http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/10/16/eric-braeden-young-restless-end-negotiations/

Damn. He's pulled the plug on negotiations. Could this really be the end of Victor?

It's called show business for a reason - one can't exist in a vacuum without the other. And I don't know how you can argue that the writing on this show has not been affected by JW, MTS and EB's contract negotiations.

Y&R has had extremely tense contract negotiations leading back to the Smith era. Melody Thomas Scott, Heather Tom, Jess Walton, and Sharon Case were all in danger of never coming back in the early 00's, yet the show wasn't on the the dire creative path then that it is now. Core characters weren't written off by having been responsible for the death legacy characters, by bringing vulnerable psychos to town to reek havoc, and by getting the heart of someone he tormented for months.

This go around, even a year before their contract troubles, MTS and Jess Walton were being phased out for like a year. Nikki's relationship with Paul took place off-screen for 90% of its duration, and Jill had nothing noteworthy to do expect playing second fiddle and demon to Katherine's angle routine (which is horrible writing for the Kay/Jill feud). Even with her son coming back from the dead and her grandson coming back to town, Jill has had nothing to do other than file nails once or twice a month.

Y&R has had extremely tense contract negotiations leading back to the Smith era. Melody Thomas Scott, Heather Tom, Jess Walton, and Sharon Case were all in danger of never coming back in the early 00's, yet the show wasn't on the the dire creative path then that it is now. Core characters weren't written off by having been responsible for the death legacy characters, by bringing vulnerable psychos to town to reek havoc, and by getting the heart of someone he tormented for months.

This go around, even a year before their contract troubles, MTS and Jess Walton were being phased out for like a year. Nikki's relationship with Paul took place off-screen for 90% of its duration, and Jill had nothing noteworthy to do expect playing second fiddle and demon to Katherine's angle routine (which is horrible writing for the Kay/Jill feud). Even with her son coming back from the dead and her grandson coming back to town, Jill has had nothing to do other than file nails once or twice a month.

In danger - but never due to pay cuts. MTS left briefly. The gaslight story was to revolve around Nikki being the suspected culprit and Paul and Nikki were indeed supposed to get married till MTS was walking. ALL THREE ACTORS WALKED AT SOME POINT. AND - the smoothness of the prior contract negotiations was because B-P Productions was making the call - not Sony. Contracts were not negotiated like this. There WAS respect on both sides - now they get "Take it or leave it" and leave MAB and Co. scrambling to change story and do all sorts of work-arounds. the entire production schedule, model and way of doing business has changed - and I've heard this from someone who works there. I'm not making this up - the franchise fee cut mixed with Sony's agressive "I don't give a crap" negotiations and increased oversight of every aspect of the show has created a ripple effect that is definitely affecting the show we watch.

Now do you have to agree with MAB's workarounds? Of course not - and some were horribly done. But she's been thrown into the fire and IMHO - things didn't get ugly till March/April when things started to show up on our screens.

In danger - but never due to pay cuts.

It WAS due to pay cuts. Jack Smith used to say in every interview that their budget was severely slashed and that they could no longer afford to do the things they once did.

MTS left briefly. The gaslight story was to revolve around Nikki being the suspected culprit and Paul and Nikki were indeed supposed to get married till MTS was walking. ALL THREE ACTORS WALKED AT SOME POINT. AND - the smoothness of the prior contract negotiations was because B-P Productions was making the call - not Sony.

That's not true, MTS told Michael Logan her contract negotiations have ALWAYS been handled by Sony.

Nikki was being phased out a year before MTS's contract trouble though, she was hardly ever on and then her

relationship with Paul, which started in 2008 was never given any development on screen.

Now do you have to agree with MAB's workarounds? Of course not - and some were horribly done. But she's been thrown into the fire and IMHO - things didn't get ugly till March/April when things started to show up on our screens.

In the hands of more creative writers, exits would be written less damaging (like this Victor exit) and more organically. Again, Jack Smith did a better job of them than MAB and Co.

Edited October 17, 200916 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

In danger - but never due to pay cuts. MTS left briefly. The gaslight story was to revolve around Nikki being the suspected culprit and Paul and Nikki were indeed supposed to get married till MTS was walking. ALL THREE ACTORS WALKED AT SOME POINT. AND - the smoothness of the prior contract negotiations was because B-P Productions was making the call - not Sony. Contracts were not negotiated like this. There WAS respect on both sides - now they get "Take it or leave it" and leave MAB and Co. scrambling to change story and do all sorts of work-arounds. the entire production schedule, model and way of doing business has changed - and I've heard this from someone who works there. I'm not making this up - the franchise fee cut mixed with Sony's agressive "I don't give a crap" negotiations and increased oversight of every aspect of the show has created a ripple effect that is definitely affecting the show we watch.

Now do you have to agree with MAB's workarounds? Of course not - and some were horribly done. But she's been thrown into the fire and IMHO - things didn't get ugly till March/April when things started to show up on our screens.

See, this smells like 'truth' to me. This is an explanation that fits with my understanding of how the world, and business, works. Plus it's the kind of stuff DaytimeFan kept whispering!

Here's the MTS quote:

http://www.tvguidemagazine.com/soaps/exclusive-melody-thomas-scott-renews-yr-contract--1596.html

All deals at Y&R are done with Sony rather than CBS, right?

We are all employees of Sony. CBS is mixed up in there. I don’t know how it breaks down percentage-wise, but from day one of the show my negotiations have always been with Sony.

So Sony, not the Bells, have indeed been the only one doing contracts since the beginning of this show...

