Y&R: Who Should Replace LML, When The Time Comes?

[aMLCproduction]

Wow that's the first bad thing I heard about Marland. What is bad with Bill Bell Ms. Dee?

[DeeeDee]

Nothing is wrong with Bill Bell.

While BB moved very slow at times whatever various stories lacked in speed they more than made up for otherwise.

[stenbeck212]

There's a recurring question about why TPTB would want to model Y&R after the ABC shows, but I don't think it's ABC in particular that piques their interest. Bill Bell was probably the last of the greats who had creative control of a soap. I don't count his son in that regard. Upon his death, I expected things to change at Y&R. But now I'll expect a downturn in the show's quality and ratings to give tv execs what they want - namely an excuse to get out of the soap business altogether. If the crown jewel of the medium is no longer being held to the highest standard, why should the others even pretend badly? They don't say DOOL will be off NBC in 2009 for nothing, because if they wanted to strengthen the show long before then, they would. Everybody's taking the time to figure out how their afternoon programming will be more cost effective, and until they find a formula, viewers will be driven away. It's been 7 years since Hogan Sheffer reinvigorated ATWT, and no other show has taken that kind of risk again. Look at how long they let horrendous writing reign on our shows! If you or I did a bad job at work for even a day or 2, we'd get a talking to.

[bellcurve]

Not to mentuon the fact that, upon observing Bill Bell's Y&R, no matter how slow the story went, stuff happened. And when all of this stuff happened, it ended up building up into this great payoff. Things weren't stagnant or repetitive(Jimmy Reilly, this means YOU!). It just seemed like something was always going on.

[Sylph]

Just in case this is not irony, why do you think Marland was a bad writer?

[Rudolpho Meradi]

I thought Doug Marland was considered to be a good role model for Headwriters?

[DeeeDee]

Exactly, bellcurve!

BB could move slow as hell (years, even) to tell stories but the character work & various emotional payoffs were almost always well worth it.

But if slow pacing is the worst aspect about a HW then they're not too bad.

[DeeeDee]

Don't misunderstand.

Marland was a brilliant writer, just that he (like Bell) had his faults.

[Ann_SS]

It is my opinion that Doug Marland was a better headwriter than Bill Bell. Marland was the more consistent storyteller and his storylines moved at a good pace. I also liked how he interweaved characters into multiple stories. I always thought that on Y&R characters were too isolated in their own storylines in addition to snail pacing, repetitive scenes and convoluted storylines. Bill Bell could have used an outside consultant at times.

[Sylph]

Yes, they all had faults. I'm interested in the specifics, anything in particular that you didn't like about his style?

[DeeeDee]

Not much.

His stories (like Bell's) moved really slow (at times), The Snyder Invasion & the lack of Stewarts.

Other than that he was pretty much gold.

[PJA]

BB wasn't perfect but for the most part in enjoyed his writing for a while. However at one point I did stop watching as things got to drawn out and slow with nothing going on. I remember watching sometimes and a whole hour goes by with nothing significant happening at all. And this would be several episodes in a row. He had great storylines....he just sometimes took too long to execute them.

[PJA]

I am enjoying her writing for the most part but I don't think she should have complete control over the show because there are still problems. But she is doing much better than Alden and Smith (mainly their last year). I almost stopped watching until I heard they were getting new writer.

[sheilaforever]

I will agree that the show had lost steam in 2005; as we now know Jack Smith who was head-honcho was distracted due to a family crisis...

Yet, all the problems from then like Fisher-overload, JeffreyThud stinking up airtime, Jill/Kay having anemic airtime survived the regime change whereas characters like Paul, Ashley, John still served a purpose back then.

And this is just the gloss without entering yet again the debate why LML’s version of this once great show is nothing but a shameful travesty that me and many other longtime viewers had to quit…

The only good thing LML probably did was getting rid of FauxSlutMac. Thankfully, she sampled her out of StepfordWifeBlandVictoria, BlandLilly, f*ckedupPhyllis among others…

[Sylph]

While we're talking about Claire Labine, I wanted to ask: what happened to Eleanor and Matt? Wasn't it a bit out of place for her to hire her own children? Were the kids good writers?