Another Day, Another Ridiculous Charles Pratt Interview

PREVIOUSLY on The People Who Run All My Children Should Be Muzzled In Order to Prevent Them From Giving Interviews (They Should Also Be Fired, But That Is A Story For Another Time), Charles Pratt referred to the backstage climate of his show as being similar to high school; insinuated that soon-to-debut cast member Jamie Luner is better than the people currently on the show; Julie Hanan Carruthers accused the AMC viewing population of being mental fanfiction writing crazies

IN TODAY'S INSTALLMENT: Charles Pratt talks to TV Guide's Michael Logan about why the much-hyped Bianca and Reese storyline failed so epically (spoiler: it had nothing to do with the person writing the story. The man behind the curtain is totes innocent!!!).

AMC head writer Chuck Pratt blames the mess on Riegel’s exit for pilot season.

OMFG,the same person who called his cast high schoolish is blaming an actress (A hugely popular, well-loved actress, at that) for the fact that his storyline was terrible.

“I was led to believe we had her for longer than we really did — suddenly I got word that Eden is leaving now,” he says.

I will do a dramatic re-enactment of this series of events:

CHARLES PRATT: (Writing an awesome story) I am so excited about this ground-breaking story I am writing.
TELEPHONE: (Ring, ring)
CHARLES PRATT: Hello? What?! She's leaving tomorrow? Oh no! Okay, I will do my best to wrap this up. Kissing a man and eventual blindness, here we come!

Honestly, I think this bothers me even more than any of his other interviews because of how blatantly insulting it is to the intelligence of everyone reading it. "I'll just tell them I had no clue that Eden had a short-term contract. They don't know nothing 'bout producing TV shows. They'll totally buy it!" And how was he led to believe that he had Eden for longer than they did? Who told him that? A unicorn?

(Also, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say that, fine, maybe Bianca leaving the show truncated his allegedly awesome vision. Why the hell was the rest of the story, dating back to Bianca's first appearance in October, crap from start to finish? RIDDLE ME THAT, MOTHEREFFER)

“We got to play everything we wanted to with Bianca and Reese but not in the time we’d hoped for — in my mind, it was a two-year story,” Pratt continues.

Pratt's mind is a very scary place indeed. "Horatio The Unicorn told me that Eden Riegel and Tamara Braun signed a contract staying with the show for 36 years! I can tell all the story I want!"

“I guess I could have rushed to the wedding earlier so that they’d have had more time together as a married couple and then had them break up, but I think the fans would have been even more unsatisfied with that.”

You know what fans would be REALLY unsatisfied with? Bianca getting pregnant with her brother-in-law's kid...OH WAIT, you already made that happen and are completely unapologetic about it. And way to be all "The fans are so mean, with their feelings and their complaining". Do you think I LIKE complaining about AMC? I DON'T. It makes me cranky and tired.

What if Braun had been willing to stick with AMC? “We discussed that possibility,” Pratt notes. “But if Tamara decided to stay, keeping her on the show as an angry lesbian — with no other lesbian characters on the canvas — would be kind of insane"

Yeah, "kind of insane" is a good way to describe referring to the ugly lesbian stereotype is kind of insane...oh, is that not what he meant by "kind of insane"?

Also, saying that there are no other lesbian characters, as if it would be totally impossible to, I don't know, create one, is kind of insane. "I'm just the head writer, I don't get to do things like bring new characters on canvas! That's just crazy talk!"

"So we thought about making Reese bisexual — kind of an Anne Heche who bounces back and forth —"

Please update your list of People, Places and Things Insulted By Charles Pratt and add "bisexual people" to it. "Bounces back and forth"? And since when does Anne Heche bounce back and forth between men and women? She's had one relationship with a woman, so again, WTFever, Pratt.

Also, I thought the very notion that Reese could be bisexual was completely false and only lived in the minds of the AMC viewers who misinterpreted months of the show and thought something was going on between Zach and Reese! Now they're saying it was something they thought about? SHOCKING.

"and maybe make her an opportunistic black widow, a real bad girl. And Tamara would have been really great at that. But, ultimately, we decided to stick with the message.”

