AMC: Returns with potential

[twotrey]

Yeah, he was the one who set the Dillon house on fire and caused the explosion that blinded Natalie (and Kate Collins' last appearance as Natalie was being wheeled into the emergency room unconscious), and he pretended to be an orderly named "Kyle" whom (faux-)Natalie befriended. This turn of the story was nicely organic since Carter and Natalie hadn't interacted pre-house fire, so he would "fall" for her, and she would be nice to him. I remember her finding out it was Carter when she was told at some point that he had a beard, and when she asked to touch "Kyle"'s face, she felt it, and then he kidnapped her soon after. Then there was some Bad Acting Gold from Melody Anderson when she managed to escape the car and wandered through the woods blind, arms swinging and hands grasping in all directions in desperation, then she tripped over a log and fell on her ass. The thought of it makes me laugh to this day.

There was also a nice touch after the Jeremy/Ceara crossover, when Trucker, Trisha, Ally and her boyfriend at the time (Matt, I think?) showed up for their wedding on AMC. Ceara's death on Loving also was quickly addressed on AMC when Myrtle was shown receiving the bad news and she, Trevor, and Natalie then left to Corinth for the funeral (which, in a not-annoying way to both sidestep a guest appearance crossover and not spend time on a funeral of a character that wasn't a regular, took place completely offscreen on Loving)

[greens_dupres]

I loved Noah/Julia but hated the voodoo stuff so much. It was so hokey even as a kid. Their Cinderella wedding cover was my first issue ever issue of SOD & I saved it forever- it was the only soap mag I saved for some reason. My parents threw it out when they moved a few years ago & I was not happy to realize it was gone.

The scenes were good but yeah wrong show. I suppose they assumed that many viewers watched the whole line-up and that was kind of during the era that they were trying to push ABC soap "synergy" or whatever it was called. But it was a bad call that I remember even from fan letters in the mags upset many GH fans- I'm not surprised Wendy Riche was mad although I guess she must have been on her way out the door then & probably didn't have much clout.

The Rae Cummings thing was co clunky. Maybe if it had been a character I liked on one show, I could have dealt. But looking for her mother, looking for her child- no one cared about her! And no one was going to start watching a soap they didn't watch for her crossovers. And then I also had issues with Skye being worked in as a Q although I guess I sort of adjusted to that. Did Rae even show on PC or just the big three? I guess Linda Dano was a big get when AW was cancelled but at that point I was totally loyal to ABC still, did not know her and had no use for the fanfare to which she arrived.

[AdelaideCate007]

She was on PC. She thought Eve Lambert was maybe her kid on there. This was still when Rae didn't seem to know how old or what sex her child was.

[Vee]

That [!@#$%^&*] Rae thought everyone from fortysomething Max Holden to twentysomething Kelly Cramer, Sophia Pellegrino, or Eve on PC could be her kid. It was the most soul-crushing soap experience of my life, until the next one. I grew to deeply resent Robin Christopher's presence on ABC over that story - especially how they tried to shoehorn her into the fabric of GH for years to come. I've only now begun to accept her occasional appearance.

Even as a kid I thought hard-ass thug Noah and Julia's Disney wedding was the most ridiculous, tone-deaf thing I'd ever seen. Embarrassing to watch and another reason I gravitated that much more to OLTL, the grittier show. From what I recall, Keith Hamilton Cobb felt the same way.

[ellabelle]

I don't really watch GH, so I loved Finola on GH. I thought Alex and Dimitri were great together, but I had no interest in Alex and Edmund. It was obvious watching the show that the TPTB had no clue what to do with Finola - was she Anna? Was she related to Anna? Add in Finola's pregnancy that had to be hidden and her maternity leave (which started when she disappeared off the yacht during the Incredible Dreams party) and Michael Nader's drug issues, and it was a hot mess.

I actually really loved Anna and David together. She ranks right up there with Erica for me in terms of his best pairings. I loved her as Chief of Police as well, but I hated the whole dead baby story. I thought it would have been interesting to see her with Jack after Leora's death since he was on the outs with Erica over the whole Greenlee being his daughter bit. Jack hadn't had a storyline outside of the Kit mess save for her his affair with Erica, so I could have gotten behind a flirtation with Anna. Walt does best when paired against a strong actress, so I thought there was potential with Finola.

