All My Children AMC: The Prospect Park Era (old production thread)

[ellabelle]

You have Miranda essentially adrift on her own. Bianca is never around. Gabby is mentioned but never seen. Erica is not around. Zach is there but apparently doesn't interact with Spike, Ian or Gabby. I don't need to see Zach and Kendall together - I really don't care if they ever get back together - but I do think the absence of Miranda's family is a glaring hole. Miranda has no idea how she was conceived, and that will eventually come to light...and gosh, her not having her mother, her Aunt Kendall (conceived in rape) and her Grandmother (also a rape survivor and mother of a child born of rape) there to help her cope with that is a glaring hole. If the revelation that she was conceived in rape becomes a Zach/Miranda story about Zach and his brother the rapist, I will be very upset. That is a story that should be about the Kane women - most of whom are absent from the canvas.

You have Zach in Pine Valley and apparently not interacting with his sons and biological daughter at all, and unaware that Kendall is apparently sick somewhere.

You have a charity gala benefit for the Miranda Center without Bianca, Kendall or Erica there to represent it.

The Miranda Center is mentioned frequently, but apparently Brooke and Celia are running it while Bianca gives the world's longest speech in DC? I mean, it's patently absurd.

The man many fans believed to be Erica's best pairing is back in Pine Valley, flirting with Erica's long-term nemesis. Erica's absence there is glaring.

Every single time Bianca and Miranda bicker, I feel that Erica is missing there. When Miranda is bullied or doesn't know how to deal with AJ dating Heather, I feel that Erica is missing. Miranda could learn an awful lot from her grandmother, and God, I cannot handle Miranda turning out like Bianca, the Mona incarnate.

I don't need to see a splashy TV talk show or Fusion again on AMC, but Erica is a former magazine editor just like Brooke is. She's a former talk show host and successful business leader. Adam is running around to trying to rebuild Chandler, but there's no story there about takeover attempts or competitors in the marketplace. Why couldn't Erica be involved in a competiting media company? Dimitri and Brooke are working together and Chandler, and them battling for market share against Erica has the potential to be very entertaining.

Or you could drop her into CorTech. Say that Opal has part ownership in Cortlandt and thus has shares in CorTech, and she is worried about David doing something to undermine Pete, so she convinces Erica to come back from wherever she is to help Pete, only Pete doesn't want the intrusion, and you have Erica stuck in the middle between Pete and David.

The last we heard from Erica, she owned at least half of Pine Valley Hospital, thanks to Jane Campbell. David told her that if she didn't like what he was doing to unravel the sale - he knew she could invalidate it because Jane was posing as her, but Erica hesitated based on David's claim that he had saved someone she loved. She could still be part owner and be involved there in some way over David's desire to test this new heart treatment.

Or if you really wanted to do something unexpected for Erica, make her sick. Give her cancer. Give her an emotional tear-jerker story that isn't over the top campy like Phantom Erica in which she has to cope with her own mortality. Mona had cancer, and it's not unrealistic that Erica could have it as well.

I could think of plenty of story potential for Erica that does not involve her wringing her hands over Kendall in a coma again. What I don't want to see is the Zendall/Rylee hour again, and you could bring back Erica and Kendall and still avoid that.

[alexisfan07]

No we didn't, Miranda made a passing reference to it. I remember there being more about it in SOD than what aired.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

Jon, bro, were enemies and all but at least there's this one thing we can always agree on! Erica Kane/La Lucci forever; AMC needs her!! Haters/Nay sayers are drowning in the Nile!

Agreed. I have to say this was pretty grating. at Dixie being the main representative of the company now.

[Cheap21]

I already explained this. See my last post. Who is getting a chance to shine that didn't before? I would say all returning characters used now is comparable to how they were on ABC with Erica around. Maybe I can see an argument made for Brooke who wasn't a regular in the final year but she hasn't exactly been a lead on this current version of AMC. David, Angie, Jesse, JR, Cara, Opal, Zach, Dixie all were utilized well back on the tv version.

ETA: Big word to Ellabelle

[RomeAt50]

I think Bianca needs to be around a lot more. It feels weird for Binks to be so absent when her teen daughter is in town and such an important character.

[ThisIsHeavy]

I agree in essence. Miranda is adrift on the show and has no family to interact with which makes her presence on the show sort of awkward. I think at least they could bring in an actress to play Gabby and get someone to play Bianca consistently enough to not have the story hanging in the air the way it currently is.

It's not so much that "The Kanes" are needed. But the family element is needed for sure.and right now there isn't a strong enough one for Miranda to justify her being on the show especially since the way she is being written she does not embody any of the essential Kane elements.

Plus, if Kendall is secretly sick and bed ridden then who is taking care of Spike and Ian?

[AllMyDaysatGH]

Griff & Bianca.

[alexisfan07]

Stop trying to make Griff happen, it's not going to happen!

In all seriousness, I'm not even sure Griff will return at all. I don't see a place for him right now.

[ellabelle]

Exactly. If she's really ill, then Zach has a right to know. That he apparently doesn't know says a lot about his relationship with Spike and Ian. :/

[cassadine1991]

Maybe Spike and Ian are with Ryan and Greenlee (IF they are still together) but Ian would be 14 and Spike about 16

[Soaplovers]

Don't even put that out there. They haven't been mentioned on the show, so I'm sure neither will be back for season 2.. but sadly, might be back in the future Even though both characters should never be allowed back on the air ever.

[Vee]

Again, I love Erica and Kendall, but their roles and stories over the course of the last decade - especially Kendall's - became absolutely suffocating to this show.

I will be happy to see them, but I am in no hurry to have them back full-time.

[Jonathan]

Can I get a "haters to the left" graphic, please?

[Chris B]

Miranda alone makes the case for the Kane's being needed, but I'm sorry, a show called All My Children should ALWAYS have a strong Kane presence. They are the first family of AMC. Erica is the star of the show. Any continuation should have her family front and center. My biggest problem with nuAMC was killing off Marissa, not because I loved either actress or the Bianca pairing, but because she could've been a link to help this family survive. For one, they've already killed off two daughters of David, so why kill a third? That's just bad storytelling.

Then if they feel they must have Eden Reigel with her limited availability, then at least keep her with Marissa so she could be the in town parent for Miranda and also double for conflict with the Chandler's and also give David a strong family ally. Another benefit from keeping Marissa is that they would've already had their popular lesbian character in a love story and not worry with having to develop a new love interest. Since Bianca is hardly around they won't have time to develop one and that could've been a major source of promotion for the show. Not having a gay or lesbian story on either PP soap was a big mistake IMO.

I grew to enjoy nuAMC, but I do think they did a horrible job in the beginning and especially with how they handled the Kane/Bianca situations. I hope season two is better for the family.

[Steve]

No, the Kanes are not and never were the first family of AMC. That honor has always belonged to the Martins, like them or not. Hell, the Kanes aren't even the first family of Pine Valley, which was the Englishes as Phoebe was constantly bringing up.

For me that was part of the problem with the Frons years when Kendall, Zach, Greenlee, Ryan and to a lesser degree Erica took over so much of the show. It needed to have all the families represented as All My Children. The reboot has fixed that although, as I said earlier, I'd like to have both Tad & Bianca back full time to round out their families more.