A Bloated Cast... or Writer's Room?

Guess what?  Y&R has hired more actors.  (Not hearing any applause here.)  I thought the execs had declared that their cast was "too bloated" and therefore needed to be weeded out.  That's what they said anyway.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that those execs look down from their ivory towers and only see their own reflection in the office window.  The fans are completely invisible and exist only to add to the ratings and thusly fill the network and corporation pockets.

At one time, wasn't the viewer/network relationship supposed to be a symbiotic relationship where each entity brought something to the table and received something valuable in return?  The network's job was to put on an entertaining show that brought viewers in to watch.  The hoped for response was two fold: 1) enjoy the show enough to return every day and 2) watch the commercials and buy the products of the sponsors.  This in turn put money in the sponsor's pockets, who then continued to sponsor the show and pay the networks for the privilege.

But somehow this symbiotic relationship became more of an Emperor/serf dynamic.  The Emperor puts on a show and tells the serfs that they will enjoy it, no matter how crappy it is.  (Reminds me of Monty Python's Holy Grail line about how you know he is the king... "He hasn't got s**t all over him).  I digress, but the premise is applicable.  We, the serfs, should be receiving something pleasing.  We tune in to see these characters that we invite into our homes every day- characters we care about.  And though no writer has ever pleased all of the fans all of the time, these are dark days for the fans, across the board.

Take for example Y&R's statement about having a bloated cast.  Tristan Rogers entered Genoa City as Colin, a part of Cane's family and then swept Jill off her feet.  There was a clear purpose for his presence there that was promised to solve some mystery and create others.  Both new and long time fans found Jill's renewed presence on screen to be playful and strong.  Watching Jill and Colin left fans smiling and wanting more.  Fans still want more and urge for his return.

But in the mind of Maria Arena Bell, there was no other way to redeem Cane than to throw Colin under the bus.  If the cast is so bloated, why has Y&R hired even more actors (Melissa Claire Egan, Debbi Morgan, Eddie Mekka, Diana DeGarmo, Peter Porte to name a few)?  These are characters that we could easily do without.  Debbi Morgan is a fine actress, but why add to the GC scene when it robs the fans of current characters and stories?  Why buy into her character of Yolanda (or rather Bell's rewrite of "Harmony") or that story when we know that it will be dropped when the next new thing peeks around the corner?

I submit that it is the executive branch of Y&R that is bloated.  The writers room is overstaffed by at least three, and the Executive Producer's chair needs to be filled by someone who loves soaps, loves the fans, and recognizes the dire problems that are taking this show to the bottom of the sea.  If the execs don't key in to the fact that they depend on the fans, the ratings will continue to dive... dive... dive...