End of an Era

While this will mean very little to my regular political readers, I can't ignore a very large part of my life that's rooted in the world of soap operas. That said, we now have a hole in the force. Last night William J. Bell passed away. Ever hear of The Young and the Restless or The Bold and the Beautiful? Both were created by Bill (along with his wife, Lee). To the daytime community, he was a legend. CBS named the studio Y&R tapes in after him. He's received numerous awards. There's a funny story about one of those awards.

Many years ago at the Daytime Emmy Awards, Y&R won for best writing. The next morning, Bill got a call. There'd been a mistake -- Guiding Light had actually won. The next time Bill's team won, Bill quipped, "And if you call me tomorrow morning, I'm not picking up!"

Bill will forever have my respect because, along with Agnes Nixon, he was a protege to the greatest soap legend of them all, Irna Phillips. What I would have given to have been born back then, to have had the opportunity he did to learn from the master -- the woman who essentially invented the genre.

My condolences to the cast and crew of both shows for losing their inspirational leader and father figure; to Lee for losing her life partner; to their kids Lauralee, Bill Jr. and Bradley; and to all the fans out there of this dying narrative form we affectionally refer to as soap opera.