mikelyons

I'm still waiting for soaps to give us a full integrated, functioning Asian family on soaps. We've had a stray character here, a product of a liaison from the Vietnam War there, but I want a dynamic family from Asia who are either working class & on the up or the richest family in town. Also, can we please get black characters out of apartments and condos? Like, if you're a doctor or executive, you should instantly have a two-story house on a soap! Dru and Neil's apartment always drove me MAD.

Let's add drug addicted black women to this list (YoHarmony; Jamal's mother on AMC)... Pious Latin mothers who have to pray to the Virgin & have at least one son who is a police officer... (and I LOVED the Vegas). (Pilar & Carlotta) Yeah... The whole hood sibling thing is spot-on and oh so... Cringeworthy. But after the hood sibling becomes reformed, they marry up and do well! I will say, AMC did race pretty well until 1995 when Disney bought ABC (so many ills in ABC Daytime can be traced back to that purchase...) If I remember correctly, Angie's parents on AMC were doctors (or at least her father was a doctor). Taylor Roxbury Cannon was a mean, nasty spiteful woman who people just loved to hate. Derek Frye & Livia Frye were just wonderful. Terrance Frye was so sexy! We can't forget Mimi!! Lucas Barnes was a great addition to Pine Valley, too. An Li's initial story was that she "had" to marry Brian Bodine to stay in the country, but she has more than happy to do it, if not to spite Hayley. The Santos family was a welcome addition to the canvas because it gave us Maria & Edmund (they were so freaking sexy!) and Hayley and Mateo. With the introduction of Noah and the way Julia literally cowered from him in the first scene after she ran away after the tornado were cringeworthy & should never be seen again. By 1996, most of the black characters would start moving off the canvas and, well, we all know what happened next.

I think Agnes was a bit more "woke" than Bill Bell. At least her black characters had rounded, interesting lives, were integrated with the canvas, and knew how to read. Dru (Y&R) and Dayzee (B&B) were from the classic Bell trope of black women not knowing how to read & having to be educated. Also, streetwise street urchins. Having minority characters as best friends and talk-to's is a trope of which all soaps carry collective shame. I love how a soap may have one or two non-white actors, but as soon as they need a police officer or thug, they have every black or Latino actor on set; the same when they need a doctor or accountant...here comes every Asian actor with an agent. It's sickening. The re-casting of Blair (OLTL) as a white woman was offensive to a lot of OLTL viewers. When Kassie burst onto the canvas with a Southern accent, people were like, "What?!? I forgot about "Kong".

Agreed. I loved the character, but I hated her name. By the way, is she still on her cruise?

I thought it was problematic as a 11 year old kid in 1994! I could never figure out why Mamie's name was so close to "mammy" when that was the crux of the relationship with the Abbotts. Couldn't they have named her Joan or Anne? I disliked it then and I dislike it now vis-a-vis the fantastic Y&R re-runs from the 80s & 90s.

I've been in the Bell archives a number of times and have never seen the original bible. I guess I need to make a few phone calls... 😉

Thanks for sharing! If he handed out copies, maybe someone will find a copy at a yard sale in LA or Chicago. I'd pay for a copy of the Y&R bible.

The quality on this episode has degraded significantly. What a shame. I'm glad to have the original VHS direct from Sony's master of this episode.

