All My Children Tribute Thread

[Soaplovers]

Jack and Erica were fine in the late 80s/early 90s...but their affair causing her to lose custody of Bianca should have been the thing to end them as a couple.

Only reason the show kept reviving them.as a couple was due to Jack not sparking with anyone else.  And as a stop gap before Erica got her next love interest.

The show tested him with Natalie, Barbara, Angelique, Laurel, Gloria, and Carmen.  None of them took.

[Khan]

ICAM!!

They also tested Walt Willey with Julia Barr, but that didn't take either.  (Besides, I think viewers were just plain sick and tired of Brooke always getting Erica's leftovers).

It says something when Phil Hartman, who played a Jack-esque character in that "All My Luggage" spoof on SNL with Lucci, shared more chemistry with her than Walt Willey ever did.

[Soaplovers]

I had forgotten about Brooke and I viewed Jack/Brooke as a stop gap until the show paired her with Edmund and then tried to pair Jack with Angelique then Laurel.

In fact, in 1994...the plan was to reunite Jack and Erica permanently...but audiences wanted her with Dimitri so the show changed gears.

I remember during that Libizone stunt when people taking it lost their inhibitions that Jack went for Erica while she had to tell him that she was only into friendship with him..while she went for David Hayward.

David was Erica's last pairing that I enjoyed her in.  They has chemistry, looked good with one another..and had long term potential.  A shame it ended.

[Vee]

I always preferred Dimitri, but I didn't have a problem with Jack and Erica marrying for good in the early 2000s. It seemed like the right thing and the right time for them. Unfortunately then they kept breaking up over and over and I got tired of it. And I love Walt Willey, it wasn't his fault (and I wouldn't even necessarily blame his other bad pairings on him).

[DRW50]

I don't remember the show ever seriously trying him with another woman. If they had it might have had a better result. Characters like Laurel were duds no matter who they were paired with.

I do think they wrote Jack as overly sanctimonious and the relationship with Erica was so repetitive, very damaging, but chemistry wasn't a problem for me. To be honest I think Jack was the only guy Erica was paired with in AMC's last decade that she had chemistry with. 

@gimmetoo Thanks for the recap. The last I heard about Francesca was whatever legal action she was involved in with someone's family so I'm glad she is doing alright. 

I had my criticisms of Lorraine Broderick's writing, but she was a wonderful talent and one of about three of AMC's headwriters I'd say got the show. I wish she was on soaps now.

Edited January 16 by DRW50

[Vee]

I agree. He was Erica's stand-by.

[All My Shadows]

The couple that didn’t get along off-screen is Kate Collins and James Kiberd, right? 

[Maxim]

I'm getting borderline Obsessed with Phoebe. She's giving me Sunset Boulevard vibes and I'm heeere for it girl !

[Contessa Donatella]

Wasn't she one of Agnes's proteges? You know it's only been a little over a year since she retired from DAYS. Both she & the Cullitons retired from DAYS in the last year and a half. 

[Khan]

That would have been my guess, lol!

For me, it was Travis.  Now, that's partly because of my long-standing affection for Larkin Malloy, stretching back to GL and, even further, to EON, which was my mom's favorite soap.  But I also thought he and Susan Lucci looked good together and shared natural chemistry as Travis and Erica.*  So, of course, AMC's writers had to torpedo it as quickly as possible, lol.

Before Travis, though, I'd say the pairing I enjoyed most for Erica was with Jeremy.

 

*Of course, Susan Lucci's the type to have chemistry with just about any man.  I still remember fondly when Drake Hogestyn was one of her co-hosts at the Daytime Emmys one year, and thinking, "Damn, somebody's gotta get that man off DAYS and on AMC pronto!"

 

I agree.  I especially loved her first HW'ing turn, with Victor Miller.  There was almost too much story going on at that time - which is bound to happen when you have a cast of 65! - but it still felt like AMC.  By the time she was HW'ing again, she did a lot of great work w/ Jeff Beldner, Hal Corley, Frederick Johnson and Michelle Patrick, but the show had changed a lot, so it didn't feel like the AMC I had grown up with.

Edited January 16 by Khan

[DRW50]

That's what impresses me so much when I watch her first run - the multi-tiered setup would have been impossible to maintain, but you get such an array of stories and complexities. Some was much better than others, but I came away with a real appreciation. I know the show had to streamline to survive, but I don't think it's ever quite the same. 

I was very critical of some of her choices in the mid '90s, but I do know some were probably foisted on her.

I wish we had gotten to see more of what she would have done with the show if it hadn't ended (even if as has been said, she probably wouldn't have been hired if the show hadn't been ending).

[gimmetoo]

Yes - Lorraine discussed starting out as an assistant under Agnes - her first job was opening fan mail.  She said it was invaluable experience to hear directly from the audience.  

[Jonathan]

I watched the 92NY panel event, and I really wish they had allocated 90 minutes instead of just 60. There was so much more the panelists could have shared. I especially wanted to hear more from Lorraine and learn more about the alternate ending. I wish Andy had asked for details on that. If I remember correctly, there was speculation that all the couples might get their happy endings, like Gillian and Ryan and Leo and Greenlee. Instead, Gillian and Leo ended up as figments of their true love’s imagination.

Eva La Rue was schedule to be part of the panel. I wonder if the LA fires prevented her from flying out. Jennifer Bassey wasn’t originally in the lineup but it was nice to see her. She’s still sharp as a tack and saucy as ever!

I was also hoping to hear the inevitable question that always gets asked… “Will the show return?” But the question wasn’t asked, unfortunately.

Also, Bob Nixon, Agnes’s son, was in the audience, as was Bill Christian (Derek Frye), and Ray MacDonnell’s daughter, and Sandy Gabriel who played Edna Thornton.

[Vee]

I feel relatively confident that was at least the case with Leo -  that it was for real. I know pix leaked of him like, hanging at ConFusion or something.

Whatever happened with Esta and Alexa Havins was strange. They were heavily promoted and then appeared onscreen for maybe 60 seconds tops. I do wonder there, especially re: Ryan and Gillian.

[DRW50]

Glad to hear Sandy is still doing OK.

I do wish we heard more about whether those movies will happen, but it may have been for the best for this night to just be about the past.

Edited January 17 by DRW50