 Transcripts Snappies Fan Creations M & M Press LinksKiss and Tell "It all starts when Adam brings Liza to Charlie and Cecily's wedding," begings ALL MY CHILDREN Head Writer Lorraine Broderick. "He does this to get a rise out of Brooke -- but Brooke isn't even there! Her son is sick." Even though Adam's plan has backfired, it has given Liza the chance to attend one of the swakienst Pine Valley events of the year. "Charlie and Cecily are so happy," continues the scribe, "but their poor friends are in such angst." Hayley and Mateo are yearning for each other across the room, and the matron of honor, Dixie, is finding out the most devastating news she could possibly find out while Tad is beaming at her across the aisle as best man." During the week of January 8, little Adam Jr. will spy Tad (Michael E. Knight) kissing Liza (Marcy Walker) in Dixie's (Cady McClain) house. He doesn't want to tell his mom, but the truth comes out when Adam invites Junior to sit with him and Liza at the wedding. Junior says no. Dixie asks why. Junior spills the beans. "The devastation isn't just what has happened between Tad and Liza -- which Tad hasn't even told her about -- but also that her son saw it," explains Broderick. "Dixie is really charged up. Yet, they are are this incredible public occasion with all their best friends. Dixie has to sit on this powerful derkeg of emtion waiting for the right moment to nail Tad." "It's a huge betrayal," affirms Cady McClain. "Liza is his past. She was there before Dixie. [Dixie thinks], 'Maybe he's still in love with Liza and I just came along as an afterthought.' There are a lot of layers to this." McClain admires the way her character has been playing it cool around Liza -- until now. "Dixie's whole thing with Liza has been, 'I know that you slept with my husband. I am really quite aware of that. And I don't have a problem with that.' No matter how she really feels, she is trying to be adult about it." Marcy Walker says Liza is trying to be adult, too. She just has a different way of going about it. "Liza has matured; she is older," theorizes the actress. "She has gone through her experiences just like Tad has. He was her first love. He was the first man she ever slept with. Part of her has never gotten over that. But she is also falling in love with this person she is starting to see. She is realizing that he has become a lot of things she never knew him to be: Devoted, loyal, trustworthy and respectable." Liza had a serious ax to grind with Tad when she first returned. "He ruined her life," Broderick reminds us. "She left town with her head hanging in shame because everyone in town knew he had been sleeping with her and with her mother -- for money. I don't she ever thught she would come back to Pine Valley. The only reason she did was because she was offered this powerhouse job that lets her show the entire town how far she has come. She's Tad's boss!" Walker agrees: "Coming back as a success was her revenge. At first, she didn't have any designs on Tad, except to take his job. But that wasn't as satisfying as she thought it would be, because he was so willing to play second fiddle." The new Tad is so happy in his personal life that he really didn't care. "He's got his family, his wife," chuckles Walker, in character. "Isn't that wonderful." As soon as Liza realized that Tad had changed, she wanted to know why. "Liza underestimated Dixie," says Walker. "When she first saw her, she thought, 'This little hick from the sticks? This brood mare with two kids and no job? A college student? This will be a piece of cake.' It was eye-opening for Liza to see what a rival Dixie is. How deep the Tad/Dixie love is, and how smart and feisty Dixie is. She is not someone who will throw in the towel on the marriage and let Liza walk away with her husband." No, she's not. But Tad and Liza aren't the only ones sharing a clandestine kiss. "Jason kisses me, and Tad finds out about it," reveals McClain, in character. "He goes ballistic. And I say, "The kid has a crush on me. It's flattering. He pays attention to me. You pay no attention to me. You are married to your job." During the argument, things escalate to the point where Dixie starts questioning whether or not Tad has ever fantasized about another woman. "He totally sinks his battleship," laughs McClain. "[Tad says], 'I've never been interested in another woman! Never!' So when [the kiss] comes out, I am just going to blast him." Off-screen, the actors (who've all won Emmys) seem to get along famously. "It's so much fun to work with Marcy," smiles McClain. "She gets all the subtle innuendo." McClain confides that when she first started on AMC seven years ago, her hope was to someday share scenes with Marcy Walker and Michael E. Knight. "These are the people I wanted to work with," she nods. "These are the heavy-hitters." Despite her dream co-stars and a hot story, the buzz remains that McClain won't renew her contract in April, and that this storyline will help propel Dixie out of town. "People are probably saying, 'Why are you even thinking of leaving?' But it's like anything you do for a long time. You get tired. I had just turned 19 when I got this job." Will she leave? "We'll just have to see," McClain says. In the meantime, Tad's little dalliance with Liza may eventually mean kissing his marriage goodbye. "Tad has been tortured because he is intensely attracted to Liza," explains Broderick. "She feeds his ego and makes him feel like the cat's meow. Dixie doesn't approve of his job, so he's been more and more drawn in by Liza." Being a part of this wedding forces Tad to examine his feelings. "With Charlie and Cecily getting married, he is reminded of his own wedding vows and how much he loves Dixie," confirms Broderick. "He's in this incredibly romantic and loving mood. He doesn't have a clue that Dixie know and is about ready to kill him." "If Junior hadn't seen [the kiss], then we could have dealt with it between ourselves, says McClain. "But Tad has destroyed the trust of his own child toward him, so he's screwed." McClain laughs, then continues, "he's going to have to eat dirt. We're going to make him suffer. This is going to be fun." By Carolyn Hinsey    |