All My Children Tribute Thread

[Maxim]

I'm now deep into April 1989 y'all. 

Watched 4-5 astronomical hours last night before going to sleep. Then slept for 4-5 hours and as soon as I woke up, I had breakfast again in front of the TV continuing the episodes from yesterday. I think we should register a new type of addiction in the Medical Journals and call it "The Erica Kane Syndrome" - when a soap opera fan can't stop watching AMC and neglects sleep and responsibilities in the name of Erica Kane. 

SO.

The storylines I am not that fond of (Niko, Cecily, Melanie, David bla bla bla) I don't plan to dwell on. They are too cliche. Especially the bore-fest Romeo and Juliet couple antagonized by the evil uncle Palmer. Blah. I fast-forward their scenes and can't wait to see them backburned. Too much youngsters at the same time, too much screaming and yelling... too much trying to make the show youth and teen-oriented and that is annoying me. DePriest - girl, what are you doing exactly?

But let's get to the good parts.

Erica has decided that nobody except her can represent her Cosmetics company (we are not surprised LOL) and wants to be THE FACE of Erica Kane Cosmetics!  We are here for it, girl. Another one of your failed projects, what can go wrong! Erica Kane is the Bethenny Frankel of Soap Operas. 

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Jackson is trying to get into Erica's bed every chance he gets, but so far he's only getting a kiss or two a day. That's a start. She, of course... is not following her own advice to move on and is STILL focused on Travis Montgomery. Girl, if it was me... and I was single... and in the same room with Jackson Montgomery, you would have to pay me to even recognize that Travis exists. Leave him to Barbara.  

Now, all of a sudden we get a re-write and Skye is basically gone from the horizon and we have Barbara and Travis getting closer and closer. Hmm... I am quite sure this was a change mid-story and not-pre-planned. They had invested so much in Skye and Travis and now they are deserting the idea. The change is the right one though. No way you can fight someone for custody (if that is going to happen) IF you plan to live with an insane asylum sociopath. Skye was a dark spot on Travis's shirt and she could have made problems for him. I applaud this decision and I also feel like Travis and Barbara are better fit. Skye and Travis had NO chemistry what-so-ever.

In the Chandler's mansion - Brooke was very close to finding out the truth when Tad saved Miss Trash's life by lying and pretending he is the father of her child. I loved that! And I think it opens a lot of exciting doors where this storyline can lead. One character that I haven't commented on, but which I'm obsessed with is that of Karen - Cindy's evil twin. Ellen Wheeler is doing a spectacular job in playing the wicked conniver-opportunist - a snake that is doing everything she can in the shadows to ruin Adam's life, expose his affair with Dixie and make him vulnerable to her own manipulations. Classic social climber with a twist. Makes the entire atmosphere in the home similar to that in the play 'Little Foxes' by Lilian Hellman. Everyone except Brooke is... rotten. With her aristocratic face and noble forehead, Karen is becoming one of my favorites. A perfect antagonist. 

Natalie, 1 year later... is in the same position that Silver was in. Hahaha. They've just flipped the script. She is no longer the damsel in distress and is now the one trying to keep Jeremy in her orbit. Desperate to hold on to him. I remember what Erica once said to Silver - men like Jeremy are never able to truly love or dedicate themselves to one woman, they just need to feel like they are saving some girl or that they are following something they can't have. Like an art project almost.  So Natalie is no longer fresh and no longer exciting to Jeremy. He needs new thrills, new damsels in distress. This storyline makes me miss Silver so much. She should not have died so soon. The actress was superb and she and Natalie had amazing chemistry for a feud. 

Great moment - Natalie unleashing her frustration on Jeremy. 

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[janea4old]

Still laughing at you referring to Dixie as Miss Trash because she wasn't perceived that way later on.  But I'm enjoying reading your perspective!  And yes re: Tad and Dixie scenes - that definitely opened a lot of doors in this storyline.

Edited February 16 by janea4old

[Maxim]

And that makes me so happy! 

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Speaking of Dixie... I just read the news in the BTG topic and I'm like.... Here she comes! 

[VelekaCarruthers]

Here's Victor Miller's soap job history based on YouTube closing credits etc...Fascinating

OLTL: 82-June 84 (hired by Sam Hall/fired by Paul Rauch/Corringtons) 2 years

AMC: 84-86 (Aug 84 to Aug 86 (hired by Wisner Washam) 2 years

GL: Dec 86 to August 87 (hired by Munisteri/worked for Anderson/Manetta/fired by Long) 9 mo

AMC 87-89 Fall 87 to Nov 89 (hired by Lorraine Broderick/fired by Agnes Nixon) 2 years

AW: Feb 90 to Aug 95 (hired by Swajeski/fired by Phelps/King/Carlson) 5 years/8mo

GL: Sept 95 to March 97 (hired by McTavish/fired by Rauch/Brown/Estensen) 20 months 

AMC: August 97-August 2001 (hired by Lorraine Broderick/quit to join McTavish at GH) 4yrs

GH: Fall 2001 to April 2002 (hired by McTavish/fired by Phelps/Guza/Pratt) 6mo

Edited February 16 by VelekaCarruthers

[dragonflies]

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah, I know this is a point that DRW50 and I have long disagreed on.  I think that Erica as a character did mature, but only as much as I would realistically see her character do.  That said, certainly making her a showgirl at 50something (a storyline I would have loved if they had actually shown us one of her routines!) wasn't the way to go.  But... I think I'm in the big minority in saying I kinda liked her doppelganger storyline. 

