The Young and the Restless, usually a relatively serene place given its eternal top ratings spot, is home to a Mal Young behind-the-scenes surprise!
It Seems Like Just Yesterday
Mal Young, current Executive Producer at the CBS sudser, is set to take over writing duties as Sally Sussman and Kay Alden retire, reported our friend Jamey Giddens over at Daytime Confidential, the trusted industry source.
Related: Y&R fans will want to know this great news about the CBS sudser’s future.
Even at the relatively placid place known as Behind the Genoa City Scenes, things can move very fast, apparently!
“Both writers are choosing to retire from writing soaps on their own terms. I’m hearing executive producer Mal Young will become the new head writer,” Giddens wrote.
New Chapters and Full Plates
Don’t Miss: Remember what we said about Sussman’s first ep as Head Writer?
Though they’re retiring, the outgoing head writers still have exciting times ahead. Sussman intends to focus on her documentary filmmaking career. We can’t wait to see what she comes up with, especially after her docu-debut, which was a film on an American imprisoned in Turkey.
What’s Next for All
Alden wants to focus on her personal life–we all know that can be quite the project from our own experiences, right dear Soap Cities readers?
Young, meanwhile, has a unique sudsy challenge ahead of him. He’s already EP at Y&R, and now he’ll be head writer too, as we mentioned. This is not small challenge!
Can he do so, as Brad Bell does on Y&R’s sister soap, The Bold and the Beautiful? Of course, Young has a bit more of a challenge given that his show is twice as long as B&B, but it’s the same idea.
Also: Y&R star Jason Thompson shared a lovely tribute to his late pet pup.
“With the sheer amount of work that goes into writing a daytime soap opera, it is not clear how Young, or anyone, could successfully do both jobs. It seems like a co-head writer should be named soon if young indeed plans on keeping the job,” wrote our good friend, Roger Newcomb, over at We Love Soaps.
Mal Young got his start in British soaps and oversaw production of super-popular serial drama EastEnders from 1997 to 2004.
Young took to Twitter to share a gracious message about his head writing duties.
Standing on the shoulders of giants. Exciting times. #YR
— mal young (@malyoung) August 1, 2017
Makes Us Look Off Wistfully Into the Distance and Think…
Some Soap Cities trivia for all our loyal readers: our very first article was a review of Sally Sussman’s first episode after returning to writing duties at Y&R.
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