David Canary

Could there be evidence clearing Kendall (Alicia Minshew) of Stuart's (David Canary) murder? If so, who is responsible? If that isn't enough to get you to watch All My Children maybe Jesse (Darnell Williams) covering up a crime is. Da-da-da-dum.

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By now, it should be a shock to no one that the near unanimous consensus among most of us who watch All My Children here at Daytime Confidential, the casting of Jamie Luner as Liza Colby Chandler has been a huge bust as of this writing. We know that opinion could change in the future with a knockout performance by Luner, an engaging storyline for the character, or a relationship of any kind that could revitalize Liza and make us see her with new eyes. Unfortunately, none of those three things have happened yet.

The collective criticism of this "new" Liza has centered mostly around the (mis)casting of Ms. Luner, an actress who has her fair share of fans from her days on Melrose Place, Savannah and other shows. On AMC, however, Ms. Luner is delivering the kind of performance that might described as, if I may be permitted to coin a phrase, pseudo-catatonic. Sure, some of the dialogue sounds a little like what Liza might say, but not after three tablespoons of Nyquil.

As a result, at first I was convinced that the problem with Liza was mostly the fault of the actress. That opinion changed with a couple of scenes that aired on Monday's episode that revealed the fundamental reason this character isn't working is because of head writer Chuck Pratt's fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of Liza. READ MORE

Even if you do not follow literature, you are no doubt aware that the title of this post is a phrase associated with the worst kind of lazy, pedestrian, obvious writing imaginable. "It was a dark and stormy night..." is, to put it bluntly, synonymous with the word "bad."

Bad in and of itself isn't always a bad thing, as there are varying degrees of badness from which to choose. For example, there are things that are "so bad they are good," like The Pussycat Dolls and RuPaul's Drag Race. There are other things that are really bad, like white people dancing to "Push It" and Julie Chen hosting Big Brother. Then you have things that are so atrocious, inspiring more WTF moments than a Samantha Harris post-performance interview on Dancing with the Stars that you question your sanity for sitting through it without clubbing a baby seal.

By "you" I mean "me," and it might not take too much of a stretch of the imagination to guess how I felt about Friday's abominable, lobotomized episode of All My Children that climaxed with the shooting of "a legendary character." READ MORE

Regular Daytime Confidential readers and aficionados may have noticed that this lovely website has added daily recaps of most of the soaps on the air, in addition to Perkie's longtime (and often hilarious) observations about General Hospital. Conspicuously absent from the recaps — at least as of this writing — has been what might be considered the quintessential forerunner of the modern soap opera, All My Children.

Not too long ago, our fearless leader, Luke, asked if I would be able to write a daily recap of the show since I've been watching it; I regrettably informed him that because of a currently unpredictable schedule (hence, why there are long lags between my posts these days) I would be unable to do so. Instead, I suggested that I would divert my recent attentions from Guiding Light to AMC a bit more closely and blog about life in Pine Valley more regularly. Since then I've mightily tried to get a grip on the show, but unfortunately watching All My Children is not unlike walking on pine cones barefoot: it's not the worst feeling in the world, but it is still pretty painful. READ MORE

Well it looks like today is unfortunately Twins Day in Pine Valley casting hews. TV Guide Canada's Nelson Branco is reporting in his Nelson Ratings that All My Children is killing off one of David Canary's beloved twins, Adam or Stuart Chandler, this May Sweeps. READ MORE

Looks like All My Children has found itself a contingency hunk in case Jacob Young opts not to re-sign with the show. SOAPnet's Jesse Murray is reporting AMC has cast Adam Mayfield as Scott Chandler, the long lost adopted son of Stuart (David Canary). Look for Scott to make his return on April 9. Thanks Addie for the tip!

Was All My Children's Reese Williams (Tamara Braun) the inspiration for the movie Dazed and Confused? TV Guide Canada's Nelson Branco thinks it could be the case. On the heels of Reese's not-so-sapphic smooch with tad pole-donor Zach (Thorsten Kaye) ruining her marriage to Bianca (Eden Riegel), that heifer is now buddying up with Pine Valley villain Adam Chandler (David Canary). If Reese keeps this up she's gonna have to cancel her subscription to Curve magazine! Check out more from this week's Nelson Ratings here.
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Take you best Caption This shot at this scene between Adam (David Canary) and Reese (Tamara Braun). Now what could they be saying to one another?

Despite gloom and doom about the state of daytime in almost all of its aspects, fans have been treated to some good soap opera lately. The Young and the Restless is the Must See Soap right now. One Life to Live has regained it's glory and Guiding Light is steadily improving. Some of daytime's best actors are giving some of the performances of their lives. With that in mind, there are three performers new to their respective shows deserving of special mention who I think are doing a bang up job.

JR MARTINEZ (Brot Monroe, All My Children)

Introduced amid a publicity blitz, JR Martinez came aboard AMC with a fascinating, real life backstory: an Iraq War veteran seriously injured and disfigured by explosives, eventually becoming a noted inspirational speaker for and on behalf of veterans coping with their life altering injuries. His addition to AMC's canvas was purposeful and deliberate. The show wanted a real life injured vet to play Brot, former love of newcomer Taylor (Beth Ehlers).

AMC has received much justly deserved praise for casting Martinez, but make no mistake, this was as much a bit of stunt casting as it was groundbreaking decision. READ MORE

Adam

David

Jackson