As the centerpiece of ALL MY CHILDREN's Fan February show, in which Tad, Erica's groom du jour, was brashly bedded by a bevy of Pine Valley beauties, Knight did not know what to expect when it came time to tape the wild show. "I have to tell you, I've been doing this for a long time, and that was the first day in ages that I walked into the studio with real stage fright," admits the 20-year soap vet. "Seriously, Tad has pretty much been invested in Dixie for a long time, and all of a sudden every amazing-looking woman on the show is jumping his bones!"
Helping the star brave the bawdy business at hand was Conal O'Brien ("My favorite director in the world," says Knight), a mood on the set that he describes as "awesome," and a roster of gung-ho leading ladies. "I just thought they were so funny — and so freakin' gorgeous," he raves, referring to castmates/instant TV lustmates Julia Barr (Brooke), Terri Ivens (Simone), Amelia Heinle (Mia), Eva La Rue (Maria), Finola Hughes (Anna) and Marcy Walker (Liza). "Every single person that came into work that day was like, 'Okay, dude, here we go. You get to be the prettiest girl at the dance.' And they all busted their asses for one long day to make me look good."
As did new AMC headwriter Gordon Rayfield, who penned the entire episode himself, earning the raves of both Knight and his wife, fellow daytime vet Catherine Hickland (Lindsay, ONE LIFE TO LIVE). "When Catherine read the script, she was like, 'You should get down on your knees, thank God and sacrifice a small chicken, because this is solid gold. It's brilliant.'
"Gordon did a hell of a job," reiterates Knight (whose only ad lib for the day was hard-ridden Tad's "I can't feel my thighs" observation to Jackson).
Speaking of the wife, how did Cat react to the cat-that-ate-the-canary look he must have come home with after a day of on-screen debauchery? "She said, 'Six beautiful women — how was it?'" he recalls. Knight, though, was so exhausted from the taping, he was at a loss for words. "I said, 'I can't remember,'" he reports with a laugh.
Lastly, Knight relates some on-the-job feedback he enjoyed from one of his paramours for the day, Terri Ivens (Simone). "The biggest compliment I got," he says, "was from Terri, who said, 'I watched the show for years, and to do a love scene with Tad, even if it's as a joke, is great fun.'"
Fun indeed! — Matt Webb Mitovich
Michael E. Knight
