Too bad Malone won't come back to soaps cause the man GETS it. What a wonderful interview subject. I love that fact that he was mentored by and respects the great Agnes Nixon. Daytime drama NEEDS this man; too bad the people "in charge" chased him away.

The more interviews I read online the more apparent its become that the industry is being held down. No one wants to take the chances the industry needs to survive. Even with all the praise Y&R has been getting, the show is still not the shocking, scandelous show it was when I became addicted to it back in 1986. Characters have been watered down to a barely "interesting" point.

Lets be honest, would daytime introduce charcters like Todd Manning today? or Roger Thorpe, or Luke Spencer? The commonality with all three of these complex characters is they are all rapists. I'm not saying we need more rapists, but the real bad boy characters don't exist anymore. In fact, I think Greg Rikkart's Kevin was the last dysfunctional bad boy we've seen introduced...and look how watered down they've made him. Now we get drab newbies like Ana, Tyra and Eden.

Execs need to throw caution to the wind. Let our HW's expand their wings and fly! We need more character driven stories. We need more gay characters. We need intense, solid rivalries. We need true villains to stir things up. Not the bland David Chow kind of villain. We need the Leanna Randolph Love kind of villain (with all her S&M killer fantasies). The Sheila Carter and the Frank/Marian kind of screwballs. The ones that are so out there you revel in all their on screen glory. When characters like these made threats, you BELIEVED them!! They were not kidding! We also need couples to root for and care about. The last romance I really got sucked into was when Lyndsey Fonseca was playing Colleen and she was in love with JT. It was pure and magical. I WANT more or that!!

When oh when will TPTB wake up and smell the freakin roses?!?!?!

By the way, if Billy and Cane we're not brothers, they'd turn daytime on its ear as a throbbing hot gay couple. Oh the fantasies!

I feel beleaguered by it all. We know there are talented people still interested in telling good stories. And we know the producers and executives in charge are willfully ignorant. The interview with Michael Malone is very good, and gives us insight into his tenure with the soap and his approach to writing, but if we're hoping the idiots in charge are taking notes -- well, we know they're not.

TYATR also makes a very good point about Y&R. The show is improved, but hardly exciting these days. Most of the characters are flat and gray. Rivalries like Phylis/Sharon and Jack/Victor feel watered down. Villains like David Chow aren't worthy of shining Sheila Carter's shoes. Fascinating anti-heroes Michael and Kevin have been mostly reduced to cleaning up their mother's messes. Hogan Sheffer hasn't brought anything to Y&R as delightfully twisted as Rose, Emily, and Carly in the spa from hell on ATWT. Good, solid work, but nothing that makes me sit up and take notice.

quote:

Originally posted by 742:
I feel beleaguered by it all. We know there are TYATR also makes a very good point about Y&R. The show is improved, but hardly exciting these days. Most of the characters are flat and gray. Rivalries like Phylis/Sharon and Jack/Victor feel watered down. Villains like David Chow aren't worthy of shining Sheila Carter's shoes. Fascinating anti-heroes Michael and Kevin have been mostly reduced to cleaning up their mother's messes. Hogan Sheffer hasn't brought anything to Y&R as delightfully twisted as Rose, Emily, and Carly in the spa from hell on ATWT. Good, solid work, but nothing that makes me sit up and take notice.

Agree 100% 742. Y&R is good and solid but nothing more. It's like a trusty neighborhood restaurant where the food appeases the pallet. But it not the kind of restaurant that blows you away and you can't wait to tell all your friends about it. There is nothing about it thats so unique you have to go only there to get it.

As far as the Baldwin clan goes on Y&R, that's a classic example of potential flushed down the toilet. When Kevin and then Gloria were first introduced, they were so three dimensional and flawed and interesting I wanted more. Now they've fallen into wealth, gotten into trouble to many times to mention and lost a lot of interesting layers in the process. They are more one and two dimensional now. Almost cartoonish. But like a lot of characters, their essence has been abandoned in favor of pushing less interesting plot points. So sad!

The whole of daytime is a watered down imitation of what it once was. Even when OLTL was praised earlier this year, I found nothing unique or landmark about the show. It was just entertaining, nothing more.

