Best News highlighted in Bold

Thanks to Oceanview at SOD/SOW at the Nick/Phyllis site who does an INCREDIBLE job bringing us the Y&R news!

Victoria Rowell got PERFORMER OF THE WEEK!

Mentions that PB has done some of his best work yet, but misses his wimpy side.

Segement Called Soap Talk!

Y&R - Script Writer Janice Ferri Esser

My mind is slow at the moment so could you please tell me what are these acronyms: MTS, EB,CLB, MS?

Janice is Chicagoan, and so are Natalie Minardi Slater and Marc Hertz.

My mind is slow at the moment so could you please tell me what are these acronyms: MTS, EB,CLB, MS?

Taking a wild guess, but...

MTS: Melody Thomas Scott

EB: Eric Braeden

CLB: Christian Jules LeBlanc(Love using the full name)

MS: Michelle Stafford

Has the Nazi striked again?

Here's another morsel from SOW. The mag brought up rumors that Kay Alden may be following Jack Smith out the door, which we already knew. But now comes this:

The status of supervising producer Ed Scott is also rumored to be in question now that Josh Griffith, who has been named co-executive producer, has reportedly taken over the control booth.

If this is true, LML's reign of terror knows no bounds! And I wonder how Melody Thomas Scott feels about all of this?

Why are you interested in M. T. Scott's opinion?

I just don't understand this woman, as well as CBS, Sony etc. She is changing the visual identity of Y&R, among many things, but I don't see what's wrong with the image. It was a trademark of the show, flower shot, waiter shot and so on.

If she truly wants to fix something, she should fix the stories.

From now on, I'll call her Nazi, too, you know, Crc.

LML write good stuff you frickin bi*ch (I know she's capable). These changes are unnecessary!

She even looks like a harpy to me. Have you seen her photo I posted here somewhere? Horror. Now she changed her hair colour...

Why are you interested in M. T. Scott's opinion?

From now on, I'll call her Nazi, too, you know, Crc.

More and more, she's reminding me of a Jill Farren Phelps type, thus the nickname "Nazi." That and penchant to write story about Nazis. LOL!

As for MTS, arguably the big female star of the show, I just thought it would be interesting to get her take on whats going on behind the scenes, especially if her husband is in fact being phased out. I know she wasn't given much story while Jack Smith was HW, but she's not being used much more than as an occasional prop piece for Victor at the moment, either.

As I've said before, she's not holding a gun to anybody's head. CBS obviously knew the way she was going to handle the show and are okay with it. The reason it is so shocking to Y&R fans is because we aren't used t having a new headwriter, but on any show when a writer comes on they bring on their own team. If CBS weren't in agreement or pleased with her stories, she would not be there.

It's not like they're replacing Ed Scott with Flavor Flav. Everybody was excited when Josh Griffith came onto ATWT earlier this year and I recall his scripts getting praise on this very site. And while I didn't see it, I've heard raves about his first headwriting stint at OLTL which I believe got him an Emmy. Now that he's on Y&R everybody is scared, but there is no reason to be, he has a great background.

Lynn Latham along with husband Bernie Lechowick (whose a Y&R script writer) have also won a Writers Guild Award which is better than an Emmy for a writer.

The show needed change after Jack Smith and Kay Alden and I think Latham is doing a great job at that. Yes there are problems, but not nearly as many as the other two had and overall the show feels more enjoyable. I think she's doing a good job of bringing the show forward and she has a good handle on most of the characters.

I hope Y&R sweeps the Emmys, including the writing department.

My dream list:

Best Writing

Best Actress - Victoria Rowell

Best Supporting Actress - Sharon Case

Best Actor - Eric Braeden or Peter Bergman

Best Younger Actor - Bryton, Adrienne Leon, Davetta Sherwood

Best Supporting Actor - Christian LeBlanc

Best Drama Series

I know she wasn't given much story while Jack Smith was HW, but she's not being used much more than as an occasional prop piece for Victor at the moment, either.

Of course she's not going to be involved in a major story since Victor, her husband, is. I think she has been great in a supporting role to his story. Latham is also writing the character better than she has been in years. She's a smart, capable business woman who has enough balls to stand up to Victor and Jack. Jack Smith wrote Nikki as a damsel in distress who couldn't use the bathroom without Victor's help.

When time comes for a Nikki story, I think it'll be good based on the way the character is being written now.

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Of course Nikki's not going to be involved in a major story since Victor, her husband, is. I think she has been great in a supporting role to his story. Latham is also writing the character better than she has been in years. She's a smart, capable business woman who has enough balls to stand up to Victor and Jack. Jack Smith wrote Nikki as a damsel in distress who couldn't use the bathroom without Victor's help.

I have to agree on this case. Nikki is indeed the most interesting and/or likable in years. She is supporting but in an important way: Victor's epilepsy was also about his and Nikki's relaionship which I really enjoyed.

That praise said; I tend to agree with those worried about the behind the scenes shake-up. LML is doing a good job most the time but is she doing it at the right show?

MTS is back on next week. She just got back from vacation.

I will admit that I think she'd be great at General Hospital, especially with her love for social issues. She'd do Laura's return justice as well as the HIV stuff and the black characters would finally get storylines.

But if Latham left, who would we get for Y&R?

Kay Alden and Jack Smith are the logical suggestions, but both did so poorly, that getting them back would be like getting a Megan McTavish or James Reilly. The reason I say that is because CBS would look at them as the tried and tested, so they;d get to do whatever they want and we'd be stuck with them for YEARS.

So basically we'd still be getting a new writer who would be bringing on her new team, etc. One person I think could handle the show is Claire Labine. I've only seen her work on Ryan's Hope and some of General Hospital and I think she's brilliant. on Ryan's Hope she has a great handle on both the rich characters and down to earth ones and she knows how to write simple storylines in the same vein as Bill Bell.