[greens_dupres]

I know Noah and Julia's was all wrong for them but I was a Disney obsessed 5th grader. And for some reason that was the demo they seemed to write that wedding for. I loved OLTL much more story & character wise, thats what hooked me with the Todd story & I expected more from it even as a kid. But on AMC, I was less invested and embarassingly admit I enjoyed a lot of their cheesier kid friendly fare like Myrtle & Santa, the Cinderella wedding & Harold the wonder dog.

[Vee]

I just found AMC a lot more sweet and full of romantic fancy, and at times depending on some of the poorer stories in the mid-late '90s, saccharine. I enjoyed the show, but I found GH to offer a lot of the same things with what I felt was deeper writing - and to a grunge-era kid wearing too much flannel, the Gottlieb-to-Horgan OLTL seemed much more authentic and real to me. I couldn't find that show anywhere else on the dial. Looking back I appreciate what AMC was much more now than I did then as a tween - you needed each of the ABC shows (plus Loving, the weird little sister) to have their own tone. AMC was more family-oriented, OLTL was grittier, GH was full of heart and fun while simultaneously telling social issue stories. At least, that's how I saw them then.

[cassadine1991]

It's a shame what happened to that lineup, now ABC.Daytime looks like a shell of what it used to be..

I think I might have enjoyed Loving, from what I caught online it was enjoyable

[EricMontreal22]

It kinda makes me wonder if for that year or so length someone at ABC Daytime was really trying to increasingly if somewhat subtly interconnect Loving and AMC more and more (that would be about mid/late '91 to mid/late '92, but I'm not sure who was in charge of ABC Daytime then.)

[EricMontreal22]

I suppose I was 16 or 17 by the time of the Cinderella wedding so well into my cynical teen phase, so maybe it's no surprise, but I completely felt the same way (and I *love* Disney--even at that stage ). Somewhere in that endless AMC Tribute thread is a good interview with Noah on his exit. It pulls no punches and frankly some of what he says is arrogant and ridiculous but he also speaks a lot of truth (and speaks about how much he enjoyed his character at first and while some felt it was a black caricature, he felt--and I agree--there was nobody else like him on daytime--and then that Francesca James wanted him much more to be a traditional leading man and he found it really dull.)

[cassadine1991]

I'm surprised they didn't continue more with AMC/OLTL since they were basically across the Llantano River

Did Loving/The City ever crossover with OLTL?

I admit I love crossovers

[EricMontreal22]

As much as Linda has made me never want to use the term "a shell of its former self" or anything similar again, obviously ABC Daytime now *is* a shell of what it used to be; I don't think anyone could argue that.

I loved Loving at least through most of the 90s when I watched regularly--the college stuff, the Agnes Nixon year with the weird gothic stuff, the murders... But, just like much of its life, it suffered from the fact its ratings never really were gonna go up much and replacing the EP and HW and direction every year or so due to ABC trying to make that happen never really let much stick.

[Vee]

Loving did have the best theme song, though. Look into my eyeeeessss!

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah Jeremy, on his way to Corinth from piValley, stopped over at Llanview and helped save... Jessica? when their house was on fire--I believe he went there to try to buy a painting. It was brief, but is on, or was on, youtube (I believe it was when Jeremy was going over in Fall '91 as it was VERY early in the Malone/Gottlieb era when they were trying short term stories.)

Alex from Loving/The City (this was the City by then) helped Bo in New York with a case on OLTL... I want to say it happened near the end of The City's run? Of course Jack escorted Morgan Fairchild's Sidney off the show as well. In a bit of meta-confusion though, that actress (Molly?) who was a serial killer early on The City before it really got good and settled on a tone went for auditions to be on OLTL and AMC, lol...

[EricMontreal22]

I think on a basic level that's the way I thought of the shows too. OK, I never regularly watched GH (not sure why, really--though I was by then taping Lov/City, AMC and OLTL every day and actually starting to get a social life so didn't really have time--and it never seemed to appeal to me--it wasn't until Daytime to Remember that I really got a sense of how good some of it had been.) It probably also had to do with my blind love of Agnes Nixon and I liked the idea of her three shows existing in the same universe still to some degree (of course GH already sorta did too, but...) AMC was the one that always felt the most like "home" so had the comfort food factor for me--though I also liked its odd di versions into the gothic and obviously stories like the Kevin Sheffield stuff which was about a year before I came out, etc.