Y&R: Should LML Stay Or Go?

[Sylph]

As much as I hated the story, I have to say that Bill Bell also used silly stories, not ghosts but...

Remember when he had Leslie go nuts and hear voices; and Ashley hearing her baby's cry in her head? Kay haunting Suzanne in flowing white chiffon? Lauren and her psychic friend Tamara?

[YRIsTheBest]

She has too go. End of Discussion.

[Adam]

I have not been watching this show now for almost a month, and I am not missing it one bit. I read the spoilers every week and nothing intrigues me. This show no longer is character driven and it was pretty much the last one to be consistently character driven. Latham is always resorting to these stunts and far to often. Sharon was feared dead now twice in less than two months? Its bad enough she is teasing me that that whore actually might be dead but that aside.

Lynn Marie Latham truly does not get what Y&R is about and its clear to me that when Alden and Smith were there, at least they were checks and balances because the show still had some resemblance of what it was. They left and it quickly went all to hell. Why did CBS/Sony feel the need to break something that wasn't broken.

They felt they were being fresh hiring this primetime writer/producer. She was fresh for all of about 5 seconds.

Y&R is General Hospital: The Genoa City Stories. You expect this stuff on a show like GH, not Y&R.

[Sylph]

I'm pillalloing now, I want her to go.

[DeeeDee]

Hope everyone's happy that Y&R's just like ABC & NBC soaps now.

Hopefully this abomination of a show is cancelled soon. It deserves it.

[heatherwebber]

I still don't get it.

Y&R is NOTHING like the crap GH is. I cannot sit through much of GH without screaming. It's all about unpleasant men running around with guns threatening people all the time and yelling at everyone.

Y&R is excellent. The stories are great, the characters interesting, I love what's going on with Y&R. I look forward to it every day. I don't have problems with it as I do all the other shows. There is a complexity to Y&R still. It's not all about the silly kids as Days has often tended to be the past decade or more and to some extent still is right now. It's not all over the place like B&B nor is it obsessed with only 2 people as B&B has been for way too many years.

NBC is a mixture of awful & silly/weird, ABC is a dark nasty mess with horrible writing or lack thereof. The other CBS shows are also a mixed bag.

But Y&R I enjoy and think it's pretty much working on every level right now. No it's not what it was. None of them are anymore. But what it IS I really like.

[DrewH]

How long have you been watching Y&R? Are you fairly new, as in LML's stories brought you in? If so, that would explain why you see nothing wrong. The complaints are coming from viewers that have watched the show for years, long before LML got her dirty hands on the creative decisions. There's a difference, a horrible one.

[heatherwebber]

How long have you been watching Y&R?>>>

Since the late 70s.

[IMissDrusilla]

You're all hilarious.

Lynn Marie Latham isn't going anywhere, though.

CBS made her Exec. Producer and gave her full carte blanche as Head Writer to come in

and fire all the other long time writers.

She's a frick'n Bell as far as they're concerned and the show is still #1.

So you may as well enjoy what you get, because she's not going anywhere for at least five years,

and she'll probably be re-signed even after that.

[PJA]

Don't feel bad Heather...I've been watching the show for a while too and I think its great!! The ratings are still good too so apparently so does the audience. Just looking at the ratings for this week the households are the same from a year ago while every other soap has dropped and the actual audience numbers is up from last week and last year so LML isn't going anywhere and why should she? The bottom line is as long as the ratings are good she isn't going anywhere.

[DeeeDee]

The only reason Y&R's currently doing well is cause of the abysmal state of its peers & the soap industry as a whole.

The show's become a joke (in record time, no less) & apparently has also become the rest home for out of work and/or "mistreated" actors from other soaps while getting rid of its own exisiting vets (as well as tons of long term viewers) in droves.

[DeeeDee]

^ Exactly.

[Sylph]

Co-sign.

[PJA]

What droves of long time viewers...the ratings aren't decreasing. I am a long term viewer...just as my mom and my aunt who both have watched the show since it started and they still like it.

[bellcurve]

Brad has ADD, I'll admit, but when I'm watching B&B, I feel it. In the fashion, in the music, in the pacing, in the acting, all of it. B&B has its own unique flavor. Despite tuning in and out in disgust and anger, the only time I ever felt like Brad veered off the course was when he tried(and failed) to phase out the Forresters in 2004 with the Marones, who simply just weren't interesting and sure as hell didn't have enough rich history and dramatic impact on the fans and the canvas as the original Forresters. And the ratings reflected that!

You can't just walk into a TV show and say, "Oh, screw the fans, I'm gonna do what I want."

Y&R just isn't the same soap anymore. It's fast-paced, boring, and there are hardly any cliffhangers that make me want to tune in the next day. No matter what storyline, good or bad, the cliffhangers forced you to tune in the next day or wonder, "WTF is gonna happen here?" Thank goodness Brad Bell got a clue and snapped up Eileen Davidson!

These two wrote the same type of crap for PORT CHARLES too. They were hot in the beginning, but ran out of steam very quickly. If Latham leaves, you guys better hope Scott Hamner goes with her. His solo-Head Writing chore at PC was some of the most terrible soap opera ever. Psychic Espionage...need I say more?

ITA! In many ways I feel Y&R sets the bar for other soaps...AND I also feel like a lot of people begin their soap watching WITH Y&R. A lot of ABC fans I know around here tune into Y&R before AMC/OLTL/GH.

That's the thing that boggles me. Bill Bell leaves behind rich history and legacy to be mined and she uses the opportunity to create her own backstories. Instead of making Cane Phillip III, why didn't they just bring back Phillip IV?! Would have been a great way to get Tricia Cast out of hiding, the kid would probably be in the same age range as Lily, Colleen, JT, Kevin, etc., and could have still had the storyline with Amber, because she loves 'em young anyway(Rick, Thomas from B&.

Not to mention if they replace him with someone like George Hamilton! I would be very worried if I were in Latham/CBS/The Bell's shoes right now.