By LuAnne

My friend Linda, who I met at Super Soap Weekend a few years ago, picked me up at Newark Airport. We immediately hopped on a train into NYC and then took a cab over to the All My Children studios in hopes of seeing a few soap stars.

We saw Melissa Claire Egan (Annie) and David Canary (Adam) from a distance. After David went in, one of my favorite veterans came out with a beautiful bouquet of roses – it was Julia Barr, who played Brooke English for many years. Julia told us she was there to film scenes for the AMC 40th Anniversary Special. She graciously stopped for a quick picture, and then went on her way.

Next we saw both Chrishell Stause (Amanda) and Ricky Paull Goldin (Jake). They stopped briefly to talk to us and signed some pictures. Chrishell was absolutely beautiful, and Ricky was looking pretty good too!

Linda and I then decided to walk over to the One Life To Live studios. We stayed for awhile, and finally were rewarded when down the street came Brian Kerwin, who plays Charlie. Brian stayed to talk and take pictures for about 10 minutes. He was so pleasant, and seemed genuinely happy to talk to us. It was a good day in NYC!

The next day, Linda drove us to the Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club in Staten Island for an AMC Fan Event.

Four of the nicest and most attractive men from AMC then walked on stage: Vincent Irizarry (Dr. David), Michael E. Knight (Tad) , Darnell Williams (Jesse) and Ricky Paull Goldin (Jake) were welcomed with thunderous applause, screams and whistles. It was awesome to see them 10 feet away!

The first part of the event was a question and answer session. The fans asked about many things, including the upcoming move to Los Angeles.

Vincent said that he would be commuting, at least for the rest of the school year so that his children can stay in their current schools. Michael and Ricky said they were moving to L.A. and Darnell said he was going, but he’s lived in NYC all his life and it would be hard to leave the city.

We found out that Jill Larson (Opal), who is a recurring player, was also moving. The fans were in agreement that the cast should come back to NYC for fan events. The guys answered questions for over an hour, then took a short break before meeting with the VIP fans.

All four of the actors took seats at long tables, and we were able to speak to each of them for a few minutes and get our pictures taken with them. Michael took the most time with the fans, even though he was sick. But they all seemed happy to be there and gave the fans what we came for – a great time!

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Poor Natalie!

How much sadness and loss does one person have to take?

I tell ya, that first scene today, when Natalie was holding Jared’s picture in the church was so sad. As she was talking to God and telling him that he brought back Cristian and John from the “dead,” I was thinking the same thing.

And my heart broke for her.

She really has had a rough road of it on One Life To Live.

Let’s recap, shall we?

Natalie (Melissa Archer) lost (figuratively speaking) her boyfriend, Seth, (remember him way back when?) to Jessica, after Seth fell in love with Jessica.

Then, Natalie – an outcast back then – won over the heart of Cristian Vega.

But, complications (as is always the case in a soap opera) arose when Cristian’s girlfriend, Jen Rappaport lied that she was pregnant to keep him with her.

When the truth finally came out, Natalie and Cristian married. The next day, he “dies” but the body was never recovered.

Natalie was devastated.

When she finally starts dating again with the tall, dark and amazingly handsome cop John McBain (Can ya tell I like him a bit?), Cristian returns from the dead…… (lotsa stuff in between of course).

Eventually Natalie divorces Cristian and John and Natalie fall in love. But just as John gets his mother’s engagement ring and is going to ask Natalie to marry him, HE gets “killed” in a car accident.

Of course, he doesn’t REALLY get killed. It’s an identity mix-up of the bodies with him and Hugh Hughes and, eventually, everyone realizes that John is alive and Hugh is dead. But John and Natalie couldn’t make a go of it the second time around.

If you’ve lost count at this point – one husband “dead” and one fiancee “dead.”

Natalie mourned both of them.

Which brings us up to date —- and to Jared.

Here’s a really great tribute video to Natalie and Jared.

In my opinion, Jared (John Brotherton) was the best suited for Natalie.

Not to mention, Natalie and Jared overcame severe obstacles to be together – including the fact that he tried to bilk her family out of their fortune and when she found out kept it quiet to be with him.

And, of course, there was Nash’s death, which Jess/Tess/Bess blamed on Natalie and Jared and exacted revenge by locking them in the basement. The two of them almost died together in that basement.

Now, Finally….FINALLY, when they are together, married, happy and an accepted part of the Buchanan family – he’s dead….Shot to death in front of Natalie’s eyes.

And what’s up with that really creepy final scene when Mitch Laurence emerged from Jared’s casket…..UGH!

I just can’t believe TPTB brought in Jared – connected him to his father, Charlie, who’s married to Viki, Natalie’s mother, only to kill him off!!

Grrrr. Not happy about it.

Not to mention it looks like his son’s death may send Charlie back to the bottle, which would only escalate the downward spiral of all the OLTL storylines.

But I’ll save THAT rant for another day……