AMC Tribute Thread

[Jonathan]

Concur!

[ghfan89]

Keith Hamilton Cobb agrees with you. Here's his SOD exit interview from 1996 someone posted on another board:

>"IT WAS JUST NICEY-NICE AND CUTESY-CUTE AND WE DON'T WANT TO RUFFLE ANY

>FEATHERS"

>Here's the complete transcript of Keith Hamilton Cobb's recent exit

>interview with Soap Opera Digest

>DIGEST ONLINE: So we hear that you're leaving ALL MY CHILDREN....

>COBB: It's not a bummer for anybody. Hopefully, they'll leave the door

>open. If you're going to do a daytime show, it seems to me that that's the

>one to do. 26 years -- obviously, they're doing something right.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: What are your reasons for leaving?

>COBB: Well, you know, if you were going to title this article, it would be

>"How Many Ways Can I Say I Love You?" and I think that almost sums it up.

>Besides the fact that I'm a viable young actor with a strong presence and a

>strong spirit. I'm tenacious, hungry, committed, diligent; besides all that,

>how many ways can I say I love you? When we first created the character, he

>had a great depth, which I enjoyed playing very much. They took that away in

>the name of bringing him into some daytime legitimacy and bringing him to

>the mainstream and bringing him to the good guy side as if we don't have a

>bad streak in all of us. That's what daytime is -- look at Adam Chandler,

>Tad, Noah -- they basically took it all away. They made [Noah] very angelic,

>almost saintly it's all about doting on this woman. I had told them a long

>time ago. You've established their love. Let him have a life. Let her have a

>life. Every show can't be about how happy we are and how lucky we are and

>oh, how happy we are and lucky we are, and let's have babies. Let's sit here

>and dream. That's not all there is to anyone's life and if it is, they're

>extremely pathetic. I'm not looking for realism; I'm looking for a degree of

>depth. The last time Noah was interesting or powerful and proactive was when

>he was a criminal. When they took that away everything was talking about the

>things he would do and never doing it. "I'm always going to be there for

>you, I'm always going to take care of you. Oh sorry, you were kidnapped.

>Sorry you almost drowned. Well next time, I'll take care of you." He is

>totally ineffectual. The last time he was effectual is when he was on his

>own. He had all that good stuff in him. People could look at him and see it.

>Julia saw it and that's what sparked the romance. That was their private

>understanding. They knew he was a good guy. Playing the differences was much

>more interesting than playing him like everyone else. Noah must be extremely

>bored at Santos family gatherings sitting around watching you guys argue

>about whether or not you should send Anita to Mexico. Who gives a s--t?

>Sitting in a country/western bar pouring drinks.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Did you voice your concerns to the show?

>COBB: After the first year I said, "Please get him back to a place where

>he's strong. Please give him some of his ambiguity back." They said, "Okay,

>we're going to give him his edge back," and that was all the stuff about

>Louie getting out of jail. It was all about this very blatant surface rage

>that he felt. He tries 17 million times to kill Louie but he didn't -- what

>does that make him? I said, "His anger is deep-rooted and that's what makes

>it interesting." Try and fail and try and fail is boring. That was not Noah.

>There's no gray. Once they start moving you to the good, it's all or nothing

>and I love playing the gray. Immediately they started to run from who Noah

>was and they didn't know how to bring it back. They missed their mark with

>the Louie coming back story. Work from the inside. The character is

>interesting in his silence. After two years, I think that's long enough to

>realize that it's not going to get any better. Noah is what he is now. He

>has the parameters set around him. He's not going to accrue any more levels

>to expand beyond this point, because daytime doesn't expand beyond this

>point, and I thought it would. I thought because Noah was so unique and

>pushing the envelope within the panorama of daytime, I thought, "Well, this

>is good." If I can continue to find the levels and [if] the fans who write

>him affirm that these levels are interesting to watch, maybe they'll

>continue to write this, but it's been a constant fight against what is

>written. Noah's text is mainstream guy trying and trying to make that

>interesting.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Did you specifically have conversations with the producers

>regarding these issues?

