4 hours ago, All My Shadows said:

The Cudahy brothers were both so, so, soooo sexy.

Indeed! I remember someone on this thread wondering why exactly Erica didn't want to have a baby with Tom. I mean, look at the guy.

Given what characters like Luke Spencer or Todd Manning had gotten away with, I can see where Julia might have wanted to redeem Jim, but there was NO redeeming him. The choices made with him after Born quit were so OTT I think it makes some forget just how sick he was from long before that point. 

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

Given what characters like Luke Spencer or Todd Manning had gotten away with, I can see where Julia might have wanted to redeem Jim, but there was NO redeeming him. The choices made with him after Born quit were so OTT I think it makes some forget just how sick he was from long before that point. 

I remember this article. I thought Roscoe also later said he thought it was to be a redemption story when he took the job. But I can't imagine how that could ever have been possible given the initial secret.

6 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Thanks for posting! Wow, I had no idea that's why James Fitzpatrick left AMC. I just googled him and he's been married since 1990. I bet that didn't go over well with the wife haha. 

7 hours ago, Vee said:

I thought Roscoe also later said he thought it was to be a redemption story when he took the job. But I can't imagine how that could ever have been possible given the initial secret.

I can't imagine it either.  Jim could feel guilty all he wanted; the fact remained that he had blackmailed underaged Laura into pornography.  That's just a bridge too far in my book.

Sadly, I think the next time AMC tried to give Brooke a new beau, it was with the dude who had killed her little girl years ago in a drunk-driving accident.  Proof positive that they had no freaking clue what to do anymore with Brooke.

5 hours ago, Khan said:

Sadly, I think the next time AMC tried to give Brooke a new beau, it was with the dude who had killed her little girl years ago in a drunk-driving accident.  Proof positive that they had no freaking clue what to do anymore with Brooke.

I know! At the time I thought both were crazy, and I was still a young teen fairly new to soaps. Like, who was gonna get behind those dudes for Brooke??

6 hours ago, Khan said:

Sadly, I think the next time AMC tried to give Brooke a new beau, it was with the dude who had killed her little girl years ago in a drunk-driving accident.  Proof positive that they had no freaking clue what to do anymore with Brooke.

They also teased her with Dimitri before they decided to write Michael Nader out, which would be teased again on PP AMC. 

Who would yall say is the writer who "got" Brooke the most? Because the last decade of her run as a regular character was one depressing and/or boring story after another. When I first started watching, there were people on the internet with very strong opinions one way or the other about her (I distinctly remember a Brooke hate site), and I didn't understand why because she really wasn't doing much out of being "mom" to Laura. They'd throw her and Erica together for some random sniping at each other, but that was basically it until the stupid Edmund/Maria stuff happened.

I just feel like Brooke lost a lot during the 80s when she shed her wild child persona and became the mature matron of Pine Valley.

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

They also teased her with Dimitri before they decided to write Michael Nader out, which would be teased again on PP AMC. 

Which is funny because I kind of rolled my eyes at them the first time around - it felt like a C-pairing of desperation/timewasting in that era, and I was still raw about losing Erica and Dimitri, didn't care about Brooke in the late '90s and I knew the show was not prioritizing him (in hindsight, likely in part due to BTS reasons). But they did have chemistry, and had just as much on PP if not moreso.

Given the obvious issues onscreen with David Canary in 2013 I suspect they would've soon paired Brooke and Dimitri up for real after giving Adam an offscreen death, with Adam's kids having the knives out for the interloper (something they teased before AMC 2.0 ended). And I think it would've worked. Barr and Nader were great together that second go-round.

Edited October 8Oct 8 by Vee

5 minutes ago, All My Shadows said:

Because the last decade of her run as a regular character was one depressing and/or boring story after another. When I first started watching, there were people on the internet with very strong opinions one way or the other about her (I distinctly remember a Brooke hate site), and I didn't understand why because she really wasn't doing much out of being "mom" to Laura. They'd throw her and Erica together for some random sniping at each other, but that was basically it until the stupid Edmund/Maria stuff happened.

I just feel like Brooke lost a lot during the 80s when she shed her wild child persona and became the mature matron of Pine Valley.

They hated her, and I did too a lot of the time lol. She was just a moaning, drab matron who everyone seemed to obsess over in these bad stories. I didn't fully get or appreciate Brooke til much later, when she returned in the late 2000s and when I saw some of her classic material. But I think a lot of the 90s did not serve her (or several other women in that age range) well.

24 minutes ago, All My Shadows said:

Who would yall say is the writer who "got" Brooke the most? Because the last decade of her run as a regular character was one depressing and/or boring story after another. When I first started watching, there were people on the internet with very strong opinions one way or the other about her (I distinctly remember a Brooke hate site), and I didn't understand why because she really wasn't doing much out of being "mom" to Laura. They'd throw her and Erica together for some random sniping at each other, but that was basically it until the stupid Edmund/Maria stuff happened.

I just feel like Brooke lost a lot during the 80s when she shed her wild child persona and became the mature matron of Pine Valley.

That site was hilarious. I wish it was archived. In the "choose your own adventure" story, the homeless shelter had her name up in neon lights, she was barely ever there and when she was she treated everyone like peasants, she thought Laura was a dull frump, and she was a drunk, enjoying the bar at the Valley Inn with Marian. In one scene, she threw herself at Michael's boyfriend Brad, who politely got the hell out of there.

I don't know who got her best. I might say Washam or Agnes. It's tough to tell what to blame writers for and what to blame network for. I thought a lot of her material under Broderick in the mid '90s was uninspired, but she's better served in her '80s run, and when Broderick brings her back near the end of the show.

I think Brooke just lost her spark from being on so long, the parade of men, and being a heroine. Heroines were not usually all that well-served on AMC.

Edited October 8Oct 8 by DRW50

If/when an All My Children reboot were to occur, I'd love it if they centered the introductory story on the Brooke English/English family heritage. Other than JR, she's the closest tie to the Chandler family legacy and it would be great to have her continue it in story. Obviously, Erica and her brood would be the primary focus, but I think Brooke would be a good counter. Don't know what the heck they were thinking to focus the last "reboot" on the Kane vs. Santos families. That wasn't a thing past the 90s.

I think when Brooke reformed after her initial stint as a 'bad girl', the writing and actress seemed to portray her as judgmental and looking down on those she deemed superior to.  It's kind of why I was always team Erica because Erica was a have not while Brooke was just a bored rich girl.

My favorite scene where Brooke was hit by the truth and reality wasn't between Brooke and Erica... but between Brooke and Gloria during Christmas 1991 at the Martin's where Gloria just told Brooke the truth about herself.. and Brooke was taken aback.

10 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

I think when Brooke reformed after her initial stint as a 'bad girl', the writing and actress seemed to portray her as judgmental and looking down on those she deemed superior to.  It's kind of why I was always team Erica because Erica was a have not while Brooke was just a bored rich girl.

My favorite scene where Brooke was hit by the truth and reality wasn't between Brooke and Erica... but between Brooke and Gloria during Christmas 1991 at the Martin's where Gloria just told Brooke the truth about herself.. and Brooke was taken aback.

Gloria is another AMC heroine who seemed to lose a lot of her personality after the "redeemed by rape" story, but Teresa Blake was such a unique presence that she still managed to keep the character interesting for me (maybe other than when she was paired with Tad).