Y&R: February 2024 Discussion Thread

[Liberty City]

There is a clear direction they need to take, and they won't do it. If they want a classic team, I would suggest pairing Edward J. Scott & David Shaughnessy as co-executive producers. I hate to say it... but a primetime producer would TANK this soap. The fans of Young seem very... set in their ways (way more than other soaps I would say), so bringing in a primetime heavyweight would be reminiscent of Mal Young being hired. Jill Farren Phelps was tasked with bringing Young into the 21st century and modernize it, and it backfired worse than anything I've seen in daytime in recent memory. Modern does not work at this soap, and it won't ever. Fans will not allow it.

If it were me, and I doubt this to happen⏤I would find a way to bring Wendy Riche on, even if for a one-year tenure, to restructure things. She talked to William J. Bell when she took over General Hospital and her POV could really be influential on this soap. I believe it. Her work on The Bay is example of that. I don't suspect former writers would return, either, and if they did it would have to be Kay Alden, and I don't see her returning, so we'd have to go new. I'd like to see the likes of Marlene McPherson & Darrell Ray Thomas Jnr, or even McPherson and her former All My Children co-head writer Elizabeth Snyder come aboard. This soap needs some female influence bad. Plus, Snyder worked on Bold from 2003 to 2010 so she has some slight idea of a Bell soap.

[BetterForgotten]

Y&R’s biggest problem is that the show is incapable of actually telling a damn storyline or exploring truly dramatic avenues for whatever they’re dishing out on screen. 
 

Y&R is never going back to being in Bell’s style unfortunately - I think the most we can hope for at this point is at least they can find people who can tell actual, decently plotted stories (even if they’re generic and old-fashion).
 

 

[Khan]

Unfortunately, Elizabeth Snyder passed away in 2021.

[Beachstorm]

He's writing her as fickle. That's what she is now. This Sally is fickle af.

[Liberty City]

Oh no! I did not know this; so sad!

[DramatistDreamer]

In any decent course for writing a play (and even some screenplay courses) prospective writers will be urged to read. It is an assumption (and a fairly accurate one) that in order to write stories that actually have some relevance, you must read. Yes, there is the adage that you should write what you know but if you’re writing a continuing story for volumes over years, there is only so many stories that can be extracted from your only lived in experience before it get monotonous and one-note. Also, tell that to Emily Dickinson or any of the Brontë Sisters. Their writing came as the result of furtive imagination inspired by reading books. Even reading a few news articles a day can inspire ideas. 

There are many times I have tried to watch an episode of Y&R and it just seems as if the writers don’t read. AT all. There’s no detail, clarity, no focus…there’s no there there. 
 

And if things get desperate, pick up an issue of Vanity Fair or GQ, there are some stranger than fiction stories. Pick one and go with it! It certainly works for Law & Order.

To a newspaper. Whatever. It shouldn’t be this dire with these soaps, regardless of budget.

Edited February 23 by DramatistDreamer

[BetterForgotten]

Agreed, I do think Y&R’s issues are easily fixable, but no one seems to care and the people there just seem to be using the show as a quick paycheck and nothing more. 

As long as Sony allows Griffith to gain more power and do whatever he wants, and CBS is complacent, nothing is going to change.

When is Y&R’s current renewal period with CBS up again? If no changes are made by then, we’ll have to suffer with Griffith until cancellation or until he steps down on his own accord. 

[Liberty City]

At present, both The Young and the Restless & The Bold and the Beautiful are renewed through the conclusion of the present television season (2023–2024); the former received their renewal in 2020, while the latter received theirs in 2022.

[detroitpiston]

I hate that Griffith has finally figured out how to keep the vets happy enough they aren’t complaining and not write any storylines so offensive viewers go on a mass strike. Even the couple stans don’t have any pitchforks out. We can’t know for sure but it seems like the budget is under control too

He might be keeping the lights on but he’s an awful show runner creative wise. There hasn’t been one satisfying storyline or solid payoff since he returned. It feels like the show is in stasis.

[Paul Raven]

Limited sets, cheap looking costumes, few extras/day players,low guarantees...I'd say the budget is under control.

 

[soapfan770]

I’ve been waiting for this for years and years but instead all we ever get are either outrageous character destroying stories (Sharon, Neil) or characters going inexplicably crazy, disastrous stunts that end up failing (Clear Springs, Newman Towers, Volcanoes), absurdly killing off characters, and then a sheer aversion to any drama (aside from Griffith remember Passanate’s unremarkable and boring tenure?)

Network interference or not it is clear as daylight none of these hacks were ever capable of writing compelling even when it came to something simple. 

[janea4old]

 

 

 

 

[Broderick]

To me that's the biggest problem that plagues the show -- the scripts.  

Yes, they're trying to tape each episode on a budget of $2.35.  There's no rehearsal time for the actors.  The directors are lazily slapping stagnant blocking and camera shots onto the screen, shrugging their shoulders and saying, "Okay, that looks like garbage, but I guess it'll do.  On to the next scene!"  The actors often recite their dialogue in the dullest and least imaginative manner.  The sets are desolate and worn-out.  

But the biggest problem is the scripts lack wit, complexity, and humor.  There are no twists of irony, no unexpected symbolism.  Everything is surface-deep, and no one on staff seems to identify it as problematic.  (Which is why I couldn't muster any sympathy for the fired outline writers; I'm sorry they lost their jobs, but they were working in the same dull, assembly line fashion as the head writer and the dialogue writers, adding nothing whatsoever to the product.) 

The failure (and laziness) of the writing staff became glaring post-Covid.  Several scripts had been written, but not taped yet when the studio shut-down for Covid protocol.  Any conscientious writer would've seized that opportunity to improve his work.  ("Okay, they've got four of my scripts piled-up in the studio which haven't been taped yet.  I'm going to retrieve them and rewrite them entirely during the quarantine period, add some humor and pathos, some sarcasm, some irony, and once I'm finished, they'll be the BEST scripts I've ever submitted!")

Evidently, none of the writers was willing to go that extra inch to improve the quality, because once the show began taping again after the shut down, there had been no improvement at all in the scripts.  The material was the same dry, mundane, tired, shallow junk that had been taped pre-Covid.  Nobody bothered to use that extra time to improve their work.  Same grade-C stuff as before.  Nobody cares anymore.         

[Faulkner]

I know a lot of hard work goes into producing this show, but you’re right—there’s a pervasive feeling of laziness and halfassedness on Y&R (and B&B—which just recycles stunts). You get a sense of a creative team of writers, et al. who don’t care, which may not be the case, but it’s what comes across. It’s frustrating to watch a show and constantly be confronted with missed opportunities, both from the scripts and the stories.

[TEdgeofNight]

I think Y&R saved some money by borrowing Maggie’s wig from Days and slapping it on Jordan’s head.