And you all know about the budgets cuts and tense contract negotiations that took place during the Smith era. Hell, Heather Tom left because she couldn't get the episode guarantees she wanted, it wasn't so much about the pay cut, it was the way it was handled and not getting a good episode guarantee.

Edited October 17, 200916 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

I don't think that it's just Sony. It's MAB and her little click for the most part. It's always been said that Sony handles contracts and the Bell's handle the creative side of things. Well IMO, had the creative side been actually good and not garbage which it has been for the past year, maybe the cast wouldn't have been reduced to these pay cuts. Maybe if Y&R showed that it was worthy of being called the number 1 soap on television, Sony wouldn't be mandating all these pay cuts.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! I have been saying this all along. It is actually this SIMPLE!!! And I am sure CBS got miffed first and it trickled down...after all she probably told them she has her vision and nobody should get in her way. They probably let her have her way and now the show is in EXCELLENT shape. I am not letting her off the hook here...NOPE, NOPE!!!

Btw, does anyone know eactly what MAB's vision is.

Edited October 17, 200916 yr by JimTolkien

Btw, does anyone know eactly what MAB's vision is.

Maria: Sheffer and Hamner, do whatever you want, but make sure to add an art storyline in there once an a while. Oh, and make sure you reference something that happened in the past once in a while too, the viewers are stupid, they'll buy anything as long as you reference some history!

Edited October 17, 200916 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

He's blaming Sony - period. And so am I.

I read somewhere that Sony wanted to get rid of Melody Thomas Scott, but, CBS did not. I am thinking the same is most likely true of Eric Braeden. In the long run CBS will trump Sony...... with a lot of great drama and publicity in between.At least this is the outcome I am hoping for.

Not too sure I care to continue watching this show without Victor Newman and don't care for the direction it is going in, anyway.

This is a little off topic but here goes. Is the Sony/Y&R relationship the same as the Sony/DOOL relationship? When the Days licensing fee was drastically cut Corday didn't even offer Hall & Hogestyn a pay cut. He just let them go. Does Sony handle the contracts for Days too?

In danger - but never due to pay cuts. MTS left briefly. The gaslight story was to revolve around Nikki being the suspected culprit and Paul and Nikki were indeed supposed to get married till MTS was walking. ALL THREE ACTORS WALKED AT SOME POINT. AND - the smoothness of the prior contract negotiations was because B-P Productions was making the call - not Sony. Contracts were not negotiated like this. There WAS respect on both sides - now they get "Take it or leave it" and leave MAB and Co. scrambling to change story and do all sorts of work-arounds. the entire production schedule, model and way of doing business has changed - and I've heard this from someone who works there. I'm not making this up - the franchise fee cut mixed with Sony's agressive "I don't give a crap" negotiations and increased oversight of every aspect of the show has created a ripple effect that is definitely affecting the show we watch.

Now do you have to agree with MAB's workarounds? Of course not - and some were horribly done. But she's been thrown into the fire and IMHO - things didn't get ugly till March/April when things started to show up on our screens.

If she has to do work arounds due to budget issues than why doesn't she use some of her veteran actors who have been languishing on the backburner for so long to fill in these gaps? I can see that she has to work around long breaks based on contract negotiations for actors like MTS, MS and JW but then she doesn't write for other actors for months. One would think that she may want to write some of these characters B story so if she has to ramp down one of her A stories she can do that instead of always scrambling. Is it any big shock to anyone that this happened to MTS or is happening with EB? They knew they would bulk at such large cuts and probably walk away from the show, at least temporarily, so why not plan better for it?

I think MAB has a difficult job and maybe I am being naive, but I just can't see the budget issues as a main cause of her lousy storytelling.

Y&R has had extremely tense contract negotiations leading back to the Smith era. Melody Thomas Scott, Heather Tom, Jess Walton, and Sharon Case were all in danger of never coming back

Don't forget Lauren Woodland.

Hell, Heather Tom left because she couldn't get the episode guarantees she wanted, it wasn't so much about the pay cut, it was the way it was handled and not getting a good episode guarantee.

Exactly.

She was treated like a stranger & she did NOT appreciate it.

IA - the other negotiations with other actors were all on display, showing they weren't going to budge in order to force EB to take the cut. I don't think there will be an immediate exodus of watchers, but Victor's presence gave the show a dramatic OOMPH that cannot be replaced and will not be found elsewhere. I always couldn't wait to find out what Victor's reaction would be when he "found out the truth" - or what he would do when he was done wrong. It's incalculable how much of a loss it will be if EB leaves the show - well except to Sony's bean-counters.

I do feel vindicated in a way back to the MTS drama - that MAB and co. had their hands tied. EB has nothing but praise for MAB cause she must be livid over losing her show's biggest star and she's helpless to do anything about just as she was with MTS. Everyone blamed her, I blamed Sony. I wish the haters would draw their ire to the man behind the man behind the man (Sony) - he's the one killing our beloved soap.

I have always been under the impression that Sony hired Paul Rauch to be their hatchet man. IMHO, he and Sheffer are ruining our beloved soap.

I have always been under the impression that Sony hired Paul Rauch to be their hatchet man. IMHO, he and Sheffer are ruining our beloved soap.

Rauch and Maria have both said that Bill Bell, Jr. (Maria's husband) hired Rauch to consult and when it came time to look for a new EP after Griffith was fired, they picked Rauch.

Don't forget Lauren Woodland.

Can we please forget her?

Can we please forget her?

As you keep telling people about the Latham era and this writing regime's faults, "It happened, it's apart of Y&R's DNA forever, nothing anyone says or does can change that!"

And frankly, given the state of the younger cast and characters at Y&R at the moment, Brittany doesn't even appear to be THAT bad or poorly developed in comparison.