AMC: Wednesday, January 21st, 2008

[SteveFrame]

Pratt has good ideas, but this idea of things happening too fast I think is a hold over from his writing primetime. He hasn't gotten back in the groove of writing daytime again. I don't remember him jumping so fast on things. This is not an hour episode of DH or MP where you have an hour a week to tell things. Pratt my boy you have 5.

That is my biggest problem about all of this was the pace. Erica's decision should have been drawn out to get the full effect of it. Josh's life in the balance should have been drawn. Joe's scene was way too fast. Hardly any mention of Jeff.

And in the midst of it all it is way too much of a Kendall and Zach story than where the real focus of the story should have been - Erica's decision over her 2 children. That is where the real dramatic story was but they have chosen once again to cater to the fan base and make this a Zach saving Kendall story with a little of the other thrown in.

ANd sorry but that little montage at the end of today's show with Greenlee and Bianca and whoever talking about Kendall was way too much for me. I think I threw up a little in my mouth.

Pratt needs to slow it down some and hit the dramatic highlights. These could have been Emmy quality shows but they weren't. Things went too fast and the beats of the symphony were skipped.

[rsmith2k2]

I agree with this and I've been a fan thus far. January's been an odd month, imo. A lot of treading water, missing characters, etc. Where are the Hubbards, Brot and Taylor, Corporate Erica (maybe it's a matter of perception)? Then we supersonic speed into the hostages and hearts scenario and Kendall's surgery. The background issues like the wedding stuff just goes around and around to nowhere.

The show is balanced in many ways like you said and I appeciate that almost every day, really. It's been so bad in the past it's kept me from watching.

I want to give Pratt through March Sweeps before I'd say for sure how I how feel about his writing. I share some of your concerns about some of the tones and themes in the show over the long haul but I wouldn't call Pratt, McT. They both like dark and violent themes, etc but imo, McT brings her own big name brand of crazy to the table. I am not a fan of hers, so it that affects my opinion.

Kendall is on her way to being officially the biggest martyr that every martyred, imo. Zendall the greatest love that ever loved. Fine, but it scares me a little, too...feels like it's going to be all too much.

Loved Lucci's work today. She really knocks me out when she downplays, goes subtle. Very effective.

Glad to see David check in on Erica though he's probably scoring for later use.

Love Angie till the cows come home but girl is smarter than to just wave admittedly stolen evidence in front of David and call the cops? She's an educated woman, married to a cop. Just didn't make sense to me she just be that, well not smart about it all.

I agree that there's a fine line to walk about how Josh's death affects everyone and the feelings from Zach and all of it is kind of stilted. The weirdness about him not loving Bianca, included.

What did everybody think about the eclipse? Interesting touch. Ryan said it was for Kendall when he saw it. Reese saw it, too. Considered a bad omen, eclipses are.

[Kylie]

^ No way, David was 100% genuine with her. I thought it was refreshing to see that softer more human side of David.

[Adam]

I agree... Kylie did you see any of the Erica scenes today?

When Jack to her to her room and he offered her tea or something trivial..... she threw it back in his face after saying that my son just died, so no I don't need any tea. I can't remember exactly how she said it, but it so summed up what Jack is to Erica.....

Really well written and Susan played it wonderfully.

[Kylie]

^ I did, I saw all of them. I was very happy to see all the support she had. All the men from her past, really seemed to care and empathize with her. I even thought that J&E scenes were good, very in character.

Of course the D&E scene was the highlight for me. Their bond is so natural and no matter what, it seems to transcend and survive. I don't ever want them back together, but Pratt honoring them and their history is a comfort.

[AMCFan2]

The only part of the show worth watching, as far as performance, content, and honest emotion, was Erica and Jack, IMO. I always felt a couple with flaws and issues were far more entertaining than the perfect couple that does/says everything right. That is Erica and Jack to a t. Lucci and Willey were terrific and this type of writing gives me hope for their eventual reconciliation

I wish I could say I liked David, Zach, Bianca and Reese, but I can't because I don't. Zach is a total ass these days and David is a scum so one of their nice moments here and there does nothing for me. This storyline has ruined Bianca for me and Reese is a total waste of airtime. She is an annoyance and not entertaining at all and she and Eden have no romantic chemistry, IMO.

I thought Ryan, Joe, and Greenlee were great with Erica yesterday too. I like Angie/Jesse but since David once again makes them look like fools, I want no part of it. I hate that nobody gets the best of him and he gets away with crime after crime and nobody seems to care that he never gets punished. All this has done is make me hate him all the more.

[SteveFrame]

I agree with you on the last part. And that is one of the big problems with soaps these days. Villians have become popular to the point that the writers have become too scared to let them pay in much the same way that they are too scared to allow favorite couples to split up and the like.

