What if Meghan McCarthy didn't leave FIM?

[FlareGun45 2,221]

Meghan McCarthy left the head-writing position after season 4, and even though she was kinda around in season 5, it was season 6 when she left and Josh Haber went in charge.

If Meghan stayed, that means no Josh Haber head-writer, no Lady Writers, and no Nicole Dubuc in that position. She stays the WHOLE TIME all the way to season 9!

How would you think the show would turn out if she decided to decline her promotion as Hasbro's Head of Storytelling, and decided to stay as head-writer of FIM?

[Megas 27,550]

>Season 7 as it is might not exist 

but

>Newbie Dash might not exist 

I mean, in short, my answer is “better”, most know how I feel as Josh Haber as Story Editor. There’s a lot I could go on about what could have happened if she stayed, but i’ll Just leave it to this: Season 7 my favorite season in the entire show, but I’d gladly give it up just for the chance of wiping Newbie Dash, and the chance of making RD becoming a Wonderbolt a good episode 

[Jeric 46,850]

3 hours ago, FlareGun45 said:

Meghan McCarthy left the head-writing position after season 4, and even though she was kinda around in season 5, it was season 6 when she left and Josh Haber went in charge.

If Meghan stayed, that means no Josh Haber head-writer, no Lady Writers, and no Nicole Dubuc in that position. She stays the WHOLE TIME all the way to season 9!

How would you think the show would turn out if she decided to decline her promotion as Hasbro's Head of Storytelling, and decided to stay as head-writer of FIM?

That’s an oversimplification of her role. While she focused on the film, she was still very much in the loop, involved, and responsible for Pony as the Head of Storytelling for Hasbro. This was further reinforced by the fact that she was an EP on Equestria Girls after Rainbow Rocks. She was included on all facets of FiM development since she oversaw all of the things. 

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

Pretty sure Meghan still had a lot to do with the show as she was head of storytelling or whatever, so a lot of things still had to go through her. That said, I voted about the same but can see a lot of areas where it would be worse. She butchers Pinkie Pie every time she writes for her, she doesn't understand power continuity and will lessen the feeling of a powerful character to rise another (Chrysalis v Celestia) (Discord v Tirek) and generally isn't all that great at other characters as well besides Twilight (whom I still think Haber does better)

I think Haber and Dubuc have done a wonderful job honestly and am fine without Meghan

Edit: Just realized you said no lady writers

yeah no. Get outta here Meghan.

Edited August 12, 2019 by RyanMahaffe

[Them's Seeing Ponies 282]

Whilst I consider seasons 6-9 weaker than 4-5, I've often felt that the seasons in the latter category display a number of severely problematic aspects which may have sank the show regardless of Meghan's continued presence, most notably the near-consistently haphazardous nature of Pinkie's characterization (S4 was arguably the genesis of Pinkie's degradation from a quirky and enigmatically self-aware (and hilarious) optimist into a more bombastic, inconsiderately loud, ADD-addled and religiously wacky cartoon gag machine - this is particularly pronounced during S4 as the other M6 (even Twilight to an extent) were depicted as largely in-character within most of Pinkie's most egregiously flanderized appearances to the effect of drawing further attention to her flawed depictions in these cases) outside of a handful of focus episodes and the increasing reliance on the simplistic aim of creating an impact over focusing on more delicate storytelling or well-balanced characterization (which the preceding seasons prioritized and, in turn, were rewarded with global popularity for, which I suspect may explain the divisive nature of seasons 3-5 to the brony fandom at the time). Just look at Princess Twilight Sparkle or Magical Mystery Cure  - both are arguably entertaining in a broad, popcorn-flick manner, yet fall apart upon closer examination to reveal surprisingly insubstantial stories which utilize a series of similar ploys - fanservice, atmospheric direction, major status quo shifts, large-scale yet straightforward plots (as opposed to the more intricate plotting of Return of Harmony  or the unorthodox structure of The Best Night Ever) with high stakes or increasingly menacing villains and (including, although not confined to, the latter case) grandiose, elaborate musical numbers bluntly celebrating the power of friendship in an increasingly vague way (while Twilight's Kingdom essentially employs this formula in its most effective form, the ending number is the stereotypical example of this).

While deviations from this formula clearly exist (The Cutie Map being the most notable), the success of episodes of Princess Twilight Sparkle's basic mold gradually escalated until, by season 5, numerous plot-relevant episodes follow a similar basic formula where an air of grandiosity and reams of fanservice and other aforementioned elements are pasted atop relatively thin plots to disguise their structural weaknesses (the show's increasingly nebulous interpretation of friendship and the overly easy way in which goals or resolutions are achieved, both of which seemingly undercut the most unique themes of the earliest seasons, which conversely portrayed friendship in a more specific and realistic manner adverse to the false and overly bowdlerized depictions of the subject in other girls' TV shows of its era), which, at times, veered dangerously close to becoming the type of show the FiM of old would parody. Thusly, by the time of The Cutie Re-Mark and, eventually, the movie, the actual story and substance within the formula had worn thin to the point where even their virtues as frivolous entertainment had become limited, and I feel that type of direction is most likely the way the show would have orientated itself going forward had McCarthy remained directly involved for S6 and onwards.

As it stands, the McCarthy seasons do contain notable examples of these elements working well (Twilight's Kingdom) , numerous episodes lack such issues altogether and the spirit of S4-5 remains closer to the Faust seasons than the more didactic feel of the latter four seasons, but I maintain the show would reach approximately a similar level of quality by now under McCarthy to its current state. 

Edited August 23, 2019 by Them's Seeing Ponies

[Plonkett 345]

It's not just McCarthy, it's also the lack of other writers like Larson and Rogers. Had they not given up on the show we would've see a lot more quality episodes.

[Kadeda 178]

Some weird mold between about the same and better in my opinion. It's hard to say honestly. The later seasons do have really cool things in them but pinky flanderization is a huge problem. I feel like she would have focused on not doing that.

[JMTV99 1,352]

In a perfect world, we would've more quality episodes if Megan was still in charge. Honesty, Season 6 would've been so much better if Meghan was still there as a the story editor for FiM instead of Josh Haber. Nothing against Josh, he wrote some decent episodes in Season 4, but as the story editor, he doesn't really do it for me.

Meghan, on the other hand, there's something about her writing style really grew on me and I really like it a lot. Not only that, other fan favorite writers like M.A Larson, Amy Keating Rogers, Cindy Morrow, Dave Polsky, and Corey Powell would've stayed till the very end instead of moving on to other projects. 

In my opinion, that would make Season 6-9 infinitely better than what we got right now. Oh well. at least Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco gave us good quality episodes in the later seasons.

[Tom Gallagher 33,581]

I’m not the type of brony who gets all hung up on who was in charge of what at a certain time period but I did see McCarthy’s name pop up a few times on a lot of the great episodes so would it have been better than it already is if she stayed?   I think so.