AMC: Thursday, 11.06.08

[Ryan Chamberlain]

Aggie should be proud. Those war scenes are even choking me up.

BTW. Does Brot start today or tomorrow? I dislike Taylor. But, I cannot wait to see the story play out. Based on the guy playing Brot.

[Kubla Khan]

Don't worry, Agnes is secretly ghostwriting again.

[Jonathan]

Is this true Kubla? Or are you just joking?

[marceline]

I'd assume its a joke. I always found it funny that people thought Agnes would write for the show without credit. Do a little short term consulting maybe but write? That woman worked too hard to give her talent away.

[Kubla Khan]

Don't worry--it was my lame attempt at humor.

[AMCGio83]

I sort of agree. I'm all for socially responsible storytelling but the veteran scene wasn't that. Agnes Nixon's strength was always mixing socially relevant storylines with traditional soap stories and that's why they worked. So when Ruth gave her famous speech it resonated with people because the war had hit close to someone that they already knew and loved. We don't know these veterans so to me, it sort of came out of nowhere. NOW, if Jake had been injured and was at the hosptal and you had real veterans mixed with a chararacter with ties to the show then THAT would have worked better I think.

[sonyab1974]

I disagree. He is a great writer. And besides those Vet scenes were real experiences they had!

Maybe the real stuff was just to much for ya..

[dragonflies]

I've wanted Davanda for two years now

Great writer's don't decimate nearly every single character on the canvas to make them into his vision.......

Yeah they were REAL experiences which is why those scenes were moving to me.

[SteveFrame]

Sonya, I agree about Pratt. He is not the best writer in the world but he is capable of some great stuff. So much of the stuff he wrote on Santa Barbara in particular was brilliant. I know he is not the script writer on AMC, but I can remember some of his scripts on SB in 1985 and 1986 were brilliant. the same with some of his scripts on GH when he was a script writer there - that was in the early 80's.

I can remember many of the mags back in those days really bragging on him as a script writer.

He is sometimes a mixed bag on his HWing but I think overall so far he gets a high B from me at AMC. He really has stepped up and made the show enjoyable again for me.

Oh and BTW if the dialogue and stuff wasn't brilliant today (can't say I am watching it later tonight) it wouldn't be Pratt anyway. It would be whoever wrote the script that would not be capable. All that Pratt does is describe the episode. The breakdown writers do the step by step breakdown of how the eppy plays out and the script writer actually writers the episode. So if the dialogue and stuff wasn't that great it wouldn't be as much Pratt as the headwriter.

[AddictedToSoaps]

Me too. It was nice and all, but not for me.

It sounded unscripted to me too.

[Adam]

Yet he is head writer? He still obviously would have came up with the idea.

[sonyab1974]

He does not decimate every single character. He writes stories that maybe people who agree or disagree with. I am liking his stories so far.

[sonyab1974]

SteveFrame says Sonya, I agree about Pratt. He is not the best writer in the world

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The bears are not the best writer in the world. Glad they are gone.

but he is capable of some great stuff.

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Yes he does!!!!

So much of the stuff he wrote on Santa Barbara in particular was brilliant. I know he is not the script writer on AMC, but I can remember some of his scripts on SB in 1985 and 1986 were brilliant. the same with some of his scripts on GH when he was a script writer there - that was in the early 80's.

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I never watched Santa Barbara but I did watch Melrose place and he was awesome! He was great on GH.

[EricMontreal22]

Wow. I thought they were *amazing*--great job of editing too, I assume the actual discussion went on much longer but they did it in a way that it didn't feel drawn out or forced (like I thought some of the last time we saw something similar, the transgendered group, did--it wasn't handled nearly as well IMHO). Amazing stuff that really should make AMC and Agnes, and maybe even Pratt, proud.

I thought today was a great show, good mix of comedy and pathos (was that telenovela filmed just for the show?) and seriousness. Only the Emma kidnapping stuff felt a bit tacked on.

AMCGio said:

"I sort of agree. I'm all for socially responsible storytelling but the veteran scene wasn't that. Agnes Nixon's strength was always mixing socially relevant storylines with traditional soap stories and that's why they worked."

That's not completely true. I've read transcripts of the Oddysey House youth drug abuse stuff from OLTL in '70 or so and it was very very much exactly what this was. And obviouslyw ell done (especially for its time). I think the fact it didn't just ocme out of nowhere, but we've had months of this stuff casually written into stories thanks to Frankie and Taylor (specifically asking some of the Vets what their family thougth when they re-enlisted, etc) was what made it resonate.

Though the head writer has final say and many have been known to do the final edits and essentially write key scenes. I'm sure this is done less and less now, and Pratt strikes me as a pretty busy man but he does bear some responsibility for the daily writing.

[JackPeyton]

I never knew that about star trek but i use that a lot in situations like you said.

Looking at it stand alone i thought it was amazing and powerful and all that great stuff, but in the context of the show? idk. I found it rather boring. idk why.

and now i know why i didnt connect with the vet scenes. thank you for posting this, and i couldnt agree more.

I ahve not seen this happen to any character. I have seen Pratt adding layers and creating conflict and causing internal drama for long stale characters and couples.