Y&R: New Head Writer

[amybrickwallace]

Well said!! You just hit the nail on the head.

[Vee]

They were both terrible writers who contributed to tearing down AMC brick by brick. The point is, no one gave a !@#$%^&*] about Annie until she went nuts. The character was nothing. No one cared about her. You can try to dress it up but all she was was a Fronsian blonde cipher.

[marceline]

So true. I have to admit that while I didn't care all that much about Annie, I enjoyed the way MCE went balls-to-the-wall on the crazy and managed to, for better or worse, make Annie into a character that stuck. I remember seeing a lot of board chatter after Budig returned, that MCE was good as gone. I liked seeing that conventional wisdom proven wrong. I grew to enjoy watching MCE even if Annie worked my nerves.

[dragonflies]

I think Les would throw his weight around if Frons took Angelica's job. I don't see it happening at all.

[Skin]

I don't disagree. Annie was always an empty husk of a character, at least before Pratt she had solid characterization and wasn't just a psycho who went crazy to push plot.

[Darlotto99]

when Y&R is done the Bell's will take their character's that they own and move them to B&B. then and only then I can see B&B going to a 1 hr show.

[amybrickwallace]

No, Fronzie wouldn't stand a chance against the Chenbot's hubby.

[dragonflies]

It won't go to an hour unless they still have the timeslot, otherwise that timeslot goes to affiliates and no I don't see that happening at all. I think the Bells would find another way to keep the show alive

[YRBB]

My ultimate fantasy scenario would be for Y&R to get the f.ck off network TV & go to Netflix or Amazon. Perhaps insane, but I salivate at the thought of how good it would be again.

[Faulkner]

I dunno. I think Y&R essentially died with Bill Bell. Kay Alden apparently has no intention in resuming head writer duties, and while Jack Smith "knows the show," his final stint was deeply unpleasant. If the show had a Netflix-size budget to bring back the smaller characters in the vein of Flo, John Silva, and Douglas Austin (RIP), who all added so much color to Genoa City, that'd help a bit. I'd just like to see the show get a decent sendoff.

[DaytimeFan]

I'd like to see the alleged interview where Kay Alden says she has no intention of being a HW again. Everyone is pointing to something Jamey Giddens said, but where is the receipt for his comment?

[Faulkner]

Well, I for one, hope it's not true. She's the only person I'd trust to bring this show back to a modicum of its former self.

[Cat]

Heck, I'd bring back Jack Smith if Kay really wants out. This man was at Y&R for years and years; he knew it like the back of his hand, and most of what he wrote is still 1,000,000 times better than what I have witnessed in the last 5 years. Let's be real!

Failing that, Kay Alden as consultant with some actual power. The problem is, though, that Bill Bell was autonomous at Y&R. No CBS executive ever passed him a note or interfered with his vision. He called all the shots and the buck stopped with him. He was also nurturing of talent, and that's why so many of his collaborators (like Alden) stayed with him for years and years and years. When he died, those collaborators were still in place and could have kept this show ticking along nicely almost indefinitely. However, LML (under Barbara Bloom's direction) cleaned house of ALL of them, and when the Bells fought back with MAB, they just made a terrible mess even worse. Now it is Sony's turn to call the shots and they have decided to revamp the show into the blandest, most middle-of-the-road muddle ever. It's probably safer than LML's clueless writing or MAB's self-aggrandizing horse manure, but it's still a very poor representation of a soap -- ANY soap -- let alone one as iconic as Y&R.

[Adam]

I enjoyed Pratt's first 3-6 months at AMC, but that was not worth the damage he ultimately did before the end of his run, killing Stuart being probably the worst of those atrocities.

I haven't watched Y&R closely in recent years, but I see a return to MAB-like gimmickyness. She in the end was very Pratt-like.

And I loathed John Smith towards the end of his tenure, but as another poster pointed out, it was still at least Y&R.

[Soapsuds]

Wow blast from the past! Nice to see you posting again Adam. You cutie...hehe...