Martha Byrne joins B&B

[Actor87]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:D

Thank GOD! I'm sooo incredibly happy for her!

Martha is an exceptionally talented actress. She grew up with Douglas Marland breathing down her back and has always been an actress totally devoted to her work. She's quite possibly the only actress that I've ever seen or heard in interviews talking about the depth, range, emotions, rationale, and overall believability when it comes to character. She knew when the idiots at ATWT were wringing Lily dry and subsequenly bowed out gracefully (amidst an onslaught of media attention). Never once did she strike down the show or the man. However, she has always been outspoken when it comes to characters and story material. That alone makes me think that she has the mindset and the talent to conquer this writing gig. Not to mention that THE Douglas Marland mentored her in her formative years as Lily on ATWT. What better proof do you need that she's going to be an exceptionally talented writer? She cares for character, she appreciates the magic and nostalgia of the daytime genre, and the ultimate daytime writer was a friend and mentor to her, always offering helpful insight. I, for one, am ecstatic about this.

[nicknack]

It's B&B we are talking about It's not like she could actually be any worse than the current batch

[SOAPSFOREVER]

From your lips tlo Brad Bell's ears. So true.

[juniorz1]

Let's not forget about John Loprieno's writing stint on OLTL.

[DRW50]

Don Hastings wrote for GL sometime in the 70s, or early 80s, I think.

Susan Seaforth Hayes's mother went from acting to writing, even headwriting DAYS in the late 70s.

[bellcurve]

Goutman was an actor prior to getting in production. He played Sharky, a slimy dayplayer on The Edge of Night. I also recall he was recast after a handful of episodes with a brawny, less creepy actor.

[Dan]

Not to mention Michael Zaslow and his wife wrote for AW for a (very) short time.

Thank God that ended because in a few short months, he graced again our screens on GL.

[boldfan01]

And he had a somewhat longer stint on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW as Marc D'antoni in some crazy voodoo story, and that was where he met his wife Marcia McCabe.

Meg Bennett and Jim Houghton both went from acting gigs on Y&R to writing gigs with Y&R and B&B, and Bennett went on to write for other shows, too.

[Dr Neil Curtis]

I didn't know Goutman was an actor before. I wish Martha Luck, I thought she coming on in a role or something but this should be good as well..........I Hope. Looking it the trend of P&G actors turned Big Shots (writers, prouducers, whatever) I just pray it turn out well.

[detroitpiston]

Nelson's interview with MB from the new Suds Report

[Cat]

Wow, after reading that interview, I am really excited about Martha joining B&B's writing team. It's great to know that she's a B&B fan from way back. And that she's psyched to write for Lesli Kay. AND that her spec script focused on Stephanie and the Forresters!

[bandbfan]

I'm excited as well. It's great that she knows what's going on. And hopefully we can get some good material from HT and LK since she knows their strengths.

[NorrthCafe]

I agree with your assessment, Actor87. Unfortunately, MB is moving to a show that has a lot of the same writer problems (wringing characters dry). I'm not looking for her to save the BnB - it's beyond that, now. I'm hoping she can help make some sense of the dialogue, even though the current crew will keep mucking up the plots. I'm THRILLED to see her onbard with the show.

[MarkH]

I agree.

They already HAVE good writers...Mulcahey, Jack Smith... Despite this, story beats, scene structure, and dialogue are all universally pretty awful. Friday was a perfect demo. I wanted to RETCH at the Steffy/Rick scenes...and then I got excited because Stephanie found out and was on the warpath!!

When the success of the whole show hinges on a SINGLE character, you know you're f*cked. She's not gonna live forever! Or work with this dreck forever.

This is such a wounded, damaged show. The beautiful thing is...as the quick "Jackie M" turnaround BRIEFLY showed...they can fix this on a dime. But they KEEP making awful choices.

Martha Byrne can't fix that. All she can do is make individual scripts SOUND good. We have to keep focusing on the top, and hoping hoping hoping that there is some kind of change there. For me, my much-hoped-for change (Kay Alden!) has achieved exactly nothing to fix this ailing program.

DaytimeFan has me hoping that the creative team UNDERSTANDS the problems, and that more improvement is in sight.

[bellcurve]

I think Jack Smith's talents maybe better utilized in places other than scriptwriting. Aside from Shannon Bradley, Jack Smith writes some of the most uninspired dialogue B&B has to offer.