14 minutes ago, skiman12082004 said:

His departure is definitely celebrated. Hopefully, he leaves the industry all together. He needs to reevaluate because this last tenure was beyond abysmal.

I bet the Writers Guild of America Awards are regretting the recent Y&R win. 😬

5 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

I bet the Writers Guild of America Awards are regretting the recent Y&R win. 😬

Well, JG didn't win the recent WGA award, only the rest of the Y&R writing staff won. He's ficore so cannot get WGA awards.
Edit to add: but I see what you mean, since they were still his story ideas.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by janea4old

If they were to from within the current writing team, then James Harmon Brown is the only one with any previous HW-ing experience. 😖

34 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

You lost me on this one. What role do you see them in?

I never cared for the Newmans as the show's leading family and I hated that they replaced the Abbotts in many ways. John Abbott was a very warm presence, I see Victor as Y&R version of Donald Trump and I feel that Nikki got more focus than she deserved because of Edward Scott. Katherine was never a matriarch but she had a very special place in Genoa City. In my eyes Nikki would have worked in a similar role. Perhaps as an older, bitter woman.

21 hours ago, Taoboi said:

(Sussman) who I know I was in the minority in her brief run. This time I would hope she would be ready if it is true she came in with no time to prepare a proper bible.

10 hours ago, Chris B said:

Now since I see comments about past regimes I'm going to give my defense of Sally Sussman. When she took over with no notice and no story bible or plans, it was obviously slow. With that said, the way the characters were written was like night and day. It was like a snap of the fingers and everybody was suddenly written in character again. I do think with time she developed a strong show but it was just too soon to fire her. She didn't even get a full year if I remember correctly.

I feel like if Mal Young had worked with her instead of firing her, they could've been a dream team. His punchier story ideas mixed with her knowledge of the characters and tone of the show would've been magic. I just think it's a shame they didn't give her a full two years.

7 hours ago, Aback said:

SSM’s last tenure on the show was the lasts time I was watching daily.

Yeah it was slow and low stakes (for weeks Nikki was simply afraid of playing the piano lol), so I roll my eyes at her interview about the stakes. Also aging the Ashbys kids was a mistake. Would I have preferred KA as HW? Yes. But still I recognized the show and enjoyed it.

5 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

-- Sally Sussman's stuff was very slow, but the character writing was strong, and I prefer her in a heartbeat to anything Josh Griffith gave us. I can ignore her interviews and pathetic husband when I judge her HW stint, which was decent.

-- I wasn't a Mal Young fan. I never felt he really cared about the show. He didn't cherish it, and was cavalier about change for the sake of change.

I agree that Sussman made the show feel like home after the nonstop action of Pratt and whatever Mal Young was doing. I really appreciated that she brought back the simple ritual of the adult Abbott siblings all eating breakfast together in the dining room, like they had done with John. I realize that's not a "storyline" in itself, but it helped to frame the show, and make it feel like home again. There were other essences of characters she understood. As she said in her exit interview, she wasn't used to the expectations of modern soap viewers; and as some have said, she didn't have strong storyline pacing. I do agree it would have been better to hire someone with a storyline bible, instead of having to make her wing it --- and if that were possible, then maybe she would have succeeded then, or could succeed in the future. But it seemed from her exit interview that she wouldn't want to do soaps again unless she could do more meaningful storylines and not soap tropes.

I do have an issue with Sussman's husband Tony Morina being sued for sexual harassment, and I wonder how she felt about that. I felt it icky that Julie Chen stood by Les Moonves. Sussman never made a statement, so I have no idea how she felt. I don't blame her for her husband; but I wonder what her thoughts were.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by janea4old

23 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

Given what a hack Brad Bell is and what a hack his daughter in law was, I question any involvement from that family.

You have a point. Bradley did not inherit his father's talent and MAB tried but failed to match Bill Bell's vision.

23 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

But again, who is left to take this show and actually wants it?

So true.

20 hours ago, Darn said:

It's kind of insane that our options are the retired and elderly or someone brand new

the Young and the Restless written by the Elderly and the Retired.

The Not so Young in the Restaurants.

If the mandate from above is to keep 85 yr old Victor as the alpha male lead and the other vets front burner, while not doing anything about the set situation, there's little chance for meaningful improvement.

3 minutes ago, janea4old said:

the Young and the Restless written by the Elderly and the Retired.

I remember Debbie Allen saying an ADW reboot was needed (before it was ultimately green-lit by Netflix) because countries/civilizations where the young people are not empowered or have a voice are usually in a decline.

For Daytime, the soaps haven’t cultivated new/young talent (not to mention POC talent at all) in like 30 years, and we see the state of them today…

37 minutes ago, janea4old said:

I agree that Sussman made the show feel like home after the nonstop action of Pratt and whatever Mal Young was doing. I really appreciated that she brought back the simple ritual of the adult Abbott siblings all eating breakfast together in the dining room, like they had done with John. I realize that's not a "storyline" in itself, but it helped to frame the show, and make it feel like home again.

