Well how far in advance do actors get their scripts then? Because clearly Jason Thompson and Laura Lee Bell are expressing excitement over “what’s coming” with the new material which indicates to me that they’re at least aware of it.

On 9/3/2026 at 12:17 PM, titan1978 said:

A thought I keep coming back to is that people often talk about Bill Bell through rose colored lenses. He knew when the show needed a jolt, and was not above doing something trashy at times, or outlandish. If they can reinvigorate the stories with something even slightly fresh, and reinvest in characterization, this will be worth watching again!

I don't think it matters what the story is but how you write it. Bill Bell could take those big swings because the show had such a signature style and voice and the characters were so well drawn that you went with it. A good example would be the excess of business stories recently. Y&R was known for it's business stories but the way Bill Bell wrote them was completely different from what Josh Griffith has been doing. His business stories were about family and relationships, the actual business aspect was just a tool to drive those relationships. With JG, the focus is on whatever the business is and the characters simple go in circles having business meetings that nobody cares about.

On 9/3/2026 at 12:17 PM, titan1978 said:

As far as the budget constraints, daytime shows used to film with two wall sets and the actors wore their own clothes, and had a much larger audience than they do now. But they told stories back then, so let’s try that again!

I agree with this completely. I get slightly irritated when I hear people talk about the budget constraints because I don't think that is a thing. For one, a good EP with a vision can stretch a budget and make a show look good. Secondly, as you said, older soaps didn't need big flashy budgets to attract much larger audiences than we have now.

The biggest problem with modern soaps is weak EPs with no vision and who just do the status quo and lazy writers telling stories that are too safe. And no, I do not buy that network interference is the reason. We've ALWAYS had that. Harding Lemay wrote an entire book about how he was tormented by execs back in the 70s on AW and he produced a damn good show.

Well if there is network interference, they are approving the horrible stories that get to air.

As stated Y&R needs an innovative EP who can be creative with budget and scheduling.

15 hours ago, Chris B said:

A good example would be the excess of business stories recently. Y&R was known for its business stories but the way Bill Bell wrote them was completely different from what Josh Griffith has been doing. His business stories were about family and relationships, the actual business aspect was just a tool to drive those relationships.

Verisimilitude used to be important. Like in real life, the characters had jobs. Everyone wasn’t ultra wealthy. Victor Newman had more wealth than the family-owned Jabot or Abbotts. The characters had jobs because that was closer to reality, and gave them easy storytelling hubs for crossover.

Neil worked for and with Victor, but he was also in his own stories with the Winters family. Paul and Nathan had a PI business, so they crossed over with the rich folks, every mystery story, etc. Jabot and Newman were used for good stories, and they were also used for places for the characters to do things beyond a story about the business.

I have said this before around here. Soaps have the luxury and burden of time. It’s up to them to decide to embrace and fill that time with the details that are not embraced now. Instead they all seem to act like it’s too hard to fill it.

Modern soap writing seems to think that skipping over the details and just pushing cardboard people through situations is the only way to survive. What they should be doing is upping the emotional quality of their stories and playing the beats. We followed every part of the creation of Jabot’s teen line, or the various machinations between Jack and Brad against Victor to get the company back for John. People switched allegencies, it would come up and go back into the background, they kept it alive. Who even knows what the hell is happening in those business stories now?!?

Jabot was the focus and something the audience (particularly women) could relate to, most using similar products themselves. A lot of characters were involved and we had offices, the lab etc

We saw product line launches, discussions over packaging, photo shoots etc. It was soap realistic. Also my take was that Jabot was a mid level company, not up there with the big guns.

Newman was one of those mysterious conglomerates but that was OK because it was not integral to the story.

Now we have competing newsmedia companies and WGAF? Wisconsin based and supposedly covering national/international events but with a focus on Genoa City happenings! With no staff or offices, just convos in cafes.

Jamey/Dan's first order of business should be to drop those companies and get more people involved with Jabot and bring everything down to a more realistic level.

7 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Newman was one of those mysterious conglomerates but that was OK because it was not integral to the story.

Once Newman swallowed up Jabot in the hostile takeover it didn’t matter anyway, because Jabot was so well established with so much going on. They didn’t need to fully flesh out Victor’s conglomerate. Plus it created natural conflict.

