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Preview: Goldin and Ehlers Light Up All My Children
Ricky Paull Goldin and Beth Ehlers by Heidi Gutman/ABC
All My Children is about to get very political. On July 24, fan fave Beth Ehlers — who recently fled from CBS' Guiding Light — will join the ABC soap as Taylor McBride, an Army lieutenant fresh from a tour in Iraq. She’ll be teamed once again with GL partner Ricky Paull Goldin, who defected from that troubled soap earlier this year. Clearly, ABC hopes to re-create their supercouple magic — but don't expect Jake and Taylor to be another Gus and Harley.
"Like many great romances, this one will be born of conflict," says AMC’s newly arrived head writer, Charles Pratt, Jr. "Jake and Taylor’s relationship, not unlike our current presidential campaign, is a clash of ideals — the liberal versus the conservative. Taylor represents the modern warrior who is gung-ho military. For her, it's all about her country, her unit, her mission, not about the politics."
Jake, on the other hand, spent years working in Africa with Doctors Without Borders and has a "completely different take on Iraq and fervently disagrees with what's going on there," Pratt notes. Both suffer a degree of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Jake was held captive in Darfur, while Taylor, who is awaiting redeployment, was wounded in Iraq.
"The story is certainly influenced by the success of Army Wives," Pratt admits. "The goal is to present the kind of debate that's going on all over the country in a way that's entertaining and relatable and without taking sides."
It’ll be interesting to watch Pratt operate, since he's the only writer-producer who freely moves between daytime (All My Children) and prime time (Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty). In next week's column, he'll reveal more plans for AMC, including what he's going to do about that mess called Fusion! — Michael Logan
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Jul 11, 2008 11:14 AM
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Gosh, this almost makes me interested in watching AMC again.
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Jul 11, 2008 1:12 PM
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had big hopes for the babs & james harmon brown, maybe they'd try something unexpected. instead, we get an amnesia storyline? maybe if they were more open to giving NEW WRITERS A CHANCE for once, promises they made & then did not hold up once they had the chance to, things might have turned out differently. sour grapes? you bet. scr_w them, glad their tired regime is over & gone. way to go brian frons!
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Jul 11, 2008 2:38 PM
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Of course. This was Frons plan all along. I wonder if he has a list of couples he would like to steal from other shows as well?
Thats why ABC's going into the crapper. Why not let the actors establish themselves on the show to begin with and then see if their current characters are compatible? Clearly, this is a move to get viewers from GL who were fans of Gus and Harley. Of course, who cares about fans that could careless or don't even have a clue who they are.
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Jul 11, 2008 5:08 PM
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I hope the Gus and Harley thing doesn't turn out like the Steve and Kayla thing did for GH. The pairing simply did not translate ro the other show.
The Erica and the Congressman storyline is as bad as the amnesia storyline (sorry, I can't remember his name...he's dreadfully boring, and I rarely watch him).
I still don't get the recast storyline. The new actress looks younger to me than the previous actress. AND, I liked the previous actress better. Can't we have her back???
I can't even tell Ryan has amnesia anymore. He acts exactly the same as he did before he had amnesia.
One other comment with a question. I didn't watch AMC all those year's ago when Jesse and Angie was on. Was he as obnoxious, egotistical, and arrogant then as he is now??? Angie was strong and independent until he came back. Now, she doesn't seem to be able to make a decision, outside of work, without him. And she whines constantly. After their dramatic reunion, which was great, and their wedding, I've come to wish they would just GO AWAY.
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Jul 11, 2008 10:58 PM
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The last time I watched AMC was in the mid-1970. I think it's time to put it on my schedule again.
Beth was fantastic as Harley Davidson Cooper from the moment she first appeared on the show.
Unfortunately writers at GL changed the character so much in the last couple of years Harley was almost unrecognizable - only Beth's talent made Harley still worth caring about.
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Jul 13, 2008 5:58 PM
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I have to say, I have watched GL for a number of years and if AMC was looking to get GL viewers to to start watching it worked with this long time viewer. RPG even asked his fans in every interview I read to check things out on AMC, and I did. I was a Gus fan and a Harley fan, not as a couple. They are both wonderful actors and deserve devoted fans and to be happy at work.
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Jul 13, 2008 9:15 PM
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If RPG really told GL viewers to watch AMC instead of GL, that really is uncool. I'm sorry, but that kind of makes me think less of him. I know GL is having plenty of problems, but for an actor to try and steal viewers away from a struggling soap that they've been loyal to for years, in my opinion is pretty sad. I still miss Jerry Ver Dorn, and I think the show suffered a great loss when they let him go, but I think the show can survive without Harley and Gus.
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Jul 13, 2008 10:57 PM
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If RPG really told GL viewers to watch AMC instead of GL, that really is uncool.
Since AMC and GL air in different time slots, asking people to watch AMC does not mean he wanted them to stop watching GL.
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Jul 14, 2008 3:54 PM
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For the person that called Jesse obnoxious. Jesse and Angie when they were on originally were two of the most popular couples on the show, so if there is a change to Jesse character blame the writers, they were one of the most popular couple on the show. They are the only reason why I tuned back in, but leave it to Frons to interfer with the writers like he has tuned OLTL into a complete embarrassing mess. Jesse was very loving, he and Angie, but I guess if you didn't know the couple before, then you wouldn't see the change in the character, but he's better than Ryan and the rest of this boring crap they have on the show.
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Jul 17, 2008 7:57 PM
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I think they'll be good but I hope the show is smart enough to weave them in gradually.
None of this on 4 days a week sh-t.
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Jul 24, 2008 2:26 PM
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There is a problem when a soap lures away actors that were popular together on another soap. They immediately try to pair them together hoping to catch lightning in a bottle twice and it RARELY happens.
They fail to realize that it was the story surrounding the characters that made them a popular couple in the first place.
I fear that GH is gonna screw up the MUCH PROMOTED couple of Spinelli and Maxie by throwing Maxie immediately in a story with the new doc (played by an actor with whom she was coupled and very popular with on DAYS). Fans have long enjoyed the odd pairing of Maxie and Spin and just as they finally starting making sense as a couple they are gonna be split apart for this new pairing.
Did it work when they brought "Patch and Kayla" from Days to GH as "Stefan and whatever her name was"? No it did not.
They track record for this sort of thing is just not good.
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Jul 25, 2008 5:30 AM
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