Angelica McDaniel OUT! (CBS Daytime)

[VanessaReardon]

I never watched his show and never will. But getting back to McDaniel, she really messed with Y&R and to a lesser extent, B&B. She didn’t know soaps. 

[Vee]

 

That was ahead too.

 

I believe McDaniel was probably a very personable exec who truly cared about the soaps on some level. She made her hand felt creatively at Y&R. That doesn't mean she was good for the shows' content and quality therein - her hand was a problem. I don't lament her absence because I felt she made poor creative choices and because I have no real investment in those shows. But it's certainly true that with her gone the soaps at CBS are more doomed than before.

[VanessaReardon]

Errol, with all due respect, McDaniel was ignorant when it came to soaps. The Talk was her thing. If you interview any headwriter, executive producer, behind the scenes people, ask them what they really thought of McDaniel. I mean really thought about her. Not public relations bull. They won’t miss her interference, that’s for sure. 

[John]

God If Rich Frank & Jeff Kwanietz had the funding & forthought to actually those with Daytime experience to do AMC & OLTL the ways they wanted, those shows may have had a better shot

 

I do think McDaniel did care but CBS didnt and just did what they always wanted to do

In all due respect, Whe a network (CBS) says do this ir we will fire your ass & you have a family to feed you do what your told. Cant fault her 100% since she had bills to pay

[Chris B]

I see lots of people upset about her exit and while I get that, it reminds me of a story from years back. Do y'all remember when the network research was leaked to one of the soap mags after Shemar quit? It showed that the show lost either 1 or 2 million viewers when he exited and the network did research to see why. The saw that is was the black audience they were losing so they brought back Victoria Rowell and added lots of black characters. Look at what's happened today and tell me if Angelica did anything like that. The answer is no. Kristoff's send off is the only thing that got them a ratings bump. Granted it wasn't huge, but it was better than what they got for [!@#$%^&*]'s heavy promoted wedding. Instead of looking at that as a useful demographic they dumped those characters as soon as the week ended and Ana, a promising newcomer was fired. None of the black characters are mentioned in the fall preview. Also, when Victoria Rowell left in 2007 the ratings plummeted and she sealed LML's fate. As much as fans hated LML she did have good ratings when Rowell and the Winters family were her muses. 

 

My point is, Y&R historically has a large black fanbase that they've let slip away. If Angelica or another exec isn't going to address that I truly feel they'll never get their ratings back which is why IMO it doesn't matter. Black people are HUGE for tv and soap viewership yet they don't care anymore. I doubt the show will be canceled since it's #1, but what we're seeing is the beginning of the end. At best it'll be like GH with less interference but a generally tepid show. I don't expect the ratings to go up or stabilize. They'll just keep chugging along until someone either cancels the show or moves it to CBS All Access. 

[Khan]

It's funny seeing K o l a translated into [!@#$%^&*] on this board.  OTOH, [!@#$%^&*] is the only way one could describe such a [!@#$%^&*] awful couple like K o l a.

[DramatistDreamer]

Any show that has Debbi Morgan and Darnell Williams and couldn't find a way to make those characters work, doesn't deserve my respect or sympathy. 

Y&R could've brought back Victoria Rowell as an amnesiac who was convalescing with her common law husband Sarge (Williams) and with Neil getting closer to Yolanda/Harmony (Morgan), there could've been a powerful quad in the offing but I get the sense that the very last thing Y&R/CBS DAYTIME/SONY wanted was to have a black couple (let alone two) anywhere near the forefront of the show's stories. 

 

Meanwhile The Good Fight on CBS All Access, which features a cast that is at least half Black gains critical and ratings acclaim and goes from strength to strength. CBS even ran the first two seasons on network during the summer, when does that ever happen!!  Except, it happened again with The Red Line that had a cast made up of predominantly characters of color, which ran on both the network and CBS.com.

 

Like I said, despite budget, Y&R was not helpless, they had a strong hand in their own ratings downfall and CBS Daytime had a strong hand in it as well as Steve Kent with Sony (by the way, when will he be shown the door?) with their failure to adapt to changing times and a severe lack of creativity and ingenuity.

[Chris B]

@DramatistDreamer I agree with everything you said. They're in the past. It's sad that as I've been rewatching Y&R from 1989 and currently in 1992, the stories are more fresh that what you see today. There are no vixens, no sex, everything is just tepid nowadays on soaps. When you compare it to primetime and cable there is no way they'll keep up at this rate. 