>COBB: Yes. I had several conversations with both producers [Felicia Minei

>Behr and Francesca James] and the head writer [Lorraine Broderick]. Everyone

>has heard how I feel. Ultimately, I'm hired to do a job and I do it. After a

>while, I have to shut up and let them do their. I do not know what it takes

>to write daytime would not presume to know it. I'm sure that it's a nearly

>impossible job. It is not enough to keep an actor like me, who is looking

>for the levels and the depth, interested.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Ultimately, how do you think the show will view your exit?

>COBB: If they're smart, and I think they are... but I don't know if that

>necessarily helps them make a better show. They have an intelligence that I

>don't understand. Perhaps about what they're doing, but if they were smart,

>they would think about the things that I have been griping about -- and I

>haven't been terribly vocal -- and say, "Well, why did this guy leave? --

>and maybe he's right." Maybe the mail will reflect that -- like why is Noah

>so milquetoast? I guess they'll try and find another strong black male

>character I don't know how long he'll stay strong -- and excuse me for

>blowing my own horn -- but they're not going to replace Noah. They're not

>going to find another Noah. They just won't; I know that. They're certainly

>not going to find another me. I've never seen another me. I've never seen

>anything close. It's hard to find the humility in this because so much of

>what we've done [has influenced] the medium and the industry. So many more

>guys are wearing long hair in the medium now. Morgan Freeman was asked where

>he got his look in "Moll Flanders," and he said that he was flipping

>channels and saw this guy on a soap opera. I'm very proud of that. I wish

>they had had the wherewithal to capitalize on that to its full advantage,

>and I don't know why they don't. I'm at a loss. I don't know why they don't

>do everything they can with a character as multifaceted and as interesting

>to look at as he was. Why they would relegate him to working in a bar and

>saying "I love you"? How many times can you say it to mean anything. That's

>all they do and there is much more to a romance. He didn't take bulls--t; ow

>all he takes is bulls--t. I don't think the character would go in that

>direction. The last place I felt I could go along with the story and respect

>[it] was when he left his neighborhood to go be with this girl. Forget

>Jamaica, forget all the huge storyline tragedies, we can't even discuss

>that. Still, I have to run away, so why don't you come, too.I'll put your

>life in danger. I just don't find the depth anymore. It was gone.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: What were some of the positives about working on AMC?

>COBB: They have given me an opportunity to work and excel at a time in my

>career where no one else was looking at me, and I respect them for that. I

>respect them for having the bravery to make that choice and it almost didn't

>happen. Had it not been for Felicia Minei Behr and [Casting Director] Judy

>Blye Wilson going to the networks and saying you're crazy if you don't hire

>him. Once in the door, it comes back to making daytime; and I don't know

>what that formula is, and they're not letting me in on that. I don't enjoy

>it anymore and I may come back to it . It may change. I think that daytime

>has the potential to be hugely compelling in ways that it's not right now

>and to explore things in greater depth and be more realistic. I have other

>fields to plow. I have greater exploration to do in my young career I need

>to see if I can make a life for myself in acting. Making a life in daytime

>[would be feasible] if Noah felt different things from day to day, but these

>characters feel the same thing every day. Last time I checked, he had

>nothing to say but "I love you."

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Do you think AMC was surprised by your decision?

>COBB: No, I think [they knew]. They would have to be ignorant not to have

>some idea. They know the actor is not happy. They know the character is

>weak, and they know that the ratings are down. It's not for me to question;

>I can only take care of myself. They knew about the option [in my contract

>to leave the show] ; they knew what Sydney [Penny's] situation was as well.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Did you think they were going to negotiate to try to get you

>to stay?:

>COBB:I guess they thought that was certainly an option. They oversee a lot

>of actors and a lot of TV, and the way that actors feel sometimes falls

>through the cracks. It's rarely about money -- it's what are you giving me

>to do, to play. People say to me, "I love Noah and Julia so much," and I

>want to say, "Why? They're insipid." The actors are interesting and the

>characters COULD be interesting. They're attractive, but they don't do

>anything but bill and coo at each other.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Did you discuss this with Sydney:

>COBB: Yeah. As a matter of fact, she's ahead of me.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: How do you think fans will react to all this?

