This is Sally Sussman's arrival-at-Y&R interview with MichaelLogan for tvinsider/tvguide:
https://www.tvinsider.com/102922/the-young-and-the-restless-new-head-writer-sally-sussman-answers-our-burning-questions/
This is Sally Sussman's exit-from-Y&R interview with JameyGiddens for DaytimeConfidential:
https://daytimeconfidential.com/2017/08/10/sally-sussman-speaks-out-on-young-and-restless-and-lesbian-love-story
Sussman's exit interview started out with Jamey referring to her having introduced Mariah/Tessa, but then she was fired shortly after Teriah kissed. She talks about that, but also speaks to her whole time at Y&R and refers to her initial interview with MichaelLogan.
"When I came into Y&R last September, I had one day's notice to start the job. I had been traveling in France with my feature documentary [Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey], and hadn't been watching the show for several years. So, I had nothing prepared and never have started a job like that before. But because of the change happening so fast, I had to jump in with both feet. While starting to write the daily shows, I came up with several stories that I pitched the network; one of which is the love story between Mariah and a new character named Tessa.
<snip>
I know a lot of fans got upset by the only interview I did while at Y&R, which was last October with Michael Logan. He had been faithfully watching the show throughout all the head writer changes and really wanted answers to the loose ends that were left by my predecessor. What he didn't know is that night I had to fly to Vancouver where my 61-year-old brother just died suddenly and unexpectedly. He was my last surviving family member and it devastated me. Thinking about future stories for Y&R was the furthest thing from my mind, so I just made up a bunch of stuff because I hadn't gotten the chance to write a long-term yet. At that point, I honestly didn't think I could make six months in the job. So I’m thrilled to have made it to one year. My film, Midnight Return, has taken off in ways I didn’t expect and I have been approached to make another documentary. That’s where my passion and creativity are now."
(She continues on to own what she wrote at Y&R and acknowledges that it's on her -- and nobody else is to blame).
_ _ _
She says in one of these interviews that she hadn't followed Y&R in many years and didn't know the show anymore when she was hired, so she was grateful to have Kay Alden as her story consultant for that.
_ _ _
What I got from all that is that Sussman respects the genre, and that she respects Logan and feels bad that she gave Logan a misleading interview. But more importantly, it speaks to how Y&R hired Sussman to begin with -- Y&R wanted to replace Pratt in a hurry and just threw her in there without a bible. Having Alden as a consultant was helpful but hiring a HW without a bible -- and more importantly "one day's notice to start the job" was not workable.
So this is an issue with the Y&R process of replacing headwriters.
By
janea4old ·
Create an account or sign in to comment