AMC: Wait just a minute!!!

[R Sinclair]

Joanna Cohen's first script aired July 28, 2006.

[alwaysAMC]

^^I could have sworn you told me awhile back that Cohen's first episode was the day Ryan and Jonathan found Erin dead and mourned for her. I remember that so well bc I was shocked that she wasn't at AMC that long - and I could have sworn you confirmed that.

Either way - doesn't matter. I gave my examples!

[R Sinclair]

It was the first time her dialog stood out to me.

[Ryan]

I love Amanda L. Beall. I think she's a very good writer more times than not.

[Dr. Jay S.W.]

Agreed. I have seen shows of hers with great dialogue and historical references. I stay out of the Beall hate because I see nothing wrong with her.

[Toups]

Beall lovers unite! We must defeat the evil coalition lead that maniacal Sinclair!!

[Ryan]

Yes we must Toups! I am now the proud leader of the Amanda L. Beall Love Coalition

[R Sinclair]

Yup... okay. It's on, now!

THE AMANDA L. BEALL HATE COALITION

WILL PROVE VICTORIOUS!

"You'll have to pry my Amanda L. Beall hate out of my cold dead hands..."

[EricMontreal22]

"Ok - first of all, we never would have gotten scenes with Tad confiding in Livia like that under McT. Tad trying to fight through his pain and his struggles with God is totally character-driven material.

"

This is silly fighting but that's not true. McT has stepped up and written great character based scenes before--she just doesn't often stay consistant. Btu under her writing we often get a few stunning episodes--stuff like Bianca and Kendall bonding/talkign after the rape in the clinic (where we had scene sthat lasted up to 8 minutesat a time--rare for soaps now) etc

E

[R Sinclair]

That's pretty much what I'm saying. Yeah, wonderful. We have had SCENES here and there that were heart wrenching and emotional -- but they are scenes in an overall storyline (plot) that are FAR FROM "character driven material."

Tad confiding in Livia, fighting through his pain and struggles with God was only AFTER TAD HAD RENDERED A MAN UNCONSCIOUS, STUFFED HIM IN A BOX, BURIED HIM ALIVE AND TORTURED HIM FOR WEEKS BEFORE HE DIED IN AN EARTHQUAKE!! Dear GOD! What in the hottest of HELL about THAT is character driven for Tad? A man who thinks Adam is a horrible man and parent because he wanted to send Junior to boarding school and then turns around and does something so incredibly heinous that it makes Adam look like Ward Cleaver? Especially when McTavish, herself, said she didn't even know who killed Greg until after the fact. Character driven means that it was clear from the get-go who they wanted the murderer to be, and the story was dictated by that information -- not just some character they plucked from their canvas and said "Ooh! That works!" and then plopped him in.

McTavish and Beall used, you hear me -- used Livia and God as a last ditch effort to rationalize Tad's actions. Hey! If a lawyer -- an officer of the court -- says that the only one that can judge and forgive Tad for burying and killing Greg Madden is God -- then who are we to say otherwise? It was obvious and insulting and I refuse to view that garbage as character-driven. Because five seconds after that, Tad was going around acting sanctimonious again. Nothing about him changed after that. Yeah, he may mutter something oblique about the Madden situation every now and again, but still -- he hasn't changed for better or worse. Especially after siring a baby with another man's wife and proceeding to rub his face in it?

Nah, man. Don't mistake a Band-Aid for a cure.

[EricMontreal22]

While i've often defended McT--I totally will agree with you here. My point was in agreement with you--that under McT's regime AMC hasn't suffered from havign some truly wonderful scenes and even episodes--particularly of course early on. People were THRILLED with the 2 weeks oft eh end of the baby switch and not just cuz it was over but cuz how it was done, even within her first month we had a killer scene where Anna and David came ot terms with the death of their child that I've saved cuz I loved it so much, etc etc. I didn't think we honestly had too many moments like this back in Dec/Jan but regardless the problem under McT is more and more these kinds of scenes and dialogues were existing in a vacuum with the other episodes aroudn them having endless repitition,e tc.

E

[Kubla Khan]

I love Amanda L. Beall. During McTavish's reign of terror, even when I didn't like the storylines, I could always count on Amanda's episodes for some great dialogue, character interaction, and USE of history.

::hides from R Sinclair::

[alwaysAMC]

Tad burying Greg was all McT - it wasn't until Alden's influence in the months we're arguing here that they tried to show Tad having a little remorse and putting a good end to a horrible McT storyline.

I'm not defending Tad burying Greg - that was all plot-driven bullshit. I'm saying when Alden came over for awhile, it was then we had character-driven remorse and balance. You're warping my argument here a little to make your point...

[EricMontreal22]

Always AMC I'm still not convinc3ed about Alden's "influence" since we don't really know anything abotu what she did. My point--and mainly I agree with you here--is having a random scene or episode thrown in showing the remorse the way they did with Tad is VERY typical of McTavish's style--it's the day to day consistancies she was bad at

[R Sinclair]

If you're saying I'm warping your argument to make my point, that's not my intention. All I'm saying is I didn't get a hint of the supposed "Alden Influence" until April when, clearly, a lot of McTavish's material was rewritten, sped up, or dropped altogether. Up until that point, it seemed like it was pure McTavish. One or two scenes here and there were good, but the whole storytelling at that time from winter 2006 to early spring 2007 was not balanced.