I've looked through my notes, etc. and I can't find a single image of the Y&R bible. I have images/notes of the following bibles: LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING, ANOTHER WORLD, ALL MY CHILDREN, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, RAGS (THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL), and several unaired soaps in the collection. My guess is that they did a verbal pitch and then churned out the first five scripts for Y&R (those scripts encompass one day in Genoa City). Here's all I have from the original scraps of paper which lay out the foundations of Y&R: - The show was meant to progress two years in the first week (eat that, Ron!) - The original locale for the show was meant to be Chicago - Phillip was the husband of Alison, a "young" mother of 41. (Note: Written next to Alison's character description is "unless Bette Davis is available..."). In this iteration, Phillip and Alison had been married for ten years. He died of a heart attack two years ago (the first week of the show) - although he was healthy - and established a trust for (Liz? - illegible!) and daughters. (Note: Alison became split into Jennifer Brooks and Kay Chancellor.) - Liz (19, young, heartful.) Since her father's death two years ago, Liz has been in Europe for two years at school - girl very (def... - illegible) at her father. (Note: This iteration of Liz seems to have become Jill & Sally) - Jan (23, more bland, not attractive but Laura-type.) (Note: She appears to have become Chris.) - Brock Camden (25, intern. Dates Alison, has an eye for Jan.) (Note: Brock would become Snapper with the name "Brock" being recycled.) - Brad Camden (16, student. Younger brother of Brock.) - Marcello (Around 38, wants to marry Alison.) (Note in margin: Brother who left country because of draft.) - Junior Camden (Note: Undefined. Nothing written about him.) (The Camden brothers seem to have been morphed into the Brooks sisters & Greg and Snapper Foster.) - Liz becomes pregnant and doesn't know whose baby it is. Goes to Brock for help. "You do this and I will marry you." - Liz drinks too much at times. A girl in search of a father image. Little relationship between mother and daughter in past two years. - Phillip will one day marry Jan, but he'll forever be vulnerable to Liz. - Liz wants only what that appears out of reach... Proposed Titles for The Young and the Restless (circa 1972): - YOU’RE ONLY YOUNG ONCE - THE INNOCENT YEARS - DESTINY - UNTAMED - BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE - THE BEAUFITUL PEOPLE - JET SET - THE SWEET AND TRAGIC YEARS - TO LOVE EACH DAY - MAY WE LOVE EACH DAY - THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL - THE YOUNG AND THE INNOCENT - THE WORLD WE LIVE IN (shaded with a black pencil for prominence) - WHERE LIES OUR DESTINY - THE INNOCENT YEARS Episodes 1-5 are entitled: “YOUNG AND RESTLESS YEARS” EPISODE 1 Title on the cover of Episode #1: “YOUNG AND RESTLESS YEARS” Original line SALLY: (MORE TO HERSELF)How awful to be stuck in a place like Genoa City…during our young and restless years. THEME UP AS WE DISSOLVE TO OPENING BILLBOARD… The following was edited by Bill Bell in red pen. SALLY: (MORE TO HERSELF) Kind of a drag, isn’t it. Stuck in a place like Genoa City. (BEAT) God, I feel so restless. THEME UP AS WE DISSOLVE TO OPENING BILLBOARD… COMMERCIAL “PIERRE’S” original name was “FRENCHY” EPISODE 2 “JILL” appears in Episode #2 Episodes 1-5 encompass the same day. From Episode 6 until now all scripts are entitled “THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS” EPISODE 7 The Foster home (kitchen/living room) are referred to as the Larson kitchen/living room. Chris calls Liz “Mrs. Larson.” Greg comes home to visit in this episode. EPISODE 8 The Larson’s are back to being the Fosters’. Found outline for Episode 11: EPISODE #11 - TAPE DATE: MONDAY, MARCH 26 - AIR DATE: APRIL 9, 1973 KAY LENARD - OUTLINE

The character was always written as "Kay" in Y&R scripts & production material, never as "Katherine". She was only called "Katherine" if it was in a character's dialogue.

Yep. But I will say the beginning of her first Y&R return by telling Scotty the story in her return episode was chilling. It kinda went downhill after that.

That timeline seems accurate to me. Maybe Screen Gems/Corday didn't want him to leave DAYS & sweetened the pot for long term story projects. This may not be appropriate for this thread, but I saw a letter from Bill Rega congratulating Bill on the first hour long episode of DAYS in autumn of 1974. Do we know if Bill wrote that for sure?

Only if you make the trek to UCLA. I've heard of folks getting scrips scanned and emailed to them from UCLA, but you might want to see what their policies are right now. Since I live in Los Angeles, it's easier to go to the archive when necessary.

This is from 1988. Smith states that he and Kay Alden are head writing Y&R. Could it be that after B&B launched, Bill Bell let Alden & Smith execute his vision while he was busy getting B&B up and running? We know that Smith wrote Y&R and B&B at the same time during this period. It seems Smith went to B&B full-time after Bell came back to Y&R and B&B was "settled". Conjecture, of course, but any insight is ALWAYS welcome.

I think this "Series Idea" heading is merely to state that the original ALL MY CHILDREN bible is in the collection. However, I'm more than willing to imagine an ALL MY CHILDREN from 1970-75 under Bill Bell. The wonders he would have done with Erica/Chuck/Phillip/Tara. (I got chills just typing that!)