Completely agreed.  I think the most viable Tyler would have been Ann and I do wonder if Wisner Washam being headwriter, and married to the main actress who played Ann played a part in not wanting to continue her character after Judith Barcroft left the show.  She would return to soaps later on (including filling in for Erika Slezak on OLTL in the 80s!) but I wonder if by that point they felt her character was too forgotten from AMC

Edited February 16 by EricMontreal22

[Soaplovers]

April does sound like the start of Depriests 6 to 7 month stint as headwriter.  She was hired to reset the show since the network stated that there were too many stories and characters.

The things I noticed she did that I liked was dropping Barbara/Tad...and moving her back into the Travis/Erica/Jack orbit.  Also dropping Skye/Travis, showing the reality of Jeremy enjoying the chase, Natalie becoming a bit more like how she was in 1985 where she was desperate for Jeremy, and I liked that Dixie/Tad started up.

Lanie/David/Cecily/Julie/Nico was an attempt to revive the teen set...which was popular in the 70s and early 80s.  I think Lanie was an attempt at being like Nina was...sheltered and sweet.  Once Agnes comes back, the teen set improves a bit.

 

For me, his best contribution was writing the screenplay for Friday the 13th...the original.  And based on how soapy that movie was, I wasn't surprised he ended up writing soaps.

[DemetriKane]

@EricMontreal22 I second that! The Tylers were not handled right at all. They didn't even do right by Brooke's children either. Ann was so fascinating, I didn't get to watch AMC in the '70s but from the things I read Ann was the show for me. So many should've, would've, could've scenarios for her character.

 

@Soaplovers Yeah, I also thought the teens/young adults were AMC thing. I would argue they probably were the leads of the show. I personally really loved Julie Chandler.

 

@Khan I adore that Erica Cancer/Mona foundation storyline idea. I could see being an amazing story for the show. I always wanted Erica to have more businesses around Pine Valley too! Kudos to you…

Edited February 17 by DemetriKane

[DemetriKane]

They did, He was saved by a bed mattress 

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.

[DRW50]

@Maxim I think these are some of the first comments on Karen that amount to more than just saying she was a failed character, so I appreciate reading them. A great description of Ellen Wheeler's profile as well. 

I always figured Agnes was the reason for David/Lainie as she kept redoing the star-crossed young couple story through her run, to diminishing returns. I know Paige Turco went on to a respected run on NYPD Blue, but she always seemed very bland to me in her soap work. Not bad, but bland. 

I think if they were going to break up Natalie/Jeremy it probably should have been over more than Marisa and David - such a waste of the divine Nancy Addison. 

You can never have Erica baking cookies and wearing cardigans, but I think there were ways to allow her to mature and still be Erica. I don't know how many viewers wanted to see her with Ryan or feuding with Greenlee. I don't believe that was a good use of the character.

Edited February 17 by DRW50

[Khan]

ICAM!!

I think Lorraine Broderick, Victor Miller and later Margaret DePriest all recognized that the time had come for Erica to mature.  That's why they finally let Erica become a mother (to Bianca) and reunited her with her father; and even though her relationship with Travis might have taken some hits, there also was the possibility that they could work through their issues and reconcile.

Once Agnes Nixon returned, however, all that was undone.  Eric sold his Enchantment shares to Natalie and left town, thereby re-igniting all the abandonment issues between him and Erica.  Travis and Barbara slept together and conceived Sean as a bone marrow donor for Molly; and that, along with Erica and Jack's lingering attraction, and Travis' rather boorish reaction to the whole mess, pretty much guaranteed that Travis and Erica never would reconcile.  Finally, Erica had to suffer the indignity of losing custody of Bianca - to Travis, who actually got a happy ending with Barbara (albeit, one that was off-screen) DESPITE their infidelity! - as "punishment" for sleeping with Jack, who, by that point, was clearly being propped as the better suitor over Travis, who had become a royal PITA.

[DRW50]

Well said.

I know the Eric story was not well-received, but I wish they'd found a third way beyond writing him out for good. 

By the time of the Dimitri/Erica pairing, they started Erica on a good path again, but it all came unspooled around 1997.

I know some believe that the babynapping story was put onto AMC by Disney/ABC, given that this was the peak of JER-mania. They probably did have some involvement, but I can believe Agnes was fine with the story because once again Erica was stripped of everything and had to learn and grow. 

I don't think they anticipated the backlash the story would receive. 

I do think they did a good job most of the way through in showing Erica's mental state and punishing her for her actions (the mistake was the story given to her after all that wound down - wasting her chemistry with Nick Surovy on that triangle which just seemed to be a reason for Jack/Erica breakup #10).

Then they did manage to get Erica into a better place again for a while. It was stop and start until the mid/late '00s and after that I don't think they ever got the balance right.

I had forgotten about the doppelganger story until now, but what I watched I didn't think was that bad. It's some of the other stuff (Ryan, and Michael Nouri, and the unabortion, etc.) that were mistakes.

Edited February 17 by DRW50

[Soaplovers]

I think the Erica face scar story where she walked around in the phantom of the Opera mask was the final nail in the coffin for her character.

It was as if the show had run out of stuff to tell about her...and just let her act delusional about her appeal. 

[DRW50]

That was a ludicrous story, but they did rebound with David/Erica, and then Kendall's return and Bianca's rape story. (no comment on Chris Stamp)

[Paul Raven]

I guess Erica faced the same trajectory as all long running soap characters- either they become supporting with no agency or point of view (That was never going to happen with Ms Kane) or TBTB try to keep the character static and repeat the tropes that made them popular in the first place, so there is little character growth.

Re the Tylers. It was possible that Linc and Kelly could have left in 1980 pregnant so a younger Tyler could turn up as a teen in the 90's.

They tried that with Kelsey, Tara's daughter, but that character was never long term.

Edited February 17 by Paul Raven