Y&R: Potpourri Thread 2

[Sylph]

Glad to see that change. But why has it occurred?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

After seeing the clunkers they've produced this year, neither deserves any type of a higher promotion. Though, there's certainly worse on the Y&R writing staff.

[Toups]

Come on, if any of the other old school Bell writers like Trent Jones, Rex Best, Michael Minnis, Jim Houghton, etc, were on today's Y&R staff, they would be chastised too because I guarantee they would've put out "clunkers" like everyone else on the team.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Everyone turns out clunkers, they're human. However, given their history with the show, I expect better from them than I do from other people. I've always said the strength of a good Script or Breakdown Writer is when they consistently deliver quality episodes, even when the overall storylines and the creative state of the show is horrible. I haven't been impressed with Esser or Slater this year, and I don't think their work was anything to brag about this year, as well as most of the Y&R writing staff.

Am I calling for Esser and Slater to be fired? No. I think they should stay on, but I do not care or particularly want to see what either would do as a Head Writer for this show. There's definitely others on that writing staff that need to go before those two.

[Toups]

So they are "lesser" than any of the other Bell writers because they were on this team for the past year? So if those other writers were on the team this past year, you wouldn't want them as Co-HW? I obviously don't have the data for this but I'm pretty sure NMS and JFE wrote some damn good episodes in their career, probably even some of Y&R's best. I don't think 1 year invalidates what they've done for Y&R for the past 10+ and 20+ years, respectively.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Where did I say that? All I said was I wasn't impressed with any of their output this year. They should stay on as Script/Breakdown Writers. I'm not saying they should be fired outright. My point is, I don't particularly care for them to get any type of higher promotion. They haven't consistently impressed me this year. I know I'm not the only one that has problems with some of Esser's (in particular) dialogue. I believe SOAPSFOREVER is another one that isn't fond of her work.

If they delivered some consistent work under a very bad creative regime with too many outlandish stories, then yeah, I'd think they would be good HW or Co-HW material. I don't particularly find Esser or Slater's work to be any better or any worse than a lot on Y&R's current writing team. That's a problem for me, since I expect better from them and know they have a long history with the show.

Yes, they probably wrote some damn good episodes when the show was a lot better creatively under Bell, Alden, and Smith. Y&R was a lot more consistent back then, so did most people who wrote for the show. If more Bell writers were on staff, maybe we could make a more fair assumption. But nothing Slater or Esser have done this year in particular has been consistent in my view or made me say "why aren't these two Co-HW's?"

Again, I'm not saying either should be fired, but nothing they've done this year in particular has made me think they're HW or Co-HW material.

Obviously, if I were running things, I'd look for a natural storyteller. I'd ask various people to submit a bible to me, and I'd see which is the most consistent, natural, and best in my view to make any type of decision. Most of the people I would ask would come from the Bell universe though.

Slater or Esser might be good writers that would try their best to respect the show and its characters, but we wouldn't know what their storytelling talents are until they're HW or until we've read some type of bible they've created. I honestly can't jump ahead and say any of them should be HW or Co-HW simply because they've been there for years. First choice again would be Alden or Smith coming back. Trent Jones particularly interests me as he was Alden and Smith's Co-HW for a while and he also has some experience outside of the Bell universe. I'd go for those three simply because they're a lot safer than Esser or Slater and I would know what to expect.

Also, Slater and Esser strike as those who improve when the general story and creative direction of the show improves. If that's a true assumption, I'd like to think they'd be more vital to the writing staff in their current positions than ever.

Also, if they're promoted, I'd hate from them to get used to MAB and Latham's bloated writing staff routine. Y&R used to function on a fairly small writing team, and it was very beneficial for them. If they were promoted, I'd hate for Esser/Slater to keep this current team the way it is. Y&R could to stand to cut its breakdown staff in particular. Someone has to come in there with both a strong vision for story and a strong vision as to what they want their writing team to look like. I can't presume that Esser/Slater wouldn't make any changes, but they've been apart of both Latham and MAB eras when the writing staff was bloated and made no overall sense with all these various writers with varied styles that made the day to day writing so scattered and non-cohesive. I'd hate for them to be too close to members of this writing team so that they wouldn't be making any cuts or overhauling it to suit what they want in a writing staff.

