AMC: Returns with potential

[Vee]

It was either Tad or Edmund, I can't remember which. Kit was Jack and Travis's long-thought-dead kid sister, Christine.

I just remember the hilarious audio "flashback" of Kit's "death" as a child, with kid versions of Jack and Travis ringing in Jack's ears as Walt Willey stared off into the middle distance. "Gee, what a great day on the lake, Chrissie! *sploosh* Chrissie! Chrissie!"

[greens_dupres]

Yeah, that's especially clear watching some old clips on YT- Trevor was not the type to forgive and forget with Janet from Another Planet. But I did like most of it- maybe because of Robin Mattson, maybe because I wasn't watching during Kate Collins' stint. The Jane Cox wedding reveal was the first thing I remember being REALLY excited for with AMC as a kid. Harold the Dog on a cross country quest to expose her idenity. I thought that was the greatest thing ever.

Yes Kit & Tad were dullsville- she was really Jack's sister Christine who was raped by Ryan's brother Brayden & Ryan was accused. She may have been tested with Edmund too in his post Maria mourning stage when they seemed really confused with what to do with him. Did Kit end up dying tragically? Grace Monroe/Davidson-Rappaport was another blonde long lost sister on OLTL at the same time and I was always confusing them. Camille I just really barely remember at all.

[Vee]

Oh, I hadn't watched, really, during Kate Collins's original run. Most of my experience was with Robin Mattson as Janet. But I remembered just how insane she'd been. I never truly bought her redemption, but I was very young.

Upon checking, I believe Kit was Edmund's post-Maria love interest, which is also what I remember. She'd had some fling with Tad in the past, or something.

Kit left town. Camille died trying to save people from the explosion at Holidays. Literally, the day she died, Dixie turned up to replace her as Tad's love interest. But Grace on OLTL, Kit, Camille - all of them were McTavish-esque long-lost sisters and/or blonde sirens, IMO, though Grace, at least, wasn't actually a McTavish creation. I believe she was created during the period Jill Phelps was writing OLTL solo.

[allmc2008]

ZOMBIES!! What the hell was AMC turning into! I hate to ask but please elaborate on the ZOMBIES!

[greens_dupres]

Thanks this thread has unearthed many AMC memories that I have not thought about since their original airings.

They really struggled with a post Maria love interest for Edmund for years- Kit, Alex (or maybe it was Anna?) Devane, Mia...

[EricMontreal22]

Tanner was Broderick and I think by far the worse thing she did--it really did seem more like a McTavish bad decision. That was '97 when the ABC soaps were all about getting Australian hunks, preferably ones from Heartbreak High (like the guy on The Cit who I quite liked.)

I think they did try to pair Kit with Tad. I was gonna say Jack but she was his sister, or something right? All these bad blond female characters under McTavish that run through.

[Vee]

It was both Alex and Anna!

They brought Finola Hughes back to ABC (and onto AMC) with much fanfare by creating the character of Dr. Alexandra Devane, Dimitri's mystery bride he'd picked up in Europe during a holiday. They used the story as a pretext to fire Michael Nader so Edmund, etc. could investigate Dimitri's strange death and Edmund could fall for his brother's widow. Unfortunately, the flashback scenes Nader had filmed showed he had scorching chemistry with Finola, and no one gave a damn about Edmund and Alex. Plus, they'd apparently originally planned for Finola to play Anna or for Alex to turn out to be Anna - but then there was a long, convoluted, ridiculous storyline in which it turned out Alex had been "brainwashed" to pick up her twin sister's skills and identity because their mother, played by the great British thespian Samantha Eggar, was yet another nefarious covert intelligence spook a la Irene Manning on OLTL, and Alex had been shut up in an asylum for a while or something, she and Anna may or may not have ever met before, I can't remember all the bullshit details.

