As you may remember, when we last got together, I was hoping that All My Children had not faded to black permanently, and that the company who had leased the rights to AMC from ABC/Disney, Prospect Park, would resurrect our show in online form. This hope has pretty much turned to ash now, barring some miracle.

But as 2011 comes to a close, let’s take a look back in Pine Valley, and examine its best and worst one last time. The good times that made us laugh and cheer unfortunately don’t outweigh the bad.  I’m not going to create a laundry list, but I do want to reminisce about the highlights and also the lowlights.             

The best of the year were the returns. Yes, they came back because the show was ending, but it was still good to welcome everyone back, either for a summer’s run, or just a short time. Leo was back for a day, in Greenlee’s mind, as she searched David’s secret lab. Leo reminded her of their love, and that it was time to let go. Josh DuHamel is a popular movie actor now; however, he was my favorite back when he was an unknown soap actor.  It was great to welcome him back.

Cady McClain also returned, as Dixie and Tad reunited, and it felt so good. It also felt so quick–one minute she was languishing in bed in a coma, and the next she was running through the park seeking her beloved. Within a week, the two were back together as if they had never been apart. 

Adam and Brooke came to town at the last, and David Canary and Julia Barr were also a welcome sight. Losing them earlier was, IMHO, a nail in the show’s coffin, as many viewers lost interest when these two favorites departed. Another favorite couple, Joe and Ruth Martin, announced they were moving back to Pine Valley permanently, and while it was comforting to know that two such longlasting characters were back where they belonged as the show entered the history books, they also should have never left in the first place.

We were treated to a Marion and Stuart reunion, as it was revealed that Stuart had not died but was being treated by the infamous Dr. David Hayward. Marion was part of a trio of escapees from Oakhaven, as both Annie and Janet (she from another planet) scampered back to town when the mental hospital burned down. Janet and her daughter Amanda had a touching reunion and Kate Collins reminded us that the show had lost yet another talent when she left.

But the biggest, best return was when Thorsten Kaye came back as Zach. We had last seen him in a plane that crashed into the ocean, but somehow David had gotten hold of him before he died, and brought him back to health. Of all the men Kendall was paired with over the years, I liked her best with Zach. It was comforting to know that, at least in our minds, these two would continue to live, and raise their boys.

These returns were welcome, but they all happened because of the show’s cancellation notice, so they were all bittersweet. Most of them probably wouldn’t have happened if the show had not ended, so it was like getting the last piece of candy in the soon-empty box. 

Many of the returns were facilitated by the Orpheus storyline, which brought Vincent Irrizary front and center.  Vincent is, IMHO, one of the best actors around and even though Orpheus was not my cup of tea, it gave Vincent a lot of airtime which made up for the plot holes of unbelieveability. David gets my vote for best actor on AMC in 2011.

I’m giving my best actress vote to Debbie Morgan, whose character dealt with a late-in-life pregnancy, blindness, and horrible loss. We had watched Angie and Jesse over the years as they grew from teenagers in love to a mature, loving couple who were revered in Pine Valley. When she realized that Lucy was not hers, after all she had suffered through to bring her into the world, Debbie showed us why she is such a great talent.

Of course, Darnell Williams is right up there too, after his heart-wrenching scenes as Jesse buried his stillborn baby. His performance was wonderful, especially in scenes which I felt should never have happened. AMC writers killed off two babies, Angie’s and Madison’s, in what I thought was a total shame. So while Darnell dazzled, I was disgusted by the show’s decision. The dead babies storylines were two of the worst for me this year.

When Jesse found out Angie was having a baby, it was magical. His pure joy was matched only by hers, and I looked forward to their new little bundle. Angie’s blindness made her pregnancy difficult, but when the writers let her baby die needlessly, only to be replaced by a handy abandoned newborn, it was just dumb. This baby switch brought Maya and Mookie into the picture, and if there was one thing we didn’t need as the show wound down to the end was new characters crowding out the old favorites. In the end, Angie and Jesse offered to let Maya stay with them, and she suddenly was a member of the family. I didn’t care a bit. 

Madison’s baby was also considered expendable, after viewers had enjoyed the tenative courtship of Madison and Scott Chandler. These two were cute, touching, and underdogs, and I was really rooting for them. But then the baby was gone, and with it were opportunities for this couple to live happily ever after. Another big mistake, writers.      

Another example of writer stupidity, IMHO again, was the villainization of JR Chandler. Actually, the writers couldn’t seem to decide if he was a real villain or not, and left us hanging when JR finally shot someone (or did he? We may never know) as the show ended. But one minute JR was a loving father, the next he was a raving lunatic. One minute he was professing his love for Marissa, the next he was berating her publicly. Either  way, he was just never convincing. Another mistake in the writers’ room.

But then, the writers committed the worst of all; their poorly-crafted storylines were the reason AMC lost viewers. The writers, of course, were not really in charge, they were only doing the bidding of Brian Frons, who was in turn receiving his orders from ABC. They all created the worst part of AMC, its cancellation. After 41 years of delivering daytime entertainment to a legion of fans, ABC dumped the show like so much baggage. Their actions created a huge backlash among fans, sponsors, and the acting community. And their pleas to tune in and enjoy our soap’s replacement, a show vulgarly named ‘The Chew,’ left me with the same response Jackson delivered to Erica when he walked out on her the last time, “Frankly Erica, I don’t give a damn what you need.” 

So the very absolutely worst thing about AMC was that it’s cancellation seemed to reinforce the fact that daytime soaps are entering their final days. Cheap talking-head shows are crowding out the drama, the family, the daily trip to a fantasy world that was real to us all. That loss was the worst thing of 2011.

Of course, rose-colored-glasses optimist that I am, I am hoping that somehow, AMC, as well as OLTL, will somehow resurface somewhere, somehow, in 2012. If that happens, it will definitely be at the top of my ‘best’ list.