AMC must be in a real mess if viewers are clamoring for the return of MCTRASH!!! I have a better idea- ATWT gives you guys JPiss, and we'll take Pratt. I have a feeling Pratt would work well in the Oakdale universe.

Believe me as much as I didn't like the Josh story I never want McTRASH back at AMC. Never ever. That is as bad as the Days of Our Lives fans who kept saying give us back JER when Higley was so bad. I loved JER as much as the next person when he was at the top of his game but his last stint on Days lost so much.

I say never to McT coming back even for a short stint.

AMC must be in a real mess if viewers are clamoring for the return of MCTRASH!!! I have a better idea- ATWT gives you guys JPiss, and we'll take Pratt. I have a feeling Pratt would work well in the Oakdale universe.

Why do you think Pratt would work well in the Oakdale universe? The thought horrifies me, considering what he did to ruin the once-great GH.

I've liked Pratt's writing at least through about the end of Dec, beginning of Jan but haven't been feeling it so much in last few weeks of Jan. I agree almost every word of Steve's critique of Josh's killing and the heart for Kendall. I was glad Josh was going to be gone but, Wow all the wrong notes have been hit when there is heart-breaking drama to mine from heavy hitters, but it was so cold and mechanical and just flew over the immediate emotional issues on hand (even for a few days and then move into the longer term costs to everyone).

I also never want McTravesty back, so many problems go back to her. She's also the one responsible for bringing the mob to PV when she brought in a casino boss named Alexander Cambius, Jr. Someday, somebody at ABCD was gonna make a Sonny out of him.

Edited January 24, 200916 yr by rsmith2k2

AMC must be in a real mess if viewers are clamoring for the return of MCTRASH!!! I have a better idea- ATWT gives you guys JPiss, and we'll take Pratt. I have a feeling Pratt would work well in the Oakdale universe.

Be careful what you wish for, Pratt would decimate every character on ATWT.

The show is a hotmess under Pratt. The soap mags are panning the show just about every single week.

You know what's bad? I find Pissant's work to be far more tolerable than Pratt's. I can watch ATWT and not want to throw something at my screen

Whoever said Pratts numbers are worse than B&E's don't remember the ratings that happened toward the end of B&E's run. Pratt's numbers are more consistent and higher than the end of B&E's run. And viewers are still up over their run - they are losing some each week.

I find it weird that the numbers have gotten worse as lately there has been less of a sense of balance on the show and several have mentioned it. Where we were seeing lots of other characters like Taylor and Brot and even Jesse & Angie in their own story with Rebecca - lately a great deal of that has been missing. What Pratt was doing right was more of a balance in not only who was being seen but the number of stories. And he is failing in that area now and I know I am reading a lot of comments that many on the Internet are starting to get scared that the winds are changing again. Recent spoilers have been more and more about certain characters and not well rounded. It seems that some of the other promised stories are being dropped.

I don't know if Frons has gotten chicken and starting to enforce his pimping due to letters and all that have been in the magazines. Or what but again we are starting to get a lot of resurgence of some characters dominating story again. And the Josh story has been a failure for most as it did not have the right focus and many members are turned off because they tried to play what Zach did as some big romantic gesture when most general fans of the show see it as disgusting.

Actually, if you look at the ratings from Tornado week to what we have now, Pratt has three points of where the total viewership spiked: the week after the tornado hit, Thanksgiving and right around the holidays. As soon as the tornado aftermath was essentially over, when Thanksgiving was done and now the holidays are over, he's dropping again in numbers. So people came to watch the tornado spectacle and they were home to watch.

I shudder to think of Pratt at ATWT. The characters are already in place for him to run wild with, especially the constipated thug Dusty Donovan. Oakdale was at its best as a warm, friendly town where bad things happened along with happy moments; the show has declined as Sheffer and then to a lesser degree Passante changed the focus to a more dark place which was all bitterness and ugliness all the time.

I know you can't force happy happy joy joy on viewers, one viewer's idea of happiness is another viewer's idea of propping or forgetting history. Yet I believe AMC viewers are waiting to see some balance, and some warmer moments. AMC was never a completely dark soap until the last few years. The show has lost its core identity.

Edited January 24, 200916 yr by CarlD2

If AMC and Fron's every bring back Megan McTavish.......RIP AMC.........

Megan has RUINED AMC! Its's McT/B&E's fault for the hole AMC has been in. Thankfully Pratt has been able to restore the AMC I fell in love with.

