| * All My Children Scoops * |
| It’s AMC’s 35th anniversary? Why, it’s also Dr. Joe Martin’s at the hospital. On-screen, that’s what the audience will see celebrated, as Tad and Erica help surprise the good doctor with as many of the good people of Pine Valley in attendance. This will not be a breaking of any fourth wall, head writer Megan McTavish promised. She also, with executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers, tried like hell to include everybody, but some characters had to miss out, like Kendall (portrayer Alicia Minshew joked that she was probably in a corner making out with James Scott’s Ethan). As a part of the 35th anniversary, old friends return to Pine Valley. Nick pays Bianca a special visit, handing over a note from Mona on the event of Bianca’s child’s birth. Greenlee recaptures a snippet of a memory of Kendall helping, not harming her during the Green Butterfly escapade. It finally sinks into Ryan and Greenlee’s thick skulls that Kendall had nothing to do with the shooting or poisoning. But, with Ethan’s assistance, they think maybe Zachery had more than something to do with it. Ethan puts two and two together on Zach’s motivation: to get him out of town and away from the accused Kendall. Ryan advises Ethan to re-do that DNA test, pronto, to know for sure. Bianca suffers enormous guilt at the pain and suffering JR is experiencing over a loss of a child that never died. After a chat with OLTL’s Kelly, JR figures Bianca can tell him more about a growing mystery brewing with Babe, Jamie and a baby. Whatever Bianca decides on telling or not telling JR, is up to her, according to Tad, who will not interfere. Adam and JR conclude that Kelly has a great deal to do with this mystery with Jamie and Babe. Jamie and Babe run into a spate of good luck in the form of an ally from way back. Adam is intent on a little sleuthing of his own about Jamie and Babe. Maybe Bianca can provide some insight. Maybe OLTL’s Dorian can, about what really happened with Paul. Before or after Adam kicks Mary off the gravy train. JR issues Brooke a newsflash: Jamie and Babe will pay dearly for wronging him. Jonathan’s profuse apologies manage to make a dent with Maggie, forcing her to act like the guilty party, covering up the dent he left on her. Jonathan lets Maggie know the past-tense status between Bianca and Lena. Jonathan plays on Ryan’s empathy like a fiddler. Bianca reaches out to her best friend Maggie, in hopes of beginning again. The joyous sight of a joyous Bianca and Miranda inspires Erica to josh around with Jackson. Zach comes on to Maria, but Maria will have none of him. She’ll wish she had taken him on on his advances. Maria’s Eva LaRue sure could use a little Zach romance right about now. Fans have been clamoring for a real adult love story, instead of the piddly winks she’s been served lately. The same for Brooke’s Julia Barr, who should’ve figured more heavily in this baby-switch story and with Edmund. Erica’s privy to Lily’s new crush, Aidan. Aidan takes Anita out for a swim in the cold lake. Well, he tries to coax her in. Things really don’t look bright for Dr. David, as Zach happily serves as the messenger. Reggie turns the Mack on with Danielle, with little success. This Cambias curse sounds like a bunch of hooey to Myrtle. Bianca starts wishing she could’ve done some things differently. Ryan cautions Kendall about the hazards of being involved with Ethan. Alicia Minshew (Kendall) got so deep into character that she mistakenly referred to a security guard as “Greenlee,” relayed off-screen friend and co-star Rebecca Budig (Greenlee). Minshew and the guard laughed for a good 10 minutes over the exhaustion-induced flub. Justin Bruening (Jamie) and Alexa Havins (Babe) are planning to marry, this after announcing that they’d been dating a few months ago. Bruening proposed December 21 in front of cast and crew after his character pretty much did the same. James Scott identifies with his AMC alter-ego Ethan. They’re both kind of alone in the world, Scott an Englishman in New York, Ethan a virtual orphan in Pine Valley. Coming from England, Scott’s familiar with the soap opera genre—up to a point. There’s a slight difference in the fantasy level between Britain’s and America’s versions. In British soaps, Scott – a former recurring character in EastEnders – described, the audience can readily identify with the struggling working class roots of the characters, whereas in American soaps, it’s all about the fantasy of the rich and glamorous. The extremely tall drink of water originally tried out for Jonathan, but head writer Megan McTavish had bigger and better for him in Ethan. Since joining the show, Scott’s got nothing but rave reviews about everybody there, especially Thorsten Kaye (Zach), Cameron Mathison (Ryan) and Alicia Minshew (Kendall) – whom he screentested with and felt the insta-chemistry fans see on-screen today. Vincent Irizarry (David) has children of his own. But with the twins who play James, he might as well be a child-less joker. They want no part of him, on- or off-screen. During a crucial scene where David bids Babe and James good-bye, the babies would not cooperate, freaking out, clinging to Alexa Havins (Babe), anything to keep from going near Irizarry. TPTB almost used a doll. One of the babies even vomited on Irizarry’s arm, after Havins tried plying him with Cheerios as a distraction before handing the tyke over. Elizabeth Hendrickson (Maggie) broke up with her boyfriend of almost a year, ATWT’s Agim Kaba (Aaron). Most believed theirs would last forever. Terri Ivens’ Simone will return with a new love, not an old one in Tad. It's in the Soap Magazines that Esta is wanting to return to Soaps. So, lets start writing in the magazines! |