AMC: Grade McTavish's third stint as head writer

[DevotedToAMC]

Okay so she has been gone for a while but let's reflect and see what we all thought of her material from July/2003 to April/2007

I will give McTavish a B....granted she did have some storyline flops (Ryan/Greenlee, Erica as a Las Vegas showgirl, the unabortion, Dixie's return, Jeff/Erica/Jack, Josh/Babe/JR, Fusion's Sexiest Man in America and the women's own bet, Ryan and the fight club) but I also found she had a lot of other good stories (Bianca's rape, Greenlee finding out Jack is her father, the babyswitch, Erica's alcoholism and intervention, Edmund's paralysis, Edmund/Maria/Zach, Zach/Kendall, Janet's reign of terror, JR/Babe, Kane/Montgomery, Krystal's baby paternity, Satin Slayer)

For her first stint from 1987-1995 I give her an A- and for 1997-1999 I give her a C-

[Cheap21]

Id give her a C. I think she helped save AMC and rejuvenated it in 2003. The show was dreadful prior to her return but it was on fire that summer and was pretty good up until after Feb 2005 when the baby story ended. The show fell apart and while it wasnt horrible, it wasnt as good. 2006 was the absolute worst period for it and it was bad. I didnt think AMC would be able to recuperate. She had her ups and downs but overall, Id rate it just average at a C

[All My Shadows]

ITA!

[Steve]

I'll be nice and give her an F+.

When McT returned in 2003, AMC was not in bad shape. Rayfield/Cascio had several different storylines going and were utilizing most of the cast (Tad/Liza/Simone, David/Anna, Jack adopting Reggie, Reggie/Joni, Edmund/Mia, Bianca/Lena to name a few). Sure, they had some notable clunkers like Greenlee/Carlos, but the show was steadily improving over Rayfield's solo stint.

McT changed AMC in several ways. First, after quickly finishing the ongoing plots like David's revenge against the Martins for Leora's death and Greenlee's paternity, she focused the entire show on one plot: Bianca's rape. This story was featured every single day and instead of bringing Bianca & Lena into the limelight as a lesbian couple, it was all about Bianca. At the time, I defended this storyline from detractors who thought it was all about desexualizing the character. In hindsight, I can see that they were right.

The next sole storyline was the babyswitch. This plot was handled better than the rape because it involved most of the cast, but it had no story arcs. Every day was just stretching out the truth. McT apparently didn't know how to end it because Babe has still not been properly punished, imo.

When McT tried to branch out with other stories, she did it at the expense of the show's history. First by pairing Ryan with his former stalker, Greenlee, then by changing Ryan's entire past to fit her story, and most infamously later by rewriting Erica's landmark abortion. None of these stories were remotely entertaining, imo.

McT also had trouble finding any good couples. She pushed Ryan/Greenlee and Jamie/Babe down our throats daily, trying to make Ryan & Babe the misunderstood heroes of the show. Imo, this was yet another aspect of McT's writing that ruined my favorite show.

For her first stint, I'll be nice again (I hated seeing Nat down the well and Trevor acting lobotomized by sleeping with Janet, as well as the Ted Orsini plot) and give it a solid B, her second stint was an F.

[Kylie]

This honestly a hard thing for me. One the one hand, and a selfish note, you had MMT come back in 2003 and after 17 months of nothing for David and Erica, she gave them back to me. (She also created and started them in 1999, so that's a soft spot too.) Oh god, that woman had a gift for them. She wrote them far more intune and incharacter then any other writer/s since AN. She treated them and their past with respect and dignity, something they'd lost after AN left. I trusted her with them. Which, with me is a huge thing. Anyone who knows me, knows that after Josh, I wanted nothing more then to take D&E and run faraway from her hacking pen. Plus, she gave me the David and Bianca relationship that I'd been waiting years for. And VI and ER were so great together,that it worked better then even I'd imagained. I will always treasure the David/Erica/Bianca family scenes she gave me.

