ALL: Kay Alden visits MIT

[MarkH]

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Since Alden and Jack Smith left there has been such a steep turn in the show. All of the praise and control Latham gained is clearly because they were there fighting to maintain the integrity of the show. I will always defend my defense of Latham last year because the show was half decent. Now that she's by herself? Awful!

My thinking has been along the same lines.

I wouldn't say the show now is "awful" (esp relative to other shows), but I thought one year ago was AMAZING! The pacing was better, the dialog crackled, there were new beats (like Victor's epilepsy) that brought new and unpredictable stories. Even the business of having John Abbott go through a confused state, and Nikki get shot--while all the while the _real_ story was Victor's head injury--was a brilliant red herring.

There is no doubt that the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007 have been dreadful. Pheila is the worst story, and the Reliquary was pretty bad too (although I personally _liked_ the Jana reveal). I'm in the minority, in that I like what Amber has brought to the show...but I didn't like Kay's sudden-grandson either (and I like that this is now appearing to be a con-job).

I was always fearful that with Alden and Smith left, it would be revealed that Y&R's excellence last year was a COLLABORATION between the old and new regimes. This has been confirmed.

A big pet peeve for me (also mentioned in this thread) is that the dialogue is so different from day to day...some days crackling, other days boring. There was a consistency of voice under all the previous writers that has now been lost.

I would say that the current regime is really not bad, and there are flashes of pure pleasure in almost every episode. But, there are also deeply concerning twists (e.g., the musical campaign chairs; Nikki's sudden devolution into an offspring-eating witch; the Clear Springs umbrella story popping up out of nowhere; Victor's vendetta against Jack--for the first time--seeming completely unmotivated and shallow). If CBS/Sony/Bell had just managed a moderate course...Latham in charge, but with Alden and/or Smith retained, I honestly think this show would have continued to move in the direction of 5.0 ratings (there were days as high as 4.6....).

[Jonathan]

Oh my gosh! Kay, you need to get rid of the fetus. DNA was not done on Jeff Martin! Get to it girl and I'll start watching again!

[Steve]

That was long, but the time listening to it flew by really fast this evening.

I really hope Alden becomes AMC's new headwriter. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but didn't she say that she was working on the story projection for November sweeps?

I also hope she can rewrite Josh's conception. Didn't Erica miscarry Phil's baby in the mid 1970s? Maybe he can be that child instead since I think she was at a further gestational age and then it would make sense for the DNA to match Erica but not the Martins.

[Addison Montgomery]

Yeah, her comments about how she can get everything in place for a "cataclysmic" November sweeps gave me hope.

I have a feeling though if Alden becomes HW that Josh might be sent packing. She won't undo the story, and she doesn't want to remind people of it. I could see Josh being sent away and never being mentioned a la Kendall (who left in 1995 and never mentioned again until 2000 - a whole five years).

[Chris B]

Why did they ignore Kendall? I thought that was an extremely popular role for the show at the time. But that is the pefect solution for Josh, just send him away. The actor isn't even good enough to consider a stay. He's gotten by thus far on his looks, like many of the AMC newbies.

I hope Alden some a big revamp of the cast, removing a lot of these mediocre newbies and bringing in strong new characters played by GOOD actors, of course tied to the families and some good returns as well. In addition to the writing AMC needs a revamp in terms of production values across the board. It would be amazing if Alden could bring AMC to Y&R levels of quality. It could create a great domino effect on ABCDaytime if successful.

[Addison Montgomery]

She just never came up, I guess. At times it was like she never existed, which would make sense because that's how Erica would feel. When she eventually WAS mentioned again, Erica was pissed.

[Addison Montgomery]

LOL! How could I have missed this?

Kay: "I don't know if Port Charles is still on [soapNet], I hope not, because it wasn't watchable!"

[Sylph]

Apart from that being true, I think she said it intentionally because of the Nazi woman and her HW stint at Port Charles.

[Chris B]

Very true Sylph, this is why I'd love an exit interview of sorts with Alden or Jack Smith, I want to know more. Throughout this interview there were bits and pieces that you know were referring to Latham at Y&R and they were so juicy.

I wonder if they still watch the show and what they think of it. Honestly, all of these people can't be total hacks. They must watch the show and see the major disconnect in her writing. She also has lost her battle in the ratings except for sweeps. I imagine May will see a slight boost, but thats the only time now. Before at least it was consistant.

[Jess]

I really wish she was going to OLTL.

[Sylph]

And I'm not sure how to understand the part about B&B — she said somethink like "you know, the show's flashy" or something similar. Somewhat I don't like that comment. B&B is a show that can be done marvelously, only if some of the brass got this right.

I believe she does watch it. Perhaps there is a simmer of hope in her that she'll return there one day. After all, she worked there for 30 years. That must mean something to her.

As for the ratings, I addressed it in some of my previous posts here.

[Chris B]

Yeah, I guess there is a shot she could return to Y&R someday. Here ABC has two popular Y&R writers and is being so slow to give either something to do. They should 100% have fired McTavish and immediately given the position to Kay Alden. The fact that they are waiting is worrying to me. Are there other people in the works?

Maybe they're waiting to see what happens to JER at Passions. And before anyone calls me nuts, they did hire Dena Higley who almost got DAYS cancelled. Worse, they're extremely loyal to her despite the fact that the show is a total disaster.

[cal3]

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Yeah, I guess there is a shot she could return to Y&R someday. Here ABC has two popular Y&R writers and is being so slow to give either something to do. They should 100% have fired McTavish and immediately given the position to Kay Alden. The fact that they are waiting is worrying to me. Are there other people in the works?

Maybe they're waiting to see what happens to JER at Passions. And before anyone calls me nuts, they did hire Dena Higley who almost got DAYS cancelled. Worse, they're extremely loyal to her despite the fact that the show is a total disaster.

Nothing would surprise me. Frons is probably salivating at the thought of a JER/Higley team.

[dragonflies]

I'm glad Kay Alden is studying AMC's history and getting the feel of the show. I'd rather that, than them just throwing her in their with no familiarization about the show.

[ZaraB]

With some of the latest hints/spoilers, I've wondered if either Higley is channeling JER or JER is ghostwriting OLTL.