Y&R: Pratt OUT! SSM IN!

[Chris B]

We will see. Nobody can excite me, but the is the first type in the right direction since they allowed Lynn Marie Latham to ruin the show. 

[LondonScribe]

If I remember correctly, at the time John Smith was to be replaced as Executive Producer and Head Writer in 2005 (either because either SONY or CBS stepped up control in the wake of Bill Bell's death, and thus his link to the show permanently finished, or as a result of his (Smith) own well documented tragedy) both Sally Sussman Morina and Lynn Marie Latham were brought onto the show as consultants. This is hazy but wasn't the talk that one of them was to be given the 'keys to the kingdom' and ultimately they chose the latter?

Then there's the known power play of Jill Farren Phelps a few years ago that gave us the last couple of years over a Kay Alden/Sally Sussman Morina tandem.

Third time's the charm for her. And she seemingly has an Executive Producer she can work 'with' rather than 'for' or even 'against'. Given how far ahead projections are, I concur with other people who have predicted a Nov-Dec changeover. I think Sweeps is too soon so that is probably given over as some sort of Charles Pratt Jr swansong.

Either Mal Young likes the production staff as they are or he's an almighty diplomat so I suspect we shouldn't hold out much hope that (some or all of) the classic musical scores return, even with the tweet he posted of the classic soundtrack collection he gladly received from months ago. Otherwise, the show looks the best it has done in a long time.

[BetterForgotten]

Yuck. 

[Soapsuds]

LOL

 

I thought you'd have more to say on this!

[YRfan23]

I'm definitely excited!!  if only cause at least she has history, but We won't get a better feel till her material shows up on screen.

[YRBB]

And now the wait begins until we finally see it! 

[YRfan23]

I'm already hoping she will bring back  Nina, Chance (thought he was coming back anyway) and Scotty, and maybe make better use of characters like Kyle... Some of the younger actors characters flopped only because of the previous regimes so there has to be some hope.

also this maybe a long shot but I wouldn't mind if she resurrected Diane and Colleen from the grave.

[Chris B]

I'm glad you mentioned some of this. 2005 was a weird year so I don't want to completely hold that against her. Jack Smith's son was dying and he was the main HW at the time, so I'm sure they had so many different creative visions, but things like Sheila's return were just horrible. I just hope her team somehow will include Kay Alden since that was the way it was going to go down two years ago. I'm not completely confident in her on her own, but depending on her team I could have more faith in what's to come. Shame we will probably have to wait a while for a first interview with an idea of what she plans to do.

[sheilaforever]

Well, at least she has ties to the show. I don't think she's a good fit, but it's probably the best this show could hope for.

As she álways took credit for creating the character of Lauren, I'm optimistic that Tracey Bregman will get a good story out of this. And hopefully Jess Walton/Lauren is also on her list of characters she likes to write for. THe rest really depends on the EP, the network's vision and what kind of writers she hires to bring the show on-screen. We shall see.

[BetterForgotten]

Didn't she also take credit for creating Ashley? This woman has quite an unwarranted ego. 

[dm.]

I'm interested in seeing where this will go. I hope the show isn't beyond help at this point.

[sheilaforever]

I think this bit is false info as she was hired in 1983 as a storyline consultant "for young folks stories"... Ashley already appeared in 1982 (?). Her creating Lauren was confirmed by Tracey Bregman, though...

[Toups]

I'm okay with this choice.  I'm glad Mal Young wanted someone who had history with the show.  Though I thought he'd bring over someone from the British soaps to work with SSM. 

 

Maybe she can convince Alden to come back as a breakdown writer and bring other former Y&R writers too. 

[cassadine1991]

There's still a chance of that happening. 

[Soapsuds]

And he needs to bring back some of the former Y&R directors. What happened to them all? Did they all up and retire?