[Sylph]

Too bad they fired Melissa.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Yes, I was very fond of her work during the short time she was at Y&R. I haven't seen much of her OLTL episodes to accurately judge her there. There was something very natural and human in her dialogue, it seemed like real people talking, regardless of the social class of the characters. The script she wrote for one of the Jabot takeover episode last November was one of my favorites during that time.

However, she's a good Script Writer, not someone I would want to be anything else.

[Sylph]

So... I was wondering... Who here finds Sharon a "sl*t"? Can Sharon be de-sl*tted? Is this character being criminally destroyed?

[y&r_fan]

Me!

No.

She was never all that and a bag of chips to begin with.

[Juliajms]

Maybe, but I don't expect it to happen any time soon. It's actually not that I even thing of her as a slut, so much as a helpless airhead. I keep hoping it will change. I give Sharon Case a ton of credit for keeping Sharon sympathetic for me. She's usually the type of character I really, really hate, but Sharon Case alway keeps me from putting her on my list of soap characters I want to see die slow painful deaths.

[MarkH]

Sharon Case and Katherine Kelly Lang belong on the same list to me: Under-rated actresses who can perfectly play good-hearted women who make awful choices. Because they clearly signal that those choices almost always come from a place of love or hurt, I can forgive them anything. I'd say MTS managed to pull off the same magic a generation earlier.

I believe this is why Gloria is such a failure with so many of you...she has never shown us the vulnerability or good intention that often fuels her awful choices. We only see the greed, selfishness, recklessness. It's almost like the actress and writers have decided to collaborate to make Gloria utterly unredeemable.

And me...for the record...I don't like the word "sl*t"...I consider it as sexist and misogynistic as a lot of the other words that get bandied about here to which people have objected. But maybe I'm just false resisting another pornographic infestation .

[DeeeDee]

Gloria fails cause of Judith.

She's horribly miscast.

Always has been.

[MoTheGreat]

I just hope she doesn't sleep with Adam. Why TIIC can't write for a a guy & girl just as friends? I thought this storyline couldn't get any lower. But to actually write in she sleep with the man who switch her baby. Look at this on paper & shake her head to it is very distrubing to say the least.

[Cashton]

Eric Braeden TRULY is Victor Newman - without a billion dollars...

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="video" width="320" height="280" data="http://www.myfoxla.com/video/videoplayer.swf"><param'>http://www.myfoxla.com/video/videoplayer.swf"><param value="http://www.myfoxla.com/video/videoplayer.swf" name="movie"/><param value="&skin=MP1ExternalAll-MFL.swf&embed=true&adSrc=http%3A%2F%2Fad%2Edoubleclick%2Enet%2Fadx%2Ftsg%2Ekttv%2Fentertainment%2Ftelevision%2Fdetail%3Bdcmt%3Dtext%2Fxml%3Bpos%3D%3Btile%3D2%3Bfname%3DY%5FR%5FEric%5FBraeden%5Fon%5FGDLA%5F20091028%3Bsz%3D320x240%3Bord%3D892919802678681600%3Frand%3D0%2E09182795941437188&flv=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emyfoxla%2Ecom%2Ffeeds%2FoutboundFeed%3FobfType%3DVIDEO%5FPLAYER%5FSMIL%5FFEED%26componentId%3D130889308&img=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia2%2Emyfoxla%2Ecom%2F%2Fphoto%2F2009%2F10%2F28%2Fbraeden%5F20091028%5F112059%5Ftmb0002%5F20091028121105%5F640%5F480%2EJPG&story=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emyfoxla%2Ecom%2Fdpp%2Fentertainment%2Ftelevision%2FY%5FR%5FEric%5FBraeden%5Fon%5FGDLA%5F20091028" name="FlashVars"/><param value="all" name="allowNetworking"/><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"/></object>