There's a New Bianca on All My Children...
I have no AMC icon, so the Y&R legs are the most appropriate thing for this entry.
I just wanted to comment on the new Bianca on All My Children since she finally showed up this week...
I was very, VERY much against recasting Bianca because I love Eden Riegel and it seemed like replacing her was going to be a disaster because she has such a huge fanbase and that role of Bianca was such a monumental thing in soap opera history, considering she is a Married Lesbian Mom/Rape Victim/Queen of Misery/Pretty Crier/Moral Center of Pine Valley.
I only fell in love with Bianca last January when I got curious to watch the Bianca/Reese storyline after having read the hype about the first gay marriage on Daytime TV (I thought I had seen EVERYTHING on soaps and was like "What the What?") and being bored on days off from work, but when I did research on her character, I came to have not only a respect for the way the character was written and how she impacted the Daytime world, but for Eden Riegel as an actress.
Having said that, I'm about half-won over by the new Bianca from the two episodes I've seen of her...which is a positive, considering I didn't want a new one at all.
I think All My Children played it exactly right. They had her show up in a time of crisis (her mom, Erica Kane is missing and presumed dead), which is when the Bianca character consistently shines, and immediately, came out swinging at Greenlee. Well-played, AMC.
What has made me laugh about all this, though, is how much character history the writers have thrown out with this new actress so far.
Bianca showed back up in Pine Valley, feisty with Greenlee, crying over her mother, bonding with Ryan, attacking David Hayward (about what I think was related to the whole "Babe took Miranda and called her Bess" storyline), taking over a desk at Fusion, visiting Opal, smiling when she got a phonecall from Reese (who is off-screen), chatting with Miranda over the phone (who is also off-screen) about being a Kane Woman (LOL at them starting that mess EARLY), and wearing a wedding ring (?).
Okay, All My Children, I'll bite for now.
It also doesn't hurt that Christina Bennett Lind sorta resembles Eden Riegel. Sorta.
So far, I'm having an okay time dealing with the transition. Normally, that is NOT the case. I don't know if all soap fans are like that, but I have a really hard time dealing with new actors playing characters that have played people I watch on a daily basis for years. Y&R tried to recast Phyllis one time and no offense to that lady, but Michelle Stafford is and will forever be Phyllis to me.
It'll be interesting to see what they do with Bianca now. I figure she's around for the "Erica is Missing" storyline and once Bianca and Erica reconnect (which will be the real test for Christina Bennett Lind to prove her Bianca-worthiness since Eden and Susan EARNED that mother-daughter relationship), I'm guessing Binks will fly back to Paris and we won't see her for a while. It'd be fun to see her stick around a bit, though, because Bianca Montgomery is one of the truly great soapy characters and it'd be a shame to see her go to waste.