Y&R: Spumor

[brimike]

Wait, I'm confused. Was there confirmation this happened and Heather's being killed off?

We've heard this before from "the rumor mill". Like last year when they said CE was being fired. Clearly. He's only in the most talked-about story on the show now, six months later.

[MarkH]

"Spumor"...so I think we all know we're probably hearing someone's wishful thinking Or poor dmarex's nightmare.

I am confident that Y&R writers know we have tired of "death". Yesterday's Amber-Kevin @ the message boards--especially that mention of Gloria hatred--suggests to me they KNOW what we're thinking .

[brimike]

It would seem to me just from the last year of Y&R that quite possibly, people on the back-burner will be the status quo. Sure, some of them will probably be cut before the summer is over - but MAB has said in many interviews that while their budget and licensing fees are indeed being slashed, they don't want it to show on-camera to the fans. Perhaps the answer they've come up with is to keep more people in supporting roles than ever before - as opposed to getting rid of sets/shooting on location/firing everybody over 40/etc.

Which leads to an interesting question. Well, interesting to me, at least. What's a better solution for budget cuts on soaps... or, I should say, which way do we like it: A ) Firing the most expensive people outright and playing the same 6 sets and group of characters every day (i.e. DOOL), or B ) Moving half the cast to the back-burner, which keeps them on the show once a week or so, but is more of a tease. ("Why aren't Lauren/Michael/Heather/Paul/insert character name here on more?!")?

[cara mia]

Unfortunately, I could see Y&R killing off Heather if only because the writing is so ridiculous of late. For some reason, Amber Moore and Kevin Fisher must be pimped to high heaven, even though they are not legacy characters, but Adam gets turned into a sociopath and Heather is just there to garner sympathy for "poor" Kevin.

[Evan]

If Adam is going to be killed off or sent back to jail in the next few months, surely it would have made more sense to keep Chris Engen in the role, why go to the trouble of hiring a well credentialed recast if he's only got 2 months of work?

[MarkH]

Speaking only for me, I'd take the DOOL or GH approach. Winnow down to a manageably small core that plays most days of the week. Y&R sets are sumptuous, I'd play most scenes on a limited number of core hub sets.

Right now, when I turn on GH, I know that I'm going to see Jason, Sonny, Carly, etc. The risk is that, if I don't like them, I'm screwed. But the benefit is that if I like them, I can count on seeing them.

On DOOL, it is such a pleasure -- I can't say how much of a pleasure -- to see Maggie, Victor and Stefano regularly, front burner. I am not a regular viewer of that show, but what they bring interests me a lot more than some of the lapsed cast members.

Assuming there needs to be a 50% cost reduction, I'd achieve that by keeping my top players (even if they are a small number). I'd try to negotiate a cut in the per-episode rate, but not in the guarantee. (A smart actor knows that if the sun ever shines again, the rate can be dealt up; but the higher guarantee assures RELEVANCE. And residuals!). Top players (on Y&R, we're talking Victor, Nikki, Katherine, Nick, Phyllis, Sharon, Jack, Ashley), supplemented by others is the way to go. The others can bring along the next generation.

Because it is now a buyer's market, I would not be afraid to do what Douglas Marland did...send folks out of town (e.g., JT/Victoria), and mention them frequently and try to bring them back when story calls for it for brief stints (like we saw with Paul's brother Todd today). Then, if the story calls for Victoria to be heavy in story, try to renegotiate a new short-term contract.

The path to ruination on other soaps is when the canvas is filled with newbies we don't care about. I think heavy play of people we DO care about, even if small in number, is much more satisfactory.

This board is a testament to how much it upsets viewers to have folks languishing on the backburner. That is worse than writing them off -- as DOOL's current experience with John/Marlena and Patch/Kayla shows. Ripping off the bandaid altogether is preparable to slow, agonizing pull.

The agony for me is a show like AMC (Joe and Ruth aren't playing AT ALL in Tad's recent head injury) or ATWT (No Kim, no Bob, no Lisa, etc). We'd love to see them in heavy play -- 4/5 day supporting if needed -- rather than never. And we could discard of dozens of Parkers/Liberties/Pauls etc. to afford just that small handful.

The relentless quest for the young demo has consistent led to the mistake of underplaying Bob/Kim and overplaying Ali/Casey. As Y&R shows, with Kay's frontburner year, doing so doesn't hurt your demos at all.

Engen didn't want to stay. He didn't want to play the story. He would only have stayed if they changed the story, and TPTB rightfully didn't want to do that.

[cara mia]

I agree with you about sending characters off for a while if you're not going to write them. JT & Victoria could easily go off to a foreign locale and come back when needed.

Mark, I replied to your Engen comment in the other monster thread, since this is one is supposed to be about VB.

The thing about Heather is that there a ton of possibilities with her. Billy can't stay faithful, so Heather's a natural hook-up. She could get between JT & Victoria. Or she could even experiment with women, possibly Colleen. How does a show have no use for a hot blonde like VB?

[JackPeyton]

The days way, IMHO.

Because yes it will piss fans off to cut the top players, the vets, etc... But if done right, it can pave way for a new future. Days did the best they could when the fired the top stars, and to kind of make up for that this year we have seen more of Maggie, Caroline, Victor, and Stefano than we have in a decade pretty much. They moved long term characters to the forfront (Sami was already there, but Philip and Chloe who have been there for 10 years now. Stephanie who is the daughter of classic characters, etc...) and they have brought in a few newbies with strong ties (Mia, Will, Daniel).

I would much rather watch that and watch the scens on 4 sets than have 25 sets with 80 cast members that get played once a week.

[Darn]

Yeah but Days biggest players were absolutely played out. John and Marlena can only be given the same story so many times, Patch and Kayla's return was a dud and unnecessary, Y&R's big players still have plenty of story to tell. You can't just write Nikki and Victor off of Y&R and chug along, it wouldn't work.

[JackPeyton]

I fully agree that Y&R Cant cut Victor, Nikki, Jack, Ashley, Kay, Jill in own huge swoop like Days was able to do.

However... Nikki? She can go. The show can go on without her. And i am a HUGE Nikki fan. One of them can go, hell two of them can go. It can happen. And i do think they would be OK.

And i would much rather characters be written off than kept on and showen once a week/twice a month.

[MarkH]

Amen! Fans HATE it when top players are backburnered forever. Look at ATWT!! Pare down the cast, and play what you have HEAVILY.

[MarkH]

Agreed. And maybe Nikki isnt the one to go. Maybe it's the whole Fisher-Baldwin and Winters and Williams clans. Take that whole bunch, and your cost savings are enormous.

GH plays a handful of top players daily, and that is it. While GH may not have done its' amputations properly (e.g., Quartermaines, Webbers, etc.), the core idea...distill down to a small canvas...is absolutely the way to go.

Languishing on the backburner is torture for the audience and the actors.