Boogie Chillen, Tuesday - 4-30-13

The new theme song for the show is "The Love We Give" by Imaginary Friends.

All signs so far seem to be pointing to Tad being killed or in a vegetative state. There was some nuance that Bianca needs to get over a loss, too, which makes me wonder if Marissa (aka eBabe) bit the dust at the party, too. I hope JAR bit it. Did I ever mention that I think he's an asshole? And NOW people on the show can CALL him that, if he were ever to show up. Erica hasn't been seen, but I think they are still hoping to bring her back. I was under the impression that Michael Knight WAS going to come back, but I could be wrong about that. In Tad's case, in particular, I don't worry at ALL. He's come back from the dead more than once, I think. Certainly DIXIE has, on several occasions.

AJ comes into the living room and starts peeling off his clothes. His team won something or other. Dixie tries to sound enthusiastic, but she's not convincing. AJ tries to be nice to his Grandma Dixie, but he's clearly uncomfortable talking about the elephant (Tad and/or JAR) in the room; he has things to do and people to see.

The new eating/coffee spot in town is called Jane's Addiction, run by someone named Jane. I suspect Jane gives advice to a lot of people.

Bianca is with Miranda at Jane's Addiction and telling her about tickets to a One Direction concert at Madison Square Garden. Miranda is NOT impressed. Yes, they WERE her favorite group, but that was 10 months ago. It's more Gabby's style (Gabby is 13 now). Besides, Miranda doesn't want to miss a school dance. She seems to relent by the end of their conversation, though. She mentions that Bianca hasn't been to NYC for a long time; she LOVES NYC and she should go up there and enjoy it some time. Bianca looks slightly wistful, but agrees.

Okay, either a writer or Debbi Morgan definitely made a mistake with the script on Monday's show, but at least Angie cleared it up TODAY. Lucy is just starting KINDERGARTEN; Maya, Lucy's mother, is the one who graduated and got a job in Portland at an EcoDesign firm. That certainly makes more sense than to have an infant grow to adulthood and move across the country over the course of 5 years.

Jesse calls Zach and tells him that Cassandra was seen getting into a car registered by his casino. It seems like Jesse and Zach have been out of touch for a while. Zach will get right on it.

Joe visits with Angie. He's up from Florida for a consultation. Ruth didn't feel like coming on the trip. It's hinted that she's depressed after what happened 5 years ago. She's going to spend time visiting with Amanda and Jake instead (well, at least we know now that THEY are alive and well and presumably living in or ear Florida, also). Angie mentions how hard it is to get over a tragedy.

Dixie sits by the mystery patient's side, holding his hand (it's definitely a man; either that or a woman with somewhat hairy arms, although the nails seem nicely manicured). Dixie tearfully says: "I'm here, Baby, just like I promised. " She lovingly holds the hand up to her face. It MUST be either Tad or JAR. Several people (Brooke, Angie, Joe) are clearly worried about Dixie's depression.

At Jane's Addiction, Pete, after schmoozing information from a girl wearing a school uniform like Celia's, hacks into the files of Bramwell Hall and sees that Celia's last name is Fitzgerald (and mutters that the school needs a better firewall to keep hackers out). 

The hot guy from school, Hunter, is also at Jane's Addiction and asks Miranda (after Bianca leaves) if she wants to hang out with him later. She does. AJ comes in and is NOT impressed.

Celia, in the meantime, is upset about how much her "guardian" ignores her, sending her gifts instead of his time. She calls the headmistress Evelyn, even though they've clearly been together for a very long time, taking trips, etc. I don't think Evelyn is her aunt OR her mother. Given that Celia has a guardian and calls someone who is motherly towards her by her first name, I'm guessing that Celia is an orphan or otherwise semi-adrift. She clearly wants to let loose and be like other girls her age, and that is why she is chafing at the constraints set by her guardian. She got off on the tirade about the guardian because Evelyn reminded her that, while she understands Celia's need to do good deeds, the guardian would NOT want her handing out condoms to hookers at the Miranda Center (which is why Evelyn found the condom in her room).

A weepy Dixie leaves the hospital room, promising the patient to be back tomorrow. After she walks out and closes the glass door, the monitor beeps rapidly and the patient's finger twitches. Those hands look too young to be Tad's hands, but they could be using just about anyone to be a body in a bed with a head we can't see yet.

Although the surveillance video seems to show Cassandra willingly going with the man in the video, near the end of the show we see her gagged and handcuffed to a bed. She whimpers and cries and struggles as an evil-looking man stares at her and calmly removes his coat. He's wearing a suit, FWIW.

Robin "will Dixie bring the patient a 'toymama'" Coutellier

Boogie Chillen, Monday - 4-29-13

In case you haven't heard or realized it yet, it's HERE! AMC, as put forth by Prospect Park, is now available via Hulu.com! On a technical note (before you race off to watch it), I've found that navigating it much more likely to be successful using the REWIND ICON (10 seconds) in the browser player window than it is to try to click on a position on the progress bar. Clicking on the bar resulted in odd behavior for me, including losing my audio. I also had problems with Firefox and had to use IE to successfully watch it, but that may be due to some add-ons I have in Firefox. The new show is 30 minutes, rather than 1 hour. I don't know if it will be this way for future shows or just the premiere, but I was able to see it on-line on Hulu by 1-1:30am on (pacific)!

