Josh Madden

Infobox soap character
name = Josh Madden
series = All My Children
portrayer = Scott Kinworthy (June 17, 2005 - September 15 2005)
Colin Egglesfield (september 16, 2005 to September 9, 2008)
first = June 17 2005
last = September 9 2008 [http://abc.go.com/daytime/allmychildren/characters/bio?pn=characterbio]
cause =
creator = Megan McTavish



caption1 = Colin Egglesfield as Josh Madden


caption2 =


caption3 =
nickname = Josh
alias =
gender = Male
born = Retconned to December 18 1980
death =
age = 27cite web | author= | title= Who's Who in Pine Valley: Erica Kane
work=soapcentral.com | url=http://www.soapcentral.com/amc/whoswho/erica.php
accessdate=2007-07-04]
occupation = Former CEO of Chandler Enterprises/Former Cambias Industries Executive

title =
residence = Pine Valley, Pennsylvania
parents = Jeff Martin (father) Erica Kane (mother) Raised by Gregory and Emily Madden, both now deceased.
siblings = Kendall Hart Slater (maternal half-sister) Bianca Montgomery (maternal half-sister)
spouse =
romances = Numerous lovers Pre-Pine Valley
*Danielle Frye (one-night stand; statutory rape, as she was age 17)
*Babe Carey (one-night stand)
*Erin Lavery (kissed/almost made love)
* Hannah Nichols (lovers)
*Greenlee Smythe (kissed/almost made love/one-night stand)
children =
grandchildren =
grandparents = Joseph "Joe" Martin Sr. (paternal grandfather)
*Helen Martin (paternal grandmother, deceased)
*Eric Kane (maternal grandfather, deceased)
*Mona Kane Tyler (maternal grandmother, deceased)
aunts/uncles = Tara Martin (paternal aunt)
*Robert "Bobby" Martin (paternal uncle)
*Thaddeus "Tad" Martin (paternal uncle, via adoption)
* Joesph "Jake" Martin Jr. (paternal uncle)
*Mark Dalton (maternal uncle)
*Silver Kane (maternal aunt, deceased)
cousins = Charles "Charlie" Brent (paternal cousin)
*Charlie Brent (paternal cousin)
*Kate "Kelsey" Jefferson (paternal cousin)
*James "Jamie" Martin (paternal cousin)
*Kathy Mershon
*Jenny Carey (paternal cousin, by adoption)
*Julie Rand Chandler (maternal cousin)
relatives = Miranda Montgomery (niece)
Spike Lavery (nephew)
Ian Slater (nephew)
color = #C80815

Joshua "Josh" Madden is a fictional character from the 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 until September 9 2008.

The character was initially the subject of a controversial and landmark abortion storyline back in the early 1970s,cite web | author= | title= Interview with Gerry Waggett
work=About.com | url=http://allmychildren.about.com/library/weekly/aa040898.htm
accessdate=2007-07-04] 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.

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 Hart's birth year changed to 1976, thus pushing Erica Kane's even later than it was before, to 1962.cite book | author = Susan Leigh Star | title = [http://books.google.com/books?id=Mgw7-M7t63MC&pg=PA43&dq=Kendall+Hart&output=html&sig=Tnaz4D76fuhl0fczCP0-obAHE-s The Cultures of Computing ] | id = ISBN 0631192824| publisher = Blackwell Publishing| year = 1995 |pages = 282 ] This left Josh's birth date between Kendall Hart's of 1976 and Bianca Montgomery's of 1984. Josh's birth date now at December 18 1980.

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 Doctor Greg Madden is written to have taken the embryo and implanted the embryo into his wife. [cite web | author= | title= Diva deluxe. A grand entrance for Susan Lucci -- the grand dame of daytime TV
work=starbulletin.com | url=http://starbulletin.com/2006/10/03/features/story01.html
accessdate=2007-07-04]

toryline

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 murdered, 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.

, she chooses to stay with J.R., leaving Josh heartbroken and more willing to fight for her love.

Josh connects with his half-sister, Bianca Montgomery, whom he loves, but is not above using her to get what he wants; however this characteristic does not phase 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, 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.

Cultural impact

First legal abortion in soap opera

The Josh Madden character, before actually being defined as a character, became the first legal abortion performed in soap opera history. [cite web | first=Jennifer|last=Lenhart|title= The Last Taboo | publisher="Soap Opera Digest"
accessdate=2007-07-04| url=http://www.soapoperadigest.com/features/special/lasttaboo/]

Author Gerry Waggett, when asked in an interview on the matter of how the show "All My Children" has always been the first (for the most part) to tackle global issues, and what storyline does he feel exemplifies this, responded:

More controversy

When Megan McTavish, former head writer of the show "All My Children", rewrote Erica Kane's abortion to instead not have been an abortion at all due to Dr. Greg Madden's antics, it upset a large number of fans who felt that it was a disgrace to the ground-breaking abortion storyline Agnes Nixon had carried out three decades earlier.

To this, actor Colin Egglesfield, portrayer of Josh, 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.'" [cite web |first=Mara |last=Levinsky |title= Son Block
publisher="Soap Opera Digest" | accessdate=2007-07-04| url=http://www.soapoperadigest.com/features/amc/interviews/colinegglesfield/]

"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:

cquote|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.cite web | first=Lesly|last=Lopez-Skinner|title= 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 | publisher=inklingmagazine.com | accessdate=2007-07-04|url=http://www.inklingmagazine.com/articles/a-trip-down-erica-kanes-gene/]

However, in their same article "Inkling Magazine" also noted, "Using Erica Kane’s currently known offspring as an example, it seems that the science behind the drama of soap storylines isn’t entirely incorrect. But 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."

References

External links

* [http://abc.go.com/daytime/allmychildren/characters/90904_1.html ABC.com]
* [http://www.soapcentral.com/amc/whoswho/joshua.php Soapcentral.com - Josh Madden profile]