Classic AMC/OLTL

[Angela]

Babe means Dixie's kid.

Not "as" IMO, more like "more deeply entrenched than ever" under B&E. They had Kendall/Zach/Ryan/Greenlee+Annie/Aidan like some of kind sick incestuous orgy. Rotating the obsessions with each other, Kendall to Greenlee, Greenlee to Kendall, Kendall to Ryan and Greenlee, Annie to Ryan and Greenlee. It was the worst writing for those characters and those groupings yet.

Their writing was also so slow and tedious overall. At least with Pratt he was fast-shooting.

[Skin]

I've been enjoying Erica's tirades every once and awhile now that I can view them as comedy but it still annoys me who hypocritical she is as a character.

I agree on the merits of this post but I also feel that Zach and Kendell were shacked together entirely too long without much of a break from each other, during that time period. So I consider B&E's temporary separation between the two characters a highlight so to speak. Ryan and Greenlee weren't as noticeable because Rebecca kept leaving every couple of months so Ryan got a chance to see, experience and interact with other characters outside of Greenlee. He wasn't as heavily centralized on her as Zendell were on each other. Ryan had relationships with other people like Annie, Erica and Madison. Zach and Kendell though were stuck with each other for years on top of years and only had a break from each other when Zach temporarily died and Kendell started dating Griffin and when B&E temporarily broke them apart to have Kendell sleep with Aiden.

[EricMontreal22]

I stuck up for B/E when they were hired--and probably only because I really enjoyed their Loving/City stuff (despite a so so first 6 months for The City) and didn;'t have to live through their GL and PC stuff... I know Agnes Nixon was an active story consultant for the end of Loving, and helped create The City with them (despite her continued credit, it doesn't seem like she did much at all with The City after it got started, judging from her TV Archives interview), but I do give them credit for some brilliant soap moments on those shows. I do wonder if there was some hesitation or interference or something...lots of things were set up and then dropped--like we were told by them in an interview of a huge team up of Ritchie and Janet when they were in the insane asylum--we got *one* scene and then it was like they had never met... But the show did become very repititive and focused on those core characters (again, the Hubbards great stuff aside)...

My main point about Slavery was that, maybe some mild shuffling of partners aside, they were still on EVERY SINGLE DAY it seemed. And the sense of community vastly diminished (it already had during McTavish's lame last year, but she did help open it back up when she first returned in 2003). I do suspect they were capable of doing more--the actual build up and reveal of Ritchie was genuinely well done and a surprise--something soaps' have failed to do with similar stories for a long time now. There were other intriguingly hinted at stories that went nowhere. I don't think they are brilliant, and I've heard enough of their GL and PC stints to know they are flawed (not to mention the shaky start to The City), but I do think they are capable of doing more than they did.

[EricMontreal22]

It wasn't that it was slow, it was that it was repititve for me--VERY, when it came to those characters (who I say again, seemed to be their focus). I *liked* Pratt's first few months, something that surprised me, and now makes me a little ashamed. He brought back pace and humour to AMC (there were even two almost vintage AMC comedy episodes centered around the Chandler's house his first month back). Of course this all went to Hell, and I don't think B/E were nbearly as destructive--I have started to agree with those who feel Pratt's reign ultimately really gutted the show more than anyone else, but...

[DRW50]

For whatever reason, Pratt's time on the show brought a sizable ratings increase. I never totally understood why - I guess it was shock value.

[Angela]

There's not much difference between slow and repetitive, IMO. It was the same type of uninteresting, tedious or depressing crap every single day. I'm not saying they didn't have some positive story moments but overall, nah. They're not that far away from Pratt in my list of AMC's worst writers of the last decade. For me, they were the writers that took AMC from a show I still enjoyed to a show I was just watching out of habit.

When I note Pratt was at least fast-shooting it doesn't necessarily mean I thought he wasn't the butcher. He was. The ratings went up because shock value pays off in the short term and he was shooting off fast with destructive and shocking crap at least initially. Before the shock and WTF campaign his ratings were low and when he slowed it down his ratings were low. Shock value tends to pay off in short term while it hurts the show in irreversable ways in the long-term.

[Skin]

Interesting I don't remember B&E as being depressing, oddly enough. Just slow, boring and dull. They really reminded me a lot of Y&R. They didn't really have stories that offended me or made me sad. I certainly didn't feel AMC was that dark during that time. The only real bad stuff to happen was the stuff with Ritchie and Greenlee. I actually think B&E was a vaguely happy time for better or worse. The Fusion girls were often used as fluff pieces but they were happy post-Satin Slayer. Slavery was happy for the most part before Greenlee came back. The Martins were happy, Krystal bought the Comeback and that was celebratory occasion too. Jaime's farewell was a good note, Babe getting her GED, Tad was united with Jenny, Erica and Jack were back on track, etc. You also had the infusion of Jessie and Angie back into the cast and their reunion which was a huge morale booster.

Pratt, however I consider to be a complete horror just because he seemed to go through Pine Valley with a chain saw at the ready whenever the wind moved him.

[Angela]

I'd say K & S were on the dull or/and boring side. Decent pace, harmless dullness.

B&E, I'll stick with tedious, slow and depressing. I will say B&E for a couple of episodes did the skip a section thing Y&R used to do in terms of comparing it to Y&R.

Their first story was Kendall's two kids in the hospital for what felt like 6 months following her best friend kidnapping one. Split spleens, deafness. Kendall's suffering, Greenlee's suffering, holes for Thanksgiving. Viruses for Valentines Day. Annie, Richie, shootouts at weddings, pregnancy tests, and a stupid Ava story, too, right?

Save Zonny, Pratts first few weeks were like a breath of fresh air in comparison. Business stories, more humor, a lighter feel.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

I just watched Dixie go to town on some poisoned peanut butter & banana pancakes So wrong. LMAO at Babe's reason for not wanting to eat the pancakes.

I forgot how the Ryan/Emma reveal happened, I thought it was clever how Zach spilled everything while under the influence of truth serum. TK did not do a very good job. LOL. The Kendall/Ryan scenes were good but that had to be some of the most frustrating writing for Kendall I have ever seen...

[Ryan Chamberlain]

At least it was a tasty (not so last) meal.

Pancakes are to die for. Pun intended.

[ellabelle]

~Gigglesnort.~

I never liked Dixie, so I didn't particularly care that they killed her off. I just wish they'd made up their minds as to whether she was alive or dead, rather than have her fake-die twice.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

Babe didn't take a bite because of JR.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

I see Zach is finally playing out his sexual fantasies with Ryan.

[ellabelle]

I am going to need brain bleach now to get rid of the horrifying image in my head.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

Ha. You should be me. The other night I had images of Ryan in a tube dress running through my brain. I have no idea why.