Would we drink coffee with Agnes Nixon?
Kristy: Most definitely. My mother watched All My Children my entire childhood and I have lots of memories of watching with her. And I’ve watched One Life to Live on and off sine 1996. For years of entertainment I owe the woman a cup of coffee. But there’s even more to it. Agnes has always been ahead of her time: She created the fictional town of Llanview, PA way back in 1968 and peopled it with Jews, Blacks, and *gasp* Poles! If that last one seems silly to you, do a quick tally of all the Polish-American characters currently on television. The woman’s still ahead of her time. Add to that she was talking about the importance of pap smears on Guiding Light in 1962 when you couldn’t say the word (or “uterus” or “cancer”) on television. And the first legal abortion on an American television show (I choose not to acknowledge the retconned unabortion from 2006 because while I didn’t watch, I hear it was awful and not Agnes’s fault). And making Erica Kane’s daughter a lesbian in 2000. Mock soap opera’s as irrelevant trash all you want; modern television and American society in general owe this woman a hell of a lot.
On top of all of this, I find the woman adorable and charming. And I am still hopping mad with the Douche-bags in charge at ABC for the way they have treated her in recent years. So yeah, I’m buying this woman a cup of coffee. And hopefully while we drink she’ll share some stories. Because she’s seen a lot of television history (I don’t think it should be overlooked that female headwriters are still a rarity in television and this woman was doing it fifty years ago.) You know she’s got a tale or two to tell. And yeah, I want to commiserate with her about the premature cancellation of her babies. And maybe, if she’ll let me, give her a hug.
Cammy: While I know less than a quarter of what Kristy does about soaps, and I don’t have the kind of passion about the genre that only an awesomely true fan can have–I’m there. I, too, have childhood memories of All My Children, so that alone makes me willing to join in. And I have oodles of respect for Agnes for having tackled the kinds of topics she did (and I so totally didn’t know she had Poles. Rock. On.) And more than that? I give her mad props for the volume of writing for which she is responsible (either directly or indirectly). When you consider the amount of written content in long running soaps like AMC and GL…..it boggles the mind. I can only imagine the tales of last-minute rewrites this woman must have….for this (and to see Kristy get in a fantastic fan-moment), coffee is most definitely in order.
