Y&R: New Head Writer

[ChitHappens]

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[DaytimeFan]

I'm just going to be blunt: SHUT UP!

How dare you tell people what they can and can't discuss when they are CLEARLY discussing Charles Pratt Jr. and how he compares to another writer in the genre.

[JONNYSBRO]

Lucci on Brian Frons decision to make Chuck Pratt head writer and the consequences of that action: My feelings are that Brian Frons was handed a very healthy daytime line-up when he arrived and then he hired Chuck Pratt to be head writer. Chuck said to all of us in a big team meeting that he didnt care about characters. He said, I will not be writing character-driven storylines. I dont care. In individual meetings with him, people would come out weeping and distressed because he would [dismiss their characters and histories]. Almost immediately, our ratings dropped. As actors, we did everything we could to save and respect our characters and their histories; although on paper nothing was there for us to work with. The producers listened to the fans in the focus groups, and fans are sophisticated because of columns like yours and talk shows and so on, and they knew the writing was the problem. Chuck Pratt taking AMC down didnt happen over night. And he was allowed to stay for two years. And unless it was Agnes or Lorraine, no one could dig us out of this hole.

This was Susan Lucci on Pratt really scary what she said about him. Lucci never complained in her 41 years on the show. He is arrogant and fits his own stunts vision. U will be begging for Jean P the show is bit boring but it's not offensive in fact I feel it was starting to improve but Pratt is far more destructive then Jean has ever been.

[Soapsuds]

Excuse me...I almost chocked on this statement. You are talking about the same guy that gave us the Golden Girls a few weeks ago as gay dating and getting it on?? The guy who does that for laughs so he can appear on talk shows to get buzz for GH. Yes he loves, cares for the genre he works for....NOT.

[DramatistDreamer]

I think in the beginning of the thread, I felt mostly amused by the humor, dark humor but still funny. By the time, I got halfway through the thread, somehow, strangely I started feeling a bit...I don't know sad?

Don't know why I should feel anything but indifference because ever since GL and ATWT got cancelled, I had prepared for things getting worse with this genre. Over the past few years, it has.

Logically, I understood years ago that this show was drifting farther away from resembling Y&R but from what I've read about this new headwriter, it sounds as if any remaining vestige of what made Y&R uniquely what it once was will be stripped away for good.

Years ago, on another board, I mentioned that Sony (not Steve Kent Sony, parent Headquarters Sony) was losing market share because their TV and electronics department was losing out big time to the South Korean brands like Samsung & LG-- who are eating Sony's lunch in the Television brand division alone and that Sony would start divesting themselves of low/no- profit divisions, if they continued to be 'in the red' financially. And Y&R was not safe as Sony could pull a P&G.

Nobody really paid attention to that post.

Well, years and lots of red ink later, Sony continues to lose market share and is divesting itself of certain non-performing divisions. The recently new CEO of Sony, this year, said he is unwilling to shed the electronics division (and he is a former engineer who believes Sony's identity is electronics like their TVs), so those cuts will be coming from elsewhere.

I don't know what, if anything this means for Y&R but I wouldn't be surprised if they were amenable to selling.

Even if the Bells don't express interest, if they could grab it up for pennies on the dollar, it may be hard to ignore. And with the way Y&R is going direction-wise, I won't be surprised if in a few years this show's worth is truly diminished to pennies on the dollar.

All, I can say is I'm grateful for You Tube, so that I can remember Y&R for what it once was way back when...-- a damn good show.

Thanks for the memories.

[bluejeanbaby3]

Um, NO I will not be begging for Jean P. or Shelley A. or JFP.

They are NOT the only options in the genre.

[Soapsuds]

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[ChitHappens]

I have to agree with this! Craptini loved OLTL! Soaps? Not sure where folks are getting this.

[Juliajms]

You are one of the best posters on this board. That is all.

[ChitHappens]

+1

[AllMyDaysatGH]

This La Lucci quote always sends chills down my spine. Just tragic!

[cassadine1991]

Yeah if you look at GH now, its clearly a bootleg version of THEIR OLTL, it's been like this since they got hired

[JONNYSBRO]

Lucci never really complained either but she let it be known about Pratt. AMC suffered from not changing exec producers around 2007 to 2008. I am sad about y and r it shows they want nothing to do with what made y and r a success. Bill Bell would be rolling in his grave. Y and R has such a signature vision really only Bell could write. Pratt is a horrible fit for this show. He fit GH more then this show.

[cassadine1991]

Bill Bell has been rolling in his grave for almost 10 years

I bet Irna Phillips and Doug Marland did the same at ATWT and Gloria Monty for GH

[YRBB]

After months of incessant trolling posts about how Pissante is great & is bringing romance galore with great, fireworky story arcs, now Bill Bell is rolling in his grave? Now you say that only Bell could write Y&R's signature vision? What happened to JP? Is she chopped liver?

And, once again, it's *than*. THAN.