It's interesting to note that even with the title of our favorite soap, the core characters haven't had many children. We'll start with Erica - she had Bianca and until the writers fabricated her pre-AMC rape and pregnancy she seemed destined never to have another child. I know there are folks out there that would love for Jackson and Erica to have a baby. I concur even though this would mean suspending belief about Erica's age limitations and just consider her around 40ish!! Erica never really has raised a child as Kendall was raised by the Harts and Bianca by Travis and Barbara for the majority of her life. A little boy would be nice for Erica and Jackson as Jackson hasn't gotten the joy of a baby along the way either although he has adopted both Lily and Reggie. Let's move on to Brooke, who had Laura, but the tragic car accident took care of that lovely little girl even though Brooke was able to adopt a girl of the same name. Lo and behold Brooke did manage to conceive Tad's child and we now have Jamie. Tad though has never blessed anyone else with a baby since Dixie and "Kate" were killed off. Adam is the exception to the rule here as he fathered Hayley even though he was unaware of this, JR and Colby. He was under the impression he was Skye's father but that turned out to be false. Stuart adopted Scott who left PV. Palmer with all his history only had Ross (who we met much later in life), Nina and Petey who's been missing for way too long, although Palmer did adopt Cynthia's boy Andrew while that marriage was intact. Another missing child is Miranda since Bianca left for Europe. Maria took off with Maggie leaving Sam behind with Tad as guardian. Phoebe had 3 children with Dr. Tyler although 2 of them are dead. Joe and Ruth Martin did have quite a few children which is probably where the title came from so long ago. Those children Jeff (no longer around), Jake (in Kenya), Bobby (disappeared in the attic - without so much as even a picture on a milk carton), Tara (in Chicago) and Tad. Of course, Opal can claim Tad too since she gave birth to him and raised him up until that day in the park. Opal had Jenny who died, was introduced to Adrian several years ago and Petey as mentioned earlier.
So many have died - to name a couple Chuck and Donna's baby and David and Anna's baby. Now we had Greenlee with child, but that baby is no longer thanks to Greenlee's inability to carry a child to term. This seems the way of the times since several characters have suffered miscarriages including Erica. Next up will be Kendall who'll offer to be a surrogate for Ryan and Greenlee. I believe this child will be carried to term but will that child stay around PV? I wish AMC would focus more on the history of the core characters and consider their offspring since that's what started this show. That would be more enjoyable and would keep some continuity. Yes, the choice was made to bring Amanda back into the scene, but what a mistake that has been so far. The insinuation that Janet is having mental problems again doesn't make a lot of sense as Janet had made so much progress. AMC also tried to re-introduce Tim Dillon and Frankie Hubbard into PV without success. The reason for that lack of success in my opinion is introducing them back without building the foundation.
Ryan has miraculously found his sister Erin. As easy as it was I'm surprised he didn't do this long ago. Erin in turn blames Ryan for Jonathan's misery and crimes. Once you get to a certain age you have to take responsibility for your own actions. Jonathan is apparently being hidden by Erin.
Julia's returned and Derek and Mimi were on the hunt --- unsuccessful as usual. Zach has befriended Julia and appears determined to protect her. I think I detect a little jealously on Kendall's part. Considering Kendall's marriage is still in the annullable status as was her fake marriage to Michael Cambias (Boyd) , you'd think she'd understand the rules.
Tad's decided to protect Di from whoever is after her. Interesting this unknown threat left her alone while she was reintroducing herself into the community.
Babe decides she can outsmart JR. I still don't get the Jamie can't go to college/medical school without Phoebe's money. Jamie and JR both have trust funds courtesy of the Orsini vineyards. There's no way JR has so much power that he can influence the world. The writers should just let this plot die and move on. Now Babe is asking Josh to have sex with her and as my husband told me he'd never heard that line.
The ratings are still abysmal and I believe the lack of character history is part of it. My AMC Fan Spotlight of the week comes from Nancy who sums up her reasons on the rating by writing: "I am concerned that the writers of AMC have no understanding of psychological dynamics inherent in human development. I think the Amanda character is totally unreal. Babe seems to be making some redemptive actions. If Kendall offers to be inseminated with "left over" sperm because Greenlee cannot bear Ryan's child, AMC has "totally lost it." First, how much frozen sperm was there over all these years....The whole storyline is incomprehensible let alone erroneous." I certainly can see Nancy's points. See you back here in two weeks.
Mary
