News
Former Y&R Showrunner Maria Arena Bell Staging A Comeback!

Photo Credit: Kathy Hutchins
While The Young and the Restless continues without Maria Arena Bell, who was let-go by the show in favor of Jill Farren Phelps and Josh Griffith as the CBS soaps executive producer and head writer, she is staging somewhat of a comeback with a new production company and shopping some projects around to hopefully get off the ground in the very near future, according to a piece on Bell in the fashion and style section of the New York Times!
Here is an excerpt from the N.Y. Times piece on Bell, who has a screenplay she hopes to sell: “She named her fledgling production company Vitameatavegamin, after the I Love Lucy health tonic. That screenplay, a time-travel comedy with a Disneyland element, has been written, and a marquee comedian is “circling” it, as they call tentative interest in Hollywood. She is talking to the cable network OWN about a show. And Ms. Bell has all kinds of ideas about online and mobile programming, like a Web soap about a woman trying to keep an old-line soap afloat.”
Bell told the N.Y. Times: “I’m out on the pitch brigade. I truly feel that there has never been a better time for a creative person to dive in and try and figure out these new platforms. How do you make a great show that’s a great cable-online hybrid? How do you successfully make a serial for a mobile platform? As everyone knows — especially the viewers, who are moving on — network shows have become more cautious and watered down. I miss the show (Y&R) enormously, but almost a year after leaving I am really so incredibly happy.”
The N.Y. Times piece also related what Y&R mainstay Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) said about Maria’s departure from Y&R a year ago, “I was very sad to see her go. Maria understood what makes the show tick.”
So what do you think about Maria’s projects? Especially, the one for the web about a woman trying to keep an old-line soap afloat? Intriguing? Or, not interested? Do you now miss Maria at the helm of Y&R, or prefer Josh and Jill’s Y&R? Comment below!
I am a strong believer in freedom of speech and creativity.
Network TV is censored.
However;
Books, Music, Movies,Games, cable, internet programing etc are free from censoring.
When writers have the freedom to express and create their visions then we get great media..
It is the baby boomers who mainly watch Network TV.
Most younger, the now gen people, are use to upper cable, and internet programing of uncensored viewing.
I see in the future network tv going pay/cable for their survival.
The Boomers are the ones keeping network tv alive and grew up with their media being censored, but the younger grew up with cable, internet, video games, music all uncensored.
And censoring of daytime soaps is a killer for new viewers..
The soaps need new viewers and them being daytime and censored, they will never get new viewers, the younger viewers, the count of viewers usually stay in the same numbers, no surge of new viewers.
PP had the chance to actually save the soaps being uncensored on the internet to bring in new viewers and the Boomers complained over the change and killed it and kept the soaps 1980’s era . They will not flourish if they do not evolve.
I think Bell realizes that and I wish her the best!!
I hope it goes well for her!!
She just wasn’t good with Y&R eventhough she kind of knows the history of it but her writing and showrunner sucks as HELL…………….
I miss MAB’s writing and characters at Y&fR. Best of luck to her!
Same here. Granted, she could be awful at times … she wasn’t 1/10 as horrific as the Jill Farren Phelps/Josh Griffin team. And it’s only going to get much worse in the next couple of years.
I wasn’t a fan of her work on Y&R, but I wish her well in her new endeavors.
It was time for Ms. Bell to go. She went. And now we are seeing brighter sets and more current type writing and often on the edge of our seats. My Grandma would not be happy but at 53, it was a great move.
It may have been time for MAB to go, but what we have now is a well-documented show wrecker. JFP will have this show near cancellation before she’s kicked off.
GET BACK TO Y&R NOW Before Jill Farren Phelps Puts It Into It’s Grave!!!!!!!!!!!!
News
Susan Flannery and Ian Buchanan Visit the Set of ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’; Daytime Emmy Winners Reflect on Show Then and Now

The one and only Susan Flannery (ex-Stephanie Forrester) dropped in to see her former co-stars on The Bold and the Beautiful at their Sunset Las Palmas Studio in Hollywood, along with her good friend and another B&B co-star Ian Buchanan (ex-James Warwick) on Tuesday October 20.
It was the first time in a very long time that The four-time Daytime Emmy winning actress was reunited with Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke), Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy), executive producer and head writer, Brad Bell, Jennifer Gareis and even her TV sister, Alley Mills (Pam, B&B now Heather, GH) showed up for the day too!
Flannery played the Forrester matriarch from 1987 until 2012. It was then that after playing the part of Stephanie for 25 years that Susan made the decision to retire from acting and in one of the most heartbreaking sendoffs, passes away from lung cancer in Brooke’s arms in November of 2012. During her B&B tenure, Flannery won 3 of her 4 Daytime Emmys, the other being for her first soap role as Laura Horton on Days of our Lives back in 1975.

Photo: Bell-Phillip TV
As for Ian Buchanan, he played Dr. Warwick, psychiatrist, from 1993 to 1999. He returned for other runs in 2014 and 2017. Buchanan took home his Daytime Emmy in 1997 for his work as James. Soap fans also remember, Ian as mobster Duke Lavery on General Hospital, and Dr. Greg Madden on All My Children,
Both Susan and Ian shared their thoughts on coming back to The Bold and the Beautiful, for Susan 14 years later since he exited and for Ian close to 9 years since his last appearance below.
Susan said, “It’s definitely like coming home in a way, even though it’s not the same studio. It’s really lovely to see old faces and old faces with new faces. It takes you back mentally. You start remembering what it was like back then, even things like how much your feet would ache at the end of the day from wearing six-inch heels. It was just lovely to be back and see everybody.”

