This week viewers caught a glimpse into why Tad and Dixie were one of this show’s super couples! Too bad Dixie couldn’t have come back alive.

Yes, we did veer off the ABC path (like many soap fans do) tuning into other shows such as The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, Santa Barbara, As The World Turns and even The Guiding Light. But eventually we somehow always returned to ABC (well my sisters still tune into CBS, but their weird birds….lol) and found ourselves enamored with the newer shows that the alphabet network produced. 

The one common link that grabbed our attention with these daytime shows and brought us “home” to ABC happened to be the dynamic couples and love stories that many of these shows offered us. One of those couples just happened to be Tad and Dixie on All My Children. 

I still remember my first introduction to Cady McClain (she was not the original Dixie by the way) and can still remember when Dixie locked eyes with Tad. It was at that moment that I became hooked and wanted to see more of them. Something about Tad and Dixie’s relationship was different than the others that played out on daytime. Yes their was passion and those looks between the two that would just absolutely make you melt, but their relationship started out as a friendship something that was lacking in daytime back then and even nowadays.

As we know Dixie married silver haired fox Adam Chandler with the thoughts and hopes of a better life than the humble beginnings she got in Pigeon Hollow, West Virginia.  Adam married Dixie though to get his hands on the child she was carrying, a child he had hoped to adopt while married to Brooke English. I’m sure Adam also enjoyed the fact that Dixie just happened to be the niece of his old pal and rival, Palmer Cortlandt. 

Well we know how the story played out and Tad became Dixie’s “knight in shining armor.”  Even though they seemed to be torn apart MANY times and even entered into relationships with others, somehow Tad and Dixie always managed to find their way back to one another. 

To me, their love was REAL love, true love and both revealed themselves to be each other’s soul mates. Like so many other viewers out there, I felt robbed when Tad had discovered Dixie had “died” in Switzerland and also discovered she was pregnant with their little girl, whom she planned on naming Kate after Tad’s beloved grandmother. 

When Dixie turned up alive (in Switzerland), I shouted Hooray from the rooftops and could not wait for her to make her triumphant return to Pine Valley and back to the arms of beloved Tad Martin.  Secretly I had hoped that if Dixie were alive that little Kate must have survived too.  Like so many other TnD fans, I imagined how the scenes would play out when Dixie introduced Tad to their little girl.

Unfortunately for us, the show made the decision to fire McClain and kill Dixie with poisoned pancakes leaving us to wonder whether or not Tad would indeed find his little girl. As we know, Kate was living in Pine Valley with Julia Santos. Eventually, Tad was reunited with Kate thanks in part to an angelic Dixie.

Dixie paid a visit to Pine Valley and Tad once again this week, when it appeared that her son JR was taking a turn for the worse in his battle with cancer. I thought that the scenes between Cady McClain and Michael Knight were both poignant and touching.  The deep love Dixie and Tad shared was still evident and still VERY much existent between the two of them. 

What saddens me is that no one at the network from Brian Frons down to Lorraine Broderick or David Kriezman could’ve figured out away to swing it that Dixie was indeed alive, sign McClain to a contract and bring Dixie back to Pine Valley for good. 

Now that Ruth and Joe are gone and with the impending departures of Adam and Brooke (rumored to be together) Tad and Dixie could EASILY become the matriarch and patriarch of this show (and the Martin family) and carry it into the next generation. 

But unfortunately unless a miracle happens it does not appear as if Dixie’s visit will be any longer than just a week. With the rumors of a possible Tad and Liza romance on the horizon, will Dixie be the one that encourages them to end up giving love a try. Also, whispers are abundant that the mother Damon keeps referring to as “Hill” is none other than Hillary Wilson. Longtime AMC fans know that Hillary Wilson was once the wife of Tad Martin. Could Damon be Tad’s son and Dixie bring them together or perhaps Hillary returns to town and reunites with Tad, something that Dixie brings about. 

Awww love, a love story like Tad and Dixie’s carries on even after death. I am curious though, they must have hair salons in heaven since Dixie died and was buried as a blonde but came back as a red  head?  Hmmmmm

What do you think about Dixie’s “angelic” return? Would you like to see Cady McClain back on the show full time? Click on the email link below and let me hear your thoughts on the matter!