will81

Terry definitely left the show in 1985 to do a pilot for some show called Hong Kong Nights or something. it was filmed on location. They didn't recast in case the pilot wasn't picked up (which it wasn't) He was gone for several months, maybe six. I am not sure he was ever really off screen other than that time. He was featured heavily in 1986 for the Abbott Divorce story and seemed to have plent to do in 1987 and 1988 as well. Though maybe there were smaller stretches of time he wasn't featured as prominently. I started watching episodes from 1985 and Jack always seemed to be there once he returned. John left the show in Feb when Lance divorced Lorie and moved to Paris. When Lucas was shot in the San Pedro story (I think it was San Pedro) with Sebastian and Jonas and Leslie, Lance returned briefly in May 1980 for about two weeks. I assume it was McCook, but Broderick might know better. I think Lance was already dating Simone at this point. Not sure about Beau. I remember reading an interview with Conboy where he said he gave an out clause to any actor who joined the show prior to the expansion, as he felt they never agreed to act in an hour long show, I am not clear if there was an expiry date on that out clause or if Beau was actually let go. Brock never seemed to have much luck in the romance department, pretty much every woman he went after just wanted to be friends, lol. In terms of Victor and the Dungeon story. Bell was pretty good at washing over such things, if he made a mistake or wanted to go another direction he simply pretended it never happened. He got rid of part of the problem by having Julia and Michael leave town. Then when Julia returned I don't think the dungeon fiasco was ever mentioned and she was totally in love with him still. Nikki and even Douglas helped soften Victor up and Bell had already connected Victor to Lorie which would have helped. What seemed worse from synopsis I have read is Victor seemed to be abusing Julia, at least in the very beginning. Not sure if he was ever violent with her on screen though or if Brock just suspected he was. Also it might have been in Bell's favour that the ratings dropped between 80-82. Most likely many people who started to tune in again or for the first time in 1982 were most likely not even aware of the dungeon story or Victor's more villanous beginnings.

Yeah even reading synopsis I kept thinking it made no sense for Lucas to be so against Lorie, he always seemed so weary of his mother and more so on Lorie's side up until that point. I could buy Lucas supporting her but having small doubts in his mind, after all he had no idea Vanessa was sick and it seems so over the top to kill yourself and frame someone simply as revenge. This still would have allowed some of the same story beats to play out. Instead of Lucas actively testifying against her, his in good faith testimony could be twisted and manipulated by the D.A to make Lorie look bad, and the letter Vanessa wrote (making it seem as if Lorie was the one writing to Vanessa) could have been found by anyone and given as evidence. Lucas did seem to go off the deep end when Vanessa died. One of the few clips I have seen that takes place after Vanessa's death is at her funeral (if I recall K.T Stevens was in the coffin, lol and it looks like she was closed in there at one point) Lucas rages at Lorie for turning up at the funeral and then opens the casket and screams that Lorie killed his mother. He seemed absolutely bonkers.

Thank you so much for that

Pamela left the show and they were originally going to recast, so I assume she wasn't happy with being there by 1981 and it might explain why Peggy never got a proper send off, or did she? I can't remember now. Below is the aricle from October 04, 1981 Also does anyone know who played Eve's accomplice Max, when they were planning to kill Victor? I have never been able to find any information on him anywhere

I never thought about it in those terms. I agree. What exactly about Vanessa would make him leave Liz. Not her looks or body, even the much younger and more voluptous Jill couldn't keep him interested for long, and she only got him down the aisle due to faking a pregnancy, not exactly something Vanessa could do, also not her wealth, as he had plenty of his own, and if there was no chemistry between the pair, what was the point, meaning Bell really couldn't convincingly have Stuart see Vanessa as a better match than Liz in any way. I wonder if 1980 made Bell realise Vanessa just didn't work without Lance and Lorie and was no longer needed on the show. He already had Kay on canvas to fill the lonely wealthy older woman role and Vanessa had accompished her goal of splitting Lorie and Lance. There was nothing left for her to do. He took her out with a bang though. Yeah I once read someone state that you could draw a line in the sand between Y&R up to 1994 and post 1994. I admit the show began to falter in 1995, got worse (though still pretty good) in 1996 and 1997 and began to recover in late 97. While 98 is one of my fave years, it still takes a back seat to any year prior to 1995.