>COBB: Based on their reaction that I've enjoyed from the past two years, I

>think they will be somewhat disappointed. But I don't know exactly why

>because I would not have been compelled to watch this long. I think that

>there will be initial disappointment, and I guess that would only be

>natural, but I hope that everybody will understand that I'm not going away;

>I'm just leaving that role for awhile, which is what actors do. I have to go

>act. If I don't go now, I'll never know. I'll never be able to see what else

>is out there. I can fulfill this role for another 5 or 6 years. I'm sure

>they'd have me and [Noah] wouldn't be anything different than what he is

>now. Just older. And there's so many greater roles to play, where these fans

>can see me. Hopefully, they'll follow me. Hopefully they'll wish me luck.

>Going to the next place. Come see the epic motion pictures when I do the

>remake of "Spartacus" [laughs].

>

>DIGEST ONLINE:Do you think ABC handled the interracial romance well?

>COBB: Yes and no. I think that [in] casting Noah they were bold in going

>for it. Again they were very tentative about that and approached it slowly

>and were afraid of it. What reaction were we going to get? Only when they

>realized that the reaction was overwhelmingly positive, did they sort of go

>for it completely. There were a couple of points within the span of the

>relationship where the interracial romance became the issue and we had to

>struggle to get away from it. My feeling -- and I believe Sydney's feeling

>has always been -- that what makes them so interesting and what makes people

>love them is that it's not an issue. It was never the issue. But the issue

>of race is that they didn't see it most of the time. Making it a non-issue

>was what worked so well. They tried to make it an issue a couple of times

>but we said no, no, no. There was a time before the '95 Emmys where Noah was

>saying to Julia that he knew the reason he wouldn't be with her was because

>he was black. And we just thought that was so stupid and we fought like hell

>to get away from that quickly, and I think we did. We shouldn't have had to

>work that hard. Day to day to day, you shouldn't have to work that hard to

>make your character interesting. It should be written interesting and more

>often than not, they're not. But I think they have been brave to create it

>and to stick by it. I think that their romance has always been a bit too

>tame for me. The romance has not been as lust-driven as some of the others,

>and I don't mean that outside of the bedroom. I always thought it was great

>that they allowed these two to mature as friends over a year so, that when

>they really did fall in love it was forever. You can't split them up. I

>think it allowed them to develop a very spiritual side to their

>relationship. Noah and Julia, despite the stupid things that they say, do

>talk to each other, whereas a lot of soap couples don't. But in the bedroom

>I always said, "Can we just run with this?" and they said no. It was just

>nicey-nice and cutsey-cute and we don't want to ruffle any feathers. It's

>very gentle. People who are really lust-driven don't have sex like that. You

>can have some sex like that if that's how you're feeling, gentle and sweet,

>but there's times when you're feeling randy and Noah's a man. He's

>formidable and Julia, she doesn't have a lot of power, either. She's never

>had any proactive power. She was always the victim and Noah was always the

>savior. It would have been interesting to see her take more control and see

>her be more driving in a strong romantic moment bedroom scene. There has

>been such a transformation since he started the show. The only thing he

>still has is his immediately physical attributes He still has hair. Big deal

>-- I'm tired of that.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Will a soap credit on your resume be a strike against you in

>Hollywood?

>COBB: I think there's always that stigma to live down a little bit. That's

>one of the reasons I'm going now. I think that I can throw down with any of

>these guys in the field right now. I really do. I look at what's out there

>and say, `[!@#$%^&*], they ain't like me. And some of them may have skills that I

>don't have, but we're all learning and the best way to grow is to continue

>to do it. I know there's people out there copying the look. Certainly the

>look is compelling.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Will your keep your hair the way it is?

>COBB: Well, for the moment. When I was coming along, the reason I didn't

>cut my hair then is because I was looking like me and I'm still looking like

>me. I'm never going to say every role I play has to be a guy with long hair.

