It has been rumored for months now that Charles "Chuck" Pratt Jr. had taken over the head writing duties on The Young & the Restless, but there was no official confirmation until yesterday, when the show tweeted the news. Pratt is also now taking on the role of executive co-producer, which means he will be working closely with showrunner Jill Farren Phelps.
The two have teamed up in the past on other daytime shows, such as General Hospital and Santa Barbara, and while Phelps is technically still in charge, fans are hoping Pratt will balance out some of her harsh decisions.
In the last year, Y&R has been hit with a boatload of controversy, making what was brewing behind the scenes a whole lot worse than anything they could have written for the fictional town of Genoa City. Phelps came to the show with the reputation of being a "soap killer" and it is more than a little interesting how, more often than not, after she leaves a show it ends up being canceled within a year or two. Phelps has an edgy kind of storytelling that often ignores the history of the characters on whatever show she is connected to, and that never sits well with longtime fans.
When taking over the reigns at Y&R, Phelps did what she so often has in the past: She fired extremely popular actors and brought in a handful of people she personally likes working with. She also makes it a habit to take strong female characters and turn them into wishy-washy victims. Needless to say, Y&R has lost a lot of viewers in the last year, and the ratings have been consistently dropping, so they need a quick fix.
Hopefully, Pratt will be just that.
Fans are no doubt hoping that Pratt will at least challenge some of Phelps's character assassination, and as the new head writer perhaps he will find a way to make old favorites seem familiar again.
Do you think that since Pratt has worked with Phelps before he will be the perfect one to help balance the scales of innovative storytelling without losing sight of the show's rich history?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
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