DAYS: Ed Scott FIRED! Gary Tomlin HIRED!

[brimike]

In terms of Scott's entourage (Foster, Maxam, etc)... let's face the reality of the situation. The only way I can see them leaving is if Scott gets another gig. It wouldn't make sense for them to leave their job purely out of loyalty to Ed (that would just be silly), OR for them to get fired (as far as we know, none of them were involved in the WGA problems). And the last thing they'd want to do is create MORE transitions in a show seemingly permanently-in-transition.

Then again, this is the show that fired nine writers in one fell swoop. Why not nine producers and directors? Oy...

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Or if David Shaughnessy is rehired as Y&R's EP. Shaughnessy and Foster were BFF's. *Crosses finers*

Anyone notice the similarities between Lisa De Cazotte and Ed Scott? For years Ed Scott was relegated to producing Bill Bell's show, and he never had any direct influence on the storylines, because you don't f-u-c-k with Bill Bell. When Bill stepped down, he tried so hard to impose his vision on Y&R, which pissed Kay Alden off royally, and then she got his ass fired by going directly to Bill.

And then again at DAYS, Scott tried so hard to impose his vision on DAYS, by going as far to rewrite material. Whether Dena is a hack or not is another issue.

Judging by his falling out with Alden and the situation at DAYS, Ed Scott doesn't seem like a "writer's producer."

Of course this is related to Liza because she was to Jim Reilly what Ed Scott was to Bill Bell for years.

[Sylph]

I love your DESTROY ED SCOTT MODE!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think he's good at technical producing, but he's shown at more than one time he wants to have too much power. I may not be the biggest Kay Alden or Dena Higley fan in the world, but he did alter their writing to the point where both women had to go to higher-ups to get him fired. And as much as certain actors like him, I've always heard some pretty unflattering things about the guy as well.

[brimike]

True enough. I stand corrected.

I just wanted to debate the whole "they'll quit/get fired because Ed was fired" argument. People need jobs, especially in this economy. It's not like it's all that easy to find a daytime gig these days. Or to find people who know what they're doing to replace them if they're fired. Maxam and Foster have impeccable reputations, and I can't see them getting fired or quitting... at least until their next contract cycle, and if the new EP just wants to work with his friends instead of people he might not be familiar with.

But you're right. I didn't think of the Shaughnessy angle.

Thing about the Shaughnessy angle though -- Y&R has shown they're not exactly going back to the talent pool that put them at #1 in the first place. But hopefully, I'll be proven wrong.

[Toups]

Well, Frons liked her enough to hire her for Night Shift. Maybe she's on the short list for the next opening at an ABC soap? She has the AMC/OLTL connection.

I hope Maxam stays, he's a fabulous director. But I think he'll be fired when his cycle his up and I wouldn't be surprised if he was immediately fired the way Roy Steinberg was fired last year when Ed was hired.

[dm.]

Noel Maxam, Mike Denney, Kathryn Foster... all very talented people needed back at Y&R... they've improved DAYS, but their home needs them back!

[Sylph]

Who was Y&R chief director back then?

[Cat]

So, what if Ed Scott became accredited by the WGA as a writer as well as an EP? Then, suddenly his crime would vanish?

Forgive me, I am just a longstanding viewer of both Days and Y&R. And I liked what I saw of Y&R when he was EPing the show and *loved* what he did with Days. IMO, he is a large reason why the show has come back from the brink.

Hollywood is filled with cross-pollination of this kind. Seems like everybody is an actor/producer/writer in one. You only have to look at the credits of your favorite Primetime shows to see half the main cast involved in production (and sometimes the writing). Matthew Perry on Friends is a famous example of joining the Writers' Room every week. Aaron Spelling pioneered this on 90210 of all shows, getting some of the vet actors behind the scenes in the producing and directing. To get them invested in their show and widen their backstage experience.

So why is this not OK on Days? Why are there calls for Ed Scott to be drummed out of the industry?

If it's good enough for the goose, then it is also good enough for the gander. Not to pick on GH (even though I hate the fact that it has been systematically DESTROYED all these years) -- but the showrunners over there have pretty much admitted that Jill Farren Phelps wrote a lot of the show during the writers' strike. Heck, Seamus Dever (who played Dr. Devlin) confirmed this in an interview to the soap press. Last I checked, she was Executive Producer, no? Now, there again, I much preferred what she put up on screen than Guza's "vision." I know I'll be flamed for that, lol.

But I guess "that's just the way they do things at GH," huh? GH is celebrated for letting its actors (MALE actors, that is) improvise a scene. Sure, perhaps that's not changing the writers' original intent. But what about when Maurice Benard and Steve Burton refused to play a scene which would show their characters coming to blows over Carly back in the day? TPTB acquiesced and the whole SL was changed to accomodate the two actors' preference. I don't think it is the first time that ever happened, either. Angel Boris, anybody?

All I'm saying is... I think people are being rather hard on a talented EP (of which there are few and far between right now) who may actually be doing what is standard practice in the industry. I personally think it would be a shame for Daytime to lose his kind of expertise.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Yes, which leads me to be very perplexed. I find it strange that both Scott and Griffith were fired last Friday, per Nelson of course, yet DAYS named its Co-EP replacement within the same day. Y&R, on the other hand, didn't seem to have anyone lined-up for the EP position after Griffith's firing. I think Corday was planning Scott's firing for months, and Tomlin might have secretly have been his back-up plan.

Shaughnessy is loved by the Bell's and the actors and crew on both Y&R and B&B. I think it were up to them, they wouldn't want another outsider running their flagship soap.

However, who will seriously replace Griffith? There's been almost no speculation on that show Sony, CBS, Bell clearly didn't have a replacement when the axe fell on Griffith.

[MarkH]

This is interesting actually. There are some claims that some Y&R writers (e.g., folks like Houghton...but I'm not sure if Houghton) aren't interested in going back. The idea is that there are other ways for them to earn a living, they feel undervalued, they don't see a long-term future in daytime. I was a bit incredulous when I first heard it, because I have a hard time seeing someone say 'no' to a paycheck...but I guess for some, the Y&R firings REALLY stung.

This is germane to your post because it really does seem that some people are making these "next step" decisions on non-economic grounds.

[Toups]

What years?

[MarkH]

We didn't know about Maria Arena until the day she started airing. (I realize that was strike mode, but still...). Thus, Y&R will likely just spring someone on us.

ALTERNATIVELY, they are going to be slow and careful this time....which means the position may be vacant for a time.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

JFP wasn't writing entire storylines with the help of actors, the way Scott and his pets were at DAYS. It's one thing to tweak a storyline or ad-lib dialogue, and it's another thing to completely alter an already written storyline and essentially write your own storyline when you aren't a WGA member.

Scott, from what we're told, was rewriting the whole show, and what makes it worse he was rewriting it with an actor who also has no WGA affiliation.

Scott might be a good technical producer, but as I said before, he's shown in the past that he can be power-hungry and is not a writer's producer.

The WGA strike is one thing, but Scott was pulling this when the strike was OVER. Who expects WGA members to write during the strike? Unless their scabbing (like Dena allegedly did), or go Fi-Core, no one affiliated with the WGA is going to write a soap, so it's known that producers have to step up to the plate in that instance.

[Sylph]

1998-2006.