AMC Tribute Thread

[All My Shadows]

The summer of 2001 is when a little kid in Louisiana (me) first got into the show. The main thing I remember about the Gabriel story was how he freaked out when Bianca offered him pâté because he thought it was dog food and that she was trying to be cruel.

I know JP's stint as HW is not popular, and looking back, I can obviously see why, but I'll always have a soft spot for the simple fact that I honestly would have never become a soap fan had I not stumbled upon the show at that time.

This is exactly the type of stuff that changed daytime for the worse. Once characters stopped existing as people with whole lives outside of whatever storyline was going on at the time, it was much, much harder to feel any kind of emotional connection to them. And it's crazy because you'd think once soaps doubled in airtime, they would have made more room for scenes like this, but that space was just filled with more plot plot plot.

In recent years, people have started referring to this as "filler," and it frustrates me to no end.

[Soaplovers]

I remember Becca was just a trope and not a character.  Although Abigail Spencer did infuse Becca with personality and a bit of a backbone.. she was able to hold her own against Greenlee and she did have chemistry with Leo.  I think the choice to have Becca be uncomfortable with Bianca coming out was the final nail to the character because by the early 00s... you couldn't present naunce when writing social issue storylines unlike back in the earlier years of AMC.

In regards to 'vertical scenes', TPTB were trying to get rid of those types of scenes as far back as the 80s.  I remember Pam Long in an interview in 1984 said that she had so many requirements/mandates to provide plot that she would try to fit in a 'vertical scene' whenever she could in order to just show characters having a conversation.. but P & G was pushing to do away with those.

That could explain why Pratt kept Nixon out of the writers room because she was probably insisting that those types of scene be included in the show.