🤣🤣🤣 I know 2005 is generally considered as the end of the second golden age (or the VERY end of it), I loved this period. Ashley B. as Mac is always a treat. As an actress, she was one of the few younger actors who could go head to head with Jeanne Cooper, Jess Walton, and the established Y&R crew.

With regard to his archive, I think the Bells donated the archive prior to Bill's last Y&R episode which may account for the gap. From what I can recall about Bill at DAYS, he did last until (at least) 1977 because that was the end of his DAYS contract with Screen Gems. He would supply Pat Falken Smith with the long term story which she would breakdown into monthly, weekly, and daily story. Maybe, by this time, she was listed as head writer and he as story consultant. People on this site have noted that around 77-78, the quality of DAYS fell a bit which may also coincide with Pat Falken Smith going over to GH and working on Luke & Laura. I'm not a student of DAYS, so pardon any gaps!

I've always found Bill Bell & Agnes Nixon's relationship interesting. He claimed in his Academy interview that he barely knew her, but from my research, it appears he wrote under Agnes in the late-50s while Agnes head wrote THE GUIDING LIGHT. Additionally, if he barely knew Agnes, why is her AMC bible in his archive? SO. MANY. QUESTIONS!

Joshua S. McCaffrey was a former Y&R intern who became a script writer for Y&R in 1997. He left the show in 2007 (LML fired him) and went to B&B. However, Brad became fixated on him and fired him for no good reason. I don't think Joshua has written for daytime since being sacked from B&B. Natalie Minardi Slater was a former Y&R intern as well and she became a script writer and breakdown writer (1998-Present). Before Jack Smith was elevated to head writer, many suspected Minardi Slater was being groomed by Alden to eventually become Y&R's head writer. With the additions of Minardi Slater and McCaffrey in 1997-8, it seems Alden was building out a younger subset of the writing team to coincide with the transition from Bell's era to hers. It's amazing how many soap people from the 70s came out of children's television. I wonder why that was a thing...

Thanks for this wonderful write-up! I was watching LOVING last night and I realized, the "L" in the original logo is an open heart on its side. Very clever!

I forgot Lily wiped out Neil and that Ashley B. returned as Mac for a year.

From documents I've obtained, Bill had a contentious relationship with the WGA from the 60s with regard to the international royalties from DAYS. He chaffed at writing long term story and daily outlines for the show, but having to pay his dialogue writers 50% of his take-home pay. He resisted the same calculation with his international royalties for DAYS. If I remember correctly, Bill wasn't a remember of the WGA for many years because he didn't want to become a scab writer on Y&R. (I wish I'd made a note of that source!) This makes sense to me, especially in the first year of Y&R when he was largely writing the show alone with the help of a few dialogue writers from DAYS. Bill wrote ATWT with Irna until they created ANOTHER WORLD and then he was placed on DAYS. @Paul Raven The producer Sherman is referencing could be Fred "Freddie" Bartholomew. He produced AS THE WORLD TURNS for Benton and Bowles from 1971-73 and then 1980-81. Since Bartholomew had been the VP of Benton and Bowles and produced and/or directed EON, ATWT, and SFT, he may be our guy. Sherman was a bit of a fox! https://books.google.com/books?id=3t5zDrReoyQC&pg=PA275&lpg=PA275&dq=Sherman+Magidson+as+the+world+turns+1973&source=bl&ots=dA52NCwB9G&sig=ACfU3U2kQJcLQ5zG0rZe1QNJtYZ0fuTWXQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1yqy688HpAhVCqZ4KHYFoCyYQ6AEwCnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Sherman Magidson as the world turns 1973&f=false

I believe so!!

According to one of the DAYS history books, it seems (and someone **please** correct me if I'm wrong), that Harrower left Y&R for DAYS.

Thanks for sharing this article! I remember seeing Sherman's name as a consultant on Y&R scripts as late as 2004. From what I've been told by credible sources, Kay Alden was very much running the writer's room on Y&R from the early-90s. Bell supplied the long term story, but Kay was responsible for executing the long term story, working with the breakdown writers, and editing the final scripts. By the time she took over in 1998, it was a formality. Also, when John F. Smith was promoted to head writer, he'd been serving as head writer, but wasn't credited as head writer. Associate Head Writer Kay Alden (1980-1997) Head Writer Kay Alden (1998-2006)