My opinion it's definitely McTavish AS WELL AS other aspects. They have the same directors, now, for the past three or four years. The scriptwriters are horrible. Megan's storylines are atrocious. Julie Carruthers show running is extremely questionable.

I will say this. McTavish is only as bad as the [!@#$%^&*] she's allowed to get away with. When Felicia Minei Behr was producing the show during McTavish's first solo stint in the early-mid 90's, the show and the writing were less outrageous and more balanced in terms of the characters and cast. FMB's vision of the show stayed true to its original premise, which allowed her to filter out McTavish's sensationalistic plot driven crap. Sure, there are still shades, hues, glaring signs of McTavish (Janet coming back via reconstructive facial and vocal surgery; Kendall being Erica's long lost daughter after a never-before-mentioned childhood rape; etc.), but again, FMB reigned her in.

I won't begin to talk about Jean Dadario Burke's horrible allowances of Camille and Lee Hawkins, Kit Fisher, Raquel Dion, BROOKE GETTING OFF SCOTT FREE FOR SHOOTING A KIDDIE PORNOGRAPHER IN THE BACK BECAUSE TAD TAMPERED WITH STATE'S EVIDENCE!!

Now, we have JHC... queen of Port Charles the Vampire Town coming on board to run the show, and we're as good as dead. How do you expect a woman who was (considerably) praised for producing a show about computers that connect to the past, and vampires and angels and clones... how do you expect her to say "An abortion that lives?! IMPOSSIBLE!!"

You can't. BS Frons obviously appreciate her sensibilities, so when Megan gives her the story, she chooses to go for it and brings it to Frons for approval -- we're stuck watching tripe that belongs in the reject pile... not on our screens.

Sorry to ramble, but to sum up my opinion concerning the question you asked -- I think it's both McTavish as well as the production team at AMC as a whole.

The thing is Julie can't veto Megan's material. It's a different set-up at ABC now and the role of executive producer is not what it once was. She's basically in charge of the budget and other non-writing production functions.

I highly respect Julie and I know the cast does as well. As for Port Charles, you have to look at the Karen Harris period (Nurses strike) to see Julie's influence. Once the 13 week arcs began with Esensten & Brown, Julie's role was reduced substantially, just like it is at AMC.

Same goes for Frank Valentini and Jill Phelps, who in this weeks SOD admitted that almost everything GH does is Bob Guza's idea.

I'll agree with you about Ms. Burke who was truely a waste of a paycheque. Nice lady though.

Also forgot to say - Megan thinks she's safe because she signed a new contract in April. Little does she remember her predecessors were signed and later fired only mere months later! Things can change with Brian in no time at all!

Which means that the next legal opportunity to fire her would be...October? Does that sound right?

So how low do ratings have to go to get Brian's attention? Dena has never brought in the ratings and looking at all three shows they are in a three month downward trend. With OLTL filming up to 6 weeks in advance it takes some time to turn the Titanic around.

Kathy Carano, God love her, has always been accurate, and I've been a follower of hers for 11 years now - since she was at the AMCPages. It's quite apparent that her contact is at one of the magazines. Yeah, they know tons of info, but they don't know what's going up at the higher echelons at ABC.

Megan is the head writer of "AMC," but that does not mean she knows everything there is to know about what's going on at ABC Daytime. Because she doesn't. She ultimately has a supervisor, Julie Carruthers, and they both report to Brian Frons. Now I don't know about you guys, but it's not unusual for bosses to keep information from their employees, whether it be concerning their future or what have you. This is esp. true with Brian Frons. This is the entertainment business, where that kind of crap happens all the time. Look at how Brian handled the thing with Star Jones. He knew that she was being fired a whole five months before she knew.

This is also how the Jean Dadario Burke/Julie Carruthers thing played out. Brian called up Julie days after PC's cancellation and said "Julie, how would you like to move to New York?" This was late June 2003. Poor Jean had no idea she was being fired until August.

The Amanda L. Beall/Jeff Beldner news was truly puzzling because it had no basis in truth whatsoever, and still doesn't. I don't think it was necessarily SON's fault - I think that false information was leaked by

someone from the inside. Why? I don't know. Perhaps just for shits and giggles. But it's not true.

Now, the stuff about Burton Armus is very much true. Megan has no idea that he is being groomed

for "AMC." Perhaps she heard what SON and EricaKane4Life reported recently, but if she did, she'd brush it off as just crazy Internet talk. The only one at "AMC" who would know about Burton Armus is Julie Carruthers and she ain't opening her mouth to anyone. It's kept secret for a reason. There is no way, no

how that Brian would go to Megan and say, "Hey, I'm replacing you with someone else, but you're still writing the show for another two months." That's why the B&B news was a big red flag of falsehood.

