For those who do not know, Agnes Nixon created two of the most awesome daytime dramas ever All My Children and One Life to Live. In her autobiography Agnes wonderfully writes her life up until the time the shows she created came to life on air. This autobiography is definitely not fluff like some others where they have not "lived" enough to provide a compelling narrative.
Agnes is such a gifted writer, definitely shows in detail and passion she has about writing. I found that her early life read like a novel, which is rare for an autobiography. She kind of followed the unwritten rule about autobiographies, don't talk smack about colleagues. Agnes lived a long life she didn't have anything to lose by talking smack. Anyhow.....
There are some questions I have that will forever be unanswered. They are as follows:
1. How did Agnes feel with the rise of Luke and Laura on General Hospital? Was there pressure to create "supercouples" for her shows? I found it quite awesome that she ended up working with Douglas Marland, the man who wrote the pairing of Luke and Laura. However "supercouples" were a thing in the '80s..... However I do appreciate that her shows stuck to social issues.
2. When the writers at the time did the unthinkable and undid Erica's abortion on AMC? She threw major shade at the way network executives became more "influential" in story towards the end of the show's run, so I want to hope that she thought the same as I did, how dare they even do this! All My Children was her pride and joy. There's a rule created by Douglas Marland "Learn the history of the show. You would be surprised at the ideas that you can get from the back story of your characters." but to disrespect a groundbreaking story is unethical. This should have not been done, even the plausibility is still incomprehensible over a decade later.
Like seriously these executives have no respect for the history of the shows and hire writers who are no better. I mean ABC Daytime's President Brian Frons and former GH head writer Bob Guza used GH to air their 24 fan fiction (there was even a character named Keifer Bauer, please google it).
3. I know she had tremendous sadness about AMC & OLTL leaving the airwaves, she did create them after all, but what about shows she previously wrote for like Guiding Light, As the World Turns and Another World? Inra Phillips created those shows and she was the one who got Agnes started in the "soap" business, I am sure there was sadness there as well just not on paper. There's this show she created, Loving, that I was not aware of but she created it as well.
4. Did she feel that Ron Carlivati gave OLTL a good send off from broadcast? I feel his writing followed Douglas Marland's rules but the final scene was amazeballs compared to AMC. Now that the ABC/Prospect Park mess is over I hope that either the shows can come back as half hour shows (like British soaps) or more Llanview and Pine Valley citizens can do short stints in Port Charles.
Done with the questions. Agnes' autobiography definitely provided insight into how Erica Kane and Victoria Lord came to be and the complex relationships with their fathers and the legacies their fathers left behind. Although GH has been my go to show for 20 years, there is always a place in my heart for OLTL and AMC, I even own a Mattel made Erica Kane doll. Even now with actors from those shows on GH I still refer to them by their OLTL and AMC character names. That is a good indicator of the legacy Agnes has left, a good one.
To buy & enjoy her autobiography go here:
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