Ashley loved her family, but she was also married to Victor. Jill and Brad could be swayed in favor of Jack or against him in the many small power plays that happened. Neil was well respected by all but you knew his loyalty was towards Victor. Victor and John had a level of respect with one another that was not shared with or by Jack. And Jack’s error that lost the company hung over his head for a decade. They milked a lot of story out of that era of the show and Jabot. That doesn’t even count once they got control back and we had the two competing youth lines.

If they want to make something out of competing media companies they should copy OLTL’s frameworks for The Banner and The Sun. They had a lot of fun over the years showing the trashy Sun gaining traction and not being ethical compared to the upstanding Banner. Leanna Love running a TMZ style media conglomerate would have been a blast.

12 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

If they want to make something out of competing media companies they should copy OLTL’s frameworks for The Banner and The Sun. They had a lot of fun over the years showing the trashy Sun gaining traction and not being ethical compared to the upstanding Banner.

tbf there was also a period on OLTL near the end of Malone's first run where the newly-rich Todd originally intended to clean up the Sun and elevate it from being seen as just a muckraking tabloid, to use it as a kind of alternative paper for the working proletariat, speaking truth to power and taking on corruption, etc. (The optics of this from a rehabilitated serial rapist is another story in 2026)

In the end that didn't really last, although Blair, Todd and Victor all did sometimes position the Sun as less a trash rag and more the anti-Banner from time to time which is how Tognoni's Kelly (who had apparently amassed a reputation as a credible columnist) returned to the Sun in the late 2000s, making it a point to want to once again rehab its image. But I'm way OT!

Edited September 5Sep 5 by Vee

I’m sure Jamey is learning alot since this is his first (co) Headwriting gig.

Edited Tuesday at 07:46 PM3 days by TEdgeofNight

2 minutes ago, TEdgeofNight said:

Jamey’s learning that this is his first Co-headwriting gig. Just leave it at that.

Friction between him and Dan, or he doesn’t know how to share the responsibilities of the role?

On 9/4/2026 at 11:46 PM, Chris B said:

I don't think it matters what the story is but how you write it. Bill Bell could take those big swings because the show had such a signature style and voice and the characters were so well drawn that you went with it. A good example would be the excess of business stories recently. Y&R was known for it's business stories but the way Bill Bell wrote them was completely different from what Josh Griffith has been doing. His business stories were about family and relationships, the actual business aspect was just a tool to drive those relationships. With JG, the focus is on whatever the business is and the characters simple go in circles having business meetings that nobody cares about.

OMG.....that's so true! For years now, characters have just talked in circles about who's going to work at what random company or what random company is merging with which one or who is going to work where... It's downright mind-numbing to watch, and of course, the characters are always sitting in a cafe or restaurant while they talk about said random company. These are NOT stories in any sense of the word. It's why I completely stopped watching about a year ago.

Not to mention the total lack of a viable younger generation.

Anything Dan and Jamey can do to improve the show to make it even half-way watchable would be very appreciated. I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic.

3 hours ago, 1974mdp said:

OMG.....that's so true! For years now, characters have just talked in circles about who's going to work at what random company or what random company is merging with which one or who is going to work where... It's downright mind-numbing to watch, and of course, the characters are always sitting in a cafe or restaurant while they talk about said random company. These are NOT stories in any sense of the word. It's why I completely stopped watching about a year ago.

Not to mention the total lack of a viable younger generation.

Anything Dan and Jamey can do to improve the show to make it even half-way watchable would be very appreciated. I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic.

At it's worst, the show is about people sitting at tables playing business dungeons and dragons.

7 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

Friction between him and Dan, or he doesn’t know how to share the responsibilities of the role?

No, not at all. Just that per usual the writers can’t do what they want because of budget constrictions. Nothing is really going to change with new writers. Don’t expect miracles.

9 hours ago, ER Tosh said:

At it's worst, the show is about people sitting at tables playing business dungeons and dragons.

OMG....that's the best comparison!!!

Still amazes me that the #1 show has the lowest budget. Even days seems to do better.

No spoilers here - Dan and Jamey want to bring back many characters and purge the newer characters. It comes down to dollars. Will the older characters come back for lesser pay?