The situation with Burton Armus reminds me very much of the Hogan Sheffer situation about six years ago at "World Turns." Chris Goutman and Mickey Dwyer-Dobbin met with Hogan in March 2000 when they were in L.A. for the Soap Digest Awards. He decided he wanted to write for "World Turns" so they began training

him in preparation of him replacing Leah Laiman. Now, many people at P&G and CBS knew about this, but Leah had no idea. Hogan even joined the "World Turns" writing staff as a breakdown writer as part of his training. Six weeks later, Chris told Leah that they were dumping her effective the next day and Hogan was aking over. This was in the works for over three months, but she was completely in the dark until she was asked to pack up her bags and leave.

Megan is doing fall previews, because she is still employed with the show. She is actively writing. She is writing the fall stories. ABCD is not ready to make the change yet. It's impossible to hire a writer with no soap writing experience and throw him or her straight into the fire. They need to get acquainted with the very specific formulas of soap opera writing. They need training and the process takes time. If Megan was replaced with someone like Carolyn Culliton, no problem. They could approach Carolyn, sign her, and have her start immediately because she is a soap writer. This is a completely different situation, and it's an unusual one because daytime so rarely looks outside daytime for writing talent.

The change will happen. Give it time; no one at "AMC" knows about it, except Julie Carruthers. If you know the right people at ABC Daytime, great, because if they are willing to talk about it, you'll know . But it's being kept from Megan for a reason because they aren't ready to fire her yet. She's well aware of the speculation on the net. And she may be very well aware of the speculation about Burton Armus. She has no reason to believe it though, because as actors, writers, producers, etc. have been wired to believe (for very good reason) most rumors on the Internet are pure fabrication. They are made up. So when Megan hears on the Internet that she's getting fired, she really has no reason to worry. Because most of that kind of [!@#$%^&*] is made up anyway.

But this time it isn't made up.

Believe me, don't believe me. Don't believe EricaKane4Life or anyone who is reporting this kind of stuff. But ABCD will make the change and Megan will know about it then, as rest as everyone else.

And wowsie - never intended for this post to be so long. Back to hiding.

Thank you .. for the long post.. for giving me some insight.. I will say that .. I wished it was tomorrow...

But.. just knowing that it will happen..

When I found out that MMT was leaving.. I was so happy.. and then I figure out what it was.. this high on someone losing thier job...

I had hope... Hope for my show.. I grew up watching it.. I was .. and that is a was. because now I stopped the first time in Feb then started in May.. and stopped again in June...

Do you know how people generally watch several soaps... but they have thier one favorite.. and that is the one show they wont miss... no matter buying a second vcr... or calling your brother.. aunt you cant stand to get them to tape it because you wont make it back in town to catch it.. That was me with AMC..

And with MMT gone.. I have hope.. that I will get back my AMC...

Thanks for listening ..

I highly respect Julie and I know the cast does as well. As for Port Charles, you have to look at the Karen Harris period (Nurses strike) to see Julie's influence. Once the 13 week arcs began with Esensten & Brown, Julie's role was reduced substantially, just like it is at AMC.

I'm glad someone other than me came to the defense of Carruthers this time and mentioned her first year at PC as a good example of what she can do for a soap opera.

I'm glad someone other than me came to the defense of Carruthers this time and mentioned her first year at PC as a good example of what she can do for a soap opera.

Well, she hired the Colby actress -- there's nothing good about that.

It's very sad that the behind the scenes drama is so much more entertaining than the trash AMC is putting on our tv screens. It's also a real shame that ABC dosen't seem to care about AMC near as much as it loyal fans. Who are sickened by what the show has beocme but are still hopeful that the show they love can and will be saved. Is soap fans were like primetime fans and left as soon as show started to suck daytime would have been dead and buried years ago.

Well, she hired the Colby actress -- there's nothing good about that.

She's the Executive Producer. NOT the casting director. The decision to hire that chick falls on Judy Blye Wilson, who was quoted in a magazine as saying beauty is more important than talent. And she supported Alec Musser coming to AMC as Del Henry! YUCK.

I don't believe Carruthers is the anti-Christ, like a lot of people online do.

Any actor, crew member, or writer would be lucky to work for Julie Carruthers. The woman is a class act and it's a shame she isn't given more power by ABC because she has good dramatic sensibilities. I would like to see her work with another writer besides Megan and come fall that will happen.

She's the Executive Producer. NOT the casting director. The decision to hire that chick falls on Judy Blye Wilson, who was quoted in a magazine as saying beauty is more important than talent. And she supported Alec Musser coming to AMC as Del Henry! YUCK.

I don't believe Carruthers is the anti-Christ, like a lot of people online do.

Okay, then I'm sorry. But why is Carruthers even there? If she has no say with the writing, and she has no say with the casting, and she has no say with the directing... then what is her purpose? You mean to tell me that ABC is cost-cutting in every single department and hacking actors' salaries by the mega-percentage... but continues to keep a person who serves no purpose in a paid rubber stamp position?

