Let's stop shining up the reputation of a woman whose excesses and horrible lapses in talent were only mitigated in the early-mid '90s by the presence of many other more competent, tasteful and talented women, who then left the show and allowed Megan to give us the Camille Hawkins Affair, among other stories.

You'll get no argument from me on that!

If you want to know who Megan McTavish the writer is, don't look at her rep as #1 AMC Fangirl - look at her work on shows she has not worked on half her life with her hand held. Look at what she did at GL, OLTL and especially GH. Then look again at Dixie and company.

Precisely. My opinion of this writer is not just based on her AMC work, but also her OLTL and GH work. So, just so everyone knows, that's why I when passes are being handed out because of her couple good months of the Michael Cambias story and another several good months of the GBS. I still have what she did to OLTL's Nora on the brain. I still have what she did to GH's Alexis fresh in my mind. I still see all of her trademarks and cliches running rampant through all three of the ABC soaps. For the record, I never even thought the beginning of her 2003-2007 stint was good, because she kicked it off with her favorite standby: Rape. I knew right then it was going to be more of the same.

I agree with lots of that, although I think it should be pointed out that very few people online liked Yaya much at all--all she really did was whine. Yeah she's shown a lot more talent since then, but...

Yeah, um... "people online" hate actors in roles before they've even aired, so...

And now, more rambling. The show is so fixed on Greenlee, Ryan, etc. that it has built no next generation. As bad as the teen and youth scene on OLTL is with its overexposure and it is terrible, it's an actual, identifiable group made up of either duds or genuinely talented, long-running young people, as opposed to AMC's constantly ephemeral youth set. The only consistent character who's constantly around is Colby who is completely inconsistent, constantly recast with no personality, simply there because ABC thinks she needs to be there. Petey was apparently not good enough to keep around. Asher is too new, Damon was wasted. Jamie is gone, as are Sam and Maddie. What else? If Budig, Minshew and even Mathison quit tomorrow this show would be lost without a focus that ABC would find acceptable, and while Morgan, Lucci, etc. are all wonderful and underutilized they are not the next generation.

I was thinking just that the other day while catching up on GH. Watching Michael, Kristina, Molly and Morgan, I was thinking to myself, "Gee.. with all of its faults, GH always seems to have its next generation lined up." 10 years ago, it was Liz, Lucky, Nik, Emily. 5 years ago it was Lulu, Maxie, Georgie, Dillon. Today they have the kids I mentioned above.... and on All My Children, they have... Colby?

Precisely. My opinion of this writer is not just based on her AMC work, but also her OLTL and GH work. So, just so everyone knows, that's why I when passes are being handed out because of her couple good months of the Michael Cambias story and another several good months of the GBS. I still have what she did to OLTL's Nora on the brain. I still have what she did to GH's Alexis fresh in my mind. I still see all of her trademarks and cliches running rampant through all three of the ABC soaps. For the record, I never even thought the beginning of her 2003-2007 stint was good, because she kicked it off with her favorite standby: Rape. I knew right then it was going to be more of the same.

That's not giving her a pass, it's saying that some parts of her various tenures were enjoyable (matter of opinion, of course). Giving her pass would be to ignore the shiteous story decisions credited to her name and act like they never happened because you liked five months here or a year there, which I don't think any sane person can do.

I definitely don't forget her bad moments, as she ruined two of my favorite GL characters (Bridget and Gilly) and had a third bludgeoned to death. I thought her GH tenure was mixed (some was terrible, some was better than what's come since), her OLTL run was poor, her AMC run was way up and down. If Frons can actually get his head out of the clouds and find a talented, solid, and risk-taking writer who knows what AMC is about, then I would take them over McTavish. I doubt McTavish is coming back anyway. I don't defend her writing as much as I say I really enjoyed some of it. I still hated a lot of the rest of her work.

I was thinking just that the other day while catching up on GH. Watching Michael, Kristina, Molly and Morgan, I was thinking to myself, "Gee.. with all of its faults, GH always seems to have its next generation lined up." 10 years ago, it was Liz, Lucky, Nik, Emily. 5 years ago it was Lulu, Maxie, Georgie, Dillon. Today they have the kids I mentioned above.... and on All My Children, they have... Colby?

Ultimately GH squandered or killed off most of these characters, but I agree that AMC needs and has needed stronger young characters. AMC has had problems in this area for what seems like 15-20 years.

Ohhh, she is the one who killed Dixie with pancakes? Ok, I don't think any further analysis of this woman is needed. She has no business writing the show. I guess that was her "Frankie Frame" moment.

Was it McTavish?? Cady still cringes about it to this day. She still can't believe how they wrote her off.

Edited January 10, 201114 yr by Soapsuds

Yep it was McT who killed Dixie with poisoned pancakes, but I think the order for that came from Frons, not to say that McT didn't have a grudge against Cady for speaking her mind about her storylines.

If it wasn't Frons, then I think Dixie would have been brought back to life by now.

Vee great posts!

I want to name a cat Mr. Megan McTavish.

Was it McTavish?? Cady still cringes about it to this day. She still can't believe how they wrote her off.

Yes, that was indeed "The Writer."

I want to name a cat Mr. Megan McTavish.

Somebody is channeling their inner Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Stop it.

Edited January 10, 201114 yr by marceline

''Mr. Megan McTavish'' is actually the name of Megan's cat.... she came up with the name while sitting on the toilet.

I'm surprised she didn't name him Elvis.