The network execs see soaps as a dying breed and they think that if they allow soaps to push the envelope and deal with subjects that are hardly dealt with on soaps, it will alienate more viewers. How sad is that?

Or perhaps they are trying to alienate more viewers.

Love this interview. Absolutely love this interview.

Just like Martha Byrne, Michael is another person that gets this industry.

I like the discussion of novelist.
Instead of this incestuous recycling of hack writers (Higley & McTavish) we need some novelists to come to daytime and helm our soaps.
Sure there loners, but if the story is good that is all what matters at this pt.

Once again Nelson, great job.

There is only one gripe I had with the Billy Douglas homophobia story. Clint was written as a homophobe in the story, which did not sit well with Clint Richie. Malone did sacrifice character in that particular part of the arc, so that Viki could turn to Sloan. I always hated the romance between Viki and Sloan because it always felt like Malone favored Sloan Carpenter.

Jessica Tuck lost the Emmy because she had nothing to submit that would compare to Viki's scenes at Megan's deathbed. There was no way she was winning that year. The best stuff comes from the people who deal with the person dying.

Nelson, I 95% agree with your assessment about Malone's first tenure on OLTL. It was something special and it was about character so that people grew attached to the characters. Nowadays, is anyone attached to characters in the same way? TPTB have no concept of how to incorporate new characters. I do however agree with Syrus that Malone could "destroy" a character simply for the sake of a storyline. During his second tenure, that's all he did. I wish he had explained what he was thinking during his second tenure. What were the Santis all about? Why rewrite Antonio's parentage? Why waste Saundra Santiago? How much of this was his input? During his first tenure, he also had major problems with long term story. The stories would go for 3 months, end, and others would begin. In a perfect soap world, he would be paired with a soap writer who could work on long term story. I watched AW during Malone's tenure, but I can't remember what he was responsible for. I know he created Lila, but that's all I remember.

quote:

Originally posted by syrus80:
There is only one gripe I had with the Billy Douglas homophobia story. Clint was written as a homophobe in the story, which did not sit well with Clint Richie. Malone did sacrifice character in that particular part of the arc, so that Viki could turn to Sloan. I always hated the romance between Viki and Sloan because it always felt like Malone favored Sloan Carpenter.

'

I kind of agree with you; i also recall during the time when Jessica was first paired with Christian that it was Clint that had the big objection to her dating Christian, and why? because he was poor and was hispanic. I felt that really made Clint look like a racist and snob.

quote:

Originally posted by Crystal:
Jessica Tuck lost the Emmy because she had nothing to submit that would compare to Viki's scenes at Megan's deathbed. There was no way she was winning that year. The best stuff comes from the people who deal with the person dying.

Nelson, I 95% agree with your assessment about Malone's first tenure on OLTL. It was something special and it was about character so that people grew attached to the characters. Nowadays, is anyone attached to characters in the same way? TPTB have no concept of how to incorporate new characters. I do however agree with Syrus that Malone could "destroy" a character simply for the sake of a storyline. During his second tenure, that's all he did. I wish he had explained what he was thinking during his second tenure. What were the Santis all about? Why rewrite Antonio's parentage? Why waste Saundra Santiago? How much of this was his input? During his first tenure, he also had major problems with long term story. The stories would go for 3 months, end, and others would begin. In a perfect soap world, he would be paired with a soap writer who could work on long term story. I watched AW during Malone's tenure, but I can't remember what he was responsible for. I know he created Lila, but that's all I remember.

In a perfect world Malone and Carvalti would be co-head writers together and OLTL would literally be the best show ever.

quote:

Originally posted by Boidiva02:

quote:

Originally posted by Crystal:
Jessica Tuck lost the Emmy because she had nothing to submit that would compare to Viki's scenes at Megan's deathbed. There was no way she was winning that year. The best stuff comes from the people who deal with the person dying.

