Burton Armus

[AMCGio83]

Does anyone know if there is any news on the Burton Armus/McTavish story? What's the latest? Anybody????

[whyamcwhy]

The latest info from Errol was that ABC didn't necessarily like Burton's storyline bible. There is/was a possibility he could still go to AMC but there are rumors he could go to OLTL. The last little tidbit we had on this was Fron's was considering getting McTavish a co-headwriter instead. Also the affiliates are upset about the ratings and maybe pressuring the network to do something. Errol is pretty sure that McTavish will go but when is the question. It may not be until her contract is up.

Fire Frons!!! Fire McTavish!!!! And do it NOW!!!

[Jack]

JAN 1st OR BUST! Thats my motto these days. Nothing by 1/1/07 I'm out of Pine Valley and relocating to Geneoa City.

[AMCGio83]

Thanks for the Info. Counting down the days here. Never beeb THIs close to turning off AMC for good. Not even when Erica stole baby Maddy for no good reason (McTavish?)

Next we work on getting JHC out and perhaps Frons can be vanquished, one day. Sigh.

[R Sinclair]

Lorraine Broderick.

[Drew]

I noticed while browsing my DVDs last week he was a producer on Star Trek Next Generation's horrible second season.

[AMCGio83]

I'd take Lorraine Broderick, even Richard Cullatin at this point. At least we had Brooke

[Jack]

Passante at this point would be better.

[Tzelkos]

I found something Kathy @ The PVB board said very surprising. Her source claims that the 9/11 eppie was all Megan's ideas. I think we all gave the credit to Amanda Beall and took it to be a stand-alone pitched and written by her but apparently that's not the case.

Anyways her overall point is that Megan can still write what fans want if she tries, but she's not allowed to.

And I have not seen her say anything nice about McT so the endoresement is quite significant.

[Jack]

Yea and the problem is she doesnt try. She runs out of steam very fast. She started this time off great with the rape and then the murder of Michael Cambias and then the baby switch. But after all that it was just garbage... Erica in Vegas, the unabortion, Lilly/Jonathan, Jonathan killing people/cutting the bad out, Ryans faked death, the whole Madden Clinic fiasco, the list goes on

[EricaKane4life]

I was told by Burton Armus himself that he was coming to AMC as HW about 2 months ago.

In the interim, I've heard that Brian Frons and Armus clashed in a very nasty way and I'm hearing two different things.

FIRST, Apparently Armus wrote a bible where he UN-did the UN-abortion, focused on the rivalry of Erica Kane and Brooke English, turned Erica's "son" into a high tech thief who gets killed by Erica, brought back Nina on prescription painkillers, revealed that Dixie was brainwashed by a cult, reintroduced Opal having a secret between she and Myrtle and had Palmer involved in an Alzheimers storyline with Nina. The bible was way "too heavy" on the Veterans and there was a new black "Marlena Evans-type" psychologist character (created by his original co-headwriter [s.W.S.N.B.N.] who was signed and then let go) that was going to be featured in a murder mystery centered around the character named "Ryan Lavery" being exposed as a bisexual. Bianca and Krystal had a one night stand and Bianca started pursuing Krystal relentlessly.

It was more suited for "nighttime" t.v. according to daytime execs at Disney.

Once AMC asked Julia Barr to go on recurring (we're talking months ago), I'm told, Burton Armus FLIPPED and he cursed at Brian Frons. The show held off on the Brooke "recurring" thing, but recently the situation got really ugly and Armus called Frons an "idiot" for letting Barr go off contract. Their little "tiffs" had been building for months.

A major part of this is that Frons doesn't want writers that he can't CONTROL. He likes McTavish and Dena Higley because they do whatever he tells them to do and don't give him any lip. They write from his instructions, but someone like Armus who has won Emmys and is very respected in the industry could challenge him and isn't afraid of him.

THE SECOND STORY I'm hearing is that Armus is still coming to AMC and that they're simply waiting for the final "perks" in McTavish's contract to run out. She has a top agent who put all kinds of protection clauses in her contract, and the only way to get rid of her is to buy out her contract, which would cost more than a million dollars.

Armus definitely is not going to OLTL. He only wanted to write AMC because that's his all time favorite show and he was fed up with how the show is being run into the ground.

[Skin]

I find it all to be highly unlikely and unrealistic. But JMO. I can't believe Dixie would be brainwashed in a cult, nor that Josh is a theif, Also I heard Cam re-signed and is on AMC for 3 more years. So killing him would be a no-no. I can't find the Krystal/Bianca one night stand plausiable or Bianca becoming a stalker believeable.

I buy him wanting Nina back, Erica and Brooke fued, Palmer's demintia and even the Marlena like psychitrists. I just find the above hard to believe.

[SlezaksOLTL]

Erica do you have any info at all of Higley being gone from OLTL? Is anything going to change at OL, even the EP possibly out or anything? thanks.

[whyamcwhy]

I find the Ryan Lavery stuff hard to believe and the Bianca/Krystal one night stand. Now Bianca/Babe would be a fantasy of Frons' I am sure. I do believe that he would want to bring back a lot of the vets but a lot that stuff sounds a little far-fetched to me. I would love Josh to be killed off the show though.

So, really, we are just stuck with McTavish until who knows when. When did she start writing for AMC? Was it around April or early summer? I can't remember but we could be watching her garbage until then.

[EricaKane4life]

Uh...you haven't read his bible.

You can't go by my second hand reporting when a Soap Bible runs like 200 pages.

This is what agrivates me trying to pass info to "civilians" outside the industry. They can't do "shorthand" like we would in a board meeting.

For instance, WHO said Bianca was "stalking" the woman??? Where the hell did that come from?

Also for instance, Cam's contract means NOTHING (ask Matthew Ashford) if a new HW takes over and writes him out.

Maybe Armus wants to return Dixie to her former self by revealing she was brainwashed by a cult during her missing years and this is why she hasn't been very likeable?

If any of you have watched Armus's EMMY winning writing for "N.Y. PD BLUE", then you wouldn't find any of this "hard to believe". Of course, none of you have actually read the 200 page bible. A lot can happen on a soap opera in 1 year and it can be believable by the time it all falls in place.

Sorry I don't.