Thursday, October 13, 2011

NEWS ROUNDUP: Y&R's Michael Muhney On New Y&R Direction, Joan Collins Honored, Netflix/CW Deal

Michael Muhney on the Y&R's casting decisions that "cut the fat"
"There's been talk by journalists, my fellow actors, by fans and by the network that we (THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) have a rather large cast. What if we streamline the cast and knock off, and this is just an arbitrary number, 10 folks and we really cut the fat off? I think that's happening."

"I want to tell people that I think there's going to be a stronger focus on core characters. I think it's going to take some time, after Thanksgiving, but before Christmas. It's already happening. I can sense that the show is telling stories about more core folks and getting rid of other characters.Yeah, it's losing viewers. It's hemorrhaging viewers at times, and you have to wonder, how do you plug that leak?"

Comedy From Ryan Murphy & Allison Adler Lands At NBC With Big Commitment
The project, a heartwarming comedy about a blended family of a gay couple and the woman who becomes a surrogate to help them start a family, will be co-written by Murphy and Adler and directed by Murphy.

Joan Collins Awarded by the Beauty Industry
Joan Collins, best known to soap fans from DYNASTY, was awarded the Lifetime Achiever Award from the Cosmetic Executive Women. CEW is one of the beauty industry’s dignified networking groups. The award was given October 12 at Jumeirah Carlton Tower and presented by Charles Worthington, a friend and hairstylist.

Tonya Pinkins' "Milk Like Sugar" starts previews tonight
The West Coast company of "Milk Like Sugar," Kirsten Greenidge's play about a "pregnancy pact" between a group of inner-city teens, reunites Oct. 13 for the play's New York City premiere at Playwrights Horizons.

Netflix signs non-exclusive deal with CW
The four-year-deal is for old seasons of TV shows, not current ones.

Alec Baldwin to host a radio podcast as he preps for post-30 ROCK life
Baldwin interview celebrities and other prominent people, starting with Michael Douglas, for New York public radio's "Here's the Thing" podcast.

5 comments:

  1. Even though I'm a relatively loyal viewer, there has always been a certain kind of "darkness" to Y & R---it extends from the actual lighting on the sets, sometimes extremely unflattering to the actors, all the way to the music, the dialogue and the storylines. Too much doom and gloom, unlike One Life to Live, which is almost like watching a sit-com sometimes, with really funny dialogue and characters, i.e., David Vickers, Roxy Balsam, Jean-Paul Lavoisier and great direction. And the ratings pretty much prove that ABC is making yet another gigantic programming mistake by axing this icon too. Just wrong...

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  2. I don't believe this bull hockey!! Y&R is in the toilet and the big turd is MAB!! I been watching since it debut and I haven't tuned in for 3 months now to watch new characters eating up canvas and forgetting the vets or changing the characters to the extent they are not recognized anymore. To see Murdering Maria destroy Bill Bell's great soap is shameful. This isn't Y&R I know and bleeding badly viewers because of MAB. She only cares the name of Bell, she hasn't the talent of a Bell. I can handle if Y&R wanted to keep a BELL present, then why not put Lauralee Bell as EP...FIRE ALL THE WRITERS and bring back Kay Alden!!

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  3. I am one of the folks who has stopped watching Y&R.

    The writing, uneven. The plot-lines, done and redone and done again, and not very well. The direction, lousy. The story telling, flat.

    It is definitely time for a change. Whether that is a change in vision or a change in personnel, I'm not sure. I'm also not sure what it will take to get this viewer back to watching again.

    We can start with getting rid of the misogynist plots, and a return to character driven stories.

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  4. I'm sure the fired Y&R actors will have much affection for Muhney. ;-)

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  5. Wasn't it 2 years ago they were telling viewers that things "will get better by Christmas"? I'm pretty sure after the foolish debacles of Colleen in the lake and the unpopular year of 2009 they said things would be getting better at this magical time of the year! I've stopped watching and never plan on going back so I don't care they're going back to "core" characters, especially as most of those are rotten to the core not to use that word! All the soaps make that same promise, DAYS the worst offender, yet sticking a face from the 80's in the middle of the screen isn't going to be enough if the show sucks. Y&R trapped itself at least a decade ago, failing to create new worthy iconic characters (which is what Y&R was mostly populated with in the early 90's for example) while those that could have driven stories for a good 20 years such as Phyllis were given the whole show to eat, were degraded in the process and wore out their welcome years ago.

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