1) Michael Taylor has written lots of episodes for "The Dead Zone," some of them good, some of them bad.
2) Michael Taylor's episodes have all been under different showrunners; Michael Piller, then Karl Schaefer, now Tommy Thompson. Showrunners always rewrite scripts to suit the ongoing plotlines, support the established style of the series and for various other reasons. Someone's having a writer's credit for the episode only means he did a first draft of the script.
3) For whatever reason, it looks like the network has been forcing a lot of mandates on "The Dead Zone," from downplaying most ongoing plotlines to enforcing the psychic detective approach. They went so far as to demand the third-season finale be reshot and aired the following year to allow for standalones instead of an ongoing plotline. So I wouldn't put too much blame on the individual names. I'm honestly beginning to suspect the writers are just playing the hand the network deals them.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-11 12:03 am (UTC)Remember, Sean Piller is the one who wrote the Wesley-communes-with-Native-American-spirits-and-ascends-to-a-higher-plane episode of TNG.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-11 12:16 am (UTC)You mean Michael Piller.
Heh. I actually like that episode!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-13 11:16 pm (UTC)Wait, why am I surprised?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-14 08:01 pm (UTC)I totally need to make some ST:TNG icons.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-18 02:39 pm (UTC)2) Michael Taylor's episodes have all been under different showrunners; Michael Piller, then Karl Schaefer, now Tommy Thompson. Showrunners always rewrite scripts to suit the ongoing plotlines, support the established style of the series and for various other reasons. Someone's having a writer's credit for the episode only means he did a first draft of the script.
3) For whatever reason, it looks like the network has been forcing a lot of mandates on "The Dead Zone," from downplaying most ongoing plotlines to enforcing the psychic detective approach. They went so far as to demand the third-season finale be reshot and aired the following year to allow for standalones instead of an ongoing plotline. So I wouldn't put too much blame on the individual names. I'm honestly beginning to suspect the writers are just playing the hand the network deals them.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-18 04:02 pm (UTC)