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

[KMan101]

I agree.

And it was nice to see Tuc actually acting and David not a cartoon character. I won't soon forget David discoing his way into the club opening, Mister Popular (as he would have been on Cartini's version) and then it screeching to a halt and people laughed at him. I knew right then and there the soaps would be much better away from the network. The shows had their flaws, for sure though.

[EricMontreal22]

Absolutely agreed.

[marceline]

Whatever PP's many problems - many, many problems - they put together a creative team that went balls to the wall to give us the best possible product. From Agnes to Ginger Smith, Jen Pepperman down to every last cast and the crew member. Were there issues? Yes, of course. Personally I felt that we missed out on some pivotal scenes on AMC that we should've gotten but at no point watching did I ever feel like anyone was phoning it in or just coasting until their contract was up. There were plenty of times on ABC when I could feel the disdain of Frons and the network through the screen. Their dislike of the genre, the audience, and the actors was practically palpable in everything they did. Which is why I will honestly never understand why people who claim to like the genre are so happy this project failed.

That's a lie. I understand completely why they are happy. The status quo must survive about all. It's just unfathomable to watch people who wanted us to show up at the upfronts to protest soapkiller Frons turn around and dance on the graves of these shows.

[ChitHappens]

The genre is dead and 4 dusty hookers on the corner of a deserted town doesn't make it any less so!

[cassadine1991]

I know, makes no sense

[Wizzerkat]

There is also the issue of those who are more fans of an actor or couple than an actual show or the genre generally. No Zendall, no watching for some, for example. I never got this thinking, but whatever..

[Khan]

Agree.

[ellabelle]

I watched a lot of different soaps in the very early 90s (AMC, Days, SB, OLTL, Y&R, AW), but when I started watching Erica on AMC in early 1991, I was hooked, and within a year, it was the only show I watched. Sure, I loved a lot of other characters on the show (Adam, Brooke, Dimitri, Edmund, David, MW's Liza, Jack, Bianca and Kendall, mostly), but Erica was the reason I watched for 20 years. Without Erica, sure, there were other characters I liked (Bianca and Adam even though we barely saw them, and Brooke and Dimitri), but it was still missing the main reason I watched. Add to that, I disliked the dominant story of the season involved, which also revolved around characters about whom I really couldn't care less.

I watched to give it a fair shot and because I wanted AMC to live on. I didn't dance on the show's grave - I'm actually quite sad it's apparently failed yet again because I don't believe ABC has any interest in reviving it - but I can be unhappy with the reboot and still sad that it failed.

[marceline]

I'm actually pretty forgiving of that because I've been there. I quit OLTL when REG left. I came back for two days when RJ and Hank returned only to have RC humiliate the characters and treat them like trash. I realized then that I could never return to Llanview. Even with that however, I watched the premiere of OLTL 2.0 and a couple of clips. (It was the best I could do.) Or for a non-soap example, I quit Law & Order shortly after Jerry Orbach died. As much as I love Jesse L. Martin, the show didn't feel the same to me without the character of Lenny Briscoe. I understand what it's like when the loss of a character or actor makes a show feel broken.

What makes me sad is that the success of PP soaps took nothing away from the rest and the failure of the shows does nothing to help the remaining ones.

[EricMontreal22]

Every fandom seems to have a group of fans who are more pleased to be able to say "I told you so" than see something succeed or even keep an open mind about if it's genuinely good or not (which is why the opinion of Ellabelle doesn't bother me--I know she gave the show more than a fair chance.) I mean amo9ng my theatre fans I just saw it with the Sound of Music live nonsense which, whether you like the play or not, had theatre fans gleefully ranting on about how awful it was before it even aired.

[Vee]

Including me! Because it was awful! But I'm not a really big theater person, I just thought it was awful. As it aired, that is.

I think for so much of soap fandom online the PP situation is so wrapped up in a larger schema re: GH, OLTL, the creative teams there and their priorities and the popular view that a lot of that eclipses anything about the shows themselves, especially OLTL. It's just too bad the genuinely good shows and their content and talent got lost in the neuroses. As many have said, they were made for very little and still looked a lot better and felt a lot more modern than anything on GH, DAYS or Y&R, IMO.

What really worries me is the thought, however wrongheaded, that people might only call any future effort legitimate if it were produced entirely under the aegis of ABC. Because while it may be unavoidable to work with the network to ensure funding and distribution, IMO having everything back under the same old school of thought is not the way to the future.

[EricMontreal22]

Oh that's fine if you thought it was awful after watching a bit. Obviously, as you know, that wasn't my point. But I think it is a reaction that comes from fandom in general.

Absolutely agreed with everything else.

[Vee]

Apparently SOD has given the Cassandra sex trafficking story its "Worst Story" non-award, and Colby "Worst Villain." I find both choices utterly insane.

[cassadine1991]

The excuse then give is that viewers barely

knew Cassandra when she appeared on ABC's

AMC and that Sal Stowers was a newbie. And

how it was a rip-off of Taken.and that it was

gritty and icky showing Cassandra being

beaten and raped. How it caused an

"unnecessary" rift between Angie and Jesse,

how,it wasted Zach and how Zach/Lea were

painful to watch

And about Colby they said that when AMC ended on ABC Colby was in a "good" place and.how when she got back she was,unrecognizable (calling her vapid, trampy, self-obsessed, her lack of self-respect, mediocre, childish and unamusing)

[John]

SOD said we dont know Cass. It caused Jesse and Angie to fight, was to gritty to watch and gave Us Zach & Lea which was unwatchable

Well the story was gritty thats the type of story it is