AMC: What do you think of Charles Pratt Jr.?

[NYC123]

Its been 4 months of Pratt's work on AMC. In your opinion has AMC improved under Pratt?

I think Pratt has completely turned AMC around. He is 110% better then McT and 150% better then B&E. Under B&E we got Zendall/Greenlee/Ryan/Boring Annie/Boring Aidan shoved down our throats everyday. I used to FF 50% of the show because of B&E and their HORRIBLE storylines.

Pratt IMO has been able to help AMC recover from the damages made by B&E and McT. I'm not saying AMC is AMAZING but there are signs that it will get better. Good job Pratt. Thanks to you AMC is back and better!

[xtr]

I think that Charles Pratt has done a really good job with AMC, these past few months. I think that he is better than McTavish during the end of her stint and way better than B&E were. I think that the show is a lot more balanced than it was under B&E who basically focused on the same six people almost all of the time, with a sprinkle of other characters here and there.

And he has a lot more storylines going on at one time than B&E did. IMO, his storylines are much more interesting than B&E's were IMO. I thought that B&E's storylines were awful and also very boring.

The only storyline that I really don't like is the Zach/Bianca/Baby storyline. There are a few other things here and there I don't care for like Rylee being rushed back into a reunion, but overall I am really enjoying the show and think that Pratt is doing a pretty good job.

[Caramel]

I think the show is more balanced, yes. But it could be a LOT better.

I agree that the Bianca/Zach/Gabby/Reese story is SO awful and does SO much damage to important family relationships (Kinks/Zen). I also fear how they will make Kendall out to be a villian (I don't think Kendall is liked much by Pratt, either).

The MAJOR gripe I have is how many things were left off-screen that was integral to the plot. Like why Josh did what he did, Zach and Kendall's marital issues, Reese/Bianca's courtship, Kendall's bizarre behavior, Annie's background with her family (but I blame B&E more),

I just hope that he fleshes things out more and keeps a balance. I think for it to be maintained, the favoring of characters, while destorying others for their benefit without logical cause, has to stop.

I will just try to keeo an open mind about it all.

[SteveFrame]

I love his work.

I just don't get where people are so upset with the Bianca/Kendall/Zach story. It is one of the stories I am most enjoying on the show. For one often a gay relationship is isoloated. They are not. It is not all smoot sailing. There is tension. Reese is not boring - she is actually interesting with her doubts. Trust is a big issue for them. There is tension there and I like that.

Also it is about time that a writer put some tension back into the Kane family. I never bought McTavish's sudden Kane women stuff and everything so peaches and roses. Everything happened too fast for Kendall and Erica for me especially after the years of tension. It was so rushed because they were trying to do away with the Martins and they were trying to establish Erica as the big new matriarch of the show. They gave her 2 daughters and then a son.

Erica Kane was never meant to be the matriarch of the show. And I like Bianca a whole lot better flawed. She is a more interesting character. Even the best of heroines in the old days of soaps had flaws. Bianca has been way too syrupy sweet with no faults for way too long.

I look forward to tension between Bianca and Kendall and seeing if Erica takes sides and who's side she does take and what it does to the relationship. I just hope Pratt goes there and doesn't whitewash it.

Overall right now I give Pratt a B-. He still needs to improve and fix some things. But the show is not longer the Sextette Show. It is no longer the Kendall show or the Babe Show or the Greenlee Show or even the Ryan Show and he gets high praise for that.

now if he would just send another tornado through town and have it pick up Zach, Kendall, Ryan, Greenlee, Aiden and Annie in that order and deposit them in the depths of hell I would forever worship at his feet.

[Adam]

Word. I agree with all of this. The Kanes need drama and this is just the story to do it. I too want to see Erica take sides. I't be kind of nice to see her take Kendall's side for once.... but I can totally see them going for a Kendall/Erica feud again, which I like too

[Jonathan]

Yeah, I would like to see a Kendall/Erica feud also. I was watching old clips of when Alicia Minshew first joined All My Children and Kendall was antagonizing Erica. It was such an interesting relationship back then.

[Caramel]

You know, I love the Erica/Kendall relationship that is happening now. I agree that it wouldn't hurt to have some tension (I am one that firmly believes that Kendall is better as a vixen, not full-on heroine), but to have her and Erica at odds the way the used to be is not something I would wish for, JMO.

I DO believe that Bianca/Kendall is wrecked and I am sad for that because I felt McTravesty did a few things right and that was make the tragedy of Bianca's rape and Miranda's birth bring the Kane women together, especially the sisters. But, I do feel that Kendall became the glue that held it all together and that she was taken out of her character (or had the need to be loved so highly amplified) to keep them going and they have taken advantage.

And I disagree that Erica was not meant to be an matriarch, she was and she is (hell, wasn't Erica Kane on the first ep of the show?), but there is room for others, as well. She is not meant to be THE one, but she is meant to be one for the Kane family.

Oh- and thank GOODNESS the Babe Show (and others) has ended!

[nell17]

I agree most with this. The show is better only in the sense that he's effectively telling more than one story at a time. Something that B&E never seemed

to be able to do. My issues with him and are the off-screen stuff and I feel the show only touches the surface of the B or C stories. They aren't developed at all and they should be.

Some examples:

During Krystal's story, she had a car accident that was really and off-screen sound effect and a few lines by David. We didn't see the hospital. Did David take her home? How did she get home? Did anybody call? What was the reaction to that? Where's Colby? She was always around for Baby Jenny and Krystal. Where is she now that David is doing all of this stuff to isolate Krystal.

