Josh Madden

Last updated
Josh Madden
All My Children character
Josh Madden.jpg
Colin Egglesfield as Josh Madden
Portrayed by Scott Kinworthy (2005)
Colin Egglesfield (2005–2009)
Duration2005–2009
First appearanceJune 17, 2005
Last appearanceJanuary 19, 2009
Classification Former; recurring
Created by Megan McTavish
Introduced by Julie Hanan Carruthers
In-universe information
OccupationFormer CEO of Chandler Enterprises/Former Cambias Industries Executive
Family
Parents
Adoptive parents
  • Greg Madden
  • Emily Madden
Half-sisters
Grandparents
Aunts and uncles
Nieces and nephews
First cousins
  • Charlie Brent
  • Kelsey Jefferson
  • Jamie Martin (adoptive)
  • Damon Miller (adoptive)
  • Kathy Martin (adoptive)
  • Jenny Martin (adoptive)
  • Trevor Martin
  • Julie Rand Chandler

Joshua "Josh" Madden is a fictional character from the American daytime drama, All My Children . He first came to Pine Valley on June 17, 2005, and was originally portrayed by actor Scott Kinworthy until September 15, 2005. Following Kinworthy's departure, he was portrayed by actor Colin Egglesfield from September 2005 until January 2009.

Contents

The character was initially the subject of a controversial and landmark abortion storyline back in the early 1970s, [1] [2] [3] [4] having been the fetus in which the abortion was centered. When the abortion storyline was rewritten to not have been an abortion after all, controversy ensued again, as viewers felt that it was an undoing of a groundbreaking event in television history. [5]

Background

The writers originally scripted Josh's birth date to be December 18, 1973. When Alicia Minshew took over the role of Kendall Hart in 2002, the producers had Kendall's birth year changed to 1976, thus pushing Erica Kane's even later than it was before, to 1962. [6] This left Josh's birth date between his sisters,' Kendall's (1976) and Bianca Montgomery's (1984), with his now set at December 18, 1980. [6]

Josh is the son of characters Erica Kane and Jeff Martin. Originally, the character was to have been aborted (in what was the first abortion on television after the Roe v. Wade decision). However, later during Megan McTavish's third stint as All My Children head writer, a character named Dr. Greg Madden was written to have taken the embryo and implanted the embryo into his wife. [7]

Storylines

As an adult, Josh comes to Pine Valley, and Erica Kane, not yet knowing that Josh is her son, hires him as a producer at her talk show "New Beginnings". In order to steal Erica's job, Josh begins to sabotage Erica, even going so far as to drug her, and frames Amanda Dillon in his place. His devious intentions are eventually revealed, and he is fired as producer of Erica's talk show, with Erica hating him.

In late July 2006, not long after Greg has been killed, Josh finally discovers the truth about his birth at the opening of the nightclub ConFusion. He is devastated and decides to leave town. Erica tries to explain to him that she does not hate him and her reasons for making the decision to have an abortion all those years ago, but Josh does not want to listen to her.

Throughout the whole Greg Madden ordeal, Josh develops a close relationship with Babe Carey Chandler, who convinces him to stay in town. Josh gradually falls in love with Babe and has a one-night stand with her. However, despite her rocky marriage to JR, she chooses to stay with her husband, leaving Josh heart-broken and more willing to fight for her love.

Josh connects with his half-sister, Bianca Montgomery, whom he loves, but is not above using to get what he wants; however this characteristic does not faze Bianca, and it allows her to share with her older half-brother that her girlfriend, Maggie Stone, cheated on her while they were in Paris. Like most everyone else in the Kane-Montgomery family, Josh proves to be extremely protective of Bianca, especially where her happiness is concerned and is acrimonious towards Zarf/Zoe, whom he thinks would hurt Bianca.

Josh's relationship with his other half-sister, Kendall Hart Slater, though not at first as close as his relationship to Bianca, also becomes stronger. He is sometimes seen as somewhat of a protector of Kendall as well, and is able to connect with Erica at times, the two having found a certain comfort with each other.

Josh leaves Pine Valley after Babe is apparently murdered by the Satin Slayer. However, after the funeral, Babe is seen waking in a hidden room in Zach Slater's casino and Josh asks how she feels. Josh, Kendall, Zach, Joe, Jeff, and Jack, all aware that Babe is still alive, keep this fact a secret in order to keep her out of harm's way. Once back in Pine Valley, due to Josh's constant unwanted involvement in Babe's matters, Babe tells Josh to get out of her life. Some time afterward, Josh has a fling with a woman named Hannah Nichols.

