Ratings are sinking. Actors are furious. Stories are fragmented. Fans are demanding that Sony fire Y&R’s show runner Maria Arena Bell. And they’re not the only ones. What the heck is happening over at daytime’s number-one sudser?
First: the good news is that numerous — and we mean numerous — sources are reporting to Uncensored that controversial executive producer and head writer is finally aware of the increasing dissention on both sides of the small screen. “She’s on the warpath,” states a scared source. “She’s trying to find out who the traders are.”
Check the embroidered pillows, I suggest!
After numerous vacations over the summer, and winning her first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing, Bell came back to find her once-loyal troops revolting against the cold and unimaginative machine she created and further fostered
So what’s really happening? Uncensored did some major digging….
Sony is letting Maria hang herself slowly,” lends one insider. “They’re definitely compiling a case against her.”
Any smart person knows that hiring your wife as your show runner also means (never having to say you’re sorry; but I digress) the possibility of having to fire her one day — why didn’t he realize this before? That is the question.
Yes, in theory, having a Bell in-law running the William Bell’s legacy sounds good on paper… and it did for a while… but now things are out of control.
Meanwhile, the classic sudser is drowning in bad ratings (just like Colleen Carlton) —and critical and fan backlash.
While I’m was a fan of Bell’s initial Y&R tenure and genuine intentions to get this show back in shape after Lynn Mare Latham’s short reign of terror, Uncensored finds more than enough cause to fire Bell just for the fact that she didn’t prepare Y&R in time to absorb orphan AMC viewers after the ABC soap aired its last episode on Sept. 23.
Conversely, Sony’s sibling soap, DAYS, welcomed AMC fans with open arms with big comebacks (Deidre Hall! Drake Hogestyn! Matt Ashford!); stellar, contemporary writing; outside-the-box PR; and improved production. Subsequently, DAYS shot up the demos and ratings. Consequently, Y&R sunk — even though it airs a half-hour opposite AMC’s old timeslot. Sad, because Y&R has more in common with AMC then it does with DAYS since Bill Bell and Agnes Nixon were Irna Phillips’ protégés. Discuss this over coffee at Crimson Lights.
Yes, La In-Law Bell hired AMC Emmy-winning fan fave Debbi Morgan but she didn’t debut on Y&R a week after AMC went off the air. B&B made sure Jacob Young, who played JR on AMC, was on the show before it left the airwaves for good. It seems everyone was prepared to attract AMC viewers— including my dog, Kayla — except daytime’s number-one soap.
Creatively, Y&R should have been sound by the time AMC faded off to the soap heavens, and its super star Melody Thomas Scott (who has been off the show since April) should have returned on the Monday AMC’s lame replacement, The Chew, debuted.
It’s not brain science.
Instead, Y&R fans were greeted with contrived storytelling and universally disliked characters. Where were the Newmans and Abbotts? They should have been front and centre. Apparently, Bell thought opening and closing important Monday and Friday shows with the maligned and boring Sofia/Neil/Malcolm storyline — and showcasing octogenarian Jeanne Cooper in every show (love her; but give her a break!) was the way to go.
How is that working out for you, Ave Maria?
While sources attest that Maria isn’t writing the show (co-head writers Hogan Sheffer and Scott Hamner are with their pre-pubescent tastes), she’s allowing them to run the show into the ground with their copycat mystery and adventure storylines that are in direct opposition with the soap’s history and identity. So she is to blame, because she’s the boss.
“Maria takes credit when the show does something right,” points out another mole. “So it makes sense that she has to take the blame when the show is horrible. And she never does. After all, she’s a character-driven writer. I have no idea what she’s writing other than Gen’s storyline.”
Since it’s dicey to fire a Bell (even one by marriage), Sony would be wise to re-hire Sally Sussman Morina and Jack Smith (who were Bill Bell’s protégés — and won joint Emmys for helming Y&R five years ago) as co-head writers — and keep Maria as an executive producer in name only. Sony can hire someone to co-executive produce, ala DAYS.
If I was Bill Bell Jr., I would say to Maria: “Honey, I love you but I refuse to have you ruin my father’s legacy… just because I pound you every night. And that’s not how you — or I —want to go down in history as the people responsible for destroying a show that has been number-one in the ratings for almost three decades.”
Nelson Branco: Article in Restless Soap Talk Forum
yes she is dead....but its a soap she could return anytime 
