Victoria Rowell Goes Nuclear on Y&R

[Chris B]

With the personal comments, it did start with Bergman so I can see why she's finally want to speak up. However, I wish she hadn't because now we know 100% beyond a shadow of a doubt that she'll never be back on Y&R. One of the most important characters in the history of the show, but they won't have her back after this and on top of the other problems. Michelle Stafford and Peter Bergman are simply more valued on the set. Doesn't matter how important she is to the show. I'd like to hope she'd join another soap, but that deal with OLTL fell through and there aren't many positive options.

[EttaKit]

But Lily was raised as a Princess Parisan. I knew that was a bunch of bull. CK Lily don't even come off like that. she come off a she come from Cali.

As opposed to what DSLily came off as and for that matter Dru. VR needs to move on.

it was in no way an attack on CK, but on that of the casting department

It was a cheap shot at CK and very tacky.

[Sinny]

VR sure did burn her bridges. I do not think any soap will ever hire her after this interview. She is good but she isn't that good that this will go unnoticed. Dru is replaceable.. everyone is... Good interview tho. I enjoyed reading the dirt.

[marceline]

I think she has moved on and that why we're getting straight answers from her. She has a successful career pursuing her other interests, a fanbase independent of soaps and behind the scenes credentials. I don't get the impression that she's desperate to return. I know she said she's open to it but so did Kim Delaney (Jenny, AMC) and who really believes that?

I think she knows that it would take a miracle and a rip in the fabric of the time-space continuum for her to be asked back so why not tell it like it is. Especially given the state of soaps overall.

[rhinohide]

I agree Marceline. I am just curious how many people actually took the time to listen to her interview vs. just taking the quotes provided here and making their judgements? I just didn't take her remarks to be all that offensive, certainly no more so than what has been said about her. I have no doubt that she was abrasive and difficult at times on the set. Most perfectionists are. Sounds to me like she was all about the work and producing excellent material and she felt very strongly about it and fought hard when she felt it was required. That is bound to rub people the wrong way at times. Especially those who just want to say their lines and go home. But we complain about people phoning it in. Certainly VR can't be accused of that. She may perhaps at times taken it too far the other way, but no one can say she didn't care or put herself out there to give us her best every step of the way.

[DeeeDee]

Amen.

[R Sinclair]

Exactly what I believe, too. She was direct. She was asked questions, and she gave straight up answers and backed them up with why she felt the way she did. Granted, there are things we as fans of other actors and such may not agree with, but there is a wealth of things we will NEVER know because we certainly were not there! Her relationships with her coworkers is/was her relationship. We can't judge it. I, personally, have trouble believing that Victoria Rowell was the ONLY diva on the Y&R set. It's not exactly a "working class" soap opera, in the sense that the show itself is full of glamour, it's the number one soap opera in the country, shot on two soundstages on a 30 acre Hollywood lot where they have room service to their dressing rooms, for God's sake. They're not in a cramped Manhattan studio right next door to a Chinese Food restaurant with dressing rooms in the basement that get flooded. There is bound to be one or more egos on that set. I just think that Victoria Rowell was a diva on a set full of other divas who felt she had no business being one.

She guest starred on the now defunct Logo series, Noah's Arc back in 2006. I have the series on DVD and during the commentary, the creator and executive producer goes on to tell the story about how he was in negotiations for another Hollywood actress to play the role, but she refused to do the lesbian kiss in one of the two episodes the character was in, so he didn't cast her. Keith Hamilton Cobb was guesting on the series during this time and suggested he gave VR a call. Two days later she was on the set, with her script covered in notes with suggestions and ideas on how to create this character she was playing. So I have no trouble believing if you're going to be called in at the last minute to play this character and in 48 hours have your script covered in notes and ideas on who this character is and how to play it, that you would be the same way with a character you've created and inhabited for 18 years.

And she went to town with that lesbian kiss.

[Cat]

Just listened to the interview. I was expecting somebody angry, making cheap pot shots at her former cast members, somebody misguided, arrogant. I got NONE of that in this interview.

Gracious, erudite, outspoken, yes, she promotes herself and her achievements but if she doesn't do it, who will?

