Kay Alden hasn't done crap for B&B!!!!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Hey, hey, hey! I thought I was the only around here with the Nancy Curlee love!

Trent wrote for GL with Nancy for a while, and of course Y&R was his most consistent writing job...

[Sylph]

Spread the love!

Consistent in what sense?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

In terms of years spent on one particular show. Writing for Y&R was his longest run as a soap writer and he came back after he left.

He's worked under Claire Labine at RH, Pam Long and Curlee at GL, and Bill Bell at Y&R. I don't know which idiot at Sony thought Latham should be HW before Jones. If Smith and Alden had to be ousted, Trent should've replaced them and he was their co-head writer for a while too.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

BTW Sylph, I too am a bit bewildered where all this Kay Alden love is coming from. She was generally reviled on boards and by fans during her solo tenure, but then Latham came and was even worse. Kay had many faults, which many seem to ignore now that the show is in a much worse creative state.

[Ryan]

Like an STD?

[Aback]

I think he's overrated too, really!

[Aback]

Sylph, I'm really thinking we are soulmates because

A) I think the very same of Kay All-Done. Ralph? Lorie Brooks coming back to town? Max Hollister? YUCK.

I would also have a Bradley Bell avatar if I didn't love so much my MS one.

[Chris B]

Hotness, what was Lorie's return about? From the episodes I've seen with her and Jaime Lyn on DAYS, I think she's fabulous. Plus she was one of Y&R's most popular stars. If I were running the show I'd bring her back for Victor and revive the Brooks family and the newspaper.

[DaytimeFan]

I'm probably one of the few who genuinely liked Kay Alden's storylines (including the Sperm storyline, yes I liked it!). I liked the return of Lorie Brooks (with her lame husband Max Hollister), Jill discovering that she owned the Chancellor mansion and the ensuing lawsuit with Katherine and crashing Katherine's party, Nina and Tomas, the creation of Mac & Billy, Jill's relationship with Shaun Bridges, Diane being a generally massive bitch, Victor's 'death' and then the fight for Jabot, everything with Grace Turner and Cassie, Victor and Nikki's wedding...I really enjoyed Kay Alden's solo run.

Certainly, she has her faults, nobody's perfect, but for me she had a lot more hits than misses and I liked her slower pacing. I don't know what else to say, I hope that Kay Alden gets back to Y&R after the writer's strike and excels at turning the show around. If she fails then Y&R is doomed and it will take the rest of daytime down with it.

[YRBB]

Yes, yes, yes. I agree with all of this. Terrific storylines, terrific writing. Those who say Alden AND HER ASSOCIATES didn't write the best soap on air are obviously too in love with their own soaps.

[YRBB]

1) 1998-2002.

2) I am sure that the damage done by LML is too big to be corrected in the space of a few episodes. I'm pretty certain that, apart from a few things, the show will need quite some time to go back to what it was. Of course, everyone will start going: "Oh, look at her! She hasn't changed anything!"--two weeks after she comes on (presuming that she will). It will take some time, might never happen. But it will be MILES better than anything else on daytime.

[Chris B]

Even if they were going to replace Alden with Pam Long, Nancy Curlee, etc. in the long run, they need her to get the show on it's feet first. I wouldn't want a new HW doing a better version of LML's Y&R. That's what happens when shows see a succession of new HWs. They don't go back to the Douglas Marland's and Agnes Nixon eras, they improve upon what they're given.

[YRBB]

Even if they were going to replace Alden with Pam Long, Nancy Curlee, etc. in the long run, they need her to get the show on it's feet first. I wouldn't want a new HW doing a better version of LML's Y&R. That's what happens when shows see a succession of new HWs. They don't go back to the Douglas Marland's and Agnes Nixon eras, they improve upon what they're given.

That's actually a very good observation. I believe that Alden is one of the few writers still active who still remember and know how soaps used to be. That's one of her GREAT aspects and why Y&R really needs her back. Just like ChrisB said, they need to bring the show back to how it was (which is already a huge improvement) and then, by all means, make it better. And now I'm gonna say something I never, ever, ever thought I would: To me, it matters that Y&R is how it was before LML. It matters that it's good, clever, imaginitive, addictive, full of romance and intrigue. If it's good and like that, I wouldn't mind other writers than Alden TOO much. There I said it. That was hard. That said, I think she should always be on staff, maybe as a co-HW, BECAUSE she knows the show inside out--she's been there almost from the start and she was under Bell's wing for decades. AND, well, she's a damn good writer.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

He was right, her solo HW run was from 1999 to 2002. For most of 1998, she was listed as Bill Bell's co-head writer...

Also, if I remember correctly, it was reported that Bill Bell himself wasn't too thrilled with a lot of what Alden offered. Of course she's way better than anyone who came after her...

[YRBB]

Hmmm... Alden was listed by herself by mid-1998, that's why I correctred him. Sorry.

To be honest, I can't see writers like Bell, Nixon, Marland, Phillips liking too much of anything others wrote, not because they were snobbish, but because they really were THAT good. Also, Alden never was in Bell's caliber, that's sure. But of all the HW and writers now, she's the best by miles.