[Khan]

 

Agree!  (And I love your idea for Sarge/Dru/Neil/YoHarmony, @DramatistDreamer!)

[DramatistDreamer]

 

The Shonda Rhimes shows really showed that you could have a diverse cast and it could be a ratings success. You could even have a black woman character driving story and people would tune in. The soaps never learned this.

 

 

It was sooo simple but the brass at Sony (*coughs* Steve Kent) and CBS (*coughs* Les Moonves) couldn't get out of the way.  What's so tragic is that the chance for that to happen is dead and buried. There will never be another chance. 

 

I mean, Raúl is a Cuban American character.  Why couldn't Y&R build out an extended family for him and introduce them one by one over the years? Didn't they have him return for that Walnut Grove reunion?  That would've been an ideal time to introduce one of his relatives to Genoa City.  They could have had Arturo looking for work, finding it at Newman or Jabot or even if Crimson Lights or the GCAC needed expansion and needed a contractor. Or Lola could've been fresh out of culinary school and found that she could only get a job working as an assistant at Jabot's dining cafe/cafeteria.   Why they didn't follow the path of building out an extended family for Raúl, I'll never know.

 

Even Ravi.  I mentioned how great it was to have a South Asian character and it could've been interesting to bring on Shenaz Treasurywala as his dynamic, brilliant but overbearing sister.  Make her a chemist who saw Ashley as a role model yet have her be Brash and Sassy's lead chemist that would've put her in direct competition with Ashley.  Also, have her disapprove of Ashley and Ravi's budding relationship (which was mostly sexual anyway).

 

There were multiple ways to unobtrusively introduce diverse characters onto the show's canvas without pushing anyone out but Y&R wasn't interested in any of those ways unfortunately.

[lucaslesann23]

PopTV recently took YR off its schedule. Could that have influenced the decison to get rid of the daytime devison?

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Y&R was still being aired on PoPTV?  Wow. 

Honestly, I don't think that Y&R being pulled off PopTV would have been much of an influence in the decision to pull an entire Division.  If anything, it might have been the reverse.  I think Y&R being pulled might have much more to do with programming changes going on at PopTV.  Networks tend to make these kinds of decisions in the same part of their seasons so it appears that everything is happening at the same time.

 

From what I read, PopTV wants to invest a lot more in original programming.  They found a lot of acclaim from being the U.S. broadcast network for Schitt's Creek and I think they are eager to replicate that prestige with other series, which is why they pushed so hard to get the rebooted One Day At A Time series.

[lucaslesann23]

How do primetime soaps do in ratings?  I see we have alot more of those. 
It wont ever happen but lets say YR was moved to that timeslot would it do better?

[Chris B]

 

I always wanted Shenaz to come on as Ravi's sister! He was one of the most promising newcomers and he did wonders for softening Ashley. Bringing on a family member for him would've been easy because the audience liked him. Then when you bring up Raul it's another no brainer. There are various latino characters they could've created a family out of with real connections. As you mention, Raul and Brittany were reintroduced already, then you have Isabella and lord knows the show is overdue for a villainess so bringing her back and giving her a family could've been a viable story. Another option in that regard is to pull a Mamie and give Mrs. Martinez or Miguel a family as they did when they gave Mamie two nieces. I'd personally say Miguel would make more sense as he's more recognizable to viewers and you'd be able to tie those family members in with the Newman's. 

 

New familes on soaps are hard, but CAN be done, they just didn't do it right with the Rosales.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I only really mentioned Raúl because he is Cuban-American like the Rosales.  I'm not sure why a Mexican American family wasn't introduced but perhaps politics was the determining factor in that decision.  I wasn't opposed to Arturo (perhaps the casting wasn't ideal), I wasn't even opposed to the actor but he was introduced so poorly, his character made virtually no impact.

I was just thinking that had Lauren had a better storyline for her struggling boutique, Neil and HWG could've been consulting on the transformation of Fenmore's and told her that she needed to revamp the flagship store and she would need a contractor and while Brittany was in town doing some shopping, she could've mentioned that Raúl has a cousin who is a contractor. Despite Lauren's reservations about how she can afford it, she decides to take a meeting with this contractor, eventually paving the way for Arturo's introduction.

So many possibilities to seamlessly introduce new characters but Y&R's staff weren't up to the task.

 

This show could been so much better.