In case you don't recognize me or the "Boogie Chillen" in the header, it's what I called my daily or near-daily comments on the show before it was canceled, and I am now resurrecting it! I have read and posted little in RATSA since the show went off the air, feeling SO betrayed by ABC canceling the show after 41 years! But I'm back NOW. The backstory to Boogie Chillens is that people asked about my comments often and it made it easier to find by giving it a "name". I love John Lee Hooker's music and the Chillen ties in with Children, so that's how I picked the name for it. Please note that BCs are NOT necessarily UPDATES; they are my comments. Certainly this first one for the 2013 resurrection is more of an update, but some days I won't have much to say or will go 2-3 days without commenting and/or lump multiple days together in a single post. I post BCs in rec.arts.tv.soaps.abc on USENET and in this blog.

WELCOME BACK, EVERYONE!!!

AMC starts 5 years from the end of the ABC version, which ended with a cliffhanger. JR was out of control and tried to shoot Bianca and/or Marissa, JR's ex- or soon-to-be ex-wife, who were now a couple. JR was furious that Bianca had "turned" Marissa into a lesbian. Erica got in the way of the bullet as she headed toward the door after Jack. Most of the children are teens now. Oddly Lucy, Maya's baby that Jesse swapped out for he and Angie's baby, who was stillborn, has apparently GRADUATED (high school? college?) and got a job in Portland. Presumably Portland Oregon, not Portland, Maine. And now I keep wanting to spell Portland as "Portlandt". Anyway, Lucy was a BABY the last time we saw her; so far she wins the prize for having the worst case of SORAS (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome).

Brooke has a nightmare. In the nightmare, David and someone else are wrestling over a gun. She suddenly wakes up, finding herself on the couch. The classic AMC photo album with the words "ALL MY CHILDREN" on the cover is on her lap. Adam rushes to her to reassure her that he's right there for her.

WHOA! A brief, but HOT love scene with Cara and David! I don't know yet if it was a fantasy or a memory. This is DEFINITELY no longer ABC! Cara and David were doing it up against a WALL and showing a *LOT* of skin! A LOT! Maybe I WILL stick around to see how this goes!

Ah, SO nice to see Jesse and Angie in a HOUSE where they belong!  I LOVE Angie's colorful robe, too! I also love that she and Jesse actually look and mostly act like REAL people and they look fabulous doing so!

Dixie looks at a photo of herself and Tad in happier times. She is wistful and misty-eyed, and looks heavenward with love.

Petie is definitely all growed up now (and completely un-dorkified). He had an in-joke while talking on his iPhone, telling someone that it's all changing; everyone is watching TV on-line now :-) He drives around in a sporty convertible and looks like the trendy, hot-shot, rich young man that he is.

Someone has been in a coma or otherwise incapacitated for 5 years, but we don't know who yet. We know this because Cara and Griff, wearing doctor gear at PV Hospital, discuss someone (who is just off-camera) as they look at charts and over to the person in the bed, etc. They obliquely discuss how David would be very angry about whatever it is they have been doing with the patient.

There's a new theme song. It's COMPLETELY different from any of the variations we've heard over the course of 41 years. My closed-captioning gave the name of the song and the artist(s), but I don't remember right now and don't feel like looking for it; I'm sure someone will provide it soon enough. Something about friends and love. The opening montage shows characters, mostly shown in pairs, and has the characters' first names written underneath each one. It's actually a clever way to introduce people to characters, former and new, that they will be seeing.

Adam and Brooke have still not married (the cliffhanger ending was at an engagement party for them 5 years ago). Adam re-proposes. Apparently it's "complicated". AJ comes into the room, mentions Brooke's recurring nightmare, and tells them that it's been 5 years and they need to get over it and move on. Brooke agrees, but can't seem to let go of whatever happened at the party, because so MUCH has been lost.

AJ comes out of the bathroom playing or pretending to play his guitar to music on the stereo. His towel drops unnoticed from around his waist to the floor. We can see quite a bit! Miranda walks into the room and he gets all modest and says "SHIT!" among other things. Miranda makes it clear that they've grown up together and it's no big deal; she's seen him naked LOTS of times (mostly when they were little, though). They clearly have a very strong sibling-like relationship.

He replaces the towel around his waist, and they sit on the bed and look at a post someone wrote on Miranda's facebook wall. The post asks "Is Miranda Montgomery a VAG-itarian or does she eat meat?" Miranda calls them assholes (no bleeps, no wimpy substitution curse words).

Now we know that Cassandra, Natalia and Frankie are still alive, because Angie talks about how blessed she and Jesse are to have such wonderful children and how well they are doing in their lives.

Angie and Jesse have sex on the couch (we don't see that part, just the afterglow). Angie makes double entendres about the size of Jesse's equipment.

Jesse has a BIG surprise for Angie. She can't get the surprise info out of him, though. She goes to take a shower and makes more comments about he and his BIG surprise joining her in the shower. He does, but that happens off-camera.