>People have to know that I'm an actor. I'll change to fit the role to the

>extent that I can, but why go out there trying to please people when I don't

>know exactly what they want?

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: What kind of acting roles do you see in your future?

>COBB: I'm not really built for situation comedy. I don't really understand

>it. It's never been funny to me and I don't really do it well. I think the

>comic elements I have are born out of my innate need to take myself very

>seriously and I'd be somebody's great straight man, but I consider myself

>much more of a dramatic actor and wherever someone is willing to hand that

>opportunity to me, great. I don't set those kinds of goals for myself; I

>just need to work more and more expansively. I want to explore ideas that

>daytime will not allow me and wherever that is, that's where I'll go.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Will you do another soap?

>COBB: No, no, God no. Why would I do that? I would stay at this one,

>because on another soap it would be the same thing. I would create another

>character that would be interesting for 3 months and then start that arc

>into whatever.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Will you miss the show?

>COBB: I will miss having someplace to get up and do the work everyday. I'm

>sure once I stop the feeling of how it used to be, it will become very acute

>again. When you're unemployed, nobody's letting you act which is what you

>want to do. This show did that a couple of times a week at least. That's

>what an actor lives for. It's food. You might as well die if you don't have

>that. I'm going to miss my colleagues on the show. Sydney -- you don't do

>two years of a romance with somebody and not miss them. I'm certainly going

>to miss working with her. Whatever there was to Noah and Julia, we developed

>together and worked on it and talked about and deliberated over it. That was

>hard work, and you learn things about people that the general public doesn't

>know, and you get an in depth understanding of that person. She's a good

>actor. I'm hoping that she will have more fulfilling things happen for her

>as well because I know that it has not been terribly easy or fulfilling for

>her, either. I'll miss Judy Wilson because she's proud of what I've done on

>the show and proud of herself and she should be. She's been an intrinsic

>part of this and she's my buddy, and again we've established a relationship

>as people, which is always nice because I'm not an easy guy to know or an

>easy guy to be a friend of. I'm difficult because I don't make many

>friends, and when I watch people like Felicia and Judy really believe in me,

>I'm moved. I've really missed Felicia, not that Francesca is not doing a

>damn good job running this ship; I just miss that person. I will miss

>watching the other actors -- what they do and [how they strive to make

>daytime] everything it could be. The work David Canary [Adam/Stuart] does is

>very strong regardless if he's playing the same scene day after day. Michael

>Nader [Dimitri] is strong in doing his kind of thing; he gets in there and

>does it well. He finds it, he thinks about it and makes it happen. I'm going

>to miss watching the pros and what they do. This has been a place to learn.

>That's what I'll miss. Maybe I need to go away someplace else and learn

>other things.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE; Are you nervous?

>COBB: Yeah, it's scary. It's scary walking away form a steady paycheck and

>a good [work] deal and a certain degree of respect. Hopefully, I'll pick it

>up someplace else. If I don't, I don't. I can't get 5 years down the road

>look at myself and say, "You were too chicken to try." Inside me, there's a

>hardworking actor that comes to every project with the trust of a baby.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: Is it possible the network didn't think they were writing

>your character badly?

>COBB: After two years, how could they not? They might very well have said,

>"We know he's not happy, we know the story is less that stellar, but what

>are we going to do? If he feels that he has to leave, well, let him go."

>They've dealt with this before. It's certainly not going to plunge the show.

