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

[Juliajms]

It's too late now, but I agree.  They should have given her only one child and then made her the obsessive mother from hell. Having lost Eve and had a miscarriage or two, she could have been a Dorian Lord kind of mother. At least it would have given her a good reason to be the kind of interfering parent Victor is despite having lived through it and vowing not to be like him.  I'm not interested in seeing another child die on this show though.

 

I guess the writing was on the wall regarding Sally when GR was rehired. I didn't see it, though in retrospect it's obvious.

This is probably true too, but didn't that happen around week three of her tenure?

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It seemed like no sooner did she declare they were over in that interview then they were back together.

[Faulkner]

This. I used to be a huge Victor fan, but that character has been decimated beyond repair. Just give Braeden a nice retirement and use his paycheck to boost the rest of the show. No one will have the balls to kill the old goat off, though, unless EB decides to leave (which he won't). And I know that for many people Victor is Y&R in the same way Erica Kane was the face of AMC. 

 

 

[NothinButAttitude]

Oh wow. 

 

I did not see this coming. 

 

All I have to say is that Mal better read up on Y&R's history and not try and enforce his own image of the show onto it. Otherwise, he might be the one to drive the final nail into the show's coffin. 

 

Wishing him all the best. Just wish he would've kept Kay in some capacity as she is one of the few outside of the late Bill Bell that truly knows the formula to make Y&R a success again.

[ranger1rg]

I'm not happy. I don't think one person can do justice to both the HW and EP positions. It's just too much.

 

Was Sally perfect? No. But she returned A LOT of good to this show, and I find it ridiculous to credit KA and not Sally. 

 

So Mal is known as a ratings grabber who does Pratt-like stuff? GAG ME.

[LondonScribe]

This closest (but not fully) represents my views on the matter so as to not to fall foul of repetition on those points. Certainly not the best news to wake up to in terms of Kay Alden.

 

The last time Mal Young had this much direct control of both writing and production was when he left Brookside in 1997. Under is six-year tenure as Series Producer, the show did largely move away from its social commentary, (some have said) anti-Tory stance and into the more head-line grabbing stories such as the famous Trevor Jordace body buried in the patio storyline that lasted well over a year. I'm trying to remember the timeline but I believe the religious cult ending with the leader accidentally blowing himself up and a supposedly deadly virus sweeping through the close occurred under him as well as an incest storyline. There was also the story of Barry Grant pushing a woman and her months-old baby off Brookside Parade to their deaths, as well as a long decline into drug addiction for Jimmy Corkhill and (in a plot that may seem familiar to a current Y&R story) the first pre-watershed kiss between two female characters, Beth and Margaret. Though from what I remember, it seemed to more about the media headlines and ratings than telling a love story.

 

Most Brookside episodes can be found you-know-where so if you want to see for yourself (About February or March 1991 is where Mal Young's name starts appearing as Series Producdr and it's later in the year when the tone really changes).

 

Though not as directly hands-on with the BBC shows he oversaw, as Carl correctly said, Eastenders became more loud, pulpy and 'aware of the press'. It sometimes worked with the right producer (Matthew Robinson and John Yorke) but subsequent wrong appointments (Louise Berridge and the oppressive and ultimately fleeting Kathleen Hutchison, quickly brought in from Holby City) worked less and the media glare meant it was all very high profile. 

Of the other shows he oversaw, long-running hospital drama Casualty saw the other big shift into sensationalism, possibly taking its cue from ITV's police drama, The Bill, in becoming a full fledged Serial. The results were mixed at best. 

 

He certainly has/had sensibilities that more closely resemble a Charles Pratt Jr than the now-recently departed duo, so it'll be interesting (if not worrying) to see how the show looks come the autumn. 

That is, unless he has another writer lined-up to come in. Now, who do we know out of work at the moment? 

 

 

[Aback]

I am so sad over this. So, so sad.

 

I have no faith in MY. Zero. Zilch. The ass-kissing on Twitter makes me sick. I hate to say it, but I'm definitely wishing cancellation upon this show.

[Taoboi]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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[dm.]

Depressing.

[Cat]

This is too bad. I really feel like Kay Alden is guardian of the Y&R history and archive, as it were, and a talented writer on her won right. She needs to have some say in Y&R's future.

 

I found Y&R quite watchable in recent months, which is more than I can say for it in the past +5 years.

[Taoboi]

SMH.

THIS.

[Aback]

For being a typical female/housewives medium, all 4 remaining soaps are driven by male Head-writers and Executive Producers... that's got to say something.

[Cat]

 

It says that the PTB at CBS and Sony are 'more comfortable' hiring men.

[Aback]

DAYS, GH and B&B are all headed by men also.

[ajsp35801]

I think the show that we are currently seeing has been mostly Mal for months. 

[Aback]

 

Then why are SC, DD and JT so happy that MY has finally taken over the writing?