Maria Bell Could Learn a Thing or Two from DOOL

With the deteriorating state of soaps on my mind, I caught John Carrozza's We Love Soaps interview of Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn. The interview contains fun stories and gives fans a nice treat in seeing these two back together. However more than that, Drake's comments show that he has a clear understanding about the fan's perspective and what fans are looking for in a story.

He states that the writers at DOOL are “very respectful of the audience and the history of the show and the audience's knowledge of what the characters have been through, so therefore the storylines that we can do right now are character driven. And whatever the plots are, it's like, 'yeah the character would react that way in the storyline.' It's not like a plot driven storyline where the audience goes 'Well she would never do that...Well she would never do that!' That's when you lose the audience.”

As I listened to that I had to stop and cheer and shout “EXACTLY!” DOOL seems to get this, and if I could waive my magic wand, I'd magically impart that same understanding to Maria Arena Bell and Sony. Bell's humorous statements (thought she was serious) about her scripts being character driven just show her lack of understanding, and SHE'S the writer (or the one who is being paid to write anyway). Drake (talented actor and experienced soap icon) should be hired by CBS to mentor Bell and get her on the right track.

Drake continued, “And that's what throws the audience most. Over my years that I've been there, we had some writers that would like, reinvent the character or change the history and the audience says, 'No that did not happen!' And they know the exact day that this did happen and what he said, and it's like, you don't fool, you don't mess with them. That's what Marlene and Darrell are doing. They're being very respectful of the show.”

Again, I cheer this very keen insight, and am baffled at why the logic of this completely misses the gray matter of Maria Arena Bell and Sony. But then the word “respect” comes into play. The lack of respect from The Young and the Restless is easily seen in the scripts (reasons Drake listed), and in the quotes from Bell and her writing team about what they are planning (which typically anymore falls flat or dies off quickly).

Deidre notes that the audience finds comfort and reassurance in seeing the couple together. “It's also a comfort. When there are hard times out there you want to see families pull together and take care of each other and that's what we're doing.” Drake sees the need to share words of hope with fans and followed that with, “If you have each other, you can get through this.”

In a time when the whole daytime drama format is on the ropes, we need someone to step up and transform the soaps that are dying, and recreate them into something that pleases fans (which brings in higher ratings and creates revenue) and introduces the genre to a new group of viewers. My history teachers taught that we learn history to avoid the mistakes of the past. Why can't the network execs and soap producers learn from history. They should be looking for a modern day Gloria Monty, who took a dying soap and turned it around into an iconic state.

But then throwing together a cheap talk/yak/cook show is easier I guess.