Politics. The word is so charged and laden with emotional baggage that many people wisely leave the room at its mere utterance. Give it a try, and if you’re anything like most people, the images it conjures in your mind are probably fairly predictable (and not at all unreasonable): Angry people yelling at each other, often-rigged popularity contests, and above all, disingenuous, unscrupulous individuals more concerned with attaining positions of power than with faithfully carrying out the responsibilities that are supposed to come with it.
It may surprise you to hear, then, that – of all things – the inner workings of soap operas are surprisingly similar to this latter aspect of politics. All too often, favors and status from personal friends result in the appointing of someone to a role of some stewardship over a soap that the named person in no way deserves. Today we discuss one such example, in the infamous person of Charles Pratt, Jr.
Of course, for soap opera fans, this man needs no introduction. A writer of influence for some time on All My Children, he was commonly ridiculed by viewers, who liked to joke that he “couldn’t write a grocery list”. His style and the content of his stories left it plain that he neither understood the show for which he was writing, nor cared about its integrity. Susan Lucci and Michael E Knight are among the AMC alum known to have criticized Pratt, and even to have approached him with protestations that their characters were being egregiously mishandled, all to no avail. Fed up, fans even launched an online petition, collecting digital signatures to demand that Pratt be removed as a writer.
So naturally, he’s now an Executive Producer on The Young and The Restless.
I’m afraid you read that right. Not only has Pratt never been punished for his careless attitude toward the show he was entrusted to guide and protect, he’s now been rewarded with a promotion. In addition to the fact that this is simply outrageous, it’s also a threat to another beloved soap, and it must be treated as such. This monster, who obviously couldn’t care less about the soul of the shows he works on, must not be allowed to do to Y&R what he did to AMC.
Fans must make their voices heard, speaking clearly and unequivocally their rejection of Charles Pratt, Jr, and be clear that they will not patronize his involvement. It’s his job to protect this show, but we already know he’s not going to do it. And that means it falls to us!
By Eternalendrea