Soap Producers/Writers Odd Reasons Behind their exits

[SoapDope]

Conboy leaving Y&R to do Capitol in a hurry. I read he went behind Bill Bell's to CBS to get them to take the show away from him. It all backfired and he was sent packing. 

[soapfan770]

 

Which reminds me that P&G did a lot flip-flopping EP's writers often to a show's detriment, even though it may have sounded good on paper in the late '70's and early '80's. Examples include shuffling the Dobsons and Bunim over to ATWT or shuffling L. Virginia Browne away from AW over in favor of Corinne Jacker. Some of the decisions just caused continued upheaval, especially SFT and AW. 

[titan1978]

I know Bill Bell got that EP credit on Y&R so that he had absolute control over what he was writing, and it wasn’t until the 1980’S that he did it.

 

He wasn’t even involved in casting when Braeden was hired, and he became the center axis of his own story and a huge part of the Abbott storylines.  It was having Victor that gave him a place to go after the show went to an hour and he had a mass cast exodus.

 

From a great interview with Bell and Claire Labine-

 

BELL: I must say though, compounding the problem, once we went to the hour we had four leading men who exercised their out—because it was written into their contract. I lost [John] McCook, I lost [David] Hasselhoff, and a few others who escape me at this moment. That certainly factored into my concern.
LABINE: Of course it did.
BELL: Want to know something? I didn't have a man left that had any balls. Then we cast someone—it was only supposed to be a two-month story, and the guy was going to be killed. He came on the air, and, holy Christ—I was in Chicago so I wasn't a part of the casting. I called and said, “Who the hell is this guy? He's terrific.” It was Eric Braeden. That was the turning point, because I had someone to build around. He was a terrific actor and a terrific character. And he really grew into the role.

[Paul Raven]

I really find it incredible that Bill Bell wasn't involved in the casting of Victor.

I guess for what was going to be a short term role, he didn't get involved and put his faith in Conboy and the casting director.

 Perhaps he was told 'we've got a primetime actor, he's great at villians etc' and Bill just went with it. This was in the middle of the expansion and I recall Kay Alden saying they were really stressed during that transition.

[SoapDope]

 

Bell wound up rewriting all of the Victor story, but had to write Meg Bennett (Julia Newman) out. He noticed Meg was good at fixing doing quick rewrites when a scene was not working. He asked her if she considered being a soap writer and gave her a job. 

[Paul Raven]

So who were the other 2 leading men ?

Next to leave I think was Beau Kayzer (Brock) but that was several months later.

I wonder what the circumstances were there?

I read that all actors renegotiated when the show went to an hour. Brock/Beau remained on air and Bill started the whole Brock/Julia/Victor story - really the first time Brock had a leading story.

Then Beau left which seems strange unless he only agreed to a 6 month contract?

[Broderick]

 

I'm pretty sure that ALL the actors on Y&R had negotiated contracts to appear on a 30-minute show.   When Y&R expanded to an hour, everyone's contracts were automatically voided.    (A contract actor on a one-hour show has a higher scale-rate than an actor on a half-hour show.)   There were only about 17 contract actors on the show at the time --- Stuart, Lorie, Leslie, & Chris Brooks; Liz, Snapper, Greg, and Jill Foster;  Nikki Reed and Casey Reed; Lance Prentiss, Lucas Prentiss, and Vanessa Prentiss;  Brock Reynolds, Kay Chancellor, Derek Thurston, and Suzanne Lynch.   Maybe April Stevens.   (Peggy Brooks was gone at the time.)  

 

My recollection is that Brenda Dickson (Jill) bolted immediately when the show went to an hour and was replaced by Bond Gideon.    John McCook (Lance) also opted out, but stayed for about a month while his storyline with Lorie was wrapped-up.  (Lance and Lorie divorced -- after tearfully singing a duet of "The Way We Were", lol -- and Lance moved to Paris.  I thought he was gone for good, but then he inexplicably popped-up a few months later with a French fiancee named Simone, and then he vamoosed again.  Ultimately he was replaced a few months later by Dennis Cole.)   Beau Kayzer (Brock) also opted-out, but agreed to stay for a few months to introduce the Victor and Julia Newman characters.  (Brock represented a girl named Cathy Bruder who was accused of stealing Goat Daddy's Rolls Royce for a joyride.)   David Hasselhoff (Snapper) didn't exactly "leave" but negotiated fewer appearances per month so that he could audition for nighttime shows.  Snapper went from appearing several times per week to only a few times per month, which left him and Chris in this disjointed, recurring storyline in which the pregnant Chris may or may not have been exposed to someone who may or may not have had German measles.  Hasselhoff left for good in 1982.      

 

It was a weird transition.       

[Paul Raven]

Brock stayed around till August (possibly early September) so at least 6 months. He left on a cruise after declaring his love for Julia, who wasted no time in getting it on with Michael Scott.

 

The Chris pregnancy/measles story occurred in 79 with Chris leaving town due to her fear.This was to facilitate Lynne Toppings maternity leave.

 

In 1980 Snapper and Chris has little to do apart from support for April and the Brooks/Foster stories.

[SoapDope]

I think they also did that a stupid storyline where Chris went out and bought expensive furniture with Stuarts credit card. She then told Snapper she found all that stuff on sale/clearance. Some doctor and his his wife came over for dinner and raved about their furniture mentioning how expensive it all was. Chris was busted and Snapper made her return the goods. Snapper then pretty much told Stuart to go to hell. Later on Stuart told Greg to go after Chris, since he always felt Greg was the better match for her. Stuart always hated Snapper since he had fathered Sally's baby. Sally and Chucky had returned at this point. 

[Aback]

 

Seeing those names brings me way back! I miss those posters too - where did they go? Although some of them have gone on to become 'soap writers'