Before he becomes boss at Chandler Enterprises, he is briefly involved with Greenlee Smythe. Due to having tricked the Chandlers out of their fortune, Zach is able to do what he wants with Chandler Enterprises. He names Josh as Chandler Enterprises' new boss. But when Adam Chandler regains control of Chandler Enterprises, Josh becomes the former CEO of the company.

In June 2008, he has a one-night stand with Greenlee. He leaves in September 2008 due to being cast out of the family by Zach when it is revealed that he stole money from Zach's casino. Though Josh apologizes for the theft and says that he was going to pay Zach back, Zach will not forgive Josh and makes Josh's life "a living hell" while Josh is on the run.

Josh returns on January 14, 2009. He visits with a comatose Kendall, telling her how much he loves her and that he will make Zach pay for sending him into exile. A day later, after stealing ten million dollars from the casino, he takes Reese Williams (Bianca's new lover) hostage to ensure his escape. Erica and Bianca try to talk him out of the crime, but Josh refuses. Once Reese breaks free from Josh's grasp, Zach raises his gun at Josh. Josh, in turn, raises his gun at Zach. Zach does not hesitate in shooting Josh. As Josh is dying, he professes his love for Erica and Kendall and says that he just wanted a second chance. He soon dies. Zach orders the paramedics to keep Josh's heart pumping in order to save Kendall, who needs a heart transplant. Josh is put on life support and pronounced brain dead. It is Erica's decision whether or not to let the doctors do the heart transplant. She is torn on the matter, but there is no time to spare, as Kendall will soon die. Erica gives permission for the surgery and says goodbye to Josh with Bianca.

Cultural impact

Josh became the first legal abortion performed in American soap opera history, and, according to some sources, the first aired on American television. [1] [2] [3] Author Gerry Waggett, when asked in an interview about All My Children usually being the first soap opera to tackle global issues and what storyline best exemplifies this, responded:

I would have to pick Erica's legal abortion back in 1973. Number one, it was timely. Abortion had only recently been legalized when Erica decided not to have her baby. Secondly, it was a bold move. I can't think of a hotter political topic for the time than abortion (it still remains a subject that soaps tend to avoid as much as possible; women may contemplate abortions, but rarely go through with having them). Erica's abortion let the fans know that All My Children was going to tackle some major issues. What made it work was the fact that it was the perfect marriage of character to social issue storyline. We've all watched shows where some character develops a social issue problem that feels artificial to them as though it's been tacked onto them as some sort of glorified public service announcement. But Erica's abortion made sense. She was a rising model who didn't want a baby to derail that career. Whether you agree or disagree with her decision, you understand her rationale. That really is important for these social issue storylines to succeed — that they really be paired up with the right characters. [4]

Rewrite controversy

When former head writer Megan McTavish rewrote Erica's abortion to not have been an abortion due to the antics of Dr. Greg Madden, it upset fans who felt that it was "a disgrace" to the ground-breaking abortion storyline Agnes Nixon had written three decades earlier. [5] Colin Egglesfield, Josh's portrayer, when queried by Soap Opera Digest on the matter of possibly holding the record in daytime for the oddest way to be brought into the world, replied, "Yeah, and it's kind of funny because when people ask me who I am on the show, I like to say, 'I'm the abortion of Erica Kane.' Or, technically, I think it's a 'transportion.'" [8]

Inkling Magazine, an often-updated magazine on the internet dedicated to science as they see it, commented on the impossibility of the storyline in which Josh was not aborted after all:

Erica Kane hires Josh Madden to produce her talk show New Beginnings. Josh lines up his father, Greg Madden, a well-known fertility expert, to be one of the first guests. Erica can’t place where she had met Dr. Madden until a bizarre series of events reveals that Dr. Madden had not only performed her abortion a few years back but developed a creepy obsession with her and implanted her aborted embryo into his own wife using a revolutionary new technique. Can it really happen? There are so many things wrong with this, I can’t even wrap my brain around it. The biggest hurdle with this particular storyline is that the techniques by which abortion is performed don’t exactly lend themselves to excising an embryo viable enough to survive in another woman's womb. [9]

However, in their same article, Inkling Magazine stated that "[u]sing Erica Kane's currently known offspring as an example, it seems that the science behind the drama of soap storylines isn’t entirely incorrect" and that "maybe that's not as surprising as it seems. A lot of weird and crazy things pop up in scientific and medical research."