I can remember it was that way with RJ Gannon on OLTL where even when he would get away fans would put on message boards that they were glad as it meant they got to see more R.J.

It just gets ridiculous that they never pay and it really hurts credibility on the show.

I have loved villians through the years, but I also loved when they finally got caught and had to pay for the evil doings. Often it was so much fun to watch them fall and then get back up and start over. Some of the best scenes of AW were when Iris' best laid plans went bad or she got caught in another lie or evil doing and had to pay for it.

It was the same way with Phoebe Tyler back in the 70's - some of the best most intense stuff was when she got caught.

It also makes you root for them more and feel for them. When they get so arrogant that they think they will never get caught and the fact that they never pay it just makes many fans hate them - in very much the same way that some fans hate couples who get overexposed and pimped.

[Steve]

I loved the Erica/Jack scenes and the mentions of Gillian and Laura.

I agree that this storyline could have been great if Erica had been more the focus and it weren't so rushed. I am glad Ryan realized that Zach might have shot Josh in the head for his heart. I can't stand Zach these days!

I also hope David gets caught in just one of his schemes soon. Imo, it should be when David tries to sue for custody of Little A that Jake pieces together why David paid off Amanda and convinces her to testify against him.

[DavidsMuse]

Amanda already told Jake that David paid her to push JR off the wagon. She caved after about thirty seconds of browbeating and the canceled check shoved in her face, LOL!

[DRW50]

I thought OLTL usually never had him pay because he was an easy scapegoat for characters who weren't very sympathetic, but were supposed to be heroes, like Antonio.

They also had that story where Bo beat the crap out of RJ and viewers were supposed to be happy the police made sure Bo got away with it.

My biggest problem with soaps now is how difficult it can be to tell the heroes and the bad guys apart. I don't find Zach, Ryan, or Tad to be very heroic, and yet I've had to spend years with AMC reminding me how wonderful they are.

[SteveFrame]

Oh that is a most definite.

I always loved the way writers wrote characters. There was a definite division in characters. And ones like Agnes Nixon could write their good characters in a way that they were sanctimonious - they were good but they made mistakes. But at the end of the day they were still good.

A few years ago there was this new fascination with turning the Greenlees, the Kendalls, the Carly Tenneys, etc. into the heroines of the show and the leads of the show and along with them you got the Sonnys, the Jasons, the Zachs, the Ryans, etc. they were all turned into the characters that you were supposed to root for and they became the characters that dominated.

Soaps always had those type characters with the likes of Erica, Rachel, Julie, etc. but you had them balanced out with the Taras, the Ruths, the Kims, etc.

you don't have that anymore. The true soap hero and soap heroine are gone.

The key word is balance. Soaps have lost balance in more ways than one. And not just balance but they lost dimension. There is no dimension. There is no uniqueness to characters.

It is sad.

[R Sinclair]

I agree. OMG, I SOOOOOOO agree! I mean, I still don't get how we're supposed to simply forget Tad buried a man alived, tortured him for weeks and subsequently killed him -- FRAMED TWO PEOPLE INNOCENT OF THE CRIME, and then got off scott-free... and accept his superior attitude and judgment of others.

[marceline]

Please don't get me started on RJ! OLTL turned RJ into the official punk of Llanview. No wins AND losses. Just one loss after another: Antonio, Cristian, McBain, Bo. Just line up and kick! That was the beginning of the end for me and OLTL.

Is it really so hard for writers to get that having characters win some, then lose some actually makes for interesting storytelling? I guess so. That's why we get David Hayward, a.k.a. the Pine Valley's answer to The Joker.

[DRW50]

I know other networks have characters who hog airtime, but it must be Frons who insists on having some very dubious figures presented as heroes on all the ABC soaps. Even when the individual headwriters may be crazy in the head, their previous stints as headwriters were never quite so heavy-handed to the point where all those in the path of these supposed heroes had to be decimated.

Balance is what I miss on daytime. Balance, and good people actually being good. Even stories I considered shoddily written at the time, like Brooke killing Jim Thomasen and Tad making sure she got off, now seem much more reasonable compared to what we've had since those years.

What they did to RJ was awful, OLTL just has issues period with African American characters, but that's for another thread...

[marceline]

AMEN! RJ was a stellar soap character. He was truly gray. He was a "criminal" capable of selfishness and evil who also had amazing capacity for tenderness and love. We saw that with Nora, Rachel, Keri, Jamie and Lindsay. And TDS is a phenomenal actor who gave his all year after year even when the regime du jour disrespected him to prop the flavor of the month.

The treatment of RJ and Tim Stickney is a PERFECT example of the low regard OLTL has for its minority audience. Everytime they lose a ratings point, part of me smiles a little and thinks, "This one's for RJ."