The part where she says Sheffer can be good at sophisticated camp gives me some hope. Y&R's always been the most intellectual soap opera on the air, but it's also had a very highbrow sense of camp attached to it. No other soap did "sophisticated camp" like Y&R did, when the other soaps went off into the world of camp they were crude and overtly over the top, see the NBC soaps over the past 15 years...

If Sheffer can learn Y&R's history, and the traits of its characters, his time there might not be so bad. It would also help greatly if Maria and Hogan brought back some old Y&R writers. As Adam said in the other thread, Sara should be one of the first people coming back to Y&R...

If Sheffer can learn Y&R's history, and the traits of its characters, his time there might not be so bad. It would also help greatly if Maria and Hogan brought back some old Y&R writers. As Adam said in the other thread, Sara should be one of the first people coming back to Y&R...

It would be great if he refrained from bringing on his "team" - although people like Frederick Johnson and Josh McCaffrey would be welcome because they've worked on Y&R before. I think Judy Tate would also be great because Y&R has strong black characters she can sink her teeth into (and she has expressed interest in writing for them) - she would just need to get up to speed.

But keep the Judith Donatos and the like away from my Y&R. Hopefully, Sheffer will have the good sense to know that this show, the most stylized of all daytime soaps, needs specific people who are attuned to its rhythms.

Love the SON props. Thank you, Sara! LOL

As Sami reunited with her longtime love Lucas, the seeds for a classic soap love triangle were sown. That all changed December 29, 2007 – a date that shall forever live in soap infamy – when E.J. forced Sami to have sex with him in order to save Lucas’s life. (This was, IMHO Hogan Sheffer’s biggest mistake.) Some fans have argued that Sami agreed to sleep with him. Others see it as rape – after all E.J. had a gun and she clearly didn’t want to have sex. My question is why the show took this route in the first place. Fans shouldn’t have to rationalize sexual violence in order to enjoy watching a romance. My unsolicited advice to daytime: if you have a great leading man, don’t make him a rapist!

She's so right. EJ/Sami/Lucas could've been an amazing triangle but instead that rape on December 29th ruined it - and yeah, it was Hogan's biggest mistake.

This girl needs to write for ATWT. She knows what she is talking about. Goutman hire her and get rid of Pissant.

Sara Bibel rocks

This women knows her stuff and where ever she ends up at next there lucky to have her.

I watched ATWT under Hogan. Where was his sophisticated camp? I think that is it easier for soap writers to talk than actually successful tell stories. I've listened to Kay Alden and she sounds amazing, then I remembered how crappy Y&R was during her tenure.

I watched ATWT under Hogan. Where was his sophisticated camp? I think that is it easier for soap writers to talk than actually successful tell stories. I've listened to Kay Alden and she sounds amazing, then I remembered how crappy Y&R was during her tenure.

Oh, I love it that you wrote this post!  I remember people screaming for her to get fired! The only difference is that I didn't think she sounded amazing. I was quite puzzled by many of her comments and I wrote about it in The Directors and Writers Thread. 

Another post from Sara A. Bibel. Interesting paragraph:

On The Young & The Restless, for a while the writers were told that no conversation should last longer than one scene. After all, they don’t in primetime. If that proved impossible, then it was imperative that there not be any “frozen time” moments – conversations that pick up right where they left off. They made the show seem slow. (Never mind that Y&R had been #1 every week since the Reagan administration by moving at an often glacial pace.) The result? The audience complained that everything was rushed, and suspense was undercut as it was impossible to sustain the tension between two characters if they were constantly being interrupted. Fortunately, the new regime at the show quickly restored the good, old-fashioned soap pacing.

Edited May 27, 200817 yr by Sylph

Another post from Sara A. Bibel. Interesting paragraph:

Yeah, that was a ridiculous LML rule. No scenes that cut out in the middle and then got picked up in the next act. Ever. Not even over commercial breaks (although that was bent every once in a while). It's why so many soap writers struggled there with the structure, but LML's prime-time hires had an easier time of it (not in terms of the fans. Just in terms of working for LML)

Yeah, that was a ridiculous LML rule. No scenes that cut out in the middle and then got picked up in the next act. Ever. Not even over commercial breaks (although that was bent every once in a while). It's why so many soap writers struggled there with the structure, but LML's prime-time hires had an easier time of it (not in terms of the fans. Just in terms of working for LML)

Dumbest rule ever... But it certainly explains a lot of awful things LML did.

Edited May 27, 200817 yr by Sylph

Wow, this is an interesting blog. I like a lot of the points she brings up.

Oh I love her columns! She has a great writing style and the subjects are interesting and always make me anticipate reading. I hope she continues this for a long time. Glad she addressed the ridiculously short scenes under the LML era. The most exciting moments happened during commercial breaks or between episodes all together. I can understand the scenes being shorter, but damn, they really never picked the stuff back up. We really need an interview with LML to see how her mind works. McTavish and other hacks while we're at it. I want to know how they thought such awful ideas were good.

Oh I love her columns! She has a great writing style and the subjects are interesting and always make me anticipate reading. I hope she continues this for a long time. Glad she addressed the ridiculously short scenes under the LML era. The most exciting moments happened during commercial breaks or between episodes all together. I can understand the scenes being shorter, but damn, they really never picked the stuff back up. We really need an interview with LML to see how her mind works. McTavish and other hacks while we're at it. I want to know how they thought such awful ideas were good.

I would like an answer to that one, too! Let someone fast interview McTrash and Lynn Marie Antoinette!

And I like her writing style, too. Very fluid.

Edited May 27, 200817 yr by Sylph

LML has been very quiet since her ass got canned.

And while we're at it, why hasn't Maria Arena Bell been interviewed? Is she afraid or something?

And can someone remind me if Sara was only writing breakdowns while a part of AMC's writing staff?