Classic AMC/OLTL

[EricMontreal22]

It never really bothered me at all, unlike most, but some of that shaky camera stuff did--I mean when The City looked better with the same technique ten years earlier, it's a problem...

Zendall in general had kinda worn out their welcome with me by that point (I often forget I actually liked them at first when they were kinda a witty pair supporting each other), but it definitely was B/E who ground them, and victimized Kendall, all the way down--and then of course Pratt made it worse.

[ER Tosh]

They really seemed to be pushing Josh and Babe.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

McT wrote AM's Kendall the most throughout her (AM's) tenure on the show and IMO she wrote the best for Kendall for the most part. B&E unfortunately did victimize Kendall and made her more of a heroin, I still ofcourse loved her always ;-) But since then, Kendall really has not been the same. For me she was at her worst under Pratt after Kendall came out of her 17th coma. March 2009-Dec 2009 Kendall *shudder*.

And it's to bad they didn't last!

[DRW50]

You can see why Eggleston has gone on to such film and TV work - he has such a striking look.

For me that story with Aidan pushing Kendall into "grief sex" while Greech or whatever you call them were in the pit was a big no-no. Just horrible, horrible writing, destructive, stupid, and once you do a story like that, you can't go back - the characters permanently look weak and stupid. Everything that soap writers should be taught not to do. I'm still amazed that writers who should be fairly competent, and were at times capable of strong material, did that.

Maybe Frons pushed that so that viewers would love their green butterfly again.

[ER Tosh]

And then a few months later on GH Sonny and Carly had "grief sex" maybe ABCD wanted to start a trend.

[EricMontreal22]

Was that when they had shower sex while interviewing Zarf (before he came back as a regular...)? Oddly I actually liked Josh a lot with Greenlee--they had a "trapped in an elevator" scene, etc, but after a few moments the writers seemed to be too afraid to break Greens up from you-know-who.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

That was one of the worst things the show ever did! Then for over a whole year it seemed like they tried to push that Kendall/Aidan mess under the rug & forget all about it. They went on with the usual Kendall/Zach/Ryan/Greenlee drama's; Pratt put Aidan w/Annie for awhile then had him investigate Stuart's murder.

Then literally out of NOWHERE Aidan became obsessed with Kendall and kidnapped her, drugged her, slepped with her doppelganger to make Zach jealous, etc. WTH?? A true WTF story. AMC was a MISERABLE (with a few bright spots) soap Fall 2009

[EricMontreal22]

I'll never get why he was dropped so early from the Melrose Place reboot when he had a more interesting look, and arguably better talent than most of the others on the show (but he was probably lucky to be let go). I always forget he was a recast for Josh--and the first Josh wasn't bad (he wasn't great, but there have been many worse actors who are never recast)--I grew to like Josh a lot, probably mainly due to Colin, and by no means am I defending the unabortion. But it made the character turn around and that murder of him under Pratt all the more maddening. (Even if it gave us ONE brief scene, finally, between him and Erica).

Is Jeff's weird return still there at the time, or had he already left?

Brown and Esensten fascinate me. I know there's very little love for them here, but I did really enjoy their time at Loving and The City (especially the second half)--even though I admit in both cases there were problems there as well. Obviously they had trouble at other shows too, so Frons can't be fully blamed, but their tenure did have some weird things--that was when the show really got off balance and focused on Zendall/Ryan, etc. In fact much of the stories with other characters had potential (even stuff liek whether it was Annie or her brother Richie who was evil, the reveal of Richie after months of him working in hiding as a bartender at Krystal's was actually well done, etc), but just never got the proper time to be developed or live up to any potential, because the show would have to focus back on the same old characters.

Classic example of Pratt's "I don't care about character" storytelling at its very worst. Now that you hear about how the actors found so much of hsi material so hard to act, it all really makes sense.

OLTL has had more than a few moments of grief sex (though I'm not sure if the recent Jessica/Natalie stuff counts, but kinda).

[DRW50]

What bothered you most with Jeff's return?

[EricMontreal22]

That it was so wasted. I'm not sure if the casting was right, but it didn't particularly bother me. But he came on, I barely remember any Josh interaction, Erica slept with him as a foil to Jack but nothing really came of that, and then it seemed like he disappeared (there was a quick comment about him going back to Africa or wherever but nothing on screen--still that was more respect than Brooke got).

[DRW50]

I think it was an odd idea to ever go back to Jeff/Erica. I don't believe that would happen.

[EricMontreal22]

Certainly not that quickly. Maybe if they had somehow bonded over Josh (though that's hard to do with a grown man) or SOMETHING. I dunno. In the later part of McTavish's run there were a lot of interestign attempts at bringing characters back that went nowhere (putting Livia back on contract was one, to some extent Mimi's return was another, but there seemed to be many). I'm not sure I blame her completely for that...

[AllMyDaysatGH]

Still being kinda new to AMC around that time (watching everyday since oct. 2003, 1997-2003 i watched with my mom often times), I did not really realize the ridiculousness and controversy over Erica's unabortion. I actually thought it was an interesting, juicy storyline, LMAO....not so much when I think about it now & know all the facts. I wish I had got into internet/message boards sooner. Anyways I did however LOATHE Jeff Martin and that actor playing him during that S/L. I could not stand him and fast forwarded all of his scenes except for when he interacted with Josh. Him & Erica had NO SPARK.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

I just LOL'ed my butt off with my mom during AMC. Probably makes me a terrible Tad fan. But, all I could think about and say during those scenes with him confessing to Dixie about Madden was....when you get drunk and confess to a murder you should probably close your patio door.

Oh, and how damn hot he looked 5 years ago. Geeeeeeeeeez.

Also. Spencer Truman on OLTL. Oh heck no! ICK!

[DRW50]

John James has never done a lot for me, although this was probably an unplayable role.

Watching the full episode just cemented my very mixed feelings on McTavish. I thought the scenes with Zach/Kendall and Tad/Dixie had a great deal of emotional pull. I was hooked on those scenes and wanted to see what happened next. I especially liked the contrast of Kendall questioning Zach's state of mind and being horrified that he allowed Madden to be tortured, and as a contrast, Dixie was too dumbfounded to say anything. I've heard people AM can't act, but really episodes like this just remind me that she can do a great job when she has the material.

The idea of what Tad did is ludicrous, and horribly destructive to his character makeup, but damned if MEK didn't pull those scenes off first rate. I especially liked the scene where he talked about his realization that he was going to torture a man in the same park he'd been dumped in as a child. He got through all the expository dialogue without making you dwell on it and added in enough asides, like the one about how long it had been since he'd hotwired a car, that it seemed believable. That this still "seemed" like Tad, even after what he had done, just made me feel even more horrified.

A superb performance by Cady McClain in the supporting role, also very good work from Thorsten Kaye as he explained to Kendall.

I don't know who wrote that script but it was much stronger than I'd expected. The problem is, where do you go from here? I don't think any show can sustain that level of darkness and bleakness, because, unlike the Pratt era, this bleakness actually had weight. It stayed with you.