All My Children News & Gossip
News for the week of 08-Feb-2010
Susan Lucci (Erica) and AMC creator Agnes Nixon (acting as Mona) performed one of the first scenes between the headstrong daughter and mom, from 1970, in the ninth annual New York Times Arts and Leisure Weekend January 10th (the event went from Jan. 7-10). They, along with other celebrity guests and journalists, participated in panel discussions. The Timeseditor, Jacques Steinberg, moderated AMC’s January 10th panel, featuring Rebecca Budig (Greenlee), Debbi Morgan (Angie), executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers, Lucci and Cameron Mathison (Ryan), as they talked about their show’s 40th anniversary, past highlights and evolution.
Jennifer Bassey (Marian) has suffered at the hands of the youth-obsessed executives at ABC Daytime, it’s clear to see. When Bassey first showed up as a man-hungry cougar in 1983, her character took with the fans right away. She also became a supercouple favorite when Stuart tamed her a little. Despite the obvious popularity, TPTB took it all away fairly recently in hopes of shifting the spotlight to the younger characters, believing that viewers would rather see them than old people. Obviously, Bassey disagreed. “The number one show on daytime television is The Young & The Restless,” she said. “If you turn on The Young & The Restless, you will see old people, middle-aged people and young people. You turn on ABC and you see young people, young people and young people. The difference is that they have kept their core characters for 40 years. People have grown up with those characters and they have bonded with them. There are more senior citizens in this country than anyone else. No one is gearing any TV for senior citizens, because they say they don’t buy anything. They’re the only people who have money to buy anything, so it doesn’t make sense to me.” Read on about how ABC Daytime’s head honcho(s) destroyed the popular Marian-Stuart pairing and how Bassey preferred her character to maintain the bad notes in Sara Bibel’s February 3rd Deep Soap interview, “All My Children’s Jennifer Bassey On Being The Original Cougar.”
Unlike a lot of the young soap newcomers, Finn Wittrock (Damon) comes from trained Shakespearean stock. Knowing he would like to act since fifth grade, Wittrock kept at it, landing guest TV spots and a Disney Channel movie, Halloweentown High, before earning a spot on AMC. Wittrock had to adjust to the faster pace of a soap, sure, but he also had the unique pleasure (?) of trying to get contacts on his eyes to look like Twilight’s vampire Edward for a costume party during his storyline intro. It took three people to do it, too. “I'd never put in contacts before, and it was, like, three-person surgery to get these color contacts in, because I kept blinking them out. There [were] two ladies from makeup holding my eye open as another fit it into my eye socket. So, that sticks out! Once we got them in, it was hugely successful.” –“Meet Finn Wittrock” by Michael Karol, Soap Opera Weekly online
Gossip for the week of 08-Feb-2010
There is question now as to whether Greenlee should reunite with Ryan or flirt a little with other other available bachelors on the show. As much as a David-and-Greenlee pairing would appeal to me, I hate Greenlee much more than I love David. Greenlee should check out right after Kendall did. I have little use for either overrated female characters.
Marcy Walker (the original Liza) has been visiting or staying in NYC, from the south, where she was working in a church. Might she be cajoled into returning to AMC over in L.A.? Or is she too old for the likes of ABC Daytime president Brian Frons?
All My Children News & Gossip, Copyright © 2010 Carol Banks Weber. Published by SoapZone.com / Jeff Jungblut. No part of this page may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed on this page are those of the author and may not be representative of SoapZone.com or its advertisers. Don't steal scoops.