And that would be? “That love wins out. Reese and Bianca will go back to France together,” says Pratt. “They will survive as a couple.”

He is the worst.

Comments

[Beth R.]

Seriously...since when is a lobotomy the prerequiste for head writer of a soap at ABC?

I....I...cant' even be approrpiately snarky as I do not think those words mean what he thinks they mean.

[AMCbrokemyheart]

Mallory, you are a Goddess. Pratt is an egotistical asshole with no grip on reality. I think his hair gel seeped into his brain. I hope Eden stays away from AMC for a long, long time. She deserves better than being tossed under the bus for his epic fail and his flavor of the month.

[Cate]

I want whatever Pratt, Carruthers, (and Guza) are smoking, because whatever it is it's the greatest hallucinogen of all time. Seriously how do incompetent morons with zero ability to write stories that are good and/or make sense gets these jobs?!

[Simone]

Reminds me of when Frons implied that Kathy Brier wasn't beautiful because her weight. Tact is not a strong suit of ABC executives and headwriters.

[ande mcbeal]

Please update your list of People, Places and Things Insulted By Charles Pratt and add "bisexual people" to it. "Bounces back and forth"?

BWAHAHAHAHA! Hopefully this will put an end to AMC getting any additional undeserved accolades from GLAAD.

[Gary]

Pratt is a disgusting slimeball. Throwing Eden under the bus to cover his butt for his miserable failure. Words cannot tell my total disgust for this moron. ER deserves much better than getting kicked in the teeth by this pathetic mutant.

[Kristen]

Brava Mallory!!! Brava!!

One more insulting interview to add to his pile. I'm beginning to think that Mr. Pratt is modeling Ryan Lavery after himself - let's blame everyone else for my failures without once looking in the mirror.

So now, let's blame Eden leaving after her short term contract as the reason why this story did not work. It couldn't be the fact that it seems the actresses were lied to about what this story was about, that Bianca was impregnated by her brother in law, and oh, kept it from her sister, and Reese seemed more interested in making time with Zach then she did with her own fiance?

But it's all the actresses fault that this entire story tanked, right?

I seriously hope the brass at AMC wake up and fire this guy. Between his poisenous pen and his iditoic comments, AMC is in deep trouble. Some major changes need to be made over there. The sooner the better.

[n69n]

its offensive on so many levels.

& can you imagine is we had to watch that flirtation btween REESE & ZACH for TWO YEARS?!?!?!

Chuck Pratt, you aint gonna have a JOB in two years!!!!

the gall, that he thinks that he, as a MALE HEAD WRITER, can publicly place the blame on a young woman who ISNT EVEN ON FULL CONTRACT is disgusting.

& that he goes right for the "angry lesbian" stereotype shouldnt shock me, since he loves to call female characters "bitch", "whore", "slut", etc.

[n69n]

i mean, this is the "writer" who couldnt think of ***anything*** to do with the characters of ERICA KANE & CARMEN except have them fight over JERKSON, culminating in ERICA ripping CARMEN's dress, CARMEN cursing her out en Español, running out of the room & disappearing from the show.

[Sarah]

I think there is something far more insidious than magic berry juice Monavie pimped pyramid schemes going on behind the scenes at ABC Daytime. No joke. It's like Pratt, Frons, Guza, Phelps and others are all part of some sick misogynistic homophobic racist moronic ageist retarded viewer hating and totally out of touch clan from hell. And that clan is running free on network TV. Where is the FCC when you really need them?

The fact that these insane offensive interviews are freely given by all of the above mentioned nut jobs over and over proves how fucked up this all really is. They have no shame, no sense, no responsibility and no class. With Frons at the helm how the hell will this ever get better? Or do we just wait for AMC and GH to die and get cancelled?

I can barely remember the good old days when my Soaps were a respite from daily life. I'm a junkie hooked on bad shit. I need rehab. But hanging on for Y&R and OLTL only makes it harder to quit AMC & GH. What to do??????

[kimbers]

Could this man be any more unprofessional? What will it take to make the people above him realize they have a head writer who hates not just the genre but the actors and the fans alike.

This has to be having an effect on the advertisers too- for all the money they are spending on commercials and product placement, I find it hard to believe that they really want to be associated with a man who has become so hated.

