What Kind of a World Do We Live In?

I am ages behind the times in commenting on this, I realize, but I had to briefly cut AMC out of my life following the scenes where the loathsome Babe berated JR for having the unmitigated gall to share DNA with Adam and not being grateful enough to Tad for giving him whatever humanity he has. I just...I couldn't do it. I wanted to comment on Zach and Kendall, and how overly blah Aidan and Greenlee are and marvel at Erica for being Erica, but I just couldn't acknowledge that AMC existed without going full on apoplectic. Like, Britney attacking the paparazzi with an umbrella kind of apoplectic. I know I'm irrational in my hatred of Babe but...it's one of the only constants in the ever changing world, you know?

Um, anyway, like I was saying, I am the last person in the world to mention this, but: Ambyr Childers is leaving AMC! And I am heartbroken!

For starters, Ambyr Childers and Colby have grown into one of my favorite parts of All My Children, which is way more of a compliment than it seems to be. I could not stand the character at first, and then grudgingly liked her, then thought she was adorable and grew to love her, not even wavering when she became the Careys' #1 cheerleader. That's serious love, you guys! And Ambyr Childers has really become a good actress, and she's adorable, and she has such a sweet rapport with David Canary and Jacob Young. Love her. I hope she does well in whatever she decides to do after AMC.

So they've recasted her with someone named Brianne Moncrief, who is going to be older because...I guess because they are going full throttle with pairing Colby and Frankie? I find this problematic because

(1)If there is a spark between Colby and Frankie, doesn't that have more to do with the actors than it does anything else? I ask because I'm pretty sure that Frankie has no personality to speak of,so it's not like it's the characters that mesh together well (I'm not even going to get into Frankie's oddly shifting age range. Remember when he dated Mia? Remember Mia? It's like Amelia Heinle is contractually obligated to be boring). And I'm sure that they screen tested the new girl with Frankie, but...I don't know, it's just weird that AMC doesn't let couples grow organically and just throws them together all "YOU MUST LOVE THEM!"

(2)I know I complain about this a lot, but aging Colby to early to mid 20s is bizarre, not only because she was actually born in 1999, but there is ALREADY a girl on canvas that age who gets NO STORYLINES EVER despite being gorgeous, charismatic and AWESOME. What will it take to get Chrishell Stause a role beyond being a glorified extra? She's got chemistry with pretty much every person on the show, she's Trevor and Janet's daughter and did I mention how pretty she is? Why couldn't they try her out with Frankie? Why can't they take away one of Babe's many admirers and pair them with Amanda? What does it say about the state of the world today that a gorgeous girl can't catch a break in Hollywood? It's not right, I swear.

*As always, if this whole recast thing works out well and Amanda goes front burner, I reserve the right to pretend like I had never doubted it in the first place

Comments

[Danny]

She'd be a great recast for Abby Deveraux on Days! The show needs some spunk, since Chelsea went from "WOW" to "why" recently.

[Amy]

I thought Frankie dated Simone... I could be remembering wrong though since they all seemed to date everyone's boyfriends back then.

[JL]

He did date Simone. He had a "past" with Mia that included a son that Mia gave up for adoption who Frankie never knew about until both he and Mia turned up in Pine Valley and he was dating Simone. When he found out, he wanted to go claim their son until Mia talked him out of it (with help from others, I'm sure, since Mia couldn't sell air conditioners during a heat wave in Florida).

I'm pretty angry about the Colby recast as well. Only at ABC Daytime could the executives look at two characters, think to themselves "Hey, those two have some chemistry, let's recast one of them so we can pair them up!" It's so stupid it's almost got to be a Frons idea. Although I seem to recall him being all "Ambyr's going to be the next big thing" back when she was annoying the living heck out of me as part of that whole sweet sixteen party storyline with Winifred's niece two years ago. Now that she's good and Colby's mostly awesome (Carey blindspot aside, it seems to be a Chandler genetic thing to be taken in by the Carey's), they clearly MUST recast the part. I don't want to go into this all predisposed or anything, but I just can't shake the feeling this recast is going to make the character (and Crankie) suck again, because that's just how Frons rolls.

