What on Earth is Happening Behind the Scenes at 'The Young and the Restless'?

Last Friday, entertainment website Highlight Hollywood reported that head writer of The Young and the  Restless, Josh Griffith, is on his way out at the top rated soap. Not only that, it appears that Jill Farren Phelps, Y&R executive producer, is pushing Sony Pictures Television and CBS to fire him. Insiders say that Griffith has been having a "complete meltdown", and due to Phelps urging Sony to fire him, they say he is thinking of moving on to a more "fulfilling" thing. The insider stated: "Josh [Griffith] was very uncaring and tacky when he did his interview with TV Guide soon after his former boss’s contract was not renewed, now it’s funny, he’s facing the same fate, and at the hands of the same woman, Jill Firing Phelps. He did not see it coming! Even though Josh is at work in the building today, he’s just a wreck. He’s previously had his door locked, and seemed as though he was having a breakdown, and Jill has been so uncaring, and telling everyone, she doesn’t time to coddle people, and she is pressuring Sony execs to fire Griffith.” 

With 15 days left in Griffith's contract, CBS insiders stated: "He no longer has Maria [Bell] to protect him.  He threw in on the side of the wrong lot definitely this time.  Jill is fed up, she’s taking the blame for all of the mess this show has turned into, and she is looking to do what she does best.  Make herself the good-guy with fans, and fire Josh, but the whole problem happens to be her as well.  The truth is, Sony knows she’s ill-placed as the executive producer at ‘Y&R,’ but they have no choice but to back her, so they are looking to make a major shakeup and hopefully take the focus off Jill, so that they can hopefully get viewers interested in these horrible storylines again.  None of these people know what to do.  They are all grasping at straws, it’s truly a snake-pit in this place now. Everyone is miserable and scared for their job. Jill’s planning more deaths and destruction, both on air and behind the scenes, if she has her way.” 

In addition, an actor from the series said that Sony knows it was a mistake to hire Phelps and take creative control away from the Bell family, who created The Young and the Restless. Well, it's not like Maria Arena Bell made Y&R the best. After her firing last year, viewers put their faith in Phelps and Griffith to put the top rated soap back in its place; character driven stories powered by great actors and great characters. Bell had basically ruined the dynamics of several characters and created several outlandish plots, including giving her crappy storylines way too much airtime. It's not like Griffith made Y&R a whole lot better; he introduces a constant string of newbies, gives them way too much airtime and uses Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) as a scapegoat (after promising to "rebuild" her character after she was royally assassinated by Bell). 

But it's hard for me to believe that these are all of Griffith's choices. My million dollar question is; has Phelps been influencing the horrible, boring storylines? Phelps was the one who cleaned house of half the cast last fall, and while everyone said it wasn't even her call, is it coincidental that she didn't work well with any of them in the past? It's not like Phelps has the best track record; she almost got General Hospital cancelled a few years back with crappy stories. The Highlight Hollywood report says CBS and Sony are in talks with new writers, could they be some of Phelps' former General Hospital writers? It all seems like one big conspiracy theory to me. Watch The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS.