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JM's Opinion: 
Changes – Too Much, Too Fast?
November 17, 2006

Do you find yourself watching The Young and the Restless, not recognizing the show at all? Watching the characters you thought you knew, continue to make stupid decisions that they would never do before? If you feel this way, you’re not alone; the show has been turned upside down with recent firings, and the once cleverly written Y&R families have been torn apart facing farfetched, never-ending problems.

Since Lynn Marie Latham has joined the show as head writer, Y&R has been the only soap to gain viewers from last year. In fact, so far in 2006, Y&R has gained over 700 000 more viewers from the previous year. This has impressed CBS, and therefore they have given Latham pretty much all control over the show. She currently is the show’s head-writer and executive producer. In her reign, Jerry Douglas has been let go; Jack Smith was demoted and then fired; Co head-writer and writer of Y&R since 1974, Kay Alden was fired; and most recently Eileen Davidson who portrays Ashley Abbott has been fired. For a show that’s up in the ratings (the only soap opera that is), the recent firings really cannot be excused as budget cuts.

Rather, I would say this is Latham bringing in her own team of writers and cast to move the show in an undisputed direction that she desires. Her own team of writers includes her husband, and several former writers/actors on cancelled soaps like Port Charles. I’m sorry but I am in an uproar with this. The show seems almost foreign to me now.

All the characters are plotting, cheating, lying and deceiving one another: Sounds like a classic soap opera. The difference, and what I believe has kept Y&R at number one for so long was not the classic soap opera title but rather the close families and clever characters. These families were interesting, and at the same time realistic and relatable. Storylines seem to just flow together; they were character driven. Now it seems that every character makes an out of character choice to cause drama and therefore cause storyline. This is called plot driven storylines. It’s where you really don’t feel close to any character anymore because they have almost lost their personality. Their attitudes vary depending on where the writers want the storyline to go. Basically it makes characters inconsistent subsequently making them unrealistic and difficult to relate to.

As I said however, ratings are up and have yet to show signs of slipping. It will be interesting to watch though as Kay Alden’s writing leaves the canvas, and Ashley Abbott skips Genoa City to how long these ratings stay steady. The once stable writing team that maintained character driven storylines is gone. Only time will tell how it affects the show.

Am I just a long-time, stubborn viewer against change? Or is Lynn Marie Latham getting too much control, too fast, at daytime’s number 1 drama?

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