Nelson, IMO, your best interview yet. Bud, I don't know if it's that feisty spirit your still carrying from the emmys, but I LOVED how direct your were in your questions! KUDOS! you just said it how it is. Thank you!

This interview with Maria Bell could not come soon enough. I just posted how I finally see movement in story and I say Thank God! I realize they had a mess of sorts to clean up, but that didn't make the transition easy to sit through. I am actually excited about the show again. I hope they can bounce back (ratings wise) and the show truly does become the dazzling drama all of us Y&R diehards fell in love with.

Nice frank interview - although it didn't really say much. :-) Maria Arena Bell looks so young in that photo. I imagined her to a lot older.

Best of luck and all fingers crossed that my favourite soap will rebound in a big way this summer!

Yeah, that's why I combined both of them. I didn't want to spoil story, but it's a doozy from what I hear!

I'm a faithful Y&R/B&B fan, so the payoff for what Bell is promising better be good, because Y&R has been trying my patience ever since Bloom's Booby-Prize hack took over.

I've always loved Scott, one of the best in the business. He is "an actor's producer," and shares a special bond with his actors. I honestly believe he is the main reason why DAYS was finally rewarded with some Emmy love this year.

I wish La Bell and Scott all the best and hope they can once again ignite the dying flame known as daytime drama.

Latham's problems were that she would never follow through with any of her storylines. She'd give up half way and there'd be a murder or some other nonsense. If she had someone telling her to stick with the storylines, Y&R would have been wonderful in 2007 because I liked a lot of what Latham started to do. Instead, she was allowed to decimate the show. Bell's problems are that her storylines are so dull. I hope she'll work better with Sheffer but I'm sceptical because he's also prone to stretches of writing dull television AND he was never good at writing for older characters.

You are such a tease!

I read the interview over and over again, I am dying to know what she is planning because the show sucks big time righ now

Just a memo to everyone:

Marina Arena Bell does not = William J. Bell, Sr.

I find her Y&R completely unwatchable. I'm hoping Hogan can infuse some excitement back into this show.

I'll believe it when I see on the Y&R. Neither really said much, "we're getting back to bascis," "our summer event will knock your socks off," blah, blah, blah. Soap fans have heard these sentences too many times. Prove it, and prove it soon!!!!

Yeah, me too! Days isn't going to improve with Dena writing the show, but Y&R I am optimistic.

Thanks Nelson.

quote:

MB: Well, let me start off by saying I doubt you’ll be disappointed! We have the show where we want it now to move ahead. It’s going to be an amazing summer where a catalytic event will change Genoa City forever. And, it involves all our core characters…

Uh.... this sounds just like LML. I'm getting nervous now.

I'm optimistic for both Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless, but I think it's Days who will come out better off. I don't know why, just a hunch. I'm still baffled by the re-hiring of Dena Higley as head writer, but maybe she and Ken Corday will work better together this time.

There's a lot to build from with Days, especially now that they wisely re-invented John Black and appear to be pushing John and Marlena apart. So that frees up Diedre Hall to move on to another co-star to see if she has chemistry with, like maybe Victor or Tony or Roman. Or she could have a fling with a younger man, which is exactly what I think she needs. So how about Nick? Lucas? Phillip? Max? The possibilities are endless.

As for Y&R, they need to spruce things up. I know I was one of the few who supported, but later denounced Lynn Latham while she was at the helm because her storylines weren't making any sense and seemed to move too quickly and have little resonance. But since her departure, Y&R seems to have slowed to a snails pace, and what really bothers me is that few people are recognizing this fact. In fact, I recall many posters, like me, hugely disappointed that LML kept Gloria front and center all the while never paying for her crimes. Now she's in a front burner romance storyline and while I love Judith Chapman and the character of Gloria, I'm really tired of watching her play the victim.

Also, I'll add that it's a dissavowment (sp?) to the basic soap rules to shove new characters down our throats. When I turn on Y&R I see David Chow, Sabrina, her mother, Chloe, some new long lost poor relatives of Devon, Cane (the Chancellor child that should have never been), Adam, Jeffery, Allistar, etc.

If they really want to make some important and much needed changes, then they need to bring Ashley back, then they can fully reveal Gloria's misdeeds, reteam Ashley with Victor re-igniting the old Ashley/Victor/Nikki triangle; examine how Cane came to be and why and resolve who the other boy (the deceased Phillip Chancellor III) belonged to, etc.

Then they can start to reveal Adam's true intentions and his connection to Sabrina and how they have been seeking revenge on the Newman clan for years.

The once nail biting quadtriangle of spouses and former exes Jack/Sharon/Nick/Phyllis has become nothing but a bore. Now would be the time to start paving the way for the reveal that Jack is Summer's father. Perhaps now would be a good time to bring Diane back with little Kyle. Throw Diane and Sharon in the same room and my money's on Diane.

Nelson, just a clarification, did Maria say say she was going to wipe away the developments of the last two years? You know, like Nick's memory did? Or did you mean that MAB is going to bring the show's style and stories up to speed with the Bell tradition and make people forget the crappy-ness that was LML?

I am already starting to see the message board fan wars starting up by taking your words literally.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Soapygal,

Those were my words — erase the past two years of LML-inspired torture. I'll clarify, thought it was obvious.

Yeah, it seemed obvious to me. You should just let them implode with their own thoughts.

I enjoyed reading both those interviews, and I hope for the best with both shows. I usually tend to buy into the comments made by writers and producers a little too fully. But maybe Hogan Sheffer and MAB will balance each other nicely. He still seems like such an odd fit to me for Y&R. Dena Higley has done some good and clever things on DAYS in the last six months, so I'm hoping that maybe a good working relationship will develop for her and Ed Scott and things will really start to roll.

It's good to have this on record, so I can hold them to their "promises" now! LOL!

I can just imagine how well that'll turn out:

You said your summer would knock my socks off! You said Dena Higley was writing good story! What happened? What happened?!?!

. . .

Hey Nelson, love the interview. But I am more curious to hear about the tension between Ed Scott and Kay Alden and what actually happened. I am not sure if this is an appropriate thing to ask.