I'm surprised she didn't name him Elvis.

....or Ryan!

''Mr. Megan McTavish'' is actually the name of Megan's cat.... she came up with the name while sitting on the toilet.

Its been almost 25 years, and Jackson is still getting sh*t on....

And now, more rambling. The show is so fixed on Greenlee, Ryan, etc. that it has built no next generation. As bad as the teen and youth scene on OLTL is with its overexposure and it is terrible, it's an actual, identifiable group made up of either duds or genuinely talented, long-running young people, as opposed to AMC's constantly ephemeral youth set. The only consistent character who's constantly around is Colby who is completely inconsistent, constantly recast with no personality, simply there because ABC thinks she needs to be there. Petey was apparently not good enough to keep around. Asher is too new, Damon was wasted. Jamie is gone, as are Sam and Maddie. What else? If Budig, Minshew and even Mathison quit tomorrow this show would be lost without a focus that ABC would find acceptable, and while Morgan, Lucci, etc. are all wonderful and underutilized they are not the next generation.

The youth scene is a mess. I'm not sure how favourably or not I'd compare it to OLTL's--what you say is true there, but I really don't see a future as adult characters with the Fords, and even Langston now (of course with the current state of soaps I'm not sure anyone is worrying that far into the future). I actually thought AMC was finally improving with a decent Colby, Damon who despite some story mess seemed to finally be coming into his own, etc--but now he's off canvas...

That said, I'm not really sure Lucci can be seen as underutilized--she's missed very few episodes lately and certainly seems to be on as much as any other vet her age I can think of on other soaps...

I actually think RPG works as Jake, in theory. It's most of his stories that have been terrible, right from the start with Pratt. It's crap after crap as thy try to sell him as a Fronsian leading man with angst and a lot of macho crap, which Jake just isn't. Irreverent, perhaps, somewhat straightforward and cut and dried, as J. Eddie Peck's Jake was before he became intolerable, but when they try to make him into a John or Zach type, threatening David, it's just hilarious to watch and sheer camp. I can easily see RPG's Jake with Greenlee, or continuing with Amanda or with whoever else, but the stories have been wretched since he began.

I also think they should finally bring Tim Dillon back, something which has been attempted and aborted multiple times. That would shore up the Dillons and offset whatever is going on with Chrishell Stause, and I would echo some other people in giving Amanda and Tim a storyline dealing with their mother in a serious way - what happened to Janet, as opposed to just using Kate Collins for slapstick.

I do think that if they are going to insist on the insane premise of playing a Chandler vs. Cortlandt storyline in which Caleb fulfills his age-old vendetta against Adam without Adam being around, then both Canary and Barr and especially Julia Barr need to be appearing on a recurring basis to shore that up. Brooke can act as Adam's emissary. Doing this also allows them to bring back Laura, who I still think is a viable love interest for Bianca going forward. I don't have a problem with Caleb or Asher or the Cortlandt revival as an idea, but it is too much to hang on two newbies however talented. You also need Petey, maybe Nina on recurring, maybe the other son of hers or Bobby returning as a ne'er-do-well again. And of course, the show needs Dixie to shore up the Martins.

I think Lindsey Hartley, shockingly, shows a lot of promise. If they use her right I think her character could help build up more viable leads other than Greenlee and Kendall, similar to how unconnected women swooped into DAYS and GH in the '70s and '80s and dominated the show - I'm thinking of Susan Flannery or Denise Alexander or Deidre Hall, playing professional women. I also think Jamie Luner could do a lot more despite terrible beginnings. They're also going to have to really commit to Annie instead of screwing with her to prop other people, and recast Colby once again with a known, viable female lead.

Agreed with all of this actually. It's a shock that Tim still isn't on the canvas... All you say about the Cortlands and Chandler's makes sense. I dunno though, I do wonder if that's the writers or again Frons (yes, he is ridiculously easy to blame I admit)--I got the impression that with Brodrick there they'd be happy to bring some of those characters back but iot's not something Frons sees as worth the trouble.

And I almost hate to admit, I agree with you on Hartley (someone I was NOT looking forward to seeing on the show...)

(OK I admit I'm kinda over Dixie--unless something drastically changes. I blame how she' sbeen written, but also the actress and her notorious requests for how she wanted to see her character, which exactly wasn't how audiences seemed to want to...

Edited January 11, 201114 yr by EricMontreal22

Even though she doesn't have any power over storyline direction, it still gives me a bit of comfort knowing Lorraine is an AHW.... if her name were to disappear from the credits whether McTavish returns or not, I would feel alot more uneasy.

Me too... (And I admit nearly every day I expect to see her listing gone, lol)

Yeah, um... "people online" hate actors in roles before they've even aired, so...

Well yeah but with Yaya people seemed welcome to her when she came on, and more and more annoyed as she was played out (of course she was given no favours with Pratt's story for her where she just seemed to constantly whine or go "oh no what have we done what have we done")

Yep it was McT who killed Dixie with poisoned pancakes, but I think the order for that came from Frons, not to say that McT didn't have a grudge against Cady for speaking her mind about her storylines.

If it wasn't Frons, then I think Dixie would have been brought back to life by now.

Vee great posts!

AGain it's way too easy to blame Frons I guess, and I don't mean to in this case give ANY credit to McTavish (any positive credit) but it did seem at the time, and for what little it's worth the gossip said as well, that the "shock death" of Dixie was mandated over the show.