The way she brought the town together and railled them around Bianca after the rape was what soaps are about. Enemies becoming allies in the name of justice. Friendships being born. Loves blooming, as the whole town fought togethere, rather then each other. I even thought the early babyswap, the first few days (Bianca finding out Mimo was dead will always be a scene I remember) were great.

But the longer the babyswap went on, the more characters who learned the truth and lied to Bianca (for Babe a girl they barely met) the more it started to become something i just wanted it over and done with. That's where she started to lose it completely.

Tevor in a freezer was bad. Madden in a box was sick (but I don't mind it, think the bastard got his.), etc. The begininng of the end.

And what did her in , Josh. The last of her many violation of the AMC women. This one, was a competle slap in the face to everything AMC was built on, and the storyine that AN had so beautifully crafted. Josh became just another plot point to give Erica a son. MMT didn't write this story with heart, or feeling. Or anything resembling honesty. She had Erica apologizing, and trying to take back the abortion, she had Erica trying to get the fetus to love her. She was the villian, where that SOB who violated her body, was a saint who righted the wrong/sin Erica commited. Not to mention, the fact that she pretty much laughed at the fans, and told us to shut up and deal. (Oh, and the interview of her where she decided Tad was the killer, is a doose too.)

By the time she was done with Josh, there was nothing left for her to care about. She knew she had full contorl and free reign, and she went for it. She had no respect. No dignity. No honor. She just wrote plot point to plot point, with noting inbetween. There was no beginning, middle or end, just here and now, and how much "drama" and punch she could pack with a moment.

She's a hack.

And by the time things were said and done, all the good she did is out wieghed by all the bad she left in her wake. She's left AMC in ruins. It's soul ripped out, it's heart torn to sherds. It's going to take a miracle to fix what she broke.

She deserves nothing more then an F!

[jackericafan]

The Good....A

Erica and Jack romance and building the Kane/Montgomery family

Jack and Erica's wedding which was the BEST DAYTIME WEDDING EVER

Michael Cambias as a bad guy (though I wish he had not been a rapist)

The Bad...F

Erica as a showgirl in Vegas

Bianca's rape and the susequent baby switch. The perfomances by the actors were terrific but I hated the entire concept of the story complete with Bianca being the murderer.

Trying to make us believe Carey's are saints and redeemed from stealing Miranda.

Jonathan never paying for his disgusting crimes and sweeping it all away with a brian tumor. Ryan being a total loser to Greenlee and Kendall and Erica kissing his butt anyway.

SORAS'ing Lily to put her romantically with that murderer

The Unabortion and all that went along with it....

JR and Adam emasculated by Carey women

Bianca and Kendall wimped for Babe

The entire surogate pregnancy story.

Tad being Greg's murderer

J/E being torn apart by NOTHING

Not writing for Reggie

Teasing us with Brooke/Adam and then doing nothing about it.

Putting Dixie with Zach and not Tad where she should have been from the start. Dropping the ball on the Kate story.

[R Sinclair]

She gets an F. I didn't enjoy anything about her third and LONGEST solo stint.

[Adam]

Its hard for me to give this woman an F just based solely on what she gave me from July 2003-February 2005..... while looking back I have some issues with the plot points used, the cast was on fire that whole year and a half. So many great performances were given and her babyswitch storyline used the majority of the cast. She rejuvenated the show IMO. But as always she crashed and burned fairly quickly. Take out that first year, year and a half and I have no problem giving her an F, if not for the unabortion and Dixie's senseless death alone. She should never be employed in this industry again.