[JC]

I have been an off and on viewer of AMC and I didn't like Colby or Ambyr at first but she has grown on me over the past year. Recasting makes no since and I think will come back to bite them. I also agree with the first comment on here that Ambyr would make a great Abby on DAYS but I am ALWAYS trying to recast Abby on DAYS.

[Desertrose]

Hey,if we wait looong enough (and still watch this crapfest of a show-exception being Angie & Jesse- for now anyhow)...maybe we'll get the *real* Colby (aka Ambyr) back. Seems to be the way ABCD does things.

Idiots. Morons.Whatthehellaretheythinkinganyway?

...and yeah, high ICK factor dating the man who had a child with your AUNT.

[Alice]

I agree with everything in your column except the Chrishell Stause love. This is an actress that I could never get. She's pretty, I guess, but not more so than other people on the soap. Her acting is subpar, in my opinion. I have heard that she is a really nice person, and the other cast members love her. I keep thinking this is why she is still on the show. As you point out, she has no story line, so there is really no other reason for her to still be in Pine Valley.

[Vera]

I love Colby(barring the Carey crap) and the actress has really grown into the role. These idiots at ABC just don't get it. You can't throw any actress into a role and expect it to gel. I agree and what ever happened to letting couples grow into a relationship organically. It's like they try couples by throwing them up against the wall and see which ones take and which ones don't. This just had to be Frons idea. What a tool. I hope the actress lands somewhere else because she has really grown on this show.

[Mallory]

Alice, I don't think Chrishell is, like, David Canary level good, but I think she's really good at light-hearted, fun scenes. She could be the Maxie of AMC if they'd write for her.

Danny, recasting Abby with Ambyr Childers is a brill idea (and seriously, Chelsea's arc lately has been ultra depressing).

[Kiran]

I'm still bitter at what their doing to Chelsea and Nick.

Also I still want Amanda and JR to get together, for reals, and evolve into an awesome longterm supercouple. And they could turn against Babe and laugh at her a lot.

[Kristin]

I am also annoyed by the Colby recast and the continued misuse of Amanda. I hated BOTH actresses when they started: they were on constantly, they had no technique, and the characters were poorly delineated. So they were backburnered, and were never really used well in the aftermath. Now, when the audience has learned to like them, one is being recast and one is completely MIA. It's too typically AMC.

But hey, haven't Zach and Kendall been PHENOMENAL the past couple of weeks? Riveting, really. It's like they either borrowed GH's Awesome Writer, or Agnes Nixon started paying attention to them in addition to Jesse and Angie (or maybe instead, since J&A now appear to be in search of a stuffed elephant full of diamonds. HUH?)

[Cece]

I didn't like Colby at first, but now I'm indifferent about her. I don't dislike the character. However, Ambyr's voice annoys me to high heaven. It's a bit shrill. And while the character likes to complain about how she moved around a lot and never had a real home, she and Liza were on the run for, what, a year? And then Colby was automatically a teenaged-car-stealing brat? I just wasn't that into her. (And the Carey-ho love hasn't helped.)

I know I've said this before, but I am staunchly against a Colby-Frankie union. The character is too old for her. And, good call, Desertrose, on pointing out that she'd be hooking up with her cousin's father. That's just GROSS!!!

Hasn't AMC learned from the Jonathan-Lily disaster that older man-teenager hookups do nothing but turn off your audience?

Oh, that's right. AMC has issues with remembering its history. My bad.

[Sue]

I have to admit I hated Ambyr's potrayal of Colby at first but she has grown on me and I'm sad to see her being recasted. Colby is supposed to be JR's little sister but by aging this character she's gonna look the same age as JR. I agree about Chrishelle. What is it going to take to get her a story. She has chemistry with so many of the guys on the show but yet AMC doesn't seem to want to pair her with anyone. I would love to see Amanda and Josh get together since neither of them have much of a storyline going on.