Confirmed Megan Is Out on AMC

[Pine Charles]

Jean Passanante was bad. She really didn't seem to have a clear vision. McT, on the other had, definitely has a vision....... and it's an awful one!

[whyamcwhy]

I don't know if it was just that McTavish was really that bad but I think most if not all the writers on AMC should go, IMHO. The dialogue is repeative and boring. Maybe McTavish is the one at fault for this but I am to the point where I would like a complete fresh start and that includes getting rid of a lot of the writers, the EP, and while we are at it, Frons!!!

[R Sinclair]

While she's not 100% at fault for the writing staff being such a mess, she's got a hefty portion of the blame. Some writers who have been head writers on other shows or become head writer of a show have their friends and colleagues they look out for. Such as McTavish's niece, Lil Miss Hot Mess. But the executive producer and/or network also has a hand in that, such as Marla Kanelos, who used to write scripts for Port Charles, one day shows up as a script writer for AMC after JHC came onboard. I dont necessarily enjoy or dislike Marla Kanelos' work, but I have reconciled the fact that she's friends with Julie, so even after Megan leaves, she most likely will continue to have a job at AMC as long as she wants.

But there's also a downside. There are writers who leave when a head writer leaves, or when another writer comes on. Breakdown writer Fred Johnson flees AMC like a bat out of hell any time McTavish comes back. McTavish brough Michelle Patrick to write breakdowns for GH, she stayed on under Guza and then quietly made her way back to McTavish helmed-AMC.

So there's a weird network going on behind the scenes, and unfortunately, it bleeds into the work. We get writers, such as Lil Miss Hot Mess, because they know someone on staff and they needed a job -- not because they're any good or even care about the show. But then, at the same time, we get true finds like my girl Joanna Cohen who, according to rumors, isn't even on contract at ABC.

I want the show to hire a GOOD WRITER first and foremost. Then everything else will fall into place. Megan's an actress turned writer, which calls for a double shot of EGOMANIA, so her head's so far up her own ass, it's ridiculous. A good writer will attract or seek out other good writers and will know how to capitalize on their strengths. For instance, I would've given Friday's (3/2) and today's (3/5) script to Joanna Cohen. She did a marvelous job with Friday's script and that mood and that tone needed to be carried over into today's episode as well. Sure, it's a lot of work asking a writer to crank out two 90 page scripts in succession, but if Agenda L. Beall can write the Great Baby Switch conclusion back to back, then it can be done.

[leevo64]

I would rehire Richard Culliton under CONTRACTUAL AGREEMENT that if a thread of a story aired, it would have to be resolved. My pet peeve during his stint was all the dropped stuff - Simone's brother, ex husband and father; Opal and Palmer's reconciliation/battle; Mia and Frank's son; Tim's secret about what was up with Janet; Kendall's doll... if you don't remember any of that stuff, it's because each of it was talked about on screen for like three episodes and abruptly dropped for more Proteus drivel. If he had followed through more it would have been so much more of an intriguing few years for AMC.

[Adam]

Proteus went on far too long but making Vanessa Proteus, absolutely genius! Vanessa and her two sons were the focus of Culiton's AMC and I absolutely loved it!

[Pine Charles]

You're right about all the dropped stories with Culliton. But the thing I really liked during his stint were the actual characters. They were written much better. I don't remember any propping. Greenlee was a b!tch - and proud of it. I also loved how he was willing to write for Brooke. I think I heard that Brooke was one of his favorite characters.

[R Sinclair]

Exactly! HIGH FIVE! Culliton concentrated so heavily on his precious Proteus storyline and making Greenlee and Leo the center of the show, that so much stuff was dropped quicker than call on a bootleg cell phone. He made sure he draaaaaaaaged out that Proteus story for all he could -- pretty much his entire 15 month run -- but everything else dropped.

Revlon story tie in -- dropped.

Maggie/Bianca/Tim triangle -- dropped.

Jamie going mute after Vanessa hugged him and using his condition to get Brooke and Tad back together -- dropped.