Annie stabbing Erica...did she give a statement to the police? Where is Erica's account of what happened, with flashbacks at least? Did anyone have a reaction to this at all? Did Ryan ever go to see her, to say he was sorry? To see how she was? Did Tad? There was no reaction from her, not even really her family that I saw on screen. That could have easily been a good way to establish or even re-establish some relationships. If they weren't going to really show the effects of what happened, why did it even have to be Erica at all? She could have stabbed any old person. Bianca had a mother and a sister in the hospital at the same time, yet she didn't seem to struggle with that at all. That was an under-developed plot point.

For a whole episode Angie was trying to get in touch with Frankie who didn't show up for work. She wasn't sure if something happened to him, giving me the impression that it was something Frankie had never done before. Once she found him with Randi. The two of them said that they would talk later. They didn't. Where was the follow up episode to that? If they were just going to drop it, then what was the point of the plot point.

The Rebecca dying thing feels like I'm watching an episode of ER where the doctor's are too close the guest-starring patient and her daughter. Natalia doesn't feel like Frankie's sister and Jesse's daughter. More scenes with her and the two of them would help that.

Randi...they make a point of showing her taking pictures as the new face of Fusion and in one or maybe two lines of a scene, she doesn't get it. Why was she a hooker? Where's Carmen? She talked for a few minutes about her mother and that was the first we really learned anything about her. I know more about Resse than I do her and how long has she been around. I could go on, but I've said enough. I won't even go into the things I don't like, lol.

Anyway. He's an improvement, but he's got a long way to go for me. I only hope that it gets better.

[nell17]

sorry. duplicate post.

[SteveFrame]

I did not mean that ERica was not supposed to be the martiarch or mother to her famly or her daughters. What I meant was she was not supposed to be the mother earth type that McTavish tried to turn her into. Turning Erica Kane into that is like turning Lisa Miller into Nancy Hughes or Julie Williams into Alice Horton. It is not true to the character.

The way that Pratt is writing Erica is the way ERica should be written. And she can be that and still be the mother to her children. And just because Erica has been around since the first episode has nothing to do with who should or who shouldn't - to me that is beside the point. This is about character and what is true to it.

I never understood why McTavish put all the effort into building up the Kane/Montgomerys as the big happy family and the perfect family. She established the bonds for the Kanes and then established the bonds with Jack's family and threw them all together. She focused all the holdiday episodes on them and then she systematically destroyed her own creation. She stopped writing for Reggie. Then both Eden Riegle and Rebecca Budig left. She didn't bother at that point trying to recast and keep either character. And then she split up Jack and Erica. She had focuses all the energy on them as the family to be all and end all in Pine Valley and then destroyed it. and in the process destroyed what really made Erica who she really was.

[Caramel]

I don't disagree with your post. And I guess what I was sying about Erica was missed, but IA with your post and McTravesty.

[JackPeyton]

the show is far from perfection. however its dramatic, telling socal storylines, has a community and family feeling, and is usually a good solid hour of soap opera.

when was the last time that could be said about amc? at least 5 years ago

[CassieFan]

I like Pratt's work too. Much better than McTrash and BE/JHB. I just don't like how he puts Ryan od pedestal....

[AddictedToSoaps]

I'm a big fan of his work on AMC. He's really turned it around.

[leevo64]

I'd give Pratt's work so far a C+. Overall, the show is more coherent, mature and compelling than it was under the past two writing teams, but there are still GLARING flaws that are preventing me from enjoying the show as much I'd like.

One of the good things Pratt's done is refocus the show - partially, at least - on family. The Chandlers coming together in the wake of Babe's death was powerful, especially with JR and Adam's renewed relationship. Bianca coming back to town was a good idea to revitalize the Kane/Montgomery family and scenes like the christening were very nice. The Hubbards are a great family with a ton of potential.

That being said, I am finding lots of holes and flaws in the writing, which was also my chief complaint of his work on General Hospital. A few months ago, there was a scene where Carmen and Randi shared a tense moment in the bathroom at ConFusion. Why wasn't this followed up? It was interesting to see Carmen embrace who she was and Randi trying to escape who she was; this could have caused some interesting conflict with Frankie. Instead, Carmen had one ridiculous scene with Erica in which she transformed from a strong, resilient woman into a shrill brat that only cared about being better than everyone else. That wasn't the Carmen we all got to know. That's not the only problem I'm having. Why on Earth did Cassandra have to leave the show in order for Natalia to come into Jesse's life? Having the two stepsisters fighting could have been a lot of fun - and unique, considering there are very few complex African American soap families or characters right now. Instead we know barely anything about Natalia except that she was raised by a saint and hasn't seemed to inherit any of her mother's qualities. The story involving Rebecca has been poignant in its own way, but why haven't there been more scenes with Rebecca and Jesse reminiscing, or Angie and Rebecca having a discussion about their children and how the families were going to come together? It's a solid attempt at character-driven storytelling but it's being told at warp speed and as a result is losing much of its momentum.

The Bianca/Reese/Zach/Kendall story is a mess for many reasons. It is very hard for me to swallow that Bianca would ask Zach to help her father a child, as is the fact that Bianca is starting a family with a woman she only met a few months ago - a woman that the audience only met once the two were engaged! Reese is a nice character, but to give Bianca yet another love interest who is unsure of her sexuality is a step back for the character. Reese and Zach's connection is on the verge of inappropriate and will only make both characters lose rooting value.

Of course, the big problem is the Greenlee/Ryan/Aidan/Annie story. I still don't know of one person who is a fan of the Ryan/Greenlee pairing. The two look like horrible people, which would be fine if that was the idea, but it's unintentional! Aidan, who has never once deviated from being a standup gentleman, has devolved into a desperate and obsessive loser. The one positive outcome of this story so far has been the talented Melissa Egan finally being able to strut her stuff as unstable Annie.

Again, I think Pratt is a good writer. I just think he needs to hone certain things in and realize the character assassination that is occurring on several different planes for the show.