Photo: Bell-Phillip TV
Ian expressed, “It’s a mind trip, you know. When I was sitting looking at the big Forrester set, it was like stepping back in time, almost. It takes you back mentally, and you start remembering what it was like when you were here before.”
“It’s lovely to see all these people again, even if you don’t know everybody,” explained soap vet Buchanan. “There’s something really special about coming back and seeing the show and the people who have been part of it for so long.”
So, happy to see Susan and Ian with some of their former castmates? Do you think Stephanie and Brooke is one of the greatest frenemy stories in daytime history? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Beyond the Gates
Tabitha Brown and Kandi Burruss Guest Star on ‘Beyond the Gates’ for Dani’s ‘Welcome to Your Life’ TV Special; What Could Go Wrong?

As previously announced, Beyond the Gates is bringing chef, author and actress Tabitha Brown and Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer and actress Kandi Burruss to Fairmont Crest in a special episode of the CBS daytime drama airing Thursday, October 22.
In the episode, Dani’s (Karla Mosley) best friend Pamela Curtis (Cady McClain), arranges a “Welcome to Your Life” television special for her. As it turns out, Brown will play the show’s host, Tia Allen, while Burruss takes on the role of Dani’s first modeling agent, Kalista Kilroy, who turns the celebration of her life into a bad trip down memory lane.
Dani’s parents Anita and Vernon (Tamara Tunie, Clifton Davis), sister Nicole (Daphnee Duplaix), and daughters Chelsea (RhonniRose Mantilla) and Naomi (Arielle Prepetit) all join the show to celebrate and support her but also witness how things so south. Also appearing in the episode are Molly Figueroa as Tatum Stewart and fan-favorite Anita Williams (Tunie) impersonator Jackie Tyree!

PhotoL JPI
THE 411 ON TIA AND KALISTA
Speaking with TV Insider, about their soapy experience in Fairmont Crest, Tabitha Brown previewed about her host with the most, “Tia is very professional, but she’s a girl’s girl. She is a protector of women and wants to tell their stories in a beautiful way, but she also wants to make sure they’re seen in a very good light.”
However, Burruss previews that Kalista arrives with a score to settle. “She’s spicy,” shared the recording artist. “I always love playing somebody that has come to start trouble. It’s always fun to play a villain of sorts, but Kalista feels like she’s been done wrong and she’s hurt by what she feels has been done to her. So Kalista is stirring up trouble, but she feels justified putting Dani on blast. Kalista is ready for some payback.”
Beyond the Gates is produced by CBS Studios, as part of the CBS Studios/NAACP Venture, in partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble. Created by head writer Michele Val Jean, executive producers include Val Jean, Sheila Ducksworth, Julie Carruthers, Tracey Thomson, Leon W. Russell, Derrick Johnson, Anna Saalfeld and Lela Coffey.
Beyond the Gates is broadcast weekdays on CBS (2:00-3:00 PM, ET/1:00-2:00 PM, PT) and is available to stream on Paramount+**.
So, looking forward to this special episode of Beyond the Gates when Dani is put on a blast during a blast from her past and Welcome to Your Life TV special? Share your thoughts via the comment section.
Days Of Our Lives
‘Days of our Lives’ Reveals Kyle Pryor Cast as Dominic Marino

For months now, Days of our Lives has teased the character of Dominic Marino. In recent weeks, viewers learned that Marino is on the down low working with Sami Brady’s (Alison Sweeney) apparent fiancé ‘Dante Vitali (Franco LoPresti), and that he is the never-before-heard-of child of Stefano DiMera (the late Joseph Mascolo) and Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall)!
Up until now, the Peacock streaming soap opera has never revealed his face, but that all seemed to change on the Tuesday, October 2o episode of DAYS. In story, Dante met Sami’s parents for the first time, Roman (Josh Taylor) and Marlena.
He shows them a photo of Dominic, which he happened to have on his own phone and even commented he kind of looked like he could be Marlena’s son. The photo, which has quickly made it around Soap Twitter/X, revealed that British-born actor Kyle Pryor is the man in the photo and eagle-eyed viewers actually located said photo on Pryor’s Instagram.

Photo: Peacock
Deadline revealed Pryor started taping at the end of 2025 and will first be seen in the role, on air Monday, November 2. In addition, Days will celebrate its 61st Anniversary with two special episodes featuring Dominic’s arrival, as well the returns of Tony and Anna DiMera, played respectively by Thaao Penghlis and Leann Hunley, on Friday, November 6 and Monday, November 9.
Those in the know, are are that Pryor previously held series regular roles on Australia’s Home and Away, and the UK’s Hollyoaks and guest starred on Emmerdale. In an ironic twist, Pryor appeared in the series Spartacus: Blood and Sand which is the same action series his apparent TV brother, Dan Feuerriegel (EJ DiMera), once appeared in before coming to DAYS.
So excited to see Kyle Pryor take on the role of Dominic Marino as Days of our Lives sets its anniversary story to kick-off with is arrival in Salem? Share your thoughts in the comment section. And in case you missed our latest conversation with Conner Floyd (Chad DiMera) he weighs-in on how Dominic’s appearance will shake things up in Salem. You can check that out below.
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