Up to August 2nd of 1989. 🐍

WOW. What an improvement! I can honestly say the show is back in TOP FORM. Margaret DePriest... you are not the hack I thought you were. 

Main storyline - Dixie's child was kidnapped. Oh, poor Adam Jr! His first week out of the hospital and he is already in trouble. Now the problem is... absolutely everyone is a suspect.  

1. Sky - she hates her new baby brother and was thrown out of the house just hours before the act.

2. Palmer - anything sinister or bad... you can blame Palmer and you won't be incorrect.

3. Karen - she vowed revenge on Adam after he disposed of her services (lol). My current top suspect is this little fox. 

4. Sean - the guy wants money and was acting strange before the kidnapping. He gives me the creeps.

5. Adam HIMSELF - I could imagine Adam faking all of this in order to terrorize Dixie, get her declared unstable and take her child away. 

So MANY suspects... and it's probably none of them. We'll see. 

Another storyline I'm obsessed with - even though it is a bit wacky and eccentric - Erica's growing interest in Barney the creepy clown... who is enticing her, circling around her like a vulture. Who the hell is this? Don't tell me! I just hope Erica doesn't get hurt. She was in a plane crash just mere months ago. And bitten by a snake. Can my girl get a break in life? She was just beginning to enjoy life and making love to Jackson 5 times a day. Who wouldn't? 💗

Aaaaand last, but certainly not least... with the exception of the increasingly demonic hairstyle that Barbara has these days (making her appear like a Stephen King antagonist when she stands up with that Rosemary's baby-witchy hair silhouette), her storyline is getting increasingly dramatic. Parallel to her getting pregnant, Travis learned he has a brain tumor and will die if they don't operate. It is melodramatic, but GOOD melodramatic. Actually, my favorite storylines are always a little bit melodramatic. Like myself.

And for scraps... I am EVEN getting fond of Cecily and Niko... somehow. I like how they are drawn to each-other romantically, but can't break the barrier of best-friends, brother-sister dynamic. If Cecily doesn't raise her voice or scream - they are cute.

Oh, and I forgot the Marissa part... but I'll get to that in another post, because I have so much to say about it.

Overall - 11/10!

Favorite moment from the last few episodes - Skye's dramatic, drunken monologue at Adam Jr's Christening. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Just look at Palmer's face! He is so happy! That in Germany is called schadenfreude - when you feel happiness from people's misery. 

 

Thanks for posting that @EricMontreal22!

What a fun read. As an very occasional AMC watcher, it was surprising that she only really alluded to the Kendall story and I don't think she mentioned SMG at all. Isn't that universally regarded as her best AMC story? I guess she really wanted that Kelly Ripa blurb.

On 3/15/2025 at 5:44 PM, Maxim said:

I finished it. I feel like I need a shower to cleanse my soul... after this book. Metaphorically speaking.

Isn't it wild.  I know that memoirs can be filled with scandalous info, but (despite her crazy introduction) I have no idea how she thought this would make it to print.

On 3/15/2025 at 9:21 PM, VelekaCarruthers said:

On McTavish: we have Pamela K. Long to thank for unleashing her on soap writing rooms. Pam hired her on GL where she wrote both breakdowns and outlines from Dec 84-Dec 86 (fired or quit during Sheri Anderson's stint). Then, Wisner Washam/Lorraine Broderick hired her in early 87 as outline writer on AMC. The rest is history.

Given Washam's comments about McTavish and that she basically caused him to leave the writing team, I can't imagine he hired her, unless it was a case of buyer's regret.

@Maxim Thanks. Robin Christopher reminding us of the struggles in playing drunk. I did laugh at the way she said "Cooneys" and "I HATE THAT BABY!" I also marvel at how good the set design and atmosphere still was at this time. It feels so claustrophobic, like you are losing air the longer you watch. 

I wonder if that priest was meant to have more story at the time. 

7 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

Ohh now that would have been fun to watch - a Greg/Dixie pairing!

While I missed Tad so much during this time, I remember really being secretly in love with the Dixie/Craig pairing.  I know he was a bad guy, but they were really hot together I thought.  I'll never forget this scene and thinking wow, this Michael Bolton song just put me on another level! Hahaha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9UD_NvcKn8

 

https://youtu.be/Z9UD_NvcKn8?si=pw38_lIE5shocZKt

ETA:  Well, I clearly don't know how to embed YT videos here haha - but hopefully the link works for those interested!

OMG, don’t tempt me! I refuse to click that YouTube link—I still vividly remember that scene as incredibly HOT HOT HOT!

