AMC Tribute Thread

[Vee]

What in the hell is the "Mystery of Cobbler's Island"?

[Soaplovers]

Depriest did some things that carried over for years afterward.

 

Jack/Erica (after 1.5 years of him doing nothing..and after she had that Steven con person story)

 

Tad/Dixie (had hilary not left...he and Hilary would have done the tortured love thing and he was stuck with Barbara before Depriest took over)

 

Cliff/Nina/Angie ( shame it didn't last...both women were likable and neither went crazy to make the other look good).

 

Cecily/Nico had some good stuff.

 

Emily Ann/Donna stuff started up during this era.

 

I do question breaking up Jeremy and Natalie..while Jeremy and Skye made no sense (which Nixon ended when she took over).

 

Julie got to know her aunt Erica (erica loved her, but was jealous of her.  Why didn't the show just recast Julie instead of creating Kendall?).

 

 

[ghfan89]

That was when Damon Lazzare and Goldie Kane were hypnotizing Silver to kill Erica. It was around fall of 1987.

[Pine Charles]

Was this the storyline everyone hated - Erica as a diner waitress named ‘Sally’??

 

The show seemed so heavy during this period - nothing in the way of brightness.

 

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Edited February 24, 2021 by Pine Charles

[ghfan89]

The whole "Sally the Waitress" and meeting Dave story, along with Travis faking a kidnapping for insurance, was stuff that happened during the writers strike. I'm not sure how much of that was originally planned out by Broderick. 

[Pine Charles]

Interesting.

So was Travis faking his amnesia, too??

 

I thought a highlight during this period were Natalie & Jeremy - finally together & happy.

It was so short-lived, though, with the introduction of psycho Marissa.

I feel Natalie was definitely Jeremy’s best female partner.

 

A “haunted” island in the Pacific NW that was owned by Goldie Kane, I believe.

It was where Erica was taken to be murdered by a hypnotized Silver (under Dr. Lazarre).

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Pine Charles

[LoyaltoAMC]

I think Erica the waitress storyline was Broderick. That started after the writers' strike ended. The active storylines during the strike I remember were Travis's fake kidnapping, Tom/Barbara/Skye, with Skye faking her coma, Palmer emotionally blackmailing Natalie over her murder of Silver, introduction of Will and Dixie, Julie/Nico/Charlie triangle, and Cecily having a crush on Cliff. They sent Adam/Stuart/Cindy/Brooke to Paris the full summer, either to facilitate David Canary's vacation or because they wanted to put the brakes on the AIDS storyline till after the strike, or both. 

[DRW50]

 

I remember scenes of Hillary having some kind of fantasy sequences involving the cop who ended up running over Laura later in the year. Was that strike material?

[Jonathan]

 

Wow. Amazing scenes. Great performance by Susan Lucci. I wonder if this episode was on her Emmy reel? Anyway, those scenes highlight the abandonment complex that Erica suffered which is at the core of her character.

[LoyaltoAMC]

I don't recall that. The only thing I recall about Hillary during the strike was she and Mitch leaving town together without any goodbye scenes with their families. I don't remember Stan Albers who played Josh being on the show until after the strike, but I could be wrong about that. The Laura death story was their first big post-strike story, and I don't recall him appearing much before that kicked into gear. 

[ghfan89]

Thanks, I was thinking the strike went further into the fall than it did. Stan Albers as Josh first showed up around March of 1988 ( the second time, the first time he was on the show as another character in 1985. )

[DRW50]

 

Looks like his material involved Cecily more than Hillary. I remembered it as both, or more the latter for some reason. Chip Albers put a bunch of short clips on Youtube about 9 years ago. Here are a few.

 

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[Khan]

 

It's pretty much what others have explained in this thread: the convoluted saga of Erica, Goldie, Silver/Noelle and Dr. Damon Lazarre, on an island that was owned by Eric, who was presumed dead at that point.  IIRC, there was some sort of treasure on the island?  And Eric's will stipulated that Erica was to inherit the island.  However, because Goldie knew about the treasure, she needed Erica out of the way -- permanently -- so that Silver would inherit the island instead.  (It was all very OLTL-esque, if you ask me.)

 

Moreover, I'm not sure, but I seem to recall that was the story where Erica was shot in the abdomen, despite being pregnant with Bianca at the time.  And I don't know why, but for some reason, I recall Louise Shaffer looking absolutely hideous as Goldie, with overbleached hair and ridiculous amounts of jewelry.  It was as if AMC was trying to recreate the Opal/Jenny or Edna/Dottie dynamic with Goldie and Silver, only Goldie was a murderous psychopath.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Khan

[Khan]

 

Yep, another convoluted story -- this one, involving Travis' fake kidnapping (for the insurance), Bianca's real kidnapping (by the same dude who was supposed to "abduct" Travis, I believe), Erica going incognito and on the run because she wanted to start over and protect Bianca (and falling for the guy who was in cahoots with Travis), Travis finding Erica and Steven Andrews/Dave Gillis (and killing the latter in some farmhouse), Travis somehow contracting amnesia (I forget how) that might have been the result of a brain tumor (again, not sure), and then ending up at Oakhaven for a period with Skye (with the Travis/Erica relationship pretty much dead).  Although I still watched as often as I could, because the day-to-day writing was always top-notch, it just seemed like AMC was really into dark, shaggy dog stories during this period.

 

But...on the other hand...Susan Lucci's hair never looked more luxurious.

 

 

I'm pretty sure it was the latter, as Stephen Schenkel didn't want the strike to mess up what everyone was sure (and rightly so) would be a very powerful story.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Khan

[j swift]

Its a shame that no writer was able to successfully integrate Silver into a long term character.  Con artist Silver was so great at playing an All About Eve storyline with Erica, and while the long term potential as a thorn in Erica's side was intriguing, at some point there would have been a detente, which would have weakened both characters, making her redundant with the role that Kendall played in Erica's story later in the series.  Then, we had mousy Silver aka Noelle.  She was interesting contrast to Erica because she was so earnest while Erica was so flamboyant.  However, that contrast was later played out with the adult Bianca.  Finally, we had the recast Silver, who went from victim to psycho on a dime and could never sustain as a character over time.

 

I like the idea of Silver in terms of what Erica might have been if she was not raised by Mona.  Silver had the capacity to be all of the self-centered parts of Erica, that wouldn't have been tempered by the relationship with Mona.  Mona was so intriguing to me because despite her patrician exterior, she had a history on the cabaret circuit, her best friend was Nick Davis (who, if I remember correctly, Mona suspected might have been Erica's actual father), and she wound up married to one of the richest guys in Pine Valley without really trying.  She was critical of Erica, but also she understood that her daughter was living out the life that she may have wanted for herself, if she had not been hurt by Eric.  The constant finger wagging kept Erica in line and reminded her that she deserved more than just being an object of men's desires.  Silver grew up with Goldie, who was never able to achieve a successful relationship after Eric Kane.  Goldie was such a narcissist that she named her daughter after herself, and then used her as a means of scoring an inheritance that she wrongly felt she deserved.   Silver should have been an interesting contrast to what might have been if Erica was left to her devices. 

 

In the end, I guess most of the likely stories for Silver got played out by Bianca, Kendall, and even Brooke/Barbara.  But, I can't help but think about the lost potential of Erica having an ongoing sibling rivalry. 

Edited February 25, 2021 by j swift