HOLIDAY MIRACLE: Prospect Park Back On Track To Revive AMC and OLTL

[EnglishTea]

Richard Culliton walked into a mess, and I think he did his best to tie up what stories he could, and yes, simply dropped the ones that just weren't working. I don't think he did well with Frons interference, and I still would have loved to have seen what he had planned. I may not have liked everything he did, but it was the first time, in a long time, that I didn't know how the story was going to pan out. He managed to create suspense, which was incredibly hard to do during a big spoiler era.

[EricMontreal22]

Ha I never noticed the similarity in names with Al Corley. He was, along with Rex Smith, one of my first crushes...

[EnglishTea]

I wouldn't mind the character of Jake back, but not a big RPG fan.

[jfung79]

Count me as another person who wants Richard Culliton to write for AMC! His writing is character-based, multigenerational, overarching, humorous, and yes, suspenseful. At least his first few months are always good on any show, and you never know who's at fault after that. I think the new format will require someone who thinks big/different while understanding character, and Richard Culliton is someone who has shown he can do that.

I'm so super excited it looks like this Prospect Park thing is actually happening. Just saw Errol's tweet that Debbi Morgan let the cat out of the bag that Darnell Williams is on board as well.

[EricMontreal22]

Yes and the kiddie pornographer story was a McTavish "twist" to a story Broderick and Corley and crew were creating ontheir way out...

I think I actually liked that aspect to Brooke. Despite all the craziness in her life (look at her mom) she remained a strong female character, who seemed to get past those issues, and not via lashing out at other women (unless they deserved it), feeling too sorry for herself and playing the victim, or becoming a psycho maniac (though I admit the idea of Barr playing a psycho twin amuses me).

[Adam]

With him in the role I didn't feel like I was watching Jake, I felt like I was watching RPG. He played smug well though. Good thing for him he was playing a Martin where that trait is a requirement...

Does anyone remember, was the plan for Julia Barr to take over the role of Janet in 1996 when Janet was hatching that plan to impersonate her? LOL. Robin was close to being let go, was she not?

[EricMontreal22]

That makes complete sense to me--and I agree. I prob give McT too much praise--and actually when I was most attached to AMC was prob during the first year of Broderick's 90s run (partly for personal reasons)--but I do respect and understand your take on her as a writer. And I also think Broderick doesn't do the outlandish very well, and even a soap like AMC needs some of that (this is me assuming Broderick was in charge of the zombie story, the Proteus story, etc).

[Scotty]

Chokes me up everytime....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt4ZEt8vbVc&feature=player_embedded#!

[Ryan Chamberlain]

Here's what to do when you don't find the rainbow's end...this time.

[allmc2008]

I have been waiting for that to start for years. Can it really happen?

OMG So do I!

[Scotty]

I also kinda like the remix they did of this theme too....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn8KzEWHR7A&list=PL6557388E7DFAFC40

[EricMontreal22]

Frons seemed keen to drop him as soon as he joined on. I don't know if he was wanting to brand all his shows (ie AMC as the new Sex and the City) or what-- Within a year he replaced AMC and OLTL's teams--with OLTL he seemed smart in that he brought back Malone and Griffith, with AMC he bumped up Rayfield and then Cascio but I suspect he wanted to bring back a writer from their more popular days as well which is why fairly quickly--though they seemed to be doing the facile version of Pine Valley he wanted--he brought in McTavish. I think ti sorta worked with McTavish, it didn't work with Malone and Griffith (though it was an entertaining, gothic mess at times--OLTL really bottomed out when Griffith left and actually admitted he had to make too many compromises to Frons and, while he doesn't seem a great HW on his own, Malone always seems to need Griffith to balance him out).

But you're right, Culliton did create suspense--and had some great story ideas. I think he should have been allowed more time--but some of the story drops (like Tim Dhillon showing up and then disappearing) seemed odd, and I think that was before Frons.

I believe so... I should ask Hal about that--as he has said Brooke was one of his fave characters to write for aside from Kevin.

[SFK]

In my version of the theme, I sample Peabo in high-pitched/sped up autotune singing "No second chances!" at the end of certain bars.

[EricMontreal22]

I'm sorry--the lyrics do not even make *sense* from verse to chorus to verse. You didn't make it to the end of the rainbow--so don't cry because someone will give you tomorrow because you only have one life to live?

[EnglishTea]

Don't get me wrong, I "get" where you are coming from with McTavish. Truth is, I also enjoyed some of the outlandish stories told by McTavish. And while the actor Roscoe Born didn't care for where they were taking the character of Jim Thompson, I thought Broderick and company were misguided on where you could go with a character who was revealed as a kiddie porn photographer. McTavish's take on the character as pure sleaze was on target, and she even played that Brooke was just such a mess after the plane crash that she missed the signs. I didn't like Brooke killing another human being, but believed that Brooke could be driven to such a dire act if she believe her child was in danger. And Julia B. knocked it out of the park when she shot Jim in the back, not one, not two, not three... but yes, four times in the back!