My question is this.What can we do with our anger and disgust with what's going on?

Is there a list somewhere of key people that we could be writing to expressing our love for the show and our sentiments about Pratt?

Pratt seems to have done what no one else has been able to do and that is to get all the different fan base segments to agree on something... That Pratt is the worst thing that has ever happened to this once great soap. If there was ever a time that the power of the viewers could end up making a difference, this could be it if we only knew who it would be most beneficial to contact.

[Tony D.]

It seems he's Pratt at this point is really on the defensive and I don't know if he is aware that his job is in jeopardy and its the Wild Wild West now at AMC. As Sarah said, there seems to be something far more going on than we have been speculating. I mean, what else can it be with these insane interviews. I really hope the bottom is ready to drop at ABC because that lineup needs it bad, from top to bottom

[Kels]

Is there a sign outside Frons' office with a person pointing to a line on a ruler & saying, "You must be this much of a jackass to work for ABC Daytime." Is there?!

"He's the worst."

Hmmm...I think he & Guza are in a heated competition for that title. Carlivati has his moments, however, he is but an apprentice to the masters of the art of douchebaggery.

[shouldawouldacoulda]

Awesome column Mallory, brava! I was hastening here to say something when I see my dear friend Kristen has already beat me to it. Pratt reminds me EXACTLY of Ryass Lavery; he never takes responsibility for anything he does. I could always take or leave ER until I had the pleasure of meeting her last month, what a charming person she is. And fan or not I always considered her a good actress; certainly deserving of better than Pratt and his BS. As another friend mentioned elsewhere, even I knew how long she had signed for, how is it possible that Prass didn't?????? Run, Eden, run!!! And best of luck with "Imaginary Bitches", the REAL ones are running AMC!

[izzi]

awesome, mallory, awe and them some!!!

[Mike]

Let's not forget - Guza and Pratt worked together for a while. They are two peas in a pod when it comes to how they view women, straight or gay. And they have the same writing skills - it's like watching hyperactive ten year olds writing about those 'dopey, disgusting girls' and switching ideas and stories from one minute to the next.

It amazes me how ABC in particular, seems to resent they have viewers. It's like they think they shouldn't be burdened with having to please an audience, like writing the show is all the about these men living out their bad writing fantasies and those pesky viewers keep screwing things up. Of course, GH simply ignores the viewers and keeps driving that car towards that dead end street of mob violence and misogyny. In fact, they press the pedal to the medal even more when viewers have the gall to complain. AMC goes the extra step of actually complaining about and insulting the viewers, and talking bad about the cast.

Isn't there anyone over Fronz who wonders what the hell is going on at ABC daytime?

[Mel]

OMG, your blog cracks me up. And I don't even watch AMC (and thank God daily for the fact that I never got hooked on it). Imagine what would happen if Charles Pratt and Bob Guza gave an interview together. The mind reels.

[Kellymac]

I don't even watch AMC any more and this got me riled up. I could feel your fury and SO agree with you. Pratt needs to be shot. He & Guza both. AMC & GH are circlin' the drain.

[biakbiak]

I think my favorite bit of lunacy in this interview is this quote:

[quote]“I guess I could have rushed to the wedding earlier so that they’d have had more time together as a married couple and then had them break up, but I think the fans would have been even more unsatisfied with that.”[/quote]

Instead I will make everyone happy by doing a wedding between someone who just made out with her soon to be brother-in-law and a woman who basically cut her sister out of her life that was attended by three people of importance and some random WTF, intercut with a loon driving off on a motorcycle to her death in a wedding dress and veil despite ample time to change, that will make the fans happy!!!!

[Wick]

Have you all seen this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZfS_ir5mF8

BRILLLIANT!!!! LMFAO!@@

[Miry]

Oh gosh yes, whoever this is: http://www.youtube.com/user/grrarrgghh
is freakin' brillz!!

Can't wait for Epi 3!!

[Generic Viagra]

To me, Charles Pratt is a moron, idiot, dumb-ass who don't really care about when it comes to speak crap on public about other people... this guy really got me on my nerves... did you hear what he said on radio last month about migrants?

[furosemide 40mg]

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