Man, if I were involved in the running of a 5-days-a-week soap...

if I were having to come up with SLs for 25+ characters...

if I knew that we were #1 because of a loyal, broad-based audience that included male + female viewers, young and older demos, white, AA and other demos...

I would be BEGGING for Victoria Rowell to bring me her notes. Her ideas. Her solutions. As a best-selling author, as somebody who worked on her dialogue under Bill Bell's tutelage, who pitched and consulted closely on Devon's foster-care SL, I think her writing skills are well-established.

[And not just VR's contribution. Anybody's. EB must already have a direct line to the writer's room. ED now has some writing skills behind her, too. MTS, JC and DD are (practically) original vets who must know their characters' history like the back of their hand. Judy Chapman and CLB's work in the theatre must be incredibly useful. So many actors on Y&R have other strings to their bow which would enrich a collaborative soap environment.]

If Susan Flannery can direct on B&B, VR could certainly step in and direct on Y&R. If anything, I would be thrilled to see what she could bring to scenes (as director) not involving the Winters. Scenes involving Eric Braeden, for instance, since she obviously has great rapport with him.

She is the kind of professional and perfectionist any show would value, IMO. I don't mean complaining for the sake of complaining, I mean honest-to-god "here's what we need to do to make the show better." This kind of attitude is gold dust in any industry.

The fact that Y&R threads on SON, on TWoP, on other boards, mention Dru on a WEEKLY basis -- Man, I wish VR was back on the show... Can you imagine what would happen if Dru were around?... Dru would have kicked his ass... If Dru were there, she would have given so-and-so a piece of her mind! -- this is a HUGE wake-up-call to TPTB how much VR is wanted and needed on the show. Just my $0.02.

[Manny]

Yeah, if her come back will cause fights and tension behind the scenes, then I don't want her back. Dru is not THAT important to me. I wouldn't want to lose Jack and Phyllis just to get Dru back...

[Y&RWorldTurner]

As Sara A . Bibel said in her new blog, the Y&R writers listened to the story ideas of their cast, but since the cast wasn't the ones writing the actual story, they weren't going to be paid or credited for it. Rowell did have some say in her storylines.

Also, just because she tweaked her lines and wrote a book, doesn't mean she'd make a good soap writer. You don't see how having her on the writing staff and as an actor on the show would be a conflict of interest? If they allowed that, all the actors on the show should be on the writing team and be allowed to write their own storylines.

Again, Victoria Rowell wanted to write, act, and direct. She or anyone else is NEVER going to find a deal like that. I'm sorry, I love her, but she's not Anthony Geary or Susan Flannery. She doesn't have that type of standing in the relm of daytime television.

[DeeeDee]

Yet Tony gets all that & more while Genie can't even get half his perks.

And the industry isn't screwed?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The industry is extremely screwed.

I don't know why TPTB don't give Genie the same deal they give Anthony. Luke and Laura are and should be a packaged deal, yet they think Luke is more vital than Laura. I suspect Tony's age, being much older then Genie, has something to do with it, but I'm not sure.

[DeeeDee]

It depends on which actor TPTB feel is/was responsible for the success of L/L.

The same reason Martha Byrne left, Eileen Davidson was fired, Robin Strasser took a huge pay cut, etc.

[y&r_fan]

I used to want her back on the show, but not anymore. Peter Bergman was absolutely right about her.

[boldfan01]

Y&R did have someone who was both writing and acting on the show in the mid-80s, when Meg Bennett was both on the writing staff and playing Julia. I seem to remember her telling SOD at the time that she wasn't allowed to write for any stories Julia was involved in to avoid just such a conflict of interest. But iif VR wants to write for Dru - which I think she might based on the examples she cited in the interview of how she pitched stories in the past - would she would be open to that kind of compromise? And that assumes the current writing regime is open to it, since it's been 20+ years since Meg Bennett did it.

Plus, there were obviously tensions between her and some of her castmates, which could make her being a director on the show difficult if she can't check those differences at the door. Susan Flannery is one of those people who is universally respected on B&B. She's looked up to by cast members and many of them (KKL, Ronn Moss, Adrienne Frantz) have spoken of how SF has helped guide them through the business. So someone like that could easily sit in the booth and give direction to the whole cast. Could VR do the same thing for any or every member of the Y&R cast? I'm not so sure.