Nelson, I 95% agree with your assessment about Malone's first tenure on OLTL. It was something special and it was about character so that people grew attached to the characters. Nowadays, is anyone attached to characters in the same way? TPTB have no concept of how to incorporate new characters. I do however agree with Syrus that Malone could "destroy" a character simply for the sake of a storyline. During his second tenure, that's all he did. I wish he had explained what he was thinking during his second tenure. What were the Santis all about? Why rewrite Antonio's parentage? Why waste Saundra Santiago? How much of this was his input? During his first tenure, he also had major problems with long term story. The stories would go for 3 months, end, and others would begin. In a perfect soap world, he would be paired with a soap writer who could work on long term story. I watched AW during Malone's tenure, but I can't remember what he was responsible for. I know he created Lila, but that's all I remember.

In a perfect world Malone and Carvalti would be co-head writers together and OLTL would literally be the best show ever.

Actually Carlivati can leave the show and Malone can return and write the show the way it should be written.

That's my perfect world.

Michael Malone created characters that are etched in my psyche for eternity....Nora, Marty, Todd, Billy, Luna, Kelly, and what he did with Blair, Kevin, Joey and especially Megan was just wonderous and I will never forget the years he dazzled me with his beautiful prose. There is no way any soap in the last five to ten years has produced as many memorable scenes as Malone treated us to during his tenure. The AIDS quilt sequence, Marty's brutal gang rape, Nora's stunning summation to the jury at Marty's rape trial, Viki's multiple personality disorder and Megan's tragic death all had writing and performances that are very tough to top in any soap era. He still seems much more aware of how the genre works than any executive producer currently robbing a paycheck.

In defense of Malone, sometimes people we think will be open minded to certain realities like homosexuality, aren't. Sloane certainly was homophobic, and yes, Clint was, but I think the subtext was he thought his son Joey was, too. Having said that, I loved Sloane and Viki's love story despite me being a die-hard Clint and Viki fan (pair them back, OLTL!).

Malone is a genius. I'd offer him the moon to come back — including autonomy!

quote:

Originally posted by Boidiva02:

quote:

Originally posted by syrus80:
There is only one gripe I had with the Billy Douglas homophobia story. Clint was written as a homophobe in the story, which did not sit well with Clint Richie. Malone did sacrifice character in that particular part of the arc, so that Viki could turn to Sloan. I always hated the romance between Viki and Sloan because it always felt like Malone favored Sloan Carpenter.

'

I kind of agree with you; i also recall during the time when Jessica was first paired with Christian that it was Clint that had the big objection to her dating Christian, and why? because he was poor and was hispanic. I felt that really made Clint look like a racist and snob.

I forgot all about that. His reaction really didn't make sense when you think about it, considering Clint has a son who is half-spanish.

quote:

Originally posted by syrus80:

quote:

Originally posted by Boidiva02:

quote:

Originally posted by syrus80:
There is only one gripe I had with the Billy Douglas homophobia story. Clint was written as a homophobe in the story, which did not sit well with Clint Richie. Malone did sacrifice character in that particular part of the arc, so that Viki could turn to Sloan. I always hated the romance between Viki and Sloan because it always felt like Malone favored Sloan Carpenter.

'

I kind of agree with you; i also recall during the time when Jessica was first paired with Christian that it was Clint that had the big objection to her dating Christian, and why? because he was poor and was hispanic. I felt that really made Clint look like a racist and snob.

I forgot all about that. His reaction really didn't make sense when you think about it, considering Clint has a son who is half-spanish.

Right, and that Maria was a maid at the time he slept with her, so he clearly doesn't care that much about who is or isn't poor. Even more hypocritical was the fact that later he briefly dated Carlotta.

Sometimes it's the least person you expect who is homophobic. At least from my experience. So I thought making Clint homophobic was a bold choice. It worked for me.

quote:

Originally posted by nbgemini:
Sometimes it's the least person you expect who is homophobic. At least from my experience. So I thought making Clint homophobic was a bold choice. It worked for me.

Agree completly. Kinda like when Opal had a problem with Michael Delaney coming out in class and Palmer did not.

Yes, sometimes it can be the person you least expect--Cher and Sonny Bono came to mind when you wrote that. However, I don't think it was organic with Clint. It played more as an attempt to push Viki into a relationship with Sloan. I didn't object as I liked the Viki/Sloan pairing, but even at the time, I felt the character of Clint was given short shrift.