I'll agree that Pratt (1) doesn't know when to quit throwing rocks at characters like Zach, and once Kendall is awake, her too, and (2) takes a good idea and beats it to death by dragging it on too long, overexposing it (hello, Annie) and throwing everything and the kitchen sink in. With any other HW, I'd say he's insecure, but I get the impression he wants to shock and awe me into watching. Funny, though, that I feel less like watching and more like finding a new hobby, especially when I hear something's coming up on a particular day that I don't want to see. Why would I TIVO that?As for Zach and the rocks being thrown at him, at some point I have to see the man start to fight back, and I'm not seeing that. For months, it's been all pelting, and with the events of this week still to come, he'll be beaten some more. Pratt is missing the fundamental element of Zach starting to fight back, and yelling at doctors and nurses doesn't count. It's not enough to say that he can't start to do that until Kendall's out of the coma. He can start to show some frustration with his houseguests and their self-centered problems and silly remarks about keeping secrets and telling lies. He can demonstrate that he's bothered that Bianca went ahead with her pregnancy and didn't think to tell him. He can start to react to them in a more realistic, less complacent way.I'm disappointed in the David storyline and not just because he's focused on Babe all the time. I don't understand his reasons for going after Krystal. Does he have real feelings for her or not? He and Amanda are good together but Pratt won't go there except to make her a piece of meat. Could all these stories be told better if Pratt put less distractions in them? You betcha. But he tried to do too much at once and it keeps going. It's a turnoff.

IMO Pratt puts way too much shock and awe into his writing to further a plot and forgets about preserving the characters' growth and integrity. While this type of writing might work in Primetime, it fails miserably in Daytime.He also brings way too many new characters on without giving the audience a clearly developed history and their connection to the characters we are familiar with. These characters are strangers and thus their stories, their trials and tribulations are of little interest to a long time viewer like myself.Pratt also fails to mark special moments in a favorite character's history. The tribute to Eileen Herle/Myrtle Fargate is clearly an exception, because it was one of the best shows on AMC in a long time and I do believe that members of the cast, especially Thorsten Kaye/Zach, had a lot to do with it's format and writing. However that tribute, unfortunately, was an exception not the rule. The Holiday shows on AMC in 2008 were nothing but doom and gloom. There was no joy just death, mourning, betrayal, adultery, insanity. New Year's Eve to me was one of the greatest disappointments. The character of Zach would never have forgotten NYE while his wife Kendall is in a coma and he most certainly would not have spent it with anyone else, but Kendall. NYE marks the beginning of their amazing love story. In 2005 Megan McTavish, the then HW of AMC, wrote a wonderful NYE story for Zach and Kendall, that I have watched a hundred times over. The beauty of those scenes, the magical romantic charisma of the performances by both TK and AM, cannot IMO be surpassed by anything to date on AMC. I know I'm not alone in this. Instead of having Zach remember a minute of that night in flashback form, Pratt chose to put Zach in the middle of his failing lesbian story with the character of Reese and Bianca and ended it with a highly debated platonic kiss between Zach and Reese. It boggles the mind why? There is no chemistry between Zach and Reese, platonic or otherwise. Reese is one of those characters that I do not care about. She actually annoys me and I want her gone, because she wastes my screen time with Zach, who I do care about. She usurps Zach's time with boring platitudinal dialog, her questionable sexual orientation is of little interest to me, since she is a stranger, and her flirtatious behavior with a man grieving his dying wife is in very poor taste . The whole idea of inserting the character of Zach, portrayed by one of the most talented actors in the industry, into this lesbian debacle IMO was one of the biggest mistakes Pratt has made to date. The lesbian love story could have been truly groundbreaking and would have peaked my interest, if it wasn't bastardized by this obnoxious OOC use of Zach for shock and awe value. Pratt had the potential of using TK's amazing talents with a front burner story for Zach while Kendall is in a coma, befitting the cunning multi-layered Casino owner, but instead made him a prop to a pair of self-absorbed pathetic women.I chose to celebrate NYE on AMC by watching one of the most memorable romantic events in the show's history and marked it with an appropriate banner.A HAPPY AND SAFE 2009 TO EVERYONE!

