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Y&R: Sally Sussman and Kay Alden OUT, Mal Young IN


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Ho boy, I had delayed commenting on this because I have some mixed feelings on how Y&R has been since December. Let me sum up my thoughts and opinions:

 

  • I've quietly enjoyed Y&R since December when Pratt finally left however it was a rough, shaky startoff that was reminiscent of Josh Griffith's 2012-2013 tenure: Great potential, poor execution.  d
  • I feel like the show has felt much more like old school Y&R for the first time in the longest, but the ratings say otherwise. Of course I presume dropping the ball on Fenmore's, having nights out at the opera, Dylan in Miami, Chloe nonsense etc. contributed to the ratings decline. 
  • The restoration of Sharon has been wonderful, but what the hell has happened with Phyllis???
  • New/returning/SOARSed characters like Scott, Juliet, Reed, Tessa, Zach, Charlie and Mattie all seem kind of interesting on the surface, yet are  painfully underdeveloped. 
  • Cane and Lily finally get their most interesting story ever but the actors complain and their kids are very unnecessarily SOARSed for no reason.
  • It's nice to see Noah again but they still write terrible love interests for him. Likewise with Abby. 
  • The Kevin and Chloe exit should have heralded the return of Adam to chase them away. What purpose does a single Kevin even give to this show anymore?
  • Speaking of Adam, one year ago I stated that Chelsea needed to leave the show with Adam, but I was blasted by posters and commentators on this board, other boards, and on Facebook for stating such an opinion. Now a year later I have the last laugh with Adam's exit still being the one of the worst exits in Y&R history. 
  • The show should get an F- or a Z for still trying to push Billy and Victoria. 
  • The less said about the Mariah/Hilary feud the better. The Jack/Gloria antics were a guilty pleasure but also annoying at the same time. 
  • Bringing back Dina has been the best thing Y&R has done in years. As was giving final closure to the Jill/Katherine feud. 
  • Mal's been a good producer for the show, but is he a good writer?

Bottom line is that while everyone's hearts were in the right place, they just couldn't pull it off. SSM has never been the strongest writer but I appreciate her for effort at at least. Trying to be old-school Y&R appears to not work in today's sensationalist society, even with Alden consulting it appears to have failed. However Sussman dropped the ball a lot of things and that's why it reminds me of Griffith's 2012-2013 tenure in which the show was repairing itself but fell shot a lot of times. Those ratings lost will not be back either as let's face it some demos are just dying off. 

 

I wish Mal good luck to writing and I hope he has some success in what are probably going to be the final last few years of Y&R. Please at least keep Esser around and/or promote her to Co-HW. 

 

 

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I agree with you soapfan770.

 

I haven't agreed with everything SS has done. There has been clunkers yes. I think there has been network interference too.

 

Sally has gone a LONG way in stabilizing this show and correcting the many many many mistakes of Phelps,Altman,Show Killer Jean and Pratt have inflicted on this show.

For pushing TVGN to the background and not letting him highjack every story,thank you!

For bringing back Dina and having Jack and Ashley involved ,thank you! I miss Tracey but that may not have been Sally's fault.

For rehabilitating Sharon, Thank you,thank you thank you!

For keeping Adam away from our screen,Thank you! Like Victor,Adam had the tendency to monopolize the screen time.

For getting rid of Kevin,thank you!

 

Mal, I know you are going to probably go over the top and give high camp like most of today's soap fans with short attention spans want. Please don't forget what Sally and Kay have shown you.

Lastly,keep Natalie Minardi Slater and Janice Ferri Esser. They are your link to Y&R history.

Keep Susan Dansby. She was able to make that crap Jean wrote on As the World Turns watchable . She is a good script writer.

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Sally has left the show in much worse shape than any previous writer really, even Latham and MAB.  Mal has all these poor actor newbies to contend with who have no history or connections to any of the major families.  Sally wrecked the momentum among Billy, Jack and Phil.  Jack's character has been seriously damaged with the stupid drunk one nighter with Gloria, falling off the wagon, which was never addressed.  Peter Bergman has bitten his lip as the ending tag to so many scenes, he needs Lisa Rinna's doctor to inject some bouncy silicone!  Cane and Lily's sorased twins was one of the most bone headed moves that can't be undone.  Chelsea and Nick's chemistry is DOA from lack of story for nearly a year. How was SSM hired without pitching story for Phil, Billy, Chelsea, Jack, Ash?  If Bill Bell Jr. is responsible for this hiring, he should be barred from future hiring decisions.  Mal has got his work cut out for him. He needs to promote Slater and Esser as co-heads to delve into history and bring in characters connected to the core families. Get rid of Ravi, Zack, Reed, the twins, Juliet.  Major overhaul of Nick's character is needed to get JM to attempt to act.  Dump Daniel Hall as Scott.  Just awful.  I'd dump Gloria too. I love JC but her character is annoying and not needed.  

