ALL: What about Bill Bell's writing made his stories and shows the top standard?

[DaytimeFan]

I recall Jeanne referring to her as "Maria Arena"...she left off the Bell.

[lucaslesann23]

Back to LML for a sec, what did the CBS/Sony execs see in her that she was able to just fire all of Bells people. From what I read from older threads she actually wasn't that bad working WITH Kay and them.

[Broderick]

Kay Alden said at the time that Miss Latham was brought in because she had "primetime sensibilities" and would add more of a "primetime flavor" to the show (at SONY's suggestion).  As to why the Bell-era writers were ultimately dismissed -- who knows?  Maybe they were seen as hindering Miss Latham's "primetime sensibilities".  

[Liberty City]

Due to the high definition, but, I feel like at least during his tenure, we got some of the richness that had been stripped from previous regimes.

I know Cooper was furious when Marge was killed off, and she infamously said: "Well, I actually, if I had actually had the liberty, I would have killed off the writers."

Would not surprise me, because she is not a Bell in any sense of the name.

My guess? It was more-so to do with removing Bell and those associated with him to allow more control, from the higher-ups, rather than the creatives and hiring Lynn Marie Latham allowed them to do that at the end of the day.

2006 interview with Kay Alden:

[YRfan23]

Well that's ridiculous because I think Y&R was the most "Primetime" of any of the soaps at the time Bill Bell wrote it. 

[Broderick]

Kay Alden: "Lynn [Marie Latham] has only been with the show maybe six months.  She comes to us with a nighttime background.  We're now trying to do some more innovative things.  More nighttime flavor to the writing.  And she's come in to help us with that transition because it's foreign to us, in terms of writing in that venue.  And Lynn has an incredible track record." 

Miss Alden goes on to explain the horrific process SONY and the network subjects the writers to -- thrust documents, detailed outlines, constant script revision, etc. 

You can tell by her faltering voice -- she knows Latham is about to take the whole mess over.    

[Paul Raven]

The whole notion of a primetime sensibility for daytime is nonsense. They are 2 different genres.

I disagree with Jeanne about killing off Marge. That story was one that got me back into watching Y&R regularly. This is another case where the actor's personal view takes preference over what might be best for the show. Marge hadn't been on the show for years and would have been forgotten had Maria not brought her back.

Reminds me of when Mal Young decided to have each show take place in one day. It was a tradition with British soaps which aired in primetime for half an hour a few times a week. It was not necessary for US daytime and didn't work.

[Liberty City]

This is where I wholeheartedly disagree ⏤ I found the change riveting, needed and made The Young and the Restless much-watch, especially after it had been dragging its feet for such a while. It shook up the canvas, and it was a shakeup American daytime needed.

[Broderick]

Jeanne Cooper on Maria Arena:  "I have to say in Maria’s defense, she was serving two hats, one with MOCA (The Museum of Modern Arts) and one with The Young and the Restless.   She had a great sense of Y&R having Bill Bell as a father-in-law and learning and writing under his umbrella.   But within the art world, it was going down.  And Maria as the chairwoman was very beneficial in turning that around.   Now that is a very important position.   Now put that on top of writing a number one show and what she was trying to do, which kept her from the show a great deal of time.  Maria was thinking she had the right people at her back at every turn, and she had laid out storylines assuming her writing team is taking care of that.  She was trying to make it blend and teach this way of working to a show, if the storylines had been correctly done.   We talked about how it is to handle two major things without paying attention to one without the other. Maria was trying to blend the two and consequently Y&R suffered for it.

[I added the bold & italics, because she's saying exactly what I alluded to above --- Maria Arena wasn't WRITING one damn thing.  She was "laying out stories" (probably verbally, in my opinion) to Hogan, and he was writing them.  Miss Arena was trying to "teach" this way of writing, which was basically "writing without writing, and writing without being a writer."  The woman is just not a writer.  She's never written anything.  She's a socialite and an art collector.  

I would LOVE to read the novel she allegedly wrote, according to her biography, but we all know she ain't ever written any novel; nor has she ever written a single episode of Y&R.]  

[lucaslesann23]

I think my problem specifically with everyday is a new day thing under Mal was, he would just skip stuff. I remember when Thad came back at the end of one episode and the next one took place after that scene so we missed everything.

[Maxim]

Not wanting to be a buzz kill but the topic is getting slowly derailed into something else. I just want to remind you that it is about what particularly about Bill Bell made him great. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Yeah, I was laughing last night at how quickly it devolved from, Bill Bell the gold standard to typical bitch session about Y&R,[

[Maxim]

Yes. While I was reading I was wondering WHAT I was reading at some point and checked if I was in the wrong topic by mistake. 

Please register in order to view this content

[Contessa Donatella]

It can't be helped. The moment someone says Lynn Marie Latham there's a Pavlovian response! I'm waiting to hear about shock & awe! 

[teplin]

I loved Bell's Days but could not get into Y&R at all. I tried a few times, but to me in those early years the style greatly overwhelmed the substance. Y&R did seem cold and chilly to me in comparison to the more homespun Days. Y&R bored me; Days, though it could move just as slowly, never did. Bold & Beautiful was even less to my taste. Even though those show were not for me, I acknowledge he was a master of the form.