AMC: what if Eric never died and married...

[allmc2008]

Natalie! Natalie could have been brought back to her bitchy and manipulative roots and reveal that she swayed Eric to marry her.

[DRW50]

That would have been interesting. Do you mean when he was on in 1989?

[allmc2008]

Later on. Around when Janet and company left. Maybe instead of greenlee crashing Erica's wedding to Jackson it could have been Natalie plotting the crash.

When did he leave anyway? How did they write him out?

[DRW50]

He left in 1990, I think. He betrayed Erica, as she'd given him a lot of stock in Enchantment, and he sold it to Natalie.

[ellabelle]

Yes, and then Natalie DIED in the mid 90s, remember? So Eric and Natalie crashing Erica's 2003 wedding to Jack would have been impossible.

The story I wanted to see that didn't happen - although I'd heard rumors that it might - was that Leo DuPres was really Eric Kane's son and Erica's half-brother, and something surrounding that was what led to the hostility Vanessa had for Erica when she first arrived in Pine Valley in the late 90s. If you recall, Vanessa hated Erica even before Erica became romantically involved with David but we never really got an explanation as to why until 2002 when we got the absurd retcon that Vanessa had gotten pregnant by Richard Fields and had witnessed him raping a 14 year old Erica, and she was jealous because he didn't want to be with her - he wanted to be with the little girl in the pink party dress.

Personally I would have much preferred to see an Eric is Leo's father story to Vanessa watching a 14 year old get brutally raped and not doing a damn thing to stop it because she was jealous that her actor boyfriend preferred little girls. Yes, Vanessa was evil, and she did horrible things, but that was just too disturbing.

[allmc2008]

Right. Natalie did die, but characters come back all the time! I would just love to see the shock on Erica's face. That and I wish they would have explored Erica and Eric's relationship more anyway.

[danfling]

Eric and Natalie sound good as a pair. I just would have preferred another actress in the role of Natalie.

Chris Weatherhead would have been perfect!

[ellabelle]

I definitely would have loved to see Erica have the opportunity to talk to her father after we all learned that she'd been raped in large part because of him. I was really surprised that he didn't come back during her stabbing trial with Dimitri as the whole sordid story became a matter of public record. Surely he would have seen the news and learned that his 14 year old daughter had borne a child as a result of the rape he arranged. I hate that he died before she had a chance to talk to him on his deathbed.

As for Natalie, if she'd somehow survived, I can't see her willingly leaving Timmy and Amanda, especially once Janet was in the picture again. To me Natalie was ruined and lost all of her appeal once they stuck her with Trevor, and then further destroyed by a bad, bland recast. I loved seeing Kate Collins as Janet, but Natalie as ice queen was long over by the time Erica and Jack were walking down the aisle.

[SFK]

Years ago, a letter of mine got published on TV Guide's online soap column where I surmised that David was Erica's half-brother by Eric and Vanessa. Reiner really liked my idea, though it didn't pan out that way. Vanessa and Richard Fields producing Trey was a close second I guess.

[ellabelle]

There were plenty of people speculating that that might be the case - that David and Erica were half-siblings - but any possibility of that was nipped in the bud when they ended up in bed. And for that I'm glad because David and Erica had incredible chemistry!

I loved the relationship that Erica had with Mark, and I would have loved to see another version of that with a much younger sibling in Leo. He was already living in Erica's house, and Bianca took to him right away. It would have been fun as well to see Erica dealing with the idea that her father knocked up someone she disliked as much as Vanessa, and that her new brother was involved with someone she disliked as much as Greenlee.

[Steve]

I would've loved to have seen Natalie get involved with Eric instead of Trevor back in 1989. Both Erica & Jeremy would've been flabbergasted!

It seemed obvious for awhile that the writers were leading us to the reveal that Leo was Erica's brother. I also wish that story had played out.

You mean instead of Melody Anderson, right? Because Kate Collins was fantastic as Natalie, imo!

ITA. Erica should've confronted her father at least once about him leaving her with his pedophile friend.

[danfling]

No, I was referring to Kate Collins as Natalie, although I did not particularly like Melody Anderson either.

I felt that Ms. Collins was miscast as Natalie. She would never have been a rival to Erica!

I didn't mind Ms. Collins as Janet, and I felt that the last times that she played Janet, she was absolutely wonderful.

And, I saw Ms. Collins as herself hosting a program for ABC, and she was absolutely likable and professional.

But, the role of Natalie was, in my opinion, initally miscast. Chris Weatherhead had just completed her role as Alicia van Dine on The Edge of Night, and she would, I think, have been a perfect Natalie.

But, it doesn't matter to me who plays the role - just as long as it is not Kate Collins!

[ellabelle]

Watching the clips on YT of Natalie/Alex/Erica/Jeremy from early 1986 or so... I liked Natalie. She had the ice queen bit down pat. But by the early 90s, she had that awful short haircut, and she'd gained weight, and she just lost a lot of the initial ice queen diva-ness that she had before.

[SFK]

They really tried to soften/domesticate her with Trevor and Timmy and the rape and all that. She was so much better as an icy Montana Morehead bitch complete with sympathetic neuroses. Melody Anderson may as well have been another character. She looked great in her business clothes but was too apple pie for Natalie.

[Jonathan]

I had to find out what Melody Anderson is doing lately.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_Anderson