Diva, I salute your post...AMC Christmas show and the NYE show sucked.... Poor writing, poor editing, and pure garbage...X-Mas, a time of hope, a time of joy, was nothing but gloom, doom, and disgusting with the slight exception of Kendall, which was ruined for the most part by the prescene of Reeks..Christmas was about showing that Ryan really is the most disgusting, vile, useless character in daytime..First, he gets rid of his daughter, whose suffering the loss of her mother, and then proceeds to have sex with GL, the woman who helped him drive his wife, Emma's mother insane, in Annie's home....Second, you have Krystal getting rid of her kids, to burn down her home, so that she could spend the night with David...not her husband..Third, you have Amanda getting JR to hit the bottle while Lil A was in the bedroom...Then, we have Reeks sucking up the tube.... Very short sweet scenes of Kendall watching Zach and the boys, but the infestation of Reeks ruined it for me...Yes, AM is on her honeymoon and Kendall is in a coma, but GMAB...NYE sucked to high heaven... The writing sucked, the editing sucked, everything sucked..It was bad enough they have Zach beingthe daddy to BOB, but to make him the on in the middle of the so-called lesbian story is just beyond ridiculous.... Hell, any man in btw Reeks would be ridiculous.What that tells me is that Pratt had no faith in TB/ER and no faith in himself to write the story, so he went with this crap, and it's pushing viewers away...What I would have loved to see the Martins celebrating Christmas together with family and friends.... The Hubbards...Zach and the boys visiting Kendall with Erica all with hope for a miracle...anything but what we are getting..After reading what Pratt intends to do in 2009, I fear AMC will not survive Mr. Pratt and his version of AMC..I mean, Ryan is a good guy, hero...GMAB... Zach/Kendal/Ryan in yet another triangle that no one wants.... Even if there was no Zach, I would not want Kendall anywhere near Ryan...Josh is getting killed off after kidnapping Reek... I hate Reese, but why is she in the middle of this crap..Amanda pregnant by David, Jake, or JR????? Another WTD x3GL dead and Zach to blame.... When is Zach not to blame..I can see it now... Kendall will be ruined along with Zach to give Frons/Pratt fav character Ryan something to do because without someone propping/pimping Ryan what is there for him to do..I just have little hope that AMC will survive CP... Hell, you would not believe that fans screaming for McTavish return and that is how bad the stroies are...I just hope something changes soon, but IMHO, the change that ABC/AMC needs is a changing of the guard..Frons needs to go..... He's been a failure at ABC daytime... Along with Carruthers and Pratt...They need a HW who knows AMC, respects history, respects the characters and can tell the difference btw an actors popularity and the popularity of the character they play..One who doesn't depend on shock, sensationialism and plot deviced to push stories..McT failed after a few years...B&E went bad after a few months, but Pratt screwed up from the get go...Scary.... I don't want to see AMC cancelled, but I really can't find any reason to watch because everything sucks so bad...

Why am I not surprised that they are going to kill Josh??