On 3/16/2025 at 1:38 PM, Vee said:

They brought on Alexandra Daddario as J.R.'s insta-girlfriend Laurie, as well as Seyfried as Joni who fared a bit better. (Daddario could not act back then.) But both came out of nowhere and had a series of Saved by the Bell-style teen plots with the terrible off-brand J.R. recast of the time (I think it was poor Andrew Ridings, who was wooden in the role) and whoever played Jamie - I can't remember, there was a rotating series. There were a few weird episodes devoted to these new insta-teens and maybe Brooke, Adam and Liza? sitting around a movie theater, which I found very strange (and again, straight out of an actual SBTB episode IIRC). There was the very hard, sudden Fusion push lumping all the women under 50 together in one office/job, and the massive push beyond Frons' new chosen leading men with each female lead - the remarkably terrible Carlos for Greenlee, the early, vaguely effeminate and very weird Michael Cambias for Kendall who came off too old for her, Boyd(!), etc. Like Fusion, the new men came out of nowhere and were promoted at this time as a singular unit in advertising - 'these are our new leads'.

 

The movie theatre set looked exactly like something out of Saved By the Bell.

You're forgetting Lysistrata the therapist who counselled Adam and Liza who I admit I found kinda funny, but then they tried to make her a thing and have her date Tad.

There were so many bad casting calls but Carlos (whose actor inexplicably won the reality contest America's Sexiest Man) gets my vote for the worst casting ever on AMC.

22 hours ago, Jonathan said:

This is just my guess, but I think Megan's bitterness toward Susan comes from the fact that Susan always praises Agnes and Lorraine—especially since Lorraine was invited to the 92NY event while Megan was not—yet tends to overlook Megan. While Megan did provide Susan with substantial material, like Bianca’s anorexia storyline, I always preferred Erica’s character when Agnes or Lorraine was in charge. Under Megan’s writing, Erica—and many of the female characters—often felt like perpetual victims.

And Bianca's anorexia storyline was left over from Broderick's run...

I always thought Scott Thompson Baker had great charisma. His character made a strong entrance and quickly became part of a major storyline, holding his own the entire time. He had incredible chemistry with Cady McClain and Teresa Blake (whatever happened to her?).

23 hours ago, VelekaCarruthers said:

 She's particularly bitter and mean about Hal Corley but he had a long and successful career as an outline writer and story contributor on AMC and ATWT.  

Yeah one of the stupidest things I have ever done was ask Hal if he had read this.  I think he was a good soap writer and when I interviewed him he was so sharp in his insights about what made a good soap.  He also was friends with FMB which I'm sure didn't help his relationship with McT

14 minutes ago, EricMontreal22 said:

There were so many bad casting calls but Carlos (whose actor inexplicably won the reality contest America's Sexiest Man) gets my vote for the worst casting ever on AMC.

He was stunningly bad.

4 hours ago, Liberty City said:

Yes! We love actual discussions, don't well!!

And could we say, to a hypothetical point: Megan is to AMC what Dena was to DAYS? Or is that too insulting?

Noooo.  I still stand by how enjoyable a lot of McT's first stint at AMC was.  And even when she came back in the 2000s for a brief time the show felt like Pine Valley again.  I can't think of any good writing from Dena...

4 hours ago, Maxim said:

Thank you for the lovely words. I am still very excited about sharing my experience. In fact I have so much new stuff to write about. I just have to find the time.

I also have loved reading your posts.  I have no idea who was being rude about them (either I can't see their posts or they've been removed) but I want to stress that it's not how most of us feel.

Megan and Dena Higley both have done a ton of terrible work and both have atrocious personal reputations, but Higley has never had a fraction of the good let alone classic things Megan actually had a major hand in at AMC.

2 hours ago, Maxim said:

Another storyline I'm obsessed with - even though it is a bit wacky and eccentric - Erica's growing interest in Barney the creepy clown... who is enticing her, circling around her like a vulture. Who the hell is this? Don't tell me! I just hope Erica doesn't get hurt. She was in a plane crash just mere months ago. And bitten by a snake. Can my girl get a break in life? She was just beginning to enjoy life and making love to Jackson 5 times a day. Who wouldn't? 💗

 

 

Oh boy...  I forgot DePriest wrote that storyline.  No spoilers except to say McTavish kinda retcons it in one of her biggest storylines...

2 minutes ago, Vee said:

Megan and Dena Higley both have done a ton of terrible work and both have atrocious personal reputations, but Higley has never had a fraction of the good let alone classic things Megan actually had a major hand in at AMC.

Exactly.  I can't think of one good storyline from Higley.

29 minutes ago, EricMontreal22 said:

There were so many bad casting calls but Carlos (whose actor inexplicably won the reality contest America's Sexiest Man) gets my vote for the worst casting ever on AMC.

LOL..I dont even recall a Carlos. Was he involved with Simone?

1 minute ago, Cheap21 said:

LOL..I dont even recall a Carlos. Was he involved with Simone?

I think they tried him with Greenlee. And maybe he had a bad seed brother and one or both died? Was he named Juan Pablo?

3 minutes ago, Cheap21 said:

LOL..I dont even recall a Carlos. Was he involved with Simone?

He was part of the Sexiest Man reality competition they had (he's not in this video...)  And yes, I think he was with Simone.  Juan Pablo was his brother who was a better actor so basically seemed to replace him (still not the best story...)
 

 

2 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

I think they tried him with Greenlee. And maybe he had a bad seed brother and one or both died? Was he named Juan Pablo?

Yes But not a bad seed.  I think both were killed off--though I admit I can't remember.