What is happing with the writing on the Quarter storyline

[Evianfan]

What is happening with this writing? How many ways could Quinn and Shauna have said it wasn't Shauna but Quinn who slept with Carter? They are talking to each other. Nobody talks the way they did today. It's annoying. It's that crazy Tyler Perry writing, and apologies to those who like TP. He's making his money, big ups for the brother, but the writing makes you want to beat your head against a wall. Repeating the same thing twenty different ways in five minutes doesn't move a story. It's horrid, and 95% of the writing for this storyline has gone downhill. When Quarter are talking to each other or when Quinn is talking about how things were for her and Carter, their connection, the heart of story, is great, but the writers won't stick with that. The ridiculous writing is going to kill this great storyline, and I don't want that.

There is thread on the board about the writers doing a prison story, when I first glanced at it, I thought it said, "These Writers Should Go to Prison." That was my first thought after another day of this writing. UGH!

[HaleNaw!]

I predicted this entire storyline in my head the moment Quarter hit the sheets. They’d screw a few times and then all parties in the know would REHASH THE DETAILS INTO THE GROUND. Quarter would act like spooked chickens, so terrified of being found out that they would repeat KNOW ONE CAN KNOW ABOUT THIS EVER while standing in the halls of forrester. Then some nosey busybody would overhear the idiots in the know and scene.

god, i swear bell writes this nonsense with a crayon.

[nykarenb]

This could have been an amazing story. The heat Quarter generated on screen was off the charts. They really should have played on that and not gone with Carter reuniting with Zoe and Quinn confiding in Shauna. They just should have had the two trying to fight it but unable to resist each other. It should have gone on for months. What they’ve done here is criminal. It’s like they don’t want there to be anything steamy on this show.

[SweetJade]

Bill could not have them outshine his boring pets. So he did this to the story sadly.

[SharikaC]

Since this is Bell after all, you just knew he will somehow screw up this storyline.... as he had many others. Any storyline with potential, Bell will find a way to screw it up. Carter/Quinn were the best thing to happen to this otherwise dull show in a very long time. Thanks to LSV and RS, they singlehandedly brought sexy back to a show, that has been lacking in that department for a very long time. Since they are outshining his pets (who couldn't generate any heat if you set them on fire), he couldn't have that. I haven't seen the show yet, but you can predict how it ends: very anti climatic. It's how Bell rolls. Like nykarenb said, Bell doesn't want anything steamy on the show. He clearly doesn't know his audience, which is why he needs to step down as headwriter.

[veryoldatwtfan]

Today’s dialog between Quinn and Shauna was written for the eavesdropping impaired. Say it 20 ways so the person rudely listening in will be sure to get the facts straight.

[TooFree4You]

If this ends this quickly it’s for the same reason black men and white women pairings don’t last on CBS…racism and prejudice. Quarter has been the most exciting arrangement Bold has had in AGES! There’s only so many times Liam came sleep with Steffy. Or that Brooke can kiss or sleep with Bill. Quinn is gorgeous and so is Carter. I don’t want Quinn begging Eric to save their marriage. Take half his money and get with Carter.

[cat_woman]

This could have been an amazing story. The heat Quarter generated on screen was off the charts. They really should have played on that and not gone with Carter reuniting with Zoe and Quinn confiding in Shauna. They just should have had the two trying to fight it but unable to resist each other. It should have gone on for months. What they’ve done here is criminal. It’s like they don’t want there to be anything steamy on this show.

I completely agree. Another missed opportunity. I would have much preferred they kept the secret and couldn't fight their feelings for each other. That could have gone on for weeks or even months. But it went rapidly downhill the minute Zoe walked into his bedroom unannounced and uninvited and instead of 5hrowing her out, Carter acted like poor Zoe was the victim.

[cat_woman]

Today’s dialog between Quinn and Shauna was written for the eavesdropping impaired. Say it 20 ways so the person rudely listening in will be sure to get the facts straight.

Yes, exactly. Shauna had to say "no one will ever know it wasn't me who slept with Carter, it was you" when "no one will ever know" would have been sufficient. That left no doubt for Paris to know what really happened.

[AnnMagda]

I just watched the show and thought the same thing! The poor writing and redundant dialogue was the first thing that really stood out to me on yesterday's show. It started within the first minute when Quinn told Eric, at length, how she loved watching and hearing him in action at work and how lucky she was to have him and so on. My immediate reaction was "every bit of this dialogue could have been cut out and replaced with a glance and a smile".

That's what I like about watching classic B&B episodes - the dialogue has subtext and doesn't hit viewers over the head with what a character is thinking in a scene. It leaves room for the actors to show the untold parts through their facial expressions, movements and tone of voice. As a contrast, I'd say that 80-90% of the dialogue on yesterday's show was unnecessary, leaving absolutely nothing to the actors' interpretation or the viewers' imagination. Most of it could easily have been replaced by nonverbal communication. Or, at the very least, they should have said the lines only once instead of five times.

It only makes it even more obvious that in episodes like this, very little actually happens. All the words in the world can't disguise that. There is no character development going on, and very little plot development. Paris overhearing Quinn and Shauna was the only thing in the entire episode that actually advanced the plot, and it happened in the last two minutes of the show. Cut out the redundant parts and we'd have a four minute episode.

Now, some filler scenes are probably unavoidable. But they can be written differently - if they don't move the plot forward, they should focus on expanding our understanding of the characters and their relationships. Each scene need to go somewhere, whether it's going forward in the storyline or going deeper into the characters.

What is so frustrating to me is that I would expect these to be very BASIC rules of creative writing. Like, something you can't NOT know if you are a scriptwriter. That leaves me feeling disrespected as a viewer because I feel like I'm being cheated out of the good story and the interesting characters that could have been.

I guess it's watching old clips that has made me feel so strongly about this. Because I KNOW this show can do so much better. And I keep hoping it will, which is so frustrating.

[lonelygirl]

l believe Quarter would still be shacking up now if they hadn't been interrupted by Zoe of all people. lt's Quinn who ENDED it so Carter slithers back to Zoe hoping she'll take him back and she did. Carter can't get Quinn out of his mind, he's faking it with Zoe, he thinks being with her will make everything better. But if he really loves her he wouldn't lie to her like this. You can't keep a secret for long. This ending is gonna end in tears.