Adam and Brooke's fling -- dropped.

But we saw all of Vanessa's 165 alternate personalities in full detail with backstory and everything. He tried. I will hand it to him -- but he just didn't try hard enough.

[Adam]

Wasn't Culiton also toying with the idea to make Leo Richard Field's son and not Trey? Which was basically his whole reasoning for bringing Kendall back into the fold?

[Pine Charles]

That would have been better. Trey was pretty useless. I would be lying, however, if I said I didn't find Sam Page DEAD SEXY.

[R Sinclair]

I don't doubt it. He made all of his favorite characters rich or rich by osmosis!

Greenlee was Queen B!tch and throwing her money around, and Leo was her kept man.

Brooke even called herself "rich" one time, which threw me off -- that was never Brooke's style.

And Kendall secured herself a high paying job as Petey's nanny with NO child care experience whatsoever.

One of the brilliant things he did was write out Jean Passanante's HORRIFIC AND POLITICALLY INCORRECT creation -- Gabriel Devane. I'm sorry, but that woman must have been smoking McTavish's crack left over from the 1980's (where she "went to the bathroom" and came up with Jackson Montgomery ). I mean, really. Nobody saw how tasteless it was giving Anna and Alex Devane an illegitimate biracial brother who was raised in a cage with the other teenagers calling him "Dog Boy?"

[All My Shadows]

I guess I am in the minority when I say that I floved the focus on Vanessa, David, and Leo throughout most of 2002. I really enjoyed the show a lot that year, it reminded me a lot of the kind of stuff that I grew up with in the 1990s (not on AMC, but other soaps). Leo and Greenlee were such a thrill to watch together, and Vanessa's various personalities KILLED me. I think there were two alters, "Rosie Wells" and "Nessa." Rosie was like a real super!@#$%^&*] while Nessa was everything that Vanessa wasn't - sweet, caring, nice, maternal.

Good lord, this is what McTavish has made me do. She's made me look back at 2002 and early 2003 with JOY. That is what she accomplished! THAT!

It's never too late for that !@#$%^&*] to go.

[leevo64]

Oh, there's no doubt that Vanessa's alters were the best, soapiest stuff ever, but he had a chance to really bring Pine Valley to life and missed the boat.

And I almost forgot about the borderline-exploitive Dog Boy storyline and his star-crossed romance with 16-going-on-32 hottie Rosa. Those were, uh, interesting times.

[Adam]

If Culiton missed the boat, McTavish sunk it :lol

But yes he had his flaws that is for sure. the Brooke/Adam thing was late in his run.... I think it was dropped during the transition, and so was Brooke. Brooke went from being front burner under Culition to being wallpaper.

[whyamcwhy]

I did like how Culliton wrote more character driven storylines. I started watching AMC when the Proteus storyline was coming to an end so I can't really complain about what I saw. I loved Vanessa, Leo, and David being a family. And Greenlee was written as a selfish witch but in an entertaining way. McTavish completely destroyed Greenlee and made her a stepford wife. Kendall was broke and slowly beginning to prove herself to all of PV. Loved when she was broke and Petey's nanny!!!

I just really liked how the storylines and the characters actually progressed when Culliton was writing the show. It just seems with McTavish everything is really stagnant, changes in characters are made that make no sense or storylines move in a direction that I absolutely hate. There is no continuity or flow on AMC that makes sense anymore. Maybe Culliton wasn't really that good but compared to the hack, I really liked the show more back then. And I fell in love with a lot characters when he was writing the show.

I am relieved that McTavish is gone but I just wish it would have happened years ago. I am just not so sure I have enough interest in the show to watch it again.

[Pine Charles]

Yep! Her last major story was in 2002.

I think with Maria coming back, Culltion knew that he had to reunite her with Edmund. That's when he started the Brooke & Adam stuff. But like you said, that was all dropped when he was fired.

Don't get me wrong, Culliton wasn't my favorite. But out of the writers we got between 2000 and 2003, I thought he was the best.