11 minutes ago, kalbir said:

@Broderick Also during H. Wesley Kenney's run as EP, Y&R got more action/adventure elements in the storylines. Although Y&R's action/adventure elements were tame compared to General Hospital and Days in that same time, I don't really feel they suited Y&R. I wonder if adding action/adventure was Bill Bell's own choice or it was CBS mandated to compete with General Hospital and Days. Notice that when Ed Scott takes over, all the action/adventure elements are gone and Y&R becomes more corporate.

@kalbir I believe if the story is ever told honestly & completely, we'll find Wes Kenney was responsible for the Golden Touch storyline, the Sleazy's Bar storyline, and the Mr. Anthony storyline.  I don't think CBS, as the licensee, was in a position to dictate storylines from 1982-1986, but obviously the licensing company/co-owner (Screen Gems/Columbia/Sony) was in a position to do so.  And one would assume the Columbia/Sony edict was delivered to the writer (Bell) by the executive producer (Kenney).  Bell had obviously written some action/adventure storylines earlier while Conboy was producing (Rose DeVille and the Slavery Ring in the summer of 1979, Rose Deville and the Lingerie Models in the final months of 1979, the [terrible] New World Commune storyline in the summer of 1980, to name just a few.) I'll always believe Columbia Pics wanted MORE of those storylines, and Kenney delivered the news to Bell. 

Those types of storylines obviously weren't what Bell WANTED to tell, but he generally managed to infuse them with enough character development to make them tolerable, and they kept Y&R from being completely static and stationary during the period of time when Luke and Laura were "on the run", Jesse & Angie were "on the run", Bo & Hope were "on the run", etc.    

Let's add (briefly) that once Conboy and Kenney were BOTH gone from the show, Bell permanently took the title "Senior Executive Producer" so that he could no longer be "bossed around" by an executive producer. That's clearly an issue that had haunted him throughout Conboy's reign as exec producer from 1973 to 1982, and during Kenney's reign as exec producer from 1982 to 1987.  

Once Bell was the "senior executive producer" and Ed Scott was the executive producer, Bell was able to tell the stories that he WANTED to tell without interference from an executive producer who theoretically held the power to fire the headwriter. And of course that's when the show stopped intermittently hitting #1 and became a permanent #1.   

12 minutes ago, Broderick said:

 I'll always believe Columbia Pics wanted MORE of those storylines, and Kenney delivered the news to Bell. 

Those types of storylines obviously weren't what Bell WANTED to tell, but he generally managed to infuse them with enough character development to make them tolerable

I never thought of the Columbia Pictures angle.

Bill Bell's writing kept the action/adventure elements from venturing too deep into General Hospital and Days territory.

Just now, kalbir said:

I never thought of the Columbia Pictures angle.

The ONLY reason it occurs to me is Bill Bell's quote about the expansion to an hour.  Bell always said, "I resisted the expansion as long as I could, because I preferred the half hour format.  Eventually, in 1979, the word came down to me that the show was going to an hour, and it would go WITH me, or it would go WITHOUT me."  

We can see exactly how that happened.  CBS told Columbia, "We no longer want to license a half hour show from Columbia Television.  We want to license a full hour.  We would prefer it to be Y&R.  If it can't be Y&R due to Bill Bell's resistance, we'll drop Y&R and license another show instead."

Columbia Television then went to the executive producer of Y&R (John Conboy) and said, "The show is going to an hour by February of 1980.  MAKE that happen.  We co-own this show with Bell Dramatic Serial Company, and WE license this show to CBS.  It's OUR decision to expand it to an hour.  You either convince Bell to go along with our decision, or you fire his ass and hire a writer who will do as he's told." 

That explains Bell's quote about the "word coming down" to him.  And it explains why he and John Conboy developed such a contentious working relationship that virtually sabotaged the show and which lasted until John Conboy left in 1982.     

Am I the only one who actually enjoyed the odd pairing of Victor and Christine back in the mid-90s? They really had chemistry, and I loved Nikki’s jealousy. Shame it ended so fast - maybe Bell got cold feet?

I think CBS would have put pressure on Columbia to jazz up Y&R with more action storylines to counter ABC. They did the same with P&G, hence the Mr Big story on ATWT and Quint's adventures on GL.

Networks have always tried to intervene in the creative process. CBS would be talking to CPT who would pass on 'suggestions' to Conboy/Kenney who in turn would mention it to Bill Bell. 

Now Bill claimed he answered to no one but he was smart enough to know that it was good business practice to keep the network and production company happy.

 

 

A few years ago, someone posted her a SOD profile of Brenda Dickson circa Oct ‘83 after her return. I neglected to save the pages posted. If the person sees this, could you repost? Thank you so much

13 hours ago, yrfan1983 said:

A few years ago, someone posted her a SOD profile of Brenda Dickson circa Oct ‘83 after her return. I neglected to save the pages posted. If the person sees this, could you repost? Thank you so much

 

13 hours ago, yrfan1983 said:

A few years ago, someone posted her a SOD profile of Brenda Dickson circa Oct ‘83 after her return. I neglected to save the pages posted. If the person sees this, could you repost? Thank you so much

 

1 hour ago, asafi said:

 

Thanks so much!!

Max Ehrich just got leaked by a hacker taking over his Instagram.

Did Jess Walton and the original Mamie, Marguerite Ray have any scenes together?

 

37 minutes ago, fivethej said:

Did Jess Walton and the original Mamie, Marguerite Ray have any scenes together?

 

Yes! One in April 1990 when John invited Jill over to the house for dinner. 

On 9/16/2025 at 9:16 AM, asafi said:

Unfortunately, those episodes of Phyllis’ arrival in Genoa City and the death of Rex Sterling are nowhere to be found. Such a shame, because they would have been amazing to watch again.

I have them and will try to upload them soon to vault.