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Well... I haven't slept tonight and it's nearly 5 in the morning. I've binged watched AMC the entire evening.

I have a few thoughts to share with y'all.

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I'm done with all the clips and recaps period, binged all of them in one sitting! (two of the months barely had any episodes so I just read recaps and descriptions.)

Overall impression of 1988 - started good, managed to hook me with Erica becoming a mother... build up around March-April... becoming really spectacular and then... somewhere mid-Strike May-June... Collapsed to confusion and missed opportunities. I especially disliked what they did with Erica and Travis. I understand it, but still... I would have given them more time to get as much bread as possible from their falling out. They had just began their life together as a married couple. And boom horrible issues and breaking up. Too fast.

I also disliked what they did with Skye - turned her way too psychotic. Way too clinical... in a corner that she will have trouble coming out of. 

But overall - still great. I am very much in love with the show, mostly because they made me care for the characters... and I still enjoyed all the material I saw. I wouldn't have been watching for 9 hours straight if that wasn't the case. Keeping in mind the huge gaps and missed episodes I can't say I can grade this year appropriately. But I will give it a 7/10 just for the fun of it.

Now moving on.

I have arrived at 1989's doorstep and more precisely March 1989 where the first complete months are starting. I think from this moment on, with small exceptions, seasons will be complete. That's just marvelous. 

I already started March 1989 and I have a few things to say after the first couple of full episodes.

So... Right now the show has too many bad people in it. I am not sure if this is good or bad. Palmer the psycho controlling biddy, Adam the gaslighting perv, Barbara the Fatal Attraction bitch, Skye the lunatic from the madhouse, Karen, the conniving opportunist, Ross the rapist who we are acting like isn't a rapist, that creep Sean... Overall... Bad person after bad person. I think I need to breathe a bit. They just need to slow down with the crazies and psychopaths. LOL. Is there anyone normal in this entire town except Erica Kane?

The storylines that are going on - little miss opportunist All about Eve character Dixie is pregnant by Adam Chandler and he is gaslighting her and making her think that giving her baby for him and Brooke to adopt is the best thing. Jesus Christ. Brooke of course has no idea that her helper is carrying her husband's child. 

Let me say one thing - I like this storyline... But in a way it doesn't have that much stakes... Why - because Adam and Brooke have so many problems that this is just the cherry on the cake. If their relationship was more loving and had potential to last, then the reveal and consequences will be brutal. For now I just say to myself... Well, so what? But the story has potential. 

We have Natalie and Jeremy dealing with the fact that Jeremy has a newfound son - David... Who fancies Palmer's beautiful niece Melanie. Palmer of course hates that because he hates everything Jeremy. I like this somehow and I especially like the Lanie actress. So much potential.

And let's get to the most interesting part. One year after Erica and Travis married they are already up for a divorce and their whole relationship is ruined. Travis acts like a completely different person now and it seems he is very drawn to the psycho Skye. While Erica still wants her husband to forgive and forget. I don't know if this is possible after they damaged their relationship to that point. 

Thats where I am at. I think I am watching DePriest episodes, so I am scared. This woman has produced some of the most off putting soap opera stuff I've seen in my life.

We will see. 

I also can't wait for November 1989 and my first Ever taste of Agnes Nixon.

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Somehow being Erica Kane-style slapped doesn't seem like all that bad a thing to me...

Interesting, Wiki of course seems off about the months as they say by March, Felicia Minei Behr as EP and Margaret DePriest were in for the start of the AMC overhaul but I see the credits for those episodes still have the old EP (Schenkel?  He never seemed to get much love or hate--coming in between all time fave EPs Behr and Jackie Babbin.  I know he was a producer at Edge and AW as well and apparently left AMC on his own terms due to health, which I'm not sure I buy since they were concerned about falling ratings and shaking things up) and Lorraine Broderick as HW although during the time that Victor Miller (creator of Friday the 13th!

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But of course he did a lot of soap writing) was her co or associate HW briefly.  Also McTavish's name starts showing up as an outline writer...

Despite those credits, I would expect that DePriest's stuff (and probably Behr's) probably is already airing.  I believe during DePriest's run Broderick and Miller were simply moved down to associate HWs or whatever the official credit was.

You're not wrong that DePriest, true to the style of soap she knew best from Days, even going back to creating the infamous Where the Heart Is (which I wish we could see some of) suddenly added a lot more... well, yeah, bad people and that style of soap storytelling.  Behr though was an ideal fit with a long history with the show in various roles going back to the 70s, but, it turned out, the right person to make the show a bit more current, which is what it arguably needed though it took a bit for her to get there.  And I assume Nixon swooped in when she saw what was happening, the way she swooped in (much more briefly) in 99 during McTavish's infamous second run.

I wanna say Nixon's stuff starts with that fall's big costume party Adam has which lasts a week or so and is a lot of fun (well I love things like that) but a total attempt at a repeat of the 1980 Palmer Cortland hosted Masquerade (which I uploaded four episodes from years back.)  But we know Agnes Nixon for all her strengths was NOT against repeating a story idea (this one isn't quite as successful because it doesn't have the epic reveal of Daisy Cortland plot to play off of.)

Edited by EricMontreal22
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Thanks for this, always happy to see Michael clips I haven't seen since that storyline ended.  I know it got some flack (and there was gossip that the acotr was not comfortablke playing gay, something the one actor and two writers, including the co-head at the time, I interviewed about the story said was completely not true) but I loved the whole 2 year off and on "gay" umbrella storyline that started with him and continued with Kevin Shefield (and not least because it ended up being a huge focus of my MA thesis interdisciplinary faculty presentation, which is why I had the chance to interview so many involved and which I did very well with

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)  It was overshadowed by Bianca's coming out four years later, but in some ways was better done.

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Thank you for this. I appreciate getting your opinion and POV, especially from someone who is not a newbie like me. I am still very green in the AMC world. All I can say is that this show has become my new dramatic love and it has outshined everything else that I was watching. I don't have any desire to watch anything else. Absolutely addicted for better or for worse. My husband has now complained about the constant playing TV in the living room and is not able to understand how I'm capable of going all night without sleeping.

How can I rest when I want to see what will happen with Erica and Travis... what will happen with Brooke and Adam and that trash Dixie. How can I sleep when I don't know if Jeremy is going to leave Natalie for his mysterious ex wife? He is the type of man that always has to help some damsel in distress and sadly for Natalie, she is not it anymore. How can I rest when Barbara has a stalker? 

And you giving me this little tease about a Masquerade (I love things like that) and Agnes's return... Makes me so excited.

You are welcome. Of course I give all credit to the uploader. Nice little moment with RuPaul.

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Can someone help me remember? I was watching a scene where Jeremy and Silver returned from skiing and stopped by Ruth and Joe's house. How did Silver become close to Ruth and Joe? Was it simply because they were the elder statesmen of Pine Valley, or was there another connection? It seemed random to me.

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I've enjoyed reading your recaps and going through your first time journey!  It makes me want to go back and rewatch that era.  I started as a kid around that time so my memories are very faded until about 1991 when I was REALLY into the show with Natalie in the well and Wildwind.  

But... how dare you say "that trash Dixie"!    She's one of my favorites, and Tad/Dixie will always be my favorite couple of all time!  Hopefully your mind changes haha.

Edited by alwaysAMC
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Yet, when I've re-watched clips from that period, and I've compared them to clips from earlier periods, AMC still feels like AMC to me.  I don't feel like I'm watching a different show (or, in Megan McTavish's case, a darker and nastier show).  I can't explain it, lol.

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