WhitneySaxon

When Josh took over from Mal Young I think Y&R was averaging 4.2m viewers. In 2025 early 2026 I think viewership hit a low point. At least before his (creatively) disastrous years are over he brought the ratings to a respectable number. I don't think Jamey/Dan will be afforded several years if viewership falters in the next year.

Thanks, I meant to type 4 instead of 5. I think at least one of the freelancers is friends with Maxam. I suspect these new names are being brought in by Maxam who has worked successfully outside of daytime.

7 scripts by 5 freelance writers?! I think that's the most in one month since one of Dena's tenures. Are any of these people on contract and listed with the other script writers?

GH is a mess

Louis Rozette wrote Friday's GH breakdown. She had written several when Culliton was absent. Will Gavett wrote his first script I believe Tuesday; so far he's only written breakdowns (I think) Danielle Paige hasn't written a BTG script in months.

VR will never be rehired at Y&R and yet after 16 years in virtual LALA soap land we're still wishing for this. Type into your favorite AI app the following question. Why has VR never been rehired at Young or hired by another daytime soap. I won't comment on the merits of her various legal and public/media claims and disputes. At age 67, she has other things she's doing and doing well. Best of luck.

What happened to Susan Banks, Y&R sole Black scriptwriter, just noticed her last script aired June 25?

Interesting. Days episodes airing now were filmed around mid Nov 2025 so he would have been off the staff as of Sept? possibly. It would be odd for Sony to cut him, have him be unemployed then hire him at Y&R which makes me wonder if he went over to Y&R as an uncredited story contributor/consultant for 9 months or so....In keeping up with some of the Y&R stories this last year, while overall it felt very Griffith...not all of it seemed to come from him alone. I periodically wondered who else was contributing story to the show.

Ryan Quan's last GH breakdown was Sept 1 I believe. and Suzanne Johnson' has written an additional 2 since her 9/10 breakdown. In other news, Josh Griffith has completely eliminated his most recent, tortuous 7 plus year stint at Y&R from his Linkedin bio. Freudian slip? Homage to his detractors? Retaliatory anger issues? https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-griffith-ba811924/

It's not about bringing Ash back or any other, it's about creating compelling long term story. They blew it when they brough Marla back on as Dina. She should have been the other Kay...and the matriarch of the family as long as Marla wanted to work. The boyfriend story should have been that he was drugging her to look like she had dementia. None of these head writers know how to pen a long term story. Ron brought back so many favs on Days and most of it was god awful and we are still dealing with Kristen, Susan etc. Jamey will get his chance to bring back former characters, but how about building a real story. What about bringing back the have nots to GC in the form of the Fosters. Who are Greg and Snapper's kids. They should have one of them come back and take over the Foster house and start a blue collar story. Bring back some of the new gen of Stewarts too. Go to the foundation but create story, not sweeps arcs and stunt casting (like Todd Manning and I call him Todd because that's the only character that actor has ever played, one note).

Will ABC finally dump Valentini? And while I think Korte and Van Etten have (intermittently) done a good job, I think they need to go as well, perhaps. We need new blood, Sonny gone and the cast pared down significantly. I'd dump Frank first and give the current writing staff 9 months under a new EP who will hire true actors (try auditioning in NY and go back and watch Riche and Monty casting choices) not frozen face models (esp the menzzz!)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jon-cypher-dead-hill-street-blues-major-dad-cinderella-1236670478/ Jon Cypher has passed. He played Dr. Keith. Was also on GH, Santa Barbara and had a long and successful career.

Jamey has updated his LINKEDIN with his new writing job and lists July as the start date. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamey-giddens-16962914/

If they keep their current three break down writers in place, and they write breakdowns (as I'm sure Jamey will want to do and O'Connor did it with Van Etten at GH) they won't need additional breakdown writers. But the current staff will be (with no new additions).... Giddens/O'Connor with Jeff Belder Dave Ryan Marla Kanelos and Marin Gazzaniga/Script Editor with Amanda Beall Jim Brown Madeleine Phillips Susan Banks Rebecca Taylor Lisa Connor Phillips was Griffith's assistant and suspiciously hired to write scripts after the strike. Susan Banks' (the only Black writer on staff until Giddens comes aboard) script number was basically cut in half to add Phillips. I'd get rid of Connor and Phillips and bring back Esser. Brown is in his 70s and can be cut to bring in some new blood, preferably a person of color, to replace him.

I had to sleep on this to comment after watching soaps and writer changes for decades. This is truly a weird pairing and an odd decision. First, it's got to be about money. Griffith has been around since the early 80s and, say what you will about his (lack of) talent, he commanded big bucks. These two definitely don't. Second, although Jamey and Dan overlapped on Days (virtually, as one lives in Atlanta and one in NYC), I can't imagine they got together and drafted a co-head bible; this feels more like CBS has been soliciting and reading story bibles from prospective head writers and put these two together after reading their individual submissions. Just my guess. I felt when Sony allowed Ron to bring Dan to days that he'd have a future on a head writing staff. But when Ron left I thought it would be Days. Wouldn't it have made more sense to retire Jeanne Ford and pair Quan with O'Connor after his two years toiling on that show under Alaar, Drucker and now Maxam as well as Ron then Ford/Cwickly? Jamey reminds of me today's version of James Reilly who was steeped in soaps, obsessed with soaps, grew up on soaps. But CBS nurtured Reilly's head writing talent by placing him for months at Y&R and B&B before he was paired with Curlee and Demorest on GL and later Broderick before he left for his infamy at Days and Passions. Jamey's love of soaps and deep knowledge of the way the shows were produced and written when he was young does fuel his passion and creativity, I'm sure, but to put this guy in charge of this iconic soap is just mindboggling. If they had paired him with Janice Esser or Bibel or Slater to me that would have made more sense, but Dan who spent most of his career at ABC? I am interested in watching their debut week just to see how they begin it all. I'm trying to imagine Eric B sitting across the table from these two guys to discuss their stories. They are going to need a strong supporting staff, stronger than the folks there now. Smart move to bring Beldner back. Now they need Esser's dialogue.