Recently-retired The Young and the Restless Head Writer Sally Sussman opened up on the storyline shaking up CBS daytime!
The Bottom Line
Sussman hopes fans will see the Tessa/Mariah coupling storyline in a certain way, she told our friends over at Daytime Confidential.
“This is a love story; it’s not a gay story. It’s about falling in love with a person, not a gender,” she said.
She said Tessa and Mariah are as taken off-guard by their feelings for each other as fans of the CBS sudser may be.
Sussman said that while CBS gave her an enthusiastic green light for this storyline, they warned her Y&R has a relatively conservative audience. And we at Soap Cities can attest to that, given the disapproving comments still rolling in on a poll we did asking whether viewers supported Tessa and Mariah as a couple.
In Hindsight and Looking Ahead
Sussman said she jumped into the Head Writer job with little more than a day’s notice. Also, her brother passed away just as she got the job, obviously posing a great emotional challenge early on in her return to writing for the soap last year. She had little time to plan out many stories ahead of time, and the breakneck taping schedule of soaps didn’t help. But she’s proud of this storyline, she said.
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The talented soap scribe is also a gifted director. Her documentary, Midnight Return: the Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey, will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, noted Daytime Confidential. Whoa! We at Soap Cities congratulate Sussman and wish her the best. We also thank her for envisioning and beginning the story of Tessa and Mariah.
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Give us your input in the comment section below. Check back with Soap Cities for more Y&R spoilers, recaps, news, and fun! Follow us on Twitter at @soapcities, on Instagram at @soapcities, and come chat with us in our Facebook group. Catch The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS. If you want more soap action 24/7, go to Soap Fans United!
Give us your input in the comment section below. Check back with Soap Cities for more Y&R spoilers, recaps, news, and fun! Follow us on Twitter at @soapcities, on Instagram at @soapcities, and come chat with us in our Facebook group. Catch The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS. If you want more soap action 24/7, go to Soap Fans United!
