Y&R: What if Bradley Bell became HW?

[YRfan23]

We’d find out Sharon is faking her breast cancer and Phyllis would secretly record her confession and play it for everyone at a party...making Sharon the scapegoat yet again while Everyone praises Phyllis for how awesome she is....

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Edited March 28, 2020 by YRfan23

[KMan101]

 

lol yep

 

I feel like Jack Smith's version of Y&R was B&B-ish at times. Of course he was going through tough personal times and I think that also made the writing darker and messier than it needed to be.

[Khan]

If Bradley Bell were writing Y&R, I guarantee Victor would throw Nikki over for her sister, Casey, now played by some former ABC Daytime star who is way too young and too slutty for the part.

[Aback]

 

Oh God, yes!

[Cat]

I think you and I have very similar views on B&B which I used to watch for years but no longer can.

 

It is almost as if Brad has ADD with the way he whips through and ends SLs abruptly. At the same time, he is unable to move beyond obsessively rewriting the same story again and again and again.

 

Like @Chris B, it is very hard for me to imagine what Brad could do at Y&R. He has been in such a tightly enclosed bubble at B&B which has allowed him to go through the motions creatively for decades. Shock value moments designed to draw in a few more viewers are quickly forgotten weeks later and make little lasting impact. A wider canvas could either liberate him -- or petrify him. He does love longtime characters, and he writes for all age groups. His females are the motor of the show.

 

However, Y&R is not a 15-minute websoap in all but name. It is not an independent little fiefdom where he can write what he wants, untroubled by excessive network interference. And you cannot stretch out one conversational scene over 5 consecutive episodes. He will have to juggle at least 3 or 4 different SLs per episode, and I don't know if he has the imagination and focus for that. His father, by contrast, had focus -- and loads of patience. 

 

 

Interesting. I never made the connection at the time, but you are so right! Especially the Kay-Jill rewrite. (In fact, when Susan Flannery decided to retire from acting, I was waiting for it to be revealed that Brooke was the daughter Stephanie gave up at adoption/thought had died at birth, or something. I felt like Brad would want to tie that decades-long Brooke-Stephanie SL in that kind of bow).

Edited March 28, 2020 by Cat

[YRfan23]

Funny, I was just thinking this. Y&R circa 03-05 had some B&B  elements from Smith's time  co-writing the show.

We got that gross Victor/Sharon Kiss, with them trying to recreate Eric/Brooke it seemed like, and also refueling Nikki's hatred of Sharon which we hadn't seen since the 90's but all of a sudden it was like we needed a Y&R version of Stephanie vs Brooke. and of course the detriment to Sharon's character making her seem like a stupid ho. and the worse thing of all Nick hooking up with Phyllis. 

Jill is Katherine's "Daughter" = Ridge is Massimo's son

Even the 05-06 Sheila return with her looming in the shadows for months, was similar to the 2002 B&B return...even if that was slightly better written then the latter. 



 

[KMan101]

 

LOL. It really did though. When I was thinking back a lot of what Smith wrote just reminded me of B&B in so many ways. 

 

LMAO so true!!!

[KMan101]

 

Yep!!!! All of this! It felt very B&B. Jack Smith should have been made B&B headwriter instead. He'd probably do great. I have such mixed feelings on his time on Y&R. And I know he script wrote on B&B afterwards, right? Does he still? I'm horrible keeping up with the credits, especially since I'm not watching B&B at the moment. I'ma have to go do a check on that.

[VanessaReardon]

Why not? Griffith has been a failure 3 times. Griffith even broke the streak of Y&R being number 1 for a thousand plus Weeks. 

[YRfan23]

I don't remember if he still script writes for B&B...I wanna say yes, but don't actually know...LOL

[KMan101]

 

lol!

 

I keep trying to check but get distracted ... he was as of 2014/2015! 

[LondonScribe]

I don’t think he does. I don’t watch the show, but I vaguely remember reading that he made some barbed comments regarding being let go as a writer.

[KMan101]

 

Ohhh. IMDb (I know ...) has him last as a scriptwriter in 2018. In the article from 2014 I read from Tommy Lightfoot (lmao ... anywho ...) he was raving about working for Brad. LMAO. 

 

I checked SON here and yeah not listed at all for 2020.

 

He's had a long run in soaps, he's probably just ... done.

[KristinG79]

If you want Y&R to tank completely, then BB would definitely be the right choice as HW.  He has completely destroyed B&B, and that's only a 25-min show. I can't even imagine the damage he'd do with a 40-min show ...

[Toups]

I'd welcome him to Y&R because I think he would bring back a lot of old school Y&R people.    He'd be Senior EP and Ed Scott would be EP.  He'd be Co-HW along with someone from Y&R's past (maybe  Michael Minnis who is second in command at B&B).   And Y&R's old composers are still composing for B&B.   At the very least, we'll get back the look and sound of Y&R again.