Y&R: New Head Writer

[DaytimeFan]

Oh GOD could you imagine Brian Frons as head of CBS Daytime?! That would be the biggest disaster since the Titanic. Though, Frons having to deal with the ladies of The Talk would be just desserts given that, behind the scenes, they all have Les's support via Julie.

[amybrickwallace]

Wasn't Brian Frons head of CBS Daytime in the early 80s? He cancelled the "dinosaur" SFT in 1982, and cancelled it AGAIN in 1986 when it was on NBC.

[allmc2008]

I don't get that SFT comment so can you elaborate

Also, I feel so bad for the SFT people for him axing it twice. Could have that show been saved? How bad was it at the end of both runs?

[allmc2008]

Why would Angelica feel worried? Wouldn't this look bad on JFP/Nina Tasslers part if when Y&R collapses in the ratings?

If Y&R DOES cancel I do wonder what the Bells would do, actually. Maybe they will try to buy back Sony's share and move it back to a half-hour then put it online or something.

If anyone should give a [!@#$%^&*] about Y&R cancelling at the Bell side it would be Lee. It would be interesting to see her reaction once the shows cancellation is announced.

[marceline]

WHY WOULD YOU SAY SUCH A HORRIBLE THING?!! WHY?!!

*rocks and weeps in corner*

Fix me Jesus. Fix me...

[amybrickwallace]

SFT was the soap Search for Tomorrow, which ran 35 years in total. It aired on CBS from September 1951 - March 1982, and NBC picked it up from March 1982 until it was cancelled for good in December 1986. It was cancelled from CBS in favor of the glitzy new soap Capitol - which was supposed to draw in more young viewers. Fronzie in all his infinite wisdom thought SFT was too old-fashioned and a "dinosaur".

In the end, Capitol only ran for five years and its last episode aired mere months after SFT's final episode on NBC ran. But Capitol did end up launching the careers of folks who would have soap success elsewhere: Catherine Hickland, Nicholas Walker, Jess Walton, Marj Dusay, Constance Towers, etc.

[allmc2008]

I meant, why did you call it a "Dinosaur?"

[Skin]

Sad but true.

This seems like such weak and faint praise though. After B&E anyone could have had better pacing. He increased the pace of the show, big deal. Even though B&E had a bunch of non-stories and pretty much only gave stories to Slavery, I would still consider them to be a better writing regime than Pratt. Even McTavish's Satin Slayer mess was better to me than what Pratt wound up creating during his tenure.

I disagree. That was the moment Annie stopped being a character and became both a cartoon and walking punchline.

That never happened though. What we saw was Adam loose control of his company, cuckolded by his son and nephew and kill his beloved brother. Adam wasn't the "winner" of anything under Pratt's tenure.

[YRBB]

Dude.... it's because Frons considered it ancient & archaic and wanted to get rid of it.

[amybrickwallace]

allmc2008, I edited my response when I realized what you meant, so just go back and reread it. Basically, back then he was as obsessed with the youth demographic as he was at ABC.

[Vee]

Annie was never a character before she went mad. She was a blonde cipher who they let Ryan !@#$%^&*] and give an insta-kid while Greenlee was gone.

[YRBB]

How great that history repeated itself with her on Y&R, then.

[Skin]

Annie had more dignity as a character before Pratt came along and turned her into a crazy cartoon. Shacking up with Adam for his money and having random chaotic breaks every couple of months because the men she wanted didn't love her isn't any kind of beneficial character development. Going after Greenlee and then eventually Marissa and trying to murder them because JR and Ryan couldn't give a [!@#$%^&*] about her was shameful and made her a parody of women on soaps.

She was a collection of everything that was wrong with Pratt's writing. All bombastic, over the top sensationalism with no heart or soul. Annie lost whatever grounding she had as a dedicated mother and suffering heroine for a few laughs and lulz. Annie was always an empty husk of a character, who excelled based on whatever male character she was attached too, but overall she had more dignity under B&E then she ever had from Pratt forward. From then on her character was broken and never was able to be put back together. She was a joke. A psych toy writers liked to play with. I get that people liked her acting (I didn't she's no better than an average Kelli Sullivan or an exhausted Bree Williamson at her best) but there was nothing about her that rose above Pratt's craptastic writing. The finer points of who Annie was disappeared like smoke once she became crazy. She played unintentional comedy more than anything. That collection of unorganized insecurities, wasn't a character -- it was a ticking time bomb based plot point which the successive writers took full advantage of. She was Janet without any of the fun or history.

Ha!

[Vee]

Annie had no purpose or reason to be on that show before she went mad. You have an extremely benevolent take on the terrible era which conveniently birthed your favorite character.

[Skin]

I disagree. It was clear to me that Annie was an alternative love interest to Greenlee once Budig booked it out of there. You can say she was purely Ryan's Stepford wife and I would more or less agree with you, but I fail to see how Annie was a better character under Pratt. She dissolved into madness fairly quickly and was never given back any intergrity as a character. She was Pratt's resident psycho the writers liked to play with and little else. I don't know how that is better characterization. At least under B&E Annie had dignity and was seen as an actual character with feelings, motivations and was capable of having under currents of sympathy. Under Pratt she became a laughable cartoon that went crazy every six months or so. That's not a purpose. Tessica, Kate, Lindsey, Marty and Janet, all more or less mentally disturbed psychos of ABC Daytime in this similar era had more grounded characterizations and meat to them than Annie did at the end. Annie at the end saw Greenlee and Marissa and more or less just saw red, leading her to be carted away by the men in white coats. The titular characterizations of Annie were sacrificed to make her more "entertaining" and the bond she had with her child Emma and her maternal nature all but disappeared to make her "exciting!" Yes Annie did change, but not for the better. Unless you would believe Sharon, Marty and Kate's mental instability and descents into madness made them better characters, which I don't. Even still those characters at their lowest point still had more going for them than Psycho!Annie did.

As to Megan McTavish, ultimately she benefits from not sucking as bad as the later writers did and all things considered she wasn't anywhere near as damaging as Pratt was to this show. Even with the unaboration and Dixie's death, Megan never dismantled the show in the ways he did that made the show unrecognizable, and a lot of problems with Megan McTavish could have been easily rectified with a show runner who knew how to manage them. The characters she brought on and introduced that fans hated within a year were pushed into the background and given innocuous stories that held little to no importance and viola, fans stopped bitching about them. So characterization improved and relationships were restored. Megan's worst story was the Satin Slayer story, which was during the end of her tenure and when she clearly stopped caring, the most egregious ending was fixed by having Dixie return. Comparing the tenure of Megan's and Pratt's -- it's obvious who caused more damage to the detriment of the show.