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Yeah, she left in much worse shape than Latham, MAB and especially UpChuck and JFP.  Bergman's go to has been biting his lip for years in those scenes.  Mal Young has been the EP the whole time. He doesn't deserve part of the blame too?

 

ITA about Nick and Chelsea. They are like Sominex together.

 

 

 

 

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We're not seriously comparing SS, who is merely benign, boring, and a bit of a letdown, to Latham, MAB, and Pratt who killed off still-viable tentpole characters for short-term shock value ratings boosts, had the show overrun with doppelgängers and two-dimensional villains, and had people behave so out of character that it will literally take years to correct course?

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What I enjoyed during the SSM/KA months:

 

- The return of Dina Abbott Mergeron. It should have happened years ago. The Graham "mystery". The fact that she made the Abbotts feel like a family.

 

- Watching the Newmans act like a family. I liked all the parties, having the kids around, Victor being nice. Nikki being fun, kind of nosy, I liked her scenes with the young people.

 

- Sharon being normal. 

 

- The Ashby drama. I didn't think I would, but I really love this story and it could become a classic with all kinds of things happening later. I like the change in Cane, I didn't expect to buy the change in Lily who acted like a teen a few months ago. But I did. All kind of crazy things could happen. Charlie and Juliet, Juliet almost being murdered and Cane lying that he did it thinking that he is protecting one of the Ashbys.. Juliet discovering a family secret, etc.

 

- The Jill-Katherine ring drama.

 

- The idea behind characters like Ravi, Tessa, Graham, Juliet, Jordan.

 

- The fact that the Adam madness was forgotten and that Chelsea didn't have any real story. I see no point in her.  I am glad that this regime was not interested in her either.

 

- Group scenes. Events. More than two or three people in a scene. Party scenes, restaurant scenes, bar scenes. People talking. This is a soap opera, not a video game.

 

- This relaxed, cool woman claiming to be Phyllis. I love her. This JT's version of Billy, for some reason I see him like a charming old-school leading man from the fifties and I love it. I like Victoria when she is involved in Reed's life or running her company. Or bickering with Billy. Oh and btw everyone keeps saying how Amelia Heinle looks a mess, but I think this woman is gorgeous and by european standards she would be considered the most beautiful woman in daytime. 

 

- The park scenes.

 

- Kevin and Chloe leaving. Too much drama. Too much craziness. Although I really like both actors.

 

- The fact that people are not acting crazy rich like every single character can afford five Marlena Evans clones on a Tuesday. 

 

- Hilary. She should be the star of the show.

 

 

And the bad:

 

- Scott. The show has no idea what to do with him. He should be two or three different people. Sharon's writer guy (this actor would be fine), Abby's guy from work (a new Brad Carlton type with a touch of Craig Montgomery) and Dr Scott Grainger Jr, who gets involved with a psychotic doctor who wants Lauren out of the way (a modern day Sheila Carter meets Vanessa Prentiss story)

 

- Gloria. All this could have happened with Jack and a new woman. The ons, her getting a job at Jabot and meddling in her boss's life. This could be a lot of fun without the Gloria baggage. Someone like GL's Nadine, but not Gloria. Perhaps Hilary's aunt? 

 

- Nick and Chelsea "investigating". Zzzzzzzz

 

- Kevin and Chloe's endless exit. However now we see why it was that way. 

 

- It is a crime that we don't have Jill on the show. She doesn't deserve the Traci Abbott treatment. I doupt Jess Walton is not interested in returning, I think she "retired". She should be involved in the Jabot stories, Billy's love life, the Ashby mess, bicker with Ashley and Dina, sleep with Jack, share scenes with Hilary. 

 

- The Newman drama. Victor is so bad, Victor is ruining lives. Victor is ruthless. Yes, we know. So does his wife who married him ten times and his middle-aged children. Calm down, you are not that tortured. 

 

- Hilary. She should be the star of the show.

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+1

I really don't have anything to add to this. I've quite enjoyed a lot of this run, and it keeps building and building. I don't particularly like the possibility of Victoria having a split personality (uuuughh please tell me that ISN'T where they're going), but the other stuff is starting to hit more and more, and I enjoy tuning in. I hope Mal continues with this direction, but with some raising of the stakes in some areas.

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What even is the Graham story? What was the goal? Was he to be Ashley's new man? I don't get it. I don't know much about it.

 

I liked Ravi and Ashley a lot. But it's clear it and many other elements were not executed as SS/KA intended.

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The Graham stuff is pointless. He's played by an attractive but totally blank and charisma-free actor. There's no "there" there, and the story hasn't really advanced since he's been here. Typical SS. Dina's return would have been as effective without him.

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