Also remember McT RUINED AMC in 1998! It all went downhill from there (except 2000-2002)

AMC started going downhill for me in 1996 and 1997 (the stupid Maria/Dimitri one night stand and Maria, in spite of being a doctor, not realizing she was pregnant until months later; Erica's babynapping; turning Dimitri into a mustache-twirler; Tad and Gloria; teen characters who were boring and unsympathetic with the exception of Kelsey; Jamaica; Hayley being drugged and raped by Tanner; poor use of Skye; the poor recasting and reintroduction of Jake Martin; Brooke/Pierce; the plans to fire Robin Mattson and turn Janet into an evil Brooke doppleganger which were only stopped because of fan outcry). I was hopeful after McTavish's first few months, because she finally gave Opal a story, she penned the wonderful Stuart/Marian romance, she redeemed Dimitri, she wrote the powerful final months of Bianca's anorexia storyline, she started the Ryan/Gillian relationship (at the time Ryan was actually a very entertaining character). The Lee Hawkins story was bad but I was still enjoying the show until Kit Fisher, and Adam's sperm rape of Liza. Then everything got worse and worse. Even after she was fired, I didn't think the show had a major improvement.

The last time I enjoyed AMC and felt like I was watching the AMC I knew was Richard Culliton, in spite of his many flaws as a writer. I'm not sure if my memories are being too generous to him or if it's just that Culliton was the last headwriter before Frons took over.

Edited January 25, 200916 yr by CarlD2

AMC in the last few years well most soaps in that matter reminds of the saying from the movie Hitch:

“Life is not the amount of breaths you take. It’s the moments that take your breath away.” ~ Alex Hitchins (aka Hitch)

AMC used to be brilliant and everything about it was great. Everything was not stupendous but the episodes and the stories were all great. The show overall was consistent and brilliant. It would have weak moments and weak stories, but overall the show ranked high.

Today AMC for me in the last few years is not measured as a whole but it is for those episodes, those scenes, or those few months that seem to be brilliant or at least moments that take your breath away.

For instance this week overall was a bad week for the show for me, but the scenes with Jack/Erica and esp. the one with Tad/Krystal were those type of moments. I was dumbfounded by the acting and the raw intensity of the emotions in those two scenes.

It is sad that you have to start judging soaps by those moments or those brief periods but as a soap fan that is what we have to do these days.

I agree, you have to take what you can get. I miss what used to be AMC's hallmark, the over the top comic characters who still had moments of being grounded in reality, the strong friendships (which made sense and had some complexity), the sense of family, the wide spectrum of romances, the diversity in age and race, the adept handling of social issues. AMC was also not about one character. Even Erica didn't hog the show. There wasn't the type of hogging which has happened with Ryan, Greenlee, Kendall, Zach, Babe (when Alexa Havens was in the role). Some of the positive points are still there, but the overall tone of the show has changed over the past 10 years, especially since Frons took over. That formula did AMC proud for decades and I've never known why they moved away from it.

AMC started going downhill for me in 1996 and 1997 (the stupid Maria/Dimitri one night stand and Maria, in spite of being a doctor, not realizing she was pregnant until months later; Erica's babynapping; turning Dimitri into a mustache-twirler; Tad and Gloria; teen characters who were boring and unsympathetic with the exception of Kelsey; Jamaica; Hayley being drugged and raped by Tanner; poor use of Skye; the poor recasting and reintroduction of Jake Martin; Brooke/Pierce; the plans to fire Robin Mattson and turn Janet into an evil Brooke doppleganger which were only stopped because of fan outcry). I was hopeful after McTavish's first few months, because she finally gave Opal a story, she penned the wonderful Stuart/Marian romance, she redeemed Dimitri, she wrote the powerful final months of Bianca's anorexia storyline, she started the Ryan/Gillian relationship (at the time Ryan was actually a very entertaining character). The Lee Hawkins story was bad but I was still enjoying the show until Kit Fisher, and Adam's sperm rape of Liza. Then everything got worse and worse. Even after she was fired, I didn't think the show had a major improvement.

The last time I enjoyed AMC and felt like I was watching the AMC I knew was Richard Culliton, in spite of his many flaws as a writer. I'm not sure if my memories are being too generous to him or if it's just that Culliton was the last headwriter before Frons took over.

The problem with Mr.Culliton is he NEVER finished a single story. He would start a story and then drop it.

The problem with Mr.Culliton is he NEVER finished a single story. He would start a story and then drop it.

He didn't drop most stories, he just let them develop into something else. For example, Bianca falling in love with Frankie became Erica on trial for killing Frankie became part of the Proteus umbrella story, ultimately resolved when Vanessa was revealed to be behind it all. And the Proteus story did end once Leo and Vanessa died despite people saying it never ended. It was just a long-arc story.

Also, he was fired before he could really delve into his Frank Hubbard story, then the character was dropped but it wasn't his fault.

Some stories he told that were shorter included -

1. Opal finds a man, but Palmer scares him away.

2. Joe Martin's health is not as good, so David wants him removed as Chief of Staff. Joe retires as Chief of Staff, but gets the board to choose Jake, not David, as his replacement.

3. Greenlee picks Leo over Jake, and exposes Laura for the crazy she has become.

The only thing I really remember him dropping without explanation is whatever he had planned for Tim Dillon, when the actor decided to leave.