Jesse's big surprise is that he has arranged for Cassandra to come to visit. He leaves her a message that a driver will be waiting for her with a sign with her name on it. We see her phone lit up with his call. The call is purposely being ignored.

Cortlandt Electronics is going down the tubes and Petie, who is apparently an apps genius, doesn't really want to deal with keeping it from going under. Opal urges him to do otherwise, for his dear departed father's sake, as CE was Palmer's heart and soul.

Wow, SOME of the lockers at  PVHS actually have LOCKS on them! Not Miranda's, of course. I also noticed that the front door to Jesse and Angie's house apparently does not have a deadbolt, despite it belonging to the Chief of Police (assuming he still IS COP), and despite all the chaos and mayhem that has occurred in their lives since the 1980s. Some things NEVER change. I couldn't quite see if the door had a thumblock.

Cara mentions that David is behind bars for manslaughter (presumably due to someone who died (it sounds like possibly MORE than one person died) at the cliffhanger party 5 years ago); she'll deal with him when the time comes. Oh look, there's David NOW, leaving prison! He's headed for home sweet home ... I predict some more Cara/David skin-on-skin action in the not-too-distant future.

Pete (I'll have to stop calling him Petie) is driving around town and sees a teenage girl wearing a plaid schoolgirl skirt get bumped into on the sidewalk, and her stuff tumbles to the ground. She is wearing a very showy charm bracelet. Pete gets off his wheeler-dealer phone call and helps her pick stuff up. She picks up an apple from the ground and takes a big bite out of it. She has to get going. He asks if she's late for detention. She says she's not a student. She's taking a "gap year". She teaches Art History at her old high school. He says he took an extended gap year from Stanford. She asks about it and he tells her he went to California and started his own company. He asks her name as she rushes off to school. She calls back that her name is Celia. Pete sees something shiny on the ground. He picks up a heart that must have fallen from her charm bracelet. It has a photo in it.

Miranda is all ga-ga because Hunter, the most popular boy in school, said "Hey" to her in the hallway. AJ is not impressed and tells her that the guy is a douche and a player. BTW, AJ is a ginger now. I think. It's hard to tell with the lighting. He's definitely not sporting the childhood blond mop-top hairstyle.

All the regulars are  looking GOOD! I noticed that the outdoor scenes/backdrops are quite realistic (I see plain old houses in the near distance out the back window of the taxi David takes to PV. I don't see any mountains or urbanization of PV, but it also doesn't look like the quaint town from the early days of AMC)

Pete tells Opal that the old CE factory may have more potential than he thought. He looks at the locket in his hand. He's planning to stick around for a few days. Opal gushes over him and wants them to do scrapbooking and tai-chi together while he's home. He smiles patiently at her.

Celia arrives in her room at her "old school", wherever that is, and an older woman, presumably a headmistress (or a mom or someone in some sort of authority over Celia), gets on her case for being late and then wants her to explain THIS ("this" being a condom, mercifully still in its package as opposed to recently having been donned on someone's package). Celia looks annoyed. **Edited to add that I didn't even realize that the headmistress is played by Francesca James, who played Kitty/Kelly on AMC way back in the day and later went on to become a director and producer on several soaps.**

Jesse talks on the phone to the limo driver. The driver has bad news.

David visits a grave. We do not see the name on the headstone. He says he's been in prison 5 years for what happened to "you".  Tears run down his face. But now he's back -- and there's going to be hell to pay!

All in all, I'm impressed with the first new show. I'm hoping that the fact that the show is on-line only and clearly has fewer restraints, may make it a little more realistic in some areas. Don't get me wrong; it's still a SOAP, but they clearly can show more skin and say curse words, so we may never again have to hear an AMC character use the word "crud" unless they are referring to baked-on, hard to clean food-matter in a baking pan that was left in the sink, untouched, for 3 days. It's all SHIT from here on out, and I mean that in the nicest possible way!

The teenagers are quite polished. Of course, when I say "polished", I'm thinking of The Tin Man being buffed by machinery in the Emerald City. The young actors, of course, usually have very nice young, firm skin to begin with, but even that skin has been polished down to an exquisite, doll-like finish. It's like they all just came back from a high-end detailing service. I don't have an opinion, one way or another about their acting skills. I think I like Miranda the best, though.

The adults all look marvelous, and yet more realistic than they ever did on ABC. I LOVE that so many of them are still there! It makes the transition to the revamped soap so much easier.

Robin "here we go again!" Coutellier

ON THE NEXT AMC:

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Bianca tells Miranda that she's the coolest mom EVER. Miranda asks why. Bianca says that her friend, Mallory, just scored 4 tickets for a One Direction concert at Madison Square Garden.

Jesse and someone at airport security are viewing video. The guy at the computer says the guy going through some glass doors with someone looks like a driver, presumably with Cassandra. Jesse protests that the driver HE hired said he never even picked her up or even SAW her.

Jesse tells Zach over the phone that he will never guess how "that car" was registered -- under his casino. Zach turns in his chair toward the camera and says "My casino?"