Y&R: New Head Writer

[LoyaltoAMC]

I thought Pratt started off pretty decently at AMC. There was definitely an energy to the show that was missing for a long time. I think he was the one who fleshed out Jesse's backstory, and the Hubbards began to feel like a real family rather than some nostalgic device to lure viewers. I also liked Reese and Bianca. I thought Tam and Eden had great chemistry. And don't forget, he brought back Vincent Irizarry and introduced Brot. Of course the whole show just irrevocably fell apart. The Adam/Stuart thing was disastrous, and the low point had to be his arrogantly blaming Eden and her leaving early for the the Reese/Bianca story eventually tanking. Who knows how much of this was Frons' influence? During that point, we were hearing so many different theories about which show he was playing micromanagement musical chairs with at the moment.

Sally Sussman Morina is no prize in my book. It may not be a popular sentiment, but I thought Generations was absolutely awful. It was well-intentioned, of course, but the execution was painstakingly amateurish. It got a little better when they brought in Jorn Winther as EP, but just was never very good IMO. When she was at Y&R years ago, supposedly she loved writing for the Abbotts, at least that's what Terry Lester said in an interview. He singled her out as his favorite writer for the show. Apparently, she scripted many of those Abbott breakfast table scenes.

[BetterForgotten]

Generation was poorly done and only get kudos for the diversity aspect. Let's not forget, it was Brian Frons who actually suggested to Sally that a core family should be African American in order to make the show unique, that didn't even come from her own imagination.

[Soapsuds]

Yup...bottom of the barrel....lol

1989-1990


1. The Young And The Restless 8.0
2. General Hospital 7.4
3. All My Children 6.5
4. One Life To Live 6.3
5. As The World Turns 5.8
6. The Bold And The Beautiful 5.7
7. Days Of Our Lives 5.4
7. Guiding Light 5.4
9. Another World 4.0
10. Santa Barbara 3.7
12. Loving 3.4
13. Generations 2.6

[cassadine1991]

1996-1999, she was HW from 1997-1999

[titan1978]

Did she write the Sami on Death Row storyline? If so I think it was her best.

[Skin]

People seem to be praising Pratt for the Tornado story on AMC. But even that story just kicked off a bunch of violence for virtually no reason. Are we forgetting that he also eradicated Jesse's character by having him choose to stay away from Angie and his son and having another life with another unnammed woman for years while he was "forever on the run"? What about when he destroyed Bianca and Kendell's sisterly bond by having her go behind her sisters back and ask for her husband for sperm to make a child? Reese the bisexual lesbian was as much a bust as anything else ever was. Fracturing the Zendell fanbase as much as further driving Eden Riegel from ever taking on the role of Bianca ever again.

I'll never forget him killing Josh off by having Zach shoot Josh in the head just to harvest a heart for Kendell. Disgusting story telling. The story for pretty much all the characters sucked, and all character integrity was eradicated to the point of parody. The fact that he had Adam kill Stuart is enough to bar him from soaps all together. Yeah, I guess you can say he brought David back, but being that he killed every single character on the canvas (metaphorically or literally) who cares? He's the reason Lorraine had to bring back half the cast with David's zombie serum in the first place because he couldn't leave well enough alone.

[Chris B]

Skin you put it perfectly. None of the things you said made any sense, but coming from someone who admits history doesn't matter, what do you expect? I just can't wait to see HOW crazy Y&R will be. The saddest part is that the same soap press wringing their hands now will be praising his mediocre stuff as soon as it airs. It won't be until months down the road when he completely derails the show that they will turn on him. All it takes is one basic ass history mention, Traci Abbott return, Grace Turner for one episode, etc. and the soap press will proclaim he's better than they anticipated and honoring history. Passanante and Altman created a horrible show, messed up so much history and all of their new characters sucked, yet people tried to act like they were decent and getting better. I fully expect the same for Pratt.

[marceline]

Just a minor correction, Eden did take on the role of Bianca again with the reboot. Otherwise, the rest of your post is pretty spot on. I've already said the things that I like but the damage he did was WAY more extensive.

I have to admit that I'm curious what Cady McClain and MCE thought upon hearing the news that he's coming to the show given their AMC ties.

[Vee]

I was under the impression Cady was gone while he was there. Megan killed her off.

MCE, OTOH, owes her soap longevity to Pratt's choice to turn her psycho IMO.

[Paul Raven]

A lot of new writers have started out strong out of the gate but it is usually short lived.

Bill Bell was unique at the time for taking no notice of Sony & CBS who were forever sensing 'notes'. As long as the show was delivering the numbers Bell could ignore them.

So a lot of what Pratt will do will be filtered thru what Sony and CBS deem as necessary. If the say for example, no story for the over '50's, then that is what will happen.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

Yeah I was gonna say...he launched her soap career basically once he had Annie jump out that window! LOL. He's the reason she even stuck around AMC, as IIRC they were ready to usher her out soon before he came along.

Wouldn't be surprised one bit if he tried to make her like Annie again. LOL. Isn't her character considered "Boring" right now on Y&R? It's the same situation...

Yeah that was it for me. It was disgusting.

Speaking of that I'm still extremely annoyed that they skipped doing a scene where Kendall found out she has Josh' heart.

[Taoboi]

WOW.

I love Ms. 'Killing Pool' and would love to have her back.

And I'm one of the few from what I've read that Loved JG's Y&R work.

Just...ugh.

[AllMyDaysatGH]

Pratt's AMC stories were so horrible. I know it's said over and over again but damn. Just had to say it again. He went through and changed every character for the worst. Even sweet ol' harmless Marian who he turned into a psycho who brought a gun to court and tried to shoot Kendall (thank god she didn't and got Marissa instead by accident! LOL).

He seemed to like turning characters psycho and putting them against my sweet Kendall, the bastard. We mustn't forget his last major story where he turned Aidan psycho & obsessed with Kendall, taking her on the run & pretending to have sex with a clone of her to make Zach jealous. OMG! Just awful.

[marceline]

I'm just assuming Cady heard stories about his tenure there.

That's what I was thinking about MCE. I was wondering if she might actually be happy about this news. There has to be somebody somewhere happy about this news, right?

[Chris B]

You know, one of many things that shows the shockwaves this has sent through the industry and the show is that in this age of social media you have NOBODY welcoming him on board. Tristian Rogers dumb ass is the only person and he's actually someone who hardly ever uses his Twitter. The closest Doug Davidson came to mentioning it was by posting a "good old days" script page from 1993 that lists the Bill Bell writing/producing team. I really wish we could be privy to the photo conversations, meetings and texts amongst the cast right now. I get the feeling they know they're screwed and aren't looking forward to the next few months.