Who, for example, would have thought you could grow a human ear on the back of a mouse? Who would have believed that one day we could make fluorescent green pigs? Keeping in mind those miracles of nature might help suspend the disbelief the next time a pint-sized, ringlet-haired child soap star 'grows' into a sultry brooding teenager after a summer 'away.' Hey, it could happen." [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>All My Children</i> American television soap opera

All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2013, via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and iTunes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erica Kane</span> Soap opera character

Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American ABC Daytime soap opera All My Children. The character was portrayed by actress Susan Lucci from her debut on January 16, 1970, until the last broadcast television episode on September 23, 2011. Lucci was expected to guest star on Prospect Park's continuation of All My Children in 2013, but the appearance never came to fruition due to the show's second cancellation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimitri Marick</span> Fictional character from the American ABC soap opera All My Children

Dimitri Marick is a fictional character from the American ABC soap opera All My Children. The role has been most notably portrayed by Michael Nader, previously famed for his role on Dynasty. Former head writers Agnes Nixon and Lorraine Broderick created the character in 1991, designing him as a brooding and mysterious character based on heroes from gothic literature, such as Maxim de Winter from Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca and Heathcliff from Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights. The character's introduction raised All My Children in the Nielsen ratings and was credited as the "saving grace" of the unpopular Natalie and Janet storyline.

Megan McTavish is American television actress and soap opera writer. McTavish is best known for several head writing stints on All My Children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kendall Hart</span> Fictional character from American soap opera "All My Children"

Kendall Hart is a fictional character from All My Children, an American soap opera on the ABC network. The character was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar from February 24, 1993, to July 3, 1995, and by Alicia Minshew from January 2002 until the show's series finale on September 23, 2011. On March 7, 2013, it was announced that Minshew would guest star on the Prospect Park's continuation of All My Children. She appeared on the second July 8 episode.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bianca Montgomery</span> Soap opera character

Bianca Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. Until Eden Riegel assumed the role, portraying the character from July 2000 to January 2010, the character was portrayed solely by child actresses: Lacey Chabert, Nathalie Paulding, Gina Gallagher, Caroline Wilde and Jessica Leigh Falborn. When Riegel decided to permanently exit the role, plans to recast were confirmed; in June 2010, Christina Bennett Lind replaced Riegel, and remained on the series through the original television finale episode, which aired September 23, 2011. In February 2013, it was announced that Riegel would be reprising her role as Bianca in a guest-arc on Prospect Park's continuation of All My Children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miranda Montgomery</span> Soap opera character

Miranda Montgomery is a fictional character from the American serial drama, All My Children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Lavery</span> Soap opera character

Ryan Lavery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children, as portrayed by Cameron Mathison from 1998 to 2002 and from 2003 to 2011. He has a daughter with ex-wife Annie Lavery, a son with Kendall Hart, and is married to Kendall's best friend and sometimes enemy Greenlee Smythe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Hayward</span> Soap opera character

Dr. David Hayward is a fictional character from the ABC and The Online Network serial drama All My Children. The role has been portrayed by Vincent Irizarry, off and on, from November 27, 1997, to September 2, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenlee Smythe</span> Fictional character from All My Children

Greenlee Smythe is a fictional character from the American daytime drama, All My Children. She was originally portrayed by actress Rebecca Budig from August 11, 1999 to November 30, 2005, and was portrayed by actress Sabine Singh from April 20, 2007 to January 15, 2008. On December 14, 2007, it was announced that Budig accepted the offer to reprise the role, and would continue her portrayal of the character. Episodes with Budig began airing again January 16, 2008. The return is one of the most widely reported in the genre's history, with newspapers such as the Associated Press and New York Daily News featuring the story. Budig again departed the role on February 17, 2009, the day the character was killed off. In the June 29, 2009 issue of ABC Soaps in Depth magazine, head writer Charles Pratt, Jr. confirmed they had written Greenlee to remain alive, but that Budig would be making no immediate plans to return to the show. On October 8, 2009, it was confirmed that Budig would return to the show in December. Budig returned on December 23, 2009 and remained with the series until its finale on September 23, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Cambias</span> Soap opera character

Michael Cambias is a fictional character in the American daytime drama All My Children. He was portrayed by actor William deVry, from January 23, 2003 to August 29, 2003, and as ghostly visions from September 23 to 26, 2003; October 9, 2003; November 11 and 13, 2003; December 3, 2003; January 16 to 23, 2004; February 16, 20, and 26, 2004; September 7, 14, and 15, 2004; and January 27 to 31, 2006.

