Ending the Conspiracy of Bloom preventing former Y&R head writers Jack Smith and Kay Alden taking over AMC

[R Sinclair]

Pratt's currently head writing from Los Angeles.

[DaytimeFan]

You're absolutely right, JHC, like all ABC EP's has little power.

[erantou]

very interesting topic! has anybody read the kay alden bible for amc? i noe people have referenced it as terrible but it would an awesome read....

[CSF]

:lol:

What? Not going to happen. I must say, when I read that I pictured Brooke chasing after Felicia. :lol: Considering she's already gone through all of the Forrester men.

Like Jack said, B&B revolves around the same four people.

[Paul Raven]

I remember a Kay Alden interview where she stated she wanted to keep Danny on the show and get him involved with Callie in a music storyline,but Bill Bell nixed it,feeling the character had run it's course.

That was in 98,shortly after Alden took over.So,at that point Bell still had overall approval.

Prior to that,the two had worked together for years,so maybe it was only a slight shift.Kay might have had a lot of input before officially taking over.

[CSF]

Thanks for that info DaytimeFan!

Two questions:

1.) Does anyone know anything about Kay's bible? I wonder if it really was good, but in Frons eyes, it wasn't.

2.) How did Sony get creative control away from the Bell's?

[DaytimeFan]

1) No idea about Kay's bible. I've never seen it, I hear it was awful, I also hear it was great. Who knows.

2) Essentially, Sony is the majority owner of Y&R, but the Bells, with Corday's 1% own a very sizeable share, think of it like 59% Sony, 40% Bell and 1% Corday...I don't know the exact figures, but it's similar to that. Bill had an agreement with Screen Gems (which became Columbia, then Tristar, then Sony as well as a few other names) that he had control until his death. His death, in 2005, set in motion Sony vs Bell in which Sony felt it could do a better job than anyone associated with the Bells could. The ratings had declined, like the rest of daytime, so Sony somehow believed that they could fix it. Sally Sussman Morina and that hack bitch from the depths of hell LML were both brought on around this time and were given shots at consulting. SSM had support from the Bells and Sony (she had worked with Bill in the 80s and she'd previously HW at DAYS with some success ratings wise) while LML had the support of Sony and Barbara Bloom. In the end, that hack bitch from the depths of hell LML was brought aboard and she systematically blew out almost everyone associated with the Bells while attempting to transform Y&R into Knots Landing 2.0.

We all know how well THAT went. At the end of 2007, the Bells took a meeting with Sony, demanding that they be awarded creative control again, citing how the ratings and budget had fallen apart. Fortunately for the Bells, the Nielsen surveys had come in shortly before, reflecting a widespread distaste for the show among the fans. Since DAYS was also bursting at the seams, Sony decided to put their energies at DAYS since it was clear to them that the Bells meant business and had successfully run the show for nearly 35 years and capitulated, awarding an agreement to the Bells that ensured their creative control over the series. The WGA strike so fortuitously occurred at this time so Sony did the strike and fired that hack bitch from the depths of hell LML and MAB was installed as Co-HW the next day.

[CSF]

Thank you for that back story, Daytime Fan. I'm glad Sony and the Bell's came to an agreement and it didn't turn into some ugly battle.

[brimike]

That was EXCELLENTLY summed up, DF! LOL! Well said!

[Adam]

I think Kay Alden's AMC bible has been on the best kept secrets in daytime this decade.... we never heard what was in it, just that it was as DaytimeFan said... either terrible or great...

Anything would have been better than B&E's year.... they didn't even have a bible did they? They swooped in and just adapted some of The Writer's left over material.....

[Y&RWorldTurner]

It wouldn't surprise me if Alden wrote a horrific bible for AMC, she had very little knowledge of that show in the frist place, and her writing style probably conflicted with what manangement had in mind anyway.

[Adam]

Oh no doubt that her style conflicted with what the management wanted.... and as we have discussed, Kay's ego would not permit her to change anything. I am sure she would have wanted near full creative control. The whole thing with her and ABC proved to be a giant waste of time and money. B&E could be easily manipulated, and they had a history with JHC and the leading man of the show, Thorsten Kaye. It was a win win.... on paper I suppose.

Does anyone know if other than B&E was anyone else ever considered?

[EricMontreal22]

Kay has a lot of talent but I think it's in working out OTHER people's stories--she played essentially that role for Bell since 1976 so...

[DaytimeFan]

Ding Ding Ding...we have a winner, tell him what he's won!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I do think Brad allows her some creative influence at B&B. I noticed a huge shift in the tone of the show when Kay was promoted, and I didn't like it.