them to just make him a brand new character.

I really enjoyed Matt Borlenghi's portrayal of Brian Bodine, especially because I loved the dynamic between Hayley and Brian as star-crossed lovers and high school sweethearts. When Mateo arrived in Pine Valley, it took me some time to adjust and accept Hayley with someone else. (I never cared much for Hayley and Charlie Brent, the guy she lost her virginity to—LOL!)

20 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

I really enjoyed Matt Borlenghi's portrayal of Brian Bodine, especially because I loved the dynamic between Hayley and Brian as star-crossed lovers and high school sweethearts. When Mateo arrived in Pine Valley, it took me some time to adjust and accept Hayley with someone else. (I never cared much for Hayley and Charlie Brent, the guy she lost her virginity to—LOL!)

Charlie always seemed too old for her.

32 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Charlie always seemed too old for her.

Christopher Lawford was only two years older than Charles Van Eman, but he seemed older than that.

ETA: And it didn't help that Lawford was 15 years older than Kelly Ripa.

Edited December 28, 2024Dec 28 by Franko

The fact that people are still sitting their burly asses on podcasts and playing the “AMC deserved to end but OLTL didn’t” game is insane. I mean, we are almost 14 years down the line lol 

But look at which one still has a place in pop culture conversations 👀