Jeff Martin (<i>All My Children</i>) Soap opera character

Jeff Martin is a fictional character from the ABC soap opera All My Children. He is the oldest son of Joseph "Joe" Martin Sr. and his deceased wife, Helen Martin. Dr. Jeff Martin was played by Christopher Wines, Charles Frank, Robert Perault, James O'Sullivan, Jeffrey Byron, John Tripp, and John James.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zach Slater and Kendall Hart</span> Soap opera character

Zach Slater and Kendall Hart Slater are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American daytime drama All My Children. Zach is portrayed by Thorsten Kaye, and Kendall is portrayed by Alicia Minshew. The couple is often referred to by the portmanteau "Zendall" on Internet message boards. Originally scripted by former All My Children head writer Megan McTavish, the couple was never intended to be a serious romance; notable viewer response to the pairing led All My Children writers to reconsider and script them as true loves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixie Cooney</span> Soap opera character

Dixie Cooney is a fictional character from All My Children, an American soap opera on the ABC network. The character was initially portrayed by actress Kari Gibson from her debut in July 1988 until October of that year when she was replaced by actress Cady McClain who portrayed the role for the rest of the character's existence.

The Kane family is a fictional family on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children, and reside in the fictional town of Pine Valley. The family debuted when the show debuted, being one of the core families on the show alongside the Martins and the Tylers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JR Chandler and Babe Carey</span> Soap opera character

JR Chandler and Babe Carey are fictional characters of the JR and Babe or Jabe couple from the American daytime drama All My Children. JR Chandler was portrayed by Jacob Young. Babe Carey was portrayed by actress Alexa Havins, and then by Amanda Baker. Written as volatile and yet loving, the up-and-down romance tells of a young star-crossed couple who met one captivating night at the end of a fog-covered dock and from there are faced with much interference, significantly but unintentionally caused by each other, in their struggle for true happiness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erica Kane and Dimitri Marick</span>

Erica Kane and Dimitri Marick are fictional characters and a supercouple from the ABC daytime drama All My Children. Erica is portrayed by Susan Lucci, and Dimitri was portrayed by Michael Nader. Sometimes referred to as a "stormy duo" these two carried out a tumultuous relationship spanning the nineties. While they had their share of antagonists speckled throughout their romance, the main roadblock always keeping them apart were their own equally stubborn and fierce personalities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reese Williams and Bianca Montgomery</span> Soap opera character

Reese Williams and Bianca Montgomery are fictional characters and a lesbian couple from the ABC daytime drama All My Children. Reese was portrayed by Tamara Braun, and Bianca was portrayed by Eden Riegel. On Internet message boards, the pairing is commonly referred to by the portmanteaus "Rianca" and "Breese". The couple debuted in October 2008 and is groundbreaking for featuring the first same-sex marriage proposal, as well as the first legal same-sex wedding and marriage, on an American soap opera. In addition, the pairing's family is the first onscreen family made up of same-sex parents in the history of American daytime television.

References

  1. 1 2 Lenhart, Jennifer. "The Last Taboo". Soap Opera Digest . Archived from the original on 2007-12-26. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  2. 1 2 Gary Warner, All My Children: The Complete Family Scrapbook, p. 15-119, ISBN   1-881649-45-8.
  3. 1 2 Simon, p. 148.
  4. 1 2 "Interview with Gerry Waggett". About.com.
  5. 1 2 R. Coleridge, Daniel (2007-02-28). "Soaps News: All My Children Head Writer Fired!". TV Guide .
  6. 1 2 When All My Children debuted in 1970, Erica Kane was 15 years old, putting her birthdate at 1955. In 1993, this was retconned to 1956, as Erica was said to be 14 years old when she had daughter Kendall Hart, who was rapidly aged from 16 to 23 at the time. In 2002, Kendall's birthdate was established as 1976, putting Erica's birth year at 1962. These changes altered the ages of Erica's other children, Josh Madden and Bianca Montgomery, as well.
  7. ↑ "Diva deluxe. A grand entrance for Susan Lucci -- the grand dame of daytime TV". starbulletin.com. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  8. ↑ Levinsky, Mara. "Son Block". Soap Opera Digest . Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
  9. 1 2 Lopez-Skinner, Lesly. "The Science of a Soap Opera Plot Twist. Let's take a closer look at the children of "All My Children." We might even learn something". inklingmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.