I know EXACTLY how you feel. Every time Sussman is mentioned, I think of those dining room scenes.

It might sound bizarre, but I remember getting excited. It was moving to see a return to the Y&R we all knew and missed. So little happened in those first scenes, but they said so much.

7 hours ago, Khan said:

The idea was very timely, but the proposed set-up was all wrong. We're gonna go from Devon and Hilary having a typical, melodramatic soap opera argument to his being GC's answer to George Floyd? No.

To me that's why it would've worked tbh. Going from typical soap/domestic drama to a sudden, horrific incident is just what happens in real life.

I am a Y&R tourist at best and always have been, so I have no real informed vantage point. I have said before I thought Sussman's return was compelling and killed in the crib, but even very early on you could see it had creaky elements. They brought back some classical flavor and elements that fascinated me to see interacting with the 2010s, but were struggling with how to modernize many others as well as how to right many characters (with Victor just sitting round being a good grandpa for a month or two, to try to re-humanize him) and the handling of various younger leads including Hilary and Mariah was all over the place. Whatever she had planned for Ashley and a new man who could stand up to Eileen Davidson (a stated concern and a valid one on Sussman's part IMO), with Ravi or someone else (Graham?), never came to fruition onscreen. Her Generations, Days, etc. runs also have a slew of issues. I thought the heart was in the right place and many of the ideas were solid but the execution was a mess, she was at cross purposes and in conflict with Young, and probably not fully up to the task herself. Then there's the vile can of worms that is her husband.

Regardless, Sussman or even Kay Alden is not the answer now. New blood, preferably younger blood and a Black voice, is IMO. A new, vital HW backstopped by folks like Alden, Slater, Sussman, etc. The old Bell guard counseling the new. I think VR as a story consultant is also a great idea. Make a real commitment to the diverse audience they have tried to shrug off in the 21st century even though it's kept them #1. And if that leads to bringing back Dru as opposed to just occasionally paying lip service to Neil, so much the better.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Vee

43 minutes ago, janea4old said:

the Young and the Restless written by the Elderly and the Retired.

3 hours ago, janea4old said:

I hadn't heard that, but it's interesting, now that I look at the HW/EP timeline and compare that with various interviews.

Young was supervising producer under JFP and Pratt.
Then Young/Sussman became co-EPs while Sussman was HW.
Then Sussman exited and Young became HW and sole EP.

Sussman said in her exit interview that she created Teriah (their first kiss aired just before she was fired). Mal Young used to boast that he was responsible for the first lesbian kiss on a UK show, and I think he even had that boast on his twitter profile at one time. (It was on the show Brookside that Young produced). But Sussman wrote Teriah, and from what she said, it was her idea. Maybe Young ran with it, but it was her idea.

Sussman mentioned in her exit interview that her writing of Dina was an Alzheimer's story (although the diagnosis was not mentioned during episodes credited to Sussman as HW). (I wonder if perhaps she was writing the gradual decline and erratic behavior that families don't recognize for what it is, and things can progress for a while -- before the family finally brings their loved one to the doctor much later on.) When Mal took over as HW, he immediately began to emphasize Dina's Alzheimer's illness and did interviews about it, and the Alzheimer's Association certainly thought it was all his idea. Mal said it was important to him because it happened to his mother in real life.

3 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

-- I tend to believe Sally Sussman over Mal Young when it comes to story ideas.

I also tend to believe Sally as well.

But going back to rewatching it in real time, Sally was building it slowly, but there always felt like there was wiggle room for it to be manipulation on Graham's part for revenge about Dina. Almost like Sally wasn't sure if she would completely go there with Alzheimer's yes.

Sussman needs a strong co headwriter that can properly implement her ideas and also pace them. Her own creation Generations basically sucked until a strong producer came in and got things moving.. and her tenure at Days started out promising and became bland over time.

So I think her coming back would be good in terms of restoring the elements of what made Y & R unique.. but she isn't capable enough to do it solo.

If anything, I think what needs to be done is what Bill Bell ended up doing in the early 80s.. writing out the core families and starting over from scratch.

2 hours ago, Sapounopera said:

I never cared for the Newmans as the show's leading family and I hated that they replaced the Abbotts in many ways. John Abbott was a very warm presence, I see Victor as Y&R version of Donald Trump and I feel that Nikki got more focus than she deserved because of Edward Scott. Katherine was never a matriarch but she had a very special place in Genoa City. In my eyes Nikki would have worked in a similar role. Perhaps as an older, bitter woman.

I've always felt very attached to Nikki but you are right that she was never meant to be a matriarch. She was incredibly jealous of her own daughter and they fought over men. Y&R was a much more compelling show in the years where Victor and Nikki (especially Victor) were not on high ground.