Anyway - Alex and Edmund flopped, and they re-signed Michael Nader and brought Dimitri back from the dead to put him with Alex (quickly backburnered because Alex was deathly boring, and Nader was busted for possession and fired). Edmund's creepy consolation prize was intended to be - surprise! - Anna [!@#$%^&*] Devane, found hidden away in the woods or something. So they tried that for a few weeks and everyone [!@#$%^&*] hated the idea of Anna Devane being saddled with John Callahan too, which is a shame since I'd loved him so much with Maria as a kid but now he was just embarrassing. So then Anna got paired with David, and Edmund was [!@#$%^&*] outta luck. Again.

By the time they got around to Edmund and Mia it looked like he was schtupping the babysitter. Which, it turns out, John Callahan apparently was. Eww.

[allmc2008]

[Vee]

Yes, that is a video, congratulations.

[greens_dupres]

Yes I remember all the promotion for Finola and being excited b/c my mom loved her on GH in the 80s and I wanted something good for Edmundsbecause I loved him so much with Maria too. And then it was just so BAD . And then maybe a little later there was Gabriel Devane (was he in a cage?!? why is that in my memory?) which was a hot mess of a story. And the recast of Dimitri with boring Jim from Guiding Light. It just kept spiraling nowhere good and ruining how much I loved Wildwind. I think I said actual prayers during my forced Catholic school prayer time for Maria's return. Obviously those were not answered the way I wanted.

[Vee]

I can't even begin to understand the Gabriel Devane storyline, or any of the Anna/Alex/Charlotte backstory really. Something about him being the son of Papa Devane's affair with the nanny, and Charlotte having them killed in a carriage ride? And then she raised him in a cage? It was beyond nonsensical. And then they actually tried to chemistry test him with Lesbian Bianca - who, IIRC, he kissed.

I always thought it would be mildly amusing to have him turn up as Anna's brother and a cop or WSB agent on GH, since GH could always use more men of color. But the character's backstory is radioactive, of course. It's the sort of thing Ron would do, though. And the sort of thing I might do, assuming I could dump the backstory.

[allmc2008]

What is your issue with me?

[AdelaideCate007]

I hated Finola on AMC other than her and Vincent Irizarry. She never quite fit and I didn't like that the reveal of her being alive played on there instead of GH. All of that [!@#$%^&*] with Alex, Anna the brother in the cage, the crazy aunt who wanted to kill them was awful and it went on for years.

I never bought Trevor and Janet. It always bothered me that as much as Trevor loved Natalie that he would marry her sister who had caused them both so much trouble. I think that only flew because of Robin Mattson and James Kiberd.

I'm not even going to touch that ish with Kit and Camille.

I loved Edmund and Maria when I was a kid. I was so happy for her to come back and for them to get paired again, but we see how that ended. I always felt bad for Edmund. They could never find anyone that he worked with other than Maria and Brooke and we see how both of those turned out.

[Vee]

Robin and James Kiberd had fantastic chemistry, that's even more evident today. It almost makes me buy into it now - and they did work hard on it in the writers' room, but I just could never totally agree with it. Still, there was no call to have her kill him off.

I understand the situation with Callahan and Eva LaRue re: his philandering, but I will always believe it was a horrible mistake to have the character of Edmund disgraced and murdered the way they did. In spite of all his dreadful post-Maria pairings, he was once a tentpole. At least let them reunite offscreen.

I thought Finola hit her stride on AMC when Anna became the police chief and got with David - that worked, IMO. But she belongs on GH, in the end. The endless Anna/Alex/Gabriel crap was, IIRC, all Jean Passanante and her terrible, campy-yet-boring reign. She even had "Eileen Kringle," the reality show producer/catsuited assassin who killed Gillian, all because of the dumb Devane plotline. I never trusted Jean Passanante's name on anything after AMC - it was a terrible show that was both outrageous and snooze-worthy at the same time. I don't understand why people still give her benefit of doubt today.

[greens_dupres]

Janet killing Trevor offscreen still enrages me. I never could really enjoy the Kate Collins' returns because it almost felt like they ignored the 90s Janet redemption stuff entirely.

Now I'm remembering caged Gabriel with a teenage recast Rosa who looked 30. And some crazy assassin lurking around Wildwind after Anna and that's how Gillian got offed. God I hated and still hate this whole mess. It was interesting though how after that madness they sort of salvaged Finola's run with the David pairing.