Edited January 25, 200916 yr by jfung79

The Josh/Kendall think could have worked too if it had been done right. I have said this partly in other posts and on other boards but I will try to put the reasons I think it didn't work all together here.

1) For one it was too rushed. This type of story has got to build. Josh was off too long and arrived too quick with the going boom boom boom with no points being hit and sustained from beginning to end. You can't tell this type of story and get full dramatic impact with the pace they chose. We should have had time to understand fully why Josh was so mad over time and why all of a sudden out of the clear blue he wanted revenge. We knew what happened before but why all of a sudden did he decide to get mad about it.

2) The story did not focus on what the story should have focused on - Erica's choice. That is where the true story was. Again the pace even hurt here. We should have seen Erica taking more time to anguish over her decision. Even talking to her priest about it or praying, and not making the decision in haste while 2 men stood over her. We should have known more about the way Erica was feeling.

3) Making the story a romantic story for Kendall and Zach was a big wrong step. While they do have a fan base who claims to be the biggest out there (well some of them do) Zach and Kendall are equally as hated by a huge majority of AMC fans. They have been overexposed for the last few years too. But even all that is minor to the real problem. There is nothing romantic about death and murder. This was not the great love story of BJ's heart going to Maxie over an accident. Zach shot Kendall's brother in an act of violence and he played it so coldly that it left the majority of fans with the belief that Zach did this on purpose. But yet we are supposed to believe and accept that he had this great love for Kendall and we are supposed get all warm and fuzzy about that. The only people that did are the Zendall fan base. The rest of AMC fans were shocked and appalled by this story. And so many came away with the feeling of disgust and hatred toward Zach and even Kendall.

This type of story should have not left those feelings. We should have left with a feeling of heartbreak and hope. Heartbreak from Erica's decision and hope for Kendall. What we got was a feeling of many wishing that Kendall's body reject Josh's heart and never woke up. And she and Zach both go away. And just a big sense of regret over the sad existence of a character no one wanted and no one cared about in the end.

4) And this kind of goes along with the others, but the whole story lacked love and heart. It went too fast and the focus was so wrong that this story that could have been a story of love completely lost it. You had a man shoot a man right in front of his mother and sister. The first thing that the man does is go and console a woman - but no not the mother or the sister of the boy he shot. Then he utters the words to the paramedics "Keep him alive. I need his heart." right in front of the mother and the sister. Love was not focused on - all that was focused on was a man bullying around others and so set on getting what he wanted that he didn't care how anyone felt but himself. To hell with the rest.

To me that is what was wrong with the Josh story. It had promise. It could have been so much better. I went into it with the idea of giving it a chance. I said I would judge it then. I judge it one of the big mistakes of AMC's history, and I judge it as the big mistake in Pratt's tenure. A tenure that I have I highly supported.

I completely agree with your assessment.

I'm surprised people didn't see a storyline like this happening with Pratt sooner. I mean it's almost exactly what he did on GH; sacrificing other characters in order to prop up other characters. I don't know what Pratt's writing was like before he and Guza teamed up on GH and destroyed that show bit by bit, but it seems as if a little bit of Guza has rubbed off on Pratt's writing. A prime example is that it seems as if Zach is the Pine Valley's own version of Sonny Corinthos.

jfung79 I always thought I was the only AMC viewer who really enjoyed Culliton's run AMC, esp compared to what we had to endure months after he departed. Nice to know I'm not alone.

Now for the ultimate shocker: I actually tuned into to watch a few episodes of GL this week, and they weren't all that bad. In all honesty they were good with a few exceptions, but I'm not going to nit pick. I think I might drop in on my old soap a bit more leading up to GA's return.

I'm surprised people didn't see a storyline like this happening with Pratt sooner. I mean it's almost exactly what he did on GH; sacrificing other characters in order to prop up other characters. I don't know what Pratt's writing was like before he and Guza teamed up on GH and destroyed that show bit by bit, but it seems as if a little bit of Guza has rubbed off on Pratt's writing. A prime example is that it seems as if Zach is the Pine Valley's own version of Sonny Corinthos.

jfung79 I always thought I was the only AMC viewer who really enjoyed Culliton's run AMC, esp compared to what we had to endure months after he departed. Nice to know I'm not alone.

Now for the ultimate shocker: I actually tuned into to watch a few episodes of GL this week, and they weren't all that bad. In all honesty they were good with a few exceptions, but I'm not going to nit pick. I think I might drop in on my old soap a bit more leading up to GA's return.

Interesting observations. I think GL may now be on a writing upsurge. Having figured out their production issues, now they are focusing on the creative product.

For those who say GL looks bad or sounds bad...I really don't think so. Now, I confess I watch it on the laptop, not TV...so we're talking about a smaller screen. But in that context, look and sound are fine. My CBS affiliate is dreadful (they promise it will be better when they go digital in February), so I can't judge anything by the quality of what I get on the TV here.