Y&R: New Head Writer

[Vee]

In fairness, both GH and Y&R are terrible for entirely different reasons. I don't have to like one if I critique the other - JFP is a legendary hack who helped destroy GH and many other soaps, and her work at Y&R is unwatchable.

[dragonflies]

Jamey said on twitter that Kay Alden said in a recent interview she has no interest in being HW. Dunno if that's true or not

LMAO love it

[ChitHappens]

You can absolutely slam whichever one you choose. One is worse than the other and you expect better. I could certainly see why you'd be harder on YR. You expect better. With FrankenRon, this is their better. However, my point was to a select few [and I don't wish to rehash].

[John]

For anyone who cares

Sally Sussman Morina DOOL

• Associate Head Writer: 1996-1997 (hired by James E. Reilly)
• Co-Head Writer: November 21, 1997 - January 5, 1998
• Head Writer: January 8, 1998 - October 15, 1999

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Sussman_Morina

[sivad40]

What does Cartini have to do with the fact that Y&R is on their third writing team within the past year? Y&R's ills go beyond the RC, and the soap press and was going on before RC was even at GH.

Can any fan of Pratt's work at AMC, GH, and his various primetime shows tell me what he can do for Y&R that he did for shows?

[marceline]

First you'll have to find a fan of Pratt's AMC. Good luck with that.

[Faulkner]

The first few weeks of Pratt's run will be vibrant and amazing. I'll tune in for the beginning.

Hey, I appreciate Y&R, once loved it, and understand its place in history, but the damage LML and MAB did to the show has already been too profound. There's really nothing more to do than enjoy the small pleasures in a bleak situation.

[LoyaltoAMC]

In the poor guy's defense, he wasn't hired to bring AMC back to its homespun family/community roots and he's certainly not being hired at Y&R to return the show to the Bill Bell glory days. A Chuck Pratt is hired to raise sagging demos with big plot-driven events and lightening fast stories, to hell with character and logic. That's his forte. That's the thing he "seemingly" does best. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. His style just didn't work at AMC, which was in such sad shape when he took over anyway, nothing could've saved it. McTavish and especially Frons did so much irreversible damage. However, it could work at Y&R. No, it probably won't be a product that would do Bill Bell proud, but if he features the vets in fast-moving stories with some momentum, it could be successful.

[YRBB]

No.

[titan1978]

Vets is a key word and I just don't see it. Not since GL has Phelps had so many older characters and actors onscreen this often. An entire plot revolved around Nikki and Paul. Ashley was lured back with the promise of story. Tracy has dropped in a couple of times. Lauren spent most of JFP's first months on the front burner, including singing a contract with the show again for the first time since the 1990's. Cricket has been on the show, Jill came back from exile, and Tristan Rogers also signed a contract. All these moves seem so unlike her, and unlike what Pratt does, so expect changes quickly.

I can't think of a single actor over 50 during her GH tenure besides Tony Geary that was on contract by the time she left. Lots of people blame Frons, and that is entirely possible. But she doesn't have the best track record, and it will be interesting to see where she and Pratt have taken the show in 6 months.

[BetterForgotten]

CBS is a different playing field than ABC or NBC. Jill and others know CBS skews quite old, which is why Y&R hasn't had the same youth domination or deterioration of veteran cast as some of the other shows have.

They may not write for them properly, but Y&R seems to hold on to its veterans a lot better than some other shows.

[DRW50]

I think the show still could have been saved. I don't even think he fatally damaged it (PP AMC was more than decent), although he did his best. But I don't think most of his material worked even as shock value melodrama. The Kendall heart story was atrocious on every level, and the Reese-turns-straight story was somehow both incredibly offensive and incredibly boring. I can't remember one good thing he did other than showing Opal a little more often, and he did try to write for the Hubbards, even if he destroyed Jessie's character in the process.

[titan1978]

You don't think somebody like JFP is hired to revamp to improve demos? She absolutely is, no matter what network. If she brings down costs by eliminating some hefty contracts, CBS and Sony won't be upset. She won't be removed until the damage has been done. Nobody running these shows at the network level thinks we have 20 years left. They want better ratings and demos in the short term. Of course Pratt sounds exciting to the brass, his writing can be exciting. But it's kind of like being the Michael Bay of daytime. He's all flash, and no substance, but with less budget.

[Skin]

Again not really, Chuck was able to raise some ratings due to his event based story-telling (i.e. the Tornado) but people grew exhausted of him quite quickly, within 7-8 months of head writing for AMC it was hitting all time lows in all ratings and demos and was at a race to the bottom along side ATWT for the least watched soap on television. What Headwriter do you know kills a show so quickly, that not even a year into his tenure he is driving viewers away from the show? By the time his first year ended the show was an utter wreck. I remember the Fall season of 2009: happy good times with Nu!Liza, Crazy!Golddigger!Annie, Kendell shot Stuart, and Randi the beloved Prostitute of the Night.

He was only in the position for a year and a few months, before they showed him the door and Lorraine was given full reign to put the show back together. Pratt had a lot to work with, but he ruined it. Megan didn't leave the show in nearly as much shambles as he did and he still gutted AMC to the point where it was damn near unrecognizable. He was the butcher of AMC, which can't be underscored enough.

[cassadine1991]

You.are giving Pratt WAY too much credit