She can't be this great lady to work for if NOBODY IS WORKING FOR HER! So she has to have SOME type of authority over there. She's the executive producer. NOT the production/business manager.

I understand and respect and appreciate your admiration of JHC. I really do. I don't think she's the anti-Christ, either. I don't even think she's in the same hellified category as JFP. But you can't have it both ways. She can't be a great or good executive producer -- when she doesn't perform ANY of the functions of an executive producer.

You make it sound like AMC is run by committee. Megan writes whatever she wants. Judy casts whomever she wants, and Julie Carruthers just goes around baking cookies and reading stories during nap time for members of the company.

So how low do ratings have to go to get Brian's attention? Dena has never brought in the ratings and looking at all three shows they are in a three month downward trend. With OLTL filming up to 6 weeks in advance it takes some time to turn the Titanic around.

Even if they fired Dena this weekend, they are still mired in John's daddy demons, twisting and turning about a story few I've seen have any real interest in. They would need to progress/explain the reason Spenser wants to destroy half the Buchanan otherlings in revenge against Asa. They'd still have to play out the merging of Tess/Jess. They don't need to do Fall previews...they'll be exactly the same as the summer ones.

ABC needs to do something. They need writers in bulk, possibly producers as well.

Even if they fired Dena this weekend, they are still mired in John's daddy demons, twisting and turning about a story few I've seen have any real interest in. They would need to progress/explain the reason Spenser wants to destroy half the Buchanan otherlings in revenge against Asa. They'd still have to play out the merging of Tess/Jess. They don't need to do Fall previews...they'll be exactly the same as the summer ones.

ABC needs to do something. They need writers in bulk, possibly producers as well.

ABC does need writers and producers in bulk for all three shows.

As to OLTL they'd be best served to dump it all. Send BW and Tess/Jess away for a vacation for a month and let her have off screen therapy in Switzerland with Dr. Hannen. Maybe show us one or two scenes and then bring her back as the newly integrated and improved Jess. Daddy demons just needs to end. Let it remain unsolved. Few, if any, care now if they ever cared. Even fewer are intrigued with Spencer, David and son being made the three new Buchanans. Kill Spencer off and move on. Stalker has more people interested in the stalker winning than anything. They also need to work on their couples in a big way.

That perhaps is the worst of it. None of these stories is intriguing, yet due to delays and pacing, have miles to go...and the results are already common knowledge.

They may shrug these ratings off as people coming back in the fall, but I doubt it. August, traditionally low, is only beginning.

Now, we have JHC... queen of Port Charles the Vampire Town coming on board to run the show, and we're as good as dead. How do you expect a woman who was (considerably) praised for producing a show about computers that connect to the past, and vampires and angels and clones... how do you expect her to say "An abortion that lives?! IMPOSSIBLE!!"

Actually, I've read that Agnes Nixon herself agreed to the "abortion that lives" story line. She okayed it, McTavish of course okayed it, and I assume JHC. I don't think this started with JHC though. It's not just one person (JHC) IMO. Too many people leap to conclusions and unfairly tar and feather ANYTHING connected to PC -- while accepting completely shows about mobsters who are never really caught and punished, fashion or corporate wars that go on and on . . . ALL of these soaps have an aspect of unreality to them. Anyway, I'm sure people saying this aren't regular viewers or the show (PC) or appreciated it anyway when it first aired.

You make it sound like AMC is run by committee. Megan writes whatever she wants. Judy casts whomever she wants, and Julie Carruthers just goes around baking cookies and reading stories during nap time for members of the company.

LMAO. Ok, that was funny.

I get your point. But maybe AMC somehow IS run by committee. I could tell the moment that Carruthers really held no power with PC. Because the quality of the show diminished right along with it.

We hear stories of how JFP no longer has clout at GH. Why is it difficult to believe that Carruthers carries little clout on AMC?

I see how you can blame her and you, as a fan of AMC, have every right to.

Actually, I've read that Agnes Nixon herself agreed to the "abortion that lives" story line...

Do you have a source? I'm not doubting what you read, I just find that VERY hard to believe.

TV Guide printed an article a few weeks after the backlash about the walking fetus storyline started. AN said in the "interview" that it wasn't her idea, but she liked it. She also spewed MMT's line about the abortion still staying, they just changed the outcome. She also called into one of the soap showas and gave it her "blessing." Both instances had a very PRish/damage control feel to them, IMO. My honest feeling from the interviews, was that AN was told after the fact.

Interestingly enough, of what I've seen, and I've tried to play close attention.... (if I missed something please let me know) aside from the very first article in late January where she confirmed that Josh was the fetus, Susan Lucci has NOT commented on the storyline.

Makes what you want of that.