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As I've said before, she's not holding a gun to anybody's head. CBS obviously knew the way she was going to handle the show and are okay with it. The reason it is so shocking to Y&R fans is because we aren't used t having a new headwriter, but on any show when a writer comes on they bring on their own team. If CBS weren't in agreement or pleased with her stories, she would not be there.

It's not like they're replacing Ed Scott with Flavor Flav. Everybody was excited when Josh Griffith came onto ATWT earlier this year and I recall his scripts getting praise on this very site. And while I didn't see it, I've heard raves about his first headwriting stint at OLTL which I believe got him an Emmy. Now that he's on Y&R everybody is scared, but there is no reason to be, he has a great background.

Lynn Latham along with husband Bernie Lechowick (whose a Y&R script writer) have also won a Writers Guild Award which is better than an Emmy for a writer.

The show needed change after Jack Smith and Kay Alden and I think Latham is doing a great job at that. Yes there are problems, but not nearly as many as the other two had and overall the show feels more enjoyable. I think she's doing a good job of bringing the show forward and she has a good handle on most of the characters.

I hope Y&R sweeps the Emmys, including the writing department.

My dream list:

Best Writing

Best Actress - Victoria Rowell

Best Supporting Actress - Sharon Case

Best Actor - Eric Braeden or Peter Bergman

Best Younger Actor - Bryton, Adrienne Leon, Davetta Sherwood

Best Supporting Actor - Christian LeBlanc

Best Drama Series

Of course she's not going to be involved in a major story since Victor, her husband, is. I think she has been great in a supporting role to his story. Latham is also writing the character better than she has been in years. She's a smart, capable business woman who has enough balls to stand up to Victor and Jack. Jack Smith wrote Nikki as a damsel in distress who couldn't use the bathroom without Victor's help.

When time comes for a Nikki story, I think it'll be good based on the way the character is being written now.

So, because CBS is happy, I should be happy as well. I know what I don't like and what I don't like is the crap that Y&R has been dishing thanks in part to the changes made my this Nazi woman. Of course it's shocking that these changes are being made, especially for a show that has been running like a well-oiled machine for many years. And it's not un-common for a new writer or EP to come on-board a soap and after evaluating the staff that they have, decide to keep some of the valuable players iin the show's production and writing teams in addition to replacing others with their own people. The problems is that LML is completely over-hauling the show when it does not need to be. Some changes were needed, perhaps, but not an extreme makeover. And I can't think of any soap that has benefitted in the long haul by a new HW or EP coming into a show and completely replacing their writing and production staff.

But that's just how I feel.

I want to interject here that I understand that you and many other fans of the show (that might not be quite as vocal on the boards) are satisfied with the show and that's all good and I respect that.

Regarding Nikki not having her own story because Victor has a story, I like to point out that that's one of the things that both MTS and Eric Braeden have complained about in the past. Just because Nikki and Victor are a couple doesn't mean one character's life has to completely revolve around the other. When's the last time Nikki has shared scenes with her best friend Kay... oops, I meant conjoined twins Kay/Jill.

Obviously, I'm not quite as optimistic of the new Nazi team as you are.

If I have one concern, it would be Kay Alden leaving the show amidst all the changes. I am not sure how she fits into the fabric now, but she better than anyone understands the history of the show and her contributions should not be taken for granted.

I was and I wasn't a big fan of Jack Smith. Like an impulsive jockey, he tended to bring his horse out of the gate with too much gusto that it lost steam as the race progressed... I always felt like he never planned past the first month of most of his big storylines. As far as he goes, I think he'll find his way. Maybe head-writing for Y&R wasn't the best choice for him, he should have been SP or EP or something... I never fell in love with his work the way I did with Alden's.

I loved her all too brief stint as the sole head writer when Bill Bell stepped down. While she herself had a couple of flops (Victor held hostage in the New Mexico desert... YIKES!!), her overall work was very true to the history of the show. I remember she immediately revitalized the series by revisiting the then seldom seen Kay/Jill feud and brought back the missing Carl Williams... too name a few.

Letting them go is like untethering a balloon — it has freedom to go new places, but it has more freedom to drift off course.

From what I've heard about Alden's run, she really did a number on the show overall. Wasn't she responsible for the sperm story which has forever ruined Ashley? Or Olivia sleeping with her best friends husband? That was the end of Olivia right there. One of the main reasons for keeping these two on is because they work with Bill Bell and know the characters, but what I saw of their writing I'm not seeing that.

Especially Jack Smith who only knew how to write for maybe a handful of characters.

So, because CBS is happy, I should be happy as well. I know what I don't like and what I don't like is the crap that Y&R has been dishing thanks in part to the changes made my this Nazi woman.

I don't mean that you should be happy, but I also think CBS deserves some of the blame since they're the ones who wanted these changes and are accepting them. Kinda like Brian Frons at ABC, he gets just as much blame as the headwriters/EPs. According to Sylph, they've been courting Latham since 2004 so it obviously something they wanted as well.

From what I've heard about Alden's run, she really did a number on the show overall. Wasn't she responsible for the sperm story which has forever ruined Ashley? Or Olivia sleeping with her best friends husband? That was the end of Olivia right there. One of the main reasons for keeping these two on is because they work with Bill Bell and know the characters, but what I saw of their writing I'm not seeing that.

As I said, she had flops, I'm not denying that. She's definitely not the best soap writer ever. But she is quite good.

That is the problem with Y&R, a perfect writer for that soap doesn't exist on today's scene. He/she certainly exists somewhere, but I just didn't hear about him/her. Yet.