[Pine Charles]

D-

I thought Bianca’s rape featured great acting and drama. Greenlee ripping Kendall’s dress in court (to reveal her fake pregnancy) was classic soap. But other than that, I could have done without it. Erica as “Désirée Dubois” was embarrassing. The baby switch had a great climax, but pretty weak filler material beforehand. The whole thing went on too long (almost a year, I believe). Forcing Greenlee & Ryan as a couple was totally unbearable (as were Babe & Jamie). The Dragon story was a big clunker. They totally ruined Mimi (who I loved back in the early ‘90s). All the Lavery drama was stupid. Should I care about them? Jonathan is evil because of a brain tumor -- murdering Edmund (another character completely ruined, although I wasn’t too sad about him leaving), drugging Greenlee, nearly killing Kendall and Lily in a cave. Then he and Lily become lovers? Huh? Dixie returns only to be murdered with peanut butter on a pancake. Strumpet KWAK cutting off Adam’s balls. I wasn’t a big fan of Zoe getting with Bianca. The UNABORTION….what more can you say?? Having TAD as Madden’s killer!

We had many awful stories that were saved on occasion by some great, standout performances and episodes. That’s why I didn’t give an F. Oh…. and also because of Janet (the only consistently entertaining character).

[psychofan]

B+

McTavish stands as one of my favorite head writers. The only things I really hated about her stint were Jonathon/Lily and Tad killing Madden. Everything else I really enjoyed and she kept me tuning in.

[NYC123]

I would give her a D+

She did have many good stories like:

1) Babe and Jr

2) Erica and jackson

3)Bianca Rape

4) Babyswitch story

But it does not balance on how many thngs she did wrong!

She ruined Babe and Jr

She did not reunite Dixie and Tad. Also Kate

The Unabortion

The Greg Madden in the Coffen

She dropped many of our vets

She was terrible

[Y&RWorldTurner]

F

Thanks to her, I turned off AMC for the first time in years. The show had bad periods before, but under her, towards the end especially, it was unmatchable.

[Casey]

Gotta give her a C...

For the most part, when I tuned back into the show in 2004--I enjoyed it. I thought every storyline and every character hit on all cylinders. I loved that she merged the Kane-Montgomery family together. I actually enjoyed the overall babyswitch. I absolutely loved the fact that she or someone rejuvenated the Frye family who were allowed to lay dormant for so long.

As for the turn for the worse, pretty much the early part of 2005 sucked and it has continued--that Dragon storyline from beginning to the end was enough to make me give up on AMC and honestly...new headwriters or not the show hasn't been able to lead me back yet.

[Josh]

For the stuff when she first returned: A

- I thought Bianca's rape was good daytime drama up until the moment it was revealed she was the killer! The baby story was all right, went on a little to long and it was because of her that we had so many damn baby switch storylines (thanks for jumping on that banwagon GL/ATWT) but she lost it after that!

C

then

D

then

F

May she never work in daytime again!!

[leevo64]

I give Megan McTavish an... F.

I agree that the show was not in bad shape when she took it over. Raping the show's lesbian character, taking her out of what had become the most popular AMC couple in YEARS, and refocusing the show on high, manic and depressing drama was a huge mistake. FORGET the fact that she got rid of promising newcomers like Joni, Lena, and even Kenny.

Then came the Carey family. What was initially very cute and fluffy with two southern trash women taking over the Chandler family eventually became just like every other tragic, melodramatic piece of garbage that McTavish wrote. Let's not forget that turned wicked characters like Michael Cambias into a predictable villain as well.

Once the show lost token pseudoLesbian Bianca, McTavish focused on demoralizing the entire cast, ruining Erica, BUTCHERING the integrity of once simple, charming characters like Ryan and exploiting compelling and groundbreaking characters such as Lily. And then we have all the failed potential: Reggie/Danielle, the return of the Frye family, Maria/Edmund, Sean/Lily, Amanda's return, Janet's return, Julia's return, and quite possibly the biggest insult of all: the return of Dixie, which brings me to my next problem.

Di. My favorite new character in years, the character of Di had everything going for her. Kelli Giddish is insanely likable, the character offered mystery and intrigue to a stagnant show. She was incredibly appealing to everyone, viewers and characters alike, but then McTavish brought back Dixie and forgot all about Di. Di is now a supporting, immature gal pal who clubs her way around Pine Valley.

All in all, peace out McTrash.