All My Children Discussion Group -- MCTAVISH OR PRATT? WHO'S WORSE?

All My Children Discussion Group

Topic: MCTAVISH OR PRATT? WHO'S WORSE?

Topic Posted by: ReggieD
Date Posted: Tue Oct 27 23:55:22 2009
Additional Comments: Honestly in my opinion, it all started to go downhill for AMC when McTavish took over from 2003-2007. There are many stories that failed and characters that were killed off and destroyed by her and Frons. Now Pratt seems to be making McTavish's previous work seem tame!

I wanted to start a list of all the stories and characters each of them has ruined and compare both of them to see who is by far the worse HW AMC has ever had, but I feel so sick right now just as I'm typing this and can't really think right now. (Hope it's not H1N1) If any of you can list and remember the stories and character deaths the two HW have done, that'd be great.

Posted by: Ann Marie
Date posted: Fri Oct 30 22:04:21 2009
Message:
Anyone who would kill Dixie with poisoned pancakes wins.

Posted by: Maverick
Date posted: Thu Oct 29 19:39:52 2009
Message:

Both have had highs and lows, as have all HWs. However, McTavish has had more lows than Pratt.

McTavish did tell some terrific stories on AMC from 1992-95, and the show was highly successful, both critically and ratings-wise, during that period. She also did an amazing job on GL from 1995-96. However, since then, I have not been fond of anything she contributed to AMC (both additional stints), OLTL, or GH.

Pratt is not a fit for AMC, IMO. However, he was great on Santa Barbara and GH, as well as on various hit primetime shows.

Posted by: understatement
Date posted: Wed Oct 28 17:37:03 2009
Message:
During her stint as headwriter McTavish created an imbalance, putting undue emphasis on newbies like the Careys while popular vets languished on the back-burner. Pratt, to his credit, is too smart to make a mistake like that. He tries to showcase as many people as he can, vets included, and generally he's better at tying together storylines. The problem is, BOTH McTavish and Pratt have violated character history. McTavish turned Ryan into an abusive jerk and Tad into a sicko murderer, then killed off Dixie with poisoned pancakes. That was about as bad as it gets. But hey, Pratt has been guilty of character assassination, too. It was Pratt who turned Bianca into a selfish, unthinking, treacherous sister and Kendall into a slutty flake. It was Pratt who dumbed down Jake and Amanda. It was Pratt who totally destroyed Jesse's integrity. And it was Pratt who has demonized David to such an extent that I expect Vincent Irizarry to be sprouting horns and a tail, any day now. If I had to vote for AMC's WORST headwriter, yeah, McTavish would win...but Pratt is running a very close second.

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P.S. I'm sorry that you're not feeling well, ReggieD. Take care of yourself & get well fast!

Posted by: Rosebud1
Date posted: Wed Oct 28 13:04:04 2009
Message:
ICAM, w/Mistygrace--it has to be McTavish. Pratt has had some really good yrs as a writer & producer. The same can't be said about McT. She was lousy from the start & she wasn't the best actress either.

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Thanks Rosebud! ITA! I'm also hoping Pratt continues to write JR & Marissa!/mistygrace

Rosebud, you're being inconsistent. How can you say that when McTavish isn't allowed to write? Neither is Pratt. TPTB (Corp) tear apart all of their work so we don't actually see their writing. You're contradicting yourself, again.

McTavish was around longer than the last stint. She has been around longer than HWs have been shut out of the creative process. Again, that doesn't mean that HWs don't write or don't have a job! It simply means that they aren't as much a part of the process as they once were. I'm not the one being inconsistant. That would be those decison makers at the top of the food chain who made the decisions that created that problem. I'm going by McT's long term history here, not a few recent stints in the last 10 yrs. Notice I also said that she wasn't much of an actress before going behind the scenes. Fortunately, that hasn't always been the case w/soap writers who started out in front of the camera. eom

Posted by: mistygrace
Date posted: Wed Oct 28 7:36:37 2009
Message:

Sorry, but McTavish wins the prize here! Pratt actually started out pretty good with the tornado, & killing off Babe! I do like that Pratt writes JR more sympathetically, and I enjoyed yesterday's scenes with JR, & the other cancer patients! I'm just more interested in how JR is written, & I want to root for JR & Marissa, & I'm hoping she turns out to really be there for JR, & not be like her sister!