Diva you have exquistely articulated what Mr. Pratt has done wrong. I am in awe of the fact Mr.Pratt has one of, if not the most talented cast in daytime, Thorsten Kaye, Alicia Minshew, David Canary, Vincent Irizarry, Bobbie Eakes,Susan Lucci and Michael E Knight, to name a few but he has not been able to capitalize on that talent. Why?He has ruined Bianca by giving Eden Riegel the most offensive and disgusting storyline. Placing Thorsten Kaye in the middle of yet another inane storyline involving sperm is embarassing to watch. I cannot imagine how embarassing it is to act. I don't know what the intent was of the writer to present this storyline but all it accomplished was the destruction of two beloved characters. There's much damage control that needs to be done.How can you have the most talented cast members and write such awful storylines? How do you waste the talents of Ricky Paul Goldin, David Canary, Jill Larson and Michael E. Knight? Why do you need new characters? Reese is unwatchable. She is pale a very pale, substitute for Thorsten Kaye 's leading lady, Alicia Minshew. There is zero electricity or even a spark between them. He deserves someone who can match his energy and be a supporting lady when he is front and center in a scene ; Alicia Minshew instinctively knows this and allows him his time front and center. I cannot wait for her return even though I think it is sadistic that her character has to face all the gloom and stupidity of her husband and sister. Not to mention the intrusion of an obnoxious stranger, Reese, into her home. I hope Reeks moves out as soon as she comes home. The Annie sl is interminable. Lock her up and be done with it. Just because the actress is doing a fair job with the storyline is no reason to keep the character who is just too far gone for any amount of redemption.There is no cohesivness about the show. It's about nothing. All the beloved characters are ruined because their integrity has been denied by the writing. It's the worst soap on TV and I see no future for it in the hands of the present writing regime. But the thought of another writer coming on and putting their spin on things is unthinkable. I believe the changes that need to be made should ones that change the upper eschelon of administration. When a football or hockey team fail miserably, the entire team doesn't get canned the manager does. It's time for a management change at ABC daytime. It's really sad when in order to enjoy your favorite show, you need to watch shows from three years ago.

Kudos Cararn...I truly believe that changes at the very top would help ABC daytime in general...To the fans, Frons is known as the "Destroyer" of ABCD...AMC can be fixed, but it seems that either they don't want to fix it or are clueless about how to fix it..Here's a clue: Get rid of what doesn't and hasn't worked in years..Characters that are no longer interesting and have no use.. * Ryan Lavery: Yes, CM is popular, but what exactly is Ryan's use??? He has no connection to any of the characters, with the exception of his sperm donations... Ryan is the most hated character in daytime, yet TPTB continue to push this character front & center, while fans scream for him to go.. Every single storyline he is involved in is a major flop...so why keep this character.. * Newbies: The mass infestation of newbies is driving me crazy... The only new character that is remotely interesting is Brot... Taylor shines in scenes with Brot, but with Jake, not so much... I get Frankie because he is Jangies kid, but Randi, come on... Focus on the Martins, Chandlers, Kane, Slaters and bring new characters in slowly.. * Shock & Sensationialism along with plot devices fail... Write a good, character driven story that doesn't make the viewers say, "WHo the hell is that".... * Respect the shows wonderful history and the history of the characters......For the life of me, I just don't get why they don't get this..I want to watch AMC..not some cheap, tacky version of what it once was...I see more and more people getting fed up and tuning out...and after reading Pratt's ideas for s/l in 09', I just don't see it getting better...* Amanda pregnant with either David, Jake, JR baby....GMAB..* Another Zen/Ryan triangle... Can't they come up with something better than this.. .Been there, done that, and failed the last 5 times... Why can't Kendall be allowed to stand up to her abuser???? Why does Pratt/Frons see the character of Ryan as a hero, when he's an abusive [censored] who just makes no sense anymore..* Adam/KWAK/David triangle: ANother useless triangle. I love Dr. Dave, but this crap with KWAK is just boring...> BE, VI, DC are terrific, give them something interesting and makes sense..I've heard from many who are tuning out and upset about it because they just will not watch another year of redux stories with characters they hate propped at the expense of the show, characters, couples..Pratt has failed from the get... He can fix it, but it's almost like he doesn't want too..I love AMC...Love the actors/actresses that work their butts off and do an excellent job, but it's getting to the point that even the actors/actresses can't keep the fans tuning in... Not with the shock/sensationalism writing....I fear for AMC.... I really do..Someone tell me why Brian Frons still has a job when ABCD is in the tank and continues to sink further with him at the helm???