>The show has been there almost as long as I've been alive. The show's not

>going anywhere, but Keith is going to be a journeyman. To go out an explore

>and see what comes, and hopefully they will continue to embrace me at ALL MY

>CHILDREN, and in this aspect of the medium, and welcome my return if that

>happens. I think we all have our agendas, but I also think we have respect

>for each other. The trick is you can't take things personally. I think

>actors need to go act. Most actors I know are never happy. I was happy for 3

>months when I got this job and it wasn't the first three months. [First] I

>was like, "Gee, this sucks." Then I was like "Oh, this is good, the

>character's working I'm making the money. People like it. I learned how to

>do the camera s--t. Everything's great." Then after three months, "I was

>like, I got this. What else is out there?" This role has done some good on

>several levels: for me, for the show, for the medium, for the fans: we've

>advanced stuff with this role. This role is groundbreaking. But we've done

>it, and unless we're going to do it some more, unless we're going to

>continue to break ground and not just be boring, let's go find some other

>ground to break. Noah was a classic "who knew?" situation. Boom! Who the

>hell knew? If they knew, they would have done this 5 years ago and the

>entire industry is like that. Maybe we could create a "who knew?" someplace

>else. Seems to me we could.

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: How is your relationship with ABC?

>COBB: It's been totally amicable. They've worked with me to the extent that

>they can. They've been collaborative and let me create a voice for Noah and

>a language that was sort of his own and now it's done. And I think everyone

>can understand that; whether or not they want to is another story. It seems

>to me it would only make sense that being who I am, why would I stay? What

>is there for me in daytime? There's money, but beyond that, what else is

>there? There's no opportunity to create other character so why would people

>think I'll stay forever?

>

>DIGEST ONLINE: When is your last day?

>COBB: I don't know what they plan to write. I know that Sydney's deal is up

>in November, so I'm up in December. I would imagine they're going to do a

>November sweeps thing. Finally, hopefully, it will be tasteful and creative.

>The couple deserved that sort of a big sendoff of some kind. Hopefully,

>they'll do something positive and forward moving.

[DRW50]

Thanks. I agree with much of his view. I actually think there were a number of relevant stories AMC could have given him, but I guess he was seen as too valuable a property for those, so instead he got the more typical leading man stories, which were by and large terrible. His ego probably played a part as well, but he's not wrong about his material.

[ellabelle]

Agreed. This was sort of an odd period for AMC. I actually lost interest for a while around 1995/1996 and stopped watching as religiously. Erica was always the draw for me on AMC, and when her drug addiction story just would not end, I got bored.

[kendallhart]

Can I ask everyone to post old soap magazines clippings with Sarah Michelle Gellar?

I'm interested in EVERYTHING about her All My Children Days during 1993-1995.

It's so hard to get now. I will share some too. Thanks for help.

Edited February 25, 2013 by kendallhart

[KMan101]

First time I've read that interview by Cobb and I loved it. So incredibly spot on for all of Daytime. But wasn't Disney fully all over ABC by that point? You can see their damage on daytime as well as primetime at the time (the sitcoms suffered, too)

Edited February 25, 2013 by KMan101

[DRW50]

Disney took over in 1996, yes. Early or spring 1996 I think. AMC was where their hand was first seen because Noah and Julia had a very Disney wedding, complete with Grace (RIP Lynne Thigpen...) as the fairy godmother. So the real problems Cobb would have had would have started not long before Disney.

I think the problem was that AMC began to see Noah as too big a character for certain stories. McTavish gave Noah relatively - I won't say "gritty" because I hate that word in how it's used for daytime - tough stories. As soon as she left, you saw more and more stuff like Noah the supermodel, which was a little silly, because overnight he was this huge press sensation, with the press all but knocking down Julia's door, obsessing over her life and past, all because of Noah. It was just too much. They clearly had no idea how to write for Noah as a traditional leading man.

Edited February 25, 2013 by CarlD2

[Pine Charles]

LOL! That was great. Love me some Angie.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Pine Charles

[SFK]

She palmed her face like a volley ball.

[KMan101]

I forgot how terrible Vasi was. Damn.

[DRW50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXmeSwQa9vM

[Jonathan]

Was this the last time Nexxus was featured on the show?

 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SEEaexhqI8I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[SFK]

Hmm, quite possibly. I never saw this episode, I hadn't remembered seeing Nexxus since the late '80s/very early '90s. This must be '94.

[Jonathan]

I hadn't seen it either.

[danfling]

Reportedly, Francesda James is rejoining the revivial of All My Children in a role known as (I think) Evelyn Johnson.

Does anyone have a speculation about this role?