
Within a few weeks,
All My Children will be turning over a new leaf, officially making the move west to new studios in Los Angeles. Most actors are making the move. Some are not. And today
ABC informed the head writer, Charles Pratt Jr., that he's been let go. If he had his suitcases packed, well, sorry about that.
Chuck Pratt was hired with some fanfare in June 2008. He was a big hire because his resume is filled with flashy successes, including
Desperate Housewives, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, Ugly Betty, Santa Barbara and
General Hospital, among others. Pratt was supposed to revive
All My Children to its former luster, but -- alas -- it hasn't happened.

After weeks of hype, scoops and spoilers, message board fodder and threats against columnists to not reveal a thing lest they be flogged and embargoed out of the business,
All My Children's big murder mystery kicked into high gear when it turned out that the victim was not really one of the characters on the cover of Soap Opera Digest.
For the network, all this was great.
ABC Daytime got a bump in the Nielsens and it seems the post-murder intrigue, i.e. whodunit, is keeping viewers DVR'ing, Soapnet watching, or just planning on watching during their lunch hours (like the old days). But getting back to the victim,
AMC had a chance to do something really bold and dramatic. Instead
head writer Chuck Pratt Jr. played it safe. More on the victim, including the name in case you don't know by now (yes, that's a warning), after the jump.