Y&R-Mal Young Out, Josh Griffith Taking Over

[EricMontreal22]

OK I don't buy that for a second.  But I also never thought he was ever in it for the long haul (would his roles at Y&R even have given him more money than his UK soap work?)

Unfortunately (and I have this from, well the horse's mouth) the Bells have never stood behind Kay Alden or fought for anything she's wanted post Bill.  There's no feud there--they are still friends, but when it comes to the shows, or creative decisions when she's been there, they have never backed her up.

And that of course is the fault of the industry.  They've cut any soap training programs, etc.  i trust that a number of talented people outside of the soap bubble would still, even in this climate, take up the reigns of a soap.  The execs just can't  be bothered now to train people, or even take a risk--they'd rather go with a commodity that has proven not to work. 

Coincidence?  It was the very early 2000 when ABC dropped their very successful daytime writer's program...  (Even "don't stir the pot" Agnes Nixon commented on what a short sighted mistake it was)

I spoke to Alden for my MA gay soap essay--of course things can change in a second, but she made it pretty clear she'd never return unless major changes behind the scenes were made.  SHe still loves the genre.  She's older though and I don't think relishes fighting against the owners of the show to get her vision seen when she could be doing something else with the last quarter of her life...

[sivad40]

Griffith was the writer that killed Billy and Chloe's daughter Delia and the Billy and Adam showdown that led to Adam's death.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

ABC must have cut that program by 2000 because when I was in grad school in 2001, the only positions left in the ABC Daytime Training program were the production jobs, none included writing.

Also CBS had no equivalent training program for daytime drama.

 

I was studying at a writing program and none of the daytime production studios reached out to my program.  It was mostly late-night and a few primetime production companies that offered internships in television.

[BetterForgotten]

P&G had a writer's program through the early 00's as well. 

[Soaplovers]

I do recall when OLTL was doing their online soap.. that one of the script writers had been one of the last students of the writing program.. and that she was going to be the next head-writer had the show continued online.

 

With that said, I see that there are writers on the staff of Y & R.. that are fairly new.. so I don't get why the show doesn't try to promote one of them as a co-head writer (i.e. moving up the ranks).. Nancy Curlee started on the staff of GL in 1985, moved up to co-headwrter in 1989 and eventually became headwriter in early 1991... I don't get why soaps don't think to do that still... since they've proven to know how to write scripts, how to do break downs, etc... and than worked under a headwriter to see what the job entails.. than when they inherit it.. they know how to plot/plan a soap.. plus know the history of the characters.

[Antoyne]

Hmm now I’m remembering he’s a pretty dark writer. He ruined Hope on DAYS for me with the Stefano story.

 

I wasn’t really watching a lot of Y&R during the Delia story, but maybe he’ll kill off Tessa.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

They did??!  That's not what I heard when I contacted their NYC office.  Did you know any participants?

[EricMontreal22]

 

I have interviewed the person who said he ran it until 2001 (and he hates when I mention his name...) for its final year--but maybe they were just finishing it off with the students they already had?  Either way--that's really too bad.  I suspect you would have been a good fit (and when he described to me how the program worked it sounded like an amazing opportunity and--if you don't mind endless work deadlines--a lot of fun).  Jean Passanante actually started her ABC career there as someone who would seek out talent among playwrights from universities and regional/off-Broadway theatres (another role she was reportedly actually very good at).

 

 

[Paul Raven]

Where does this leave Daran Little?

 

Was Mal unhappy with Sony/CBS trying to interfere with his vision?

 

So many questions,

 

I always felt Tessa was never going to be long term. They were just waiting for the right time to drop her like every other Sussman character.

 

 

And Eric, what can we offer you to tell all about your Alden interview?

 

I don't have a first born to give you, but I can arrange to get one...

[BetterForgotten]

I guess it was more of writing competition for college students vs. an intensive program. Ryan Quan, who writes for DAYS, was one of the winners back when he was in college. 

[YRBB]

JG? Again?! At least Morina is something new...

 

 

She's the only person that could make it work, but it'll never happen (unless the show gets canceled and they give her free reign for a few months).

 

 

Thank you so much for sharing this.

 

Sigh. 

 

Of course they never stood by her. Alden is the person genius William Bell called his right hand, the person that knew what he wanted to do/say before he even knew sometimes. So, like, why back her up?

 

 

Very understandable. The show would be lucky to have her again, her own faults/limitations and all.

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I was in an intensive writing program, taking an 18 hours course load per week.  I had workshops and classes galore so the internships I did were mainly in theater (which was appropriate since my focus was in theater and I was accepted based on a playwriting portfolio), although I did do one for a talent agency which did a collaboration with an independent film company.  My writing program did have a Writing for the Soap Opera course but by my second semester is had been scrapped.  Strange, since the first semester it filled very quickly and the majority of students taking the course that semester were overwhelmingly men.

 

 

I just remember having a very strange conversation with someone in PGP's NYC office about it.  I was a grad student in a full-time dramatic writing program and P&G wasn't even listed in the big book of internships in my department but I decided to look them up and call anyway.  Maybe it wasn't open for a full-time grad student in a writing program but very strange, especially since I was right there in NYC back then. Oh well.

 

Most of the training programs, with the exception of ABC Daytime seemed to be based on the West Coast, which I couldn't do because my program was in NYC.

[EricMontreal22]

 

The feeling, frankly, I got (and these are not her words) is that any blame that happened while she was involved after Bill's death, she'd get thrown under the bus for.  The existing Bells sound like a family that really does not know what's in the best interest for their own soaps, as much I am not suggesting they sell the shows outright.  But they seem extremely conservative and close minded about creative decisions that Bill would not have been about (mind you this is all I have gathered and assumed from a 20 minute conversation!)

 

 

I agree.  I didn't expressly ask about her role as a consultant during the Sussman era, so I'm not sure what went on there (though she did laugh when I asked if she could define the role of creative consultant on a soap--and she basically said it was someone who offers suggestions that are ignored).

[titan1978]

I think people like Alden suffered from declining ratings as television was truly expanding in a dramatic way as far as choice.  And instead of having the vision to see that while they had lost viewers, the show probably needed tweaking and the budget needed to be in line with what the numbers were at that point, but didn’t need to try to be something else.  They dumped everyone that knew what the show was, and each replacement team has tried to morph it into something else and continues to loose audience.

 

I think if they had stayed the course with Alden and Smith, they might have been able to stabilize for years before the genre finally started to bottom out completely.  But they wanted her to have the numbers of the early part of her tenure, and nobody on tv had numbers like the late 1990’s anymore.

 

When Wendy Riche and Labine decided to write off Sean and Tiffany, I was sad to see them go.  But the show wasn’t planning to write for them, and they were expensive.  I get why people like that started to be written out. I missed them.  But I get it.  The economics of GH had changed.

 

I do not think any EP in the game now can get it back to Alden, let alone Bell.  But somebody like Riche has the class and the vision to tell stories from an emotional place, and I would like to see her try there if she isn’t ever going to return to GH.  In my dreams, I wished for her to take over ATWT.  I think that would have been fantastic.

[Toups]

I thought Mal improved the production, when compared to JFP (remember JFP's Chancellor Mansion? Yikes!).  I actually don't mind Nick's new home and the Dark Horse set.  I thought it was cool to see the ceiling whenever they did those low angle shot.   The music was slightly better, even though most of the cues were from the JFP era.   Hoping Morina brings back the old Y&R composers so we can finally hear those classic cues again.....but I don't have high hopes.  Griffith again?  Don't like that move.  Been there, done that.