Thanks for this, and for sharing these links and keeping up on all the eps being posted around the place. I really love 1998, one of my favourite years of the show

@Broderick You actually have a pretty amazing memory. You are giving detail that can't be found anywhere, other than through having seen the show, and actually it does seem Carl was like a dayplayer even though he was there from Jan 1980. He really is barely mentioned in synopsis, and the Williams family connections don't seem to have been made until March 1980. So yeah your memory seems pretty spot on. I love your ideas about introducing the Wiliams family, sounds far smoother and much more interesting. It does seem Bell was in panic mode a bit as he hated having to go to an hour, I believe the show was supposed to expand in 1979 and was delayed, maybe even a couple times. So I wonder if he was just drowning a bit initially and making odd decisions as a result. 1980 sounds like it started out strong and then fell into a big mess. Bell and co. were basically creating a new show, but on air in front of an audience. In terms of Stuart and Vanessa, was there any chemistry between them? I honestly can't see K.T Stevens and Robert Colbert together. I also wonder if Bell realised Liz was no match for Vanessa. I can't imagine Liz being able to deal with Vanessa's level of manipulation, it may have been too easy for Van to take Stuart away. I also notice the Jill/Steve pairing seemed like it was being set up for a triangle with Peggy, but Jill lost interest in him once she started working at Jabot. So there never seemed to be much of a rivalry

I only know from weekly synopsis, but it seems Carl rocked up in the Nikki/Walter Addison story in the first week of January 1980, and Steve was about the same time. Then a few weeks later in March Jon-Michael Reed's synopsis specifically states Carl and Steve are Paul's family and the week after that Mary is fretting about being pregnant and the week after that Patty is first mentioned. May have played out differently on screen. Though it seems Carl and Steve were not immediately connected to Paul and then suddenly they were and before you know it in comes Mary and Patty, insta family. Carl and Steve being Paul's family isn't mentioned until after the kidnapping story is pretty much done, so yeah it must have been odd to have Carl being so prominently featured on camera during that story and Steve as well, then seeing Carl's wife when he seemed like a dayplayer. It is so great to have your recollections though. You have memories of things that are never mentioned in synopsis from the time. Thanks for sharing I liked Tammy Taylor, but she seemed like an actual 16 year old girl as opposed to Lilibet who played 16/17 but seemed a little more mature. I can't imagine Tammy playing the Jack/Patty story.

Plus Chris and Snapper were mostly MIA JLB was pregnant and could barely move about the set and had to go on early maternity leave Leslie thought she was Priscilla and was out of town for the first half of the year Vanessa had realised her ultimate goal to split Lorie and Lance, so I don't think she even had much story Basically the two big stories Bell had in 1979 which got them to #1 multiple times during that year, which was the 4 L's and Jill/Kay were done. He was pretty much starting from scratch and having to intro a bunch of new characters on top of that. Honestly I am amazed Y&R survived it all.

Lol, only Kimberlin Brown as Sheila could get away with that sorta dialogue

Lol, sounds sort of like the Friends episode when Rachel keeps buying things from Pottery Barn and telling Phoebe (who is against places like PB) that she got them from flea markets. Out of curiosity why did Snapper never earn a decent living as a Doctor? He was an intern when the show started so by 1981/82 he had been at it for almost 10 years and he still couldn't afford some nice furniture?

Another one is Evidently. Every character uses this word so much it has creeped into my own vocab. One of the things I noticed about Janice Lynde's Leslie is she mixed her strength and vulnerability so beautifully. In the 70's eps we have seen, she seems so soft and gentle but at the same time has a bit of bite to her, she can hold her own with Lorie but you can still believe she could have a nervous breakdown. Victoria seems just lovely but more like a woman who is about to fall apart at any moment and is desperately trying to be strong, JLB commands her scenes with Victoria while Janice seemed to match her more. It seems as though Lorie became more central once Janice left. Victoria stated when she joined the show she was sidelined for close to a year before she got story. It seems as though she played out Leslie's miscarriage and then was put on the back burner for the remainder of 1977 and JLB's Lorie started becoming more prominent. Funny about the talk about names as I was just thinking about it. Reading soap press you see Lorie or Laurie and I always heard it was Kristen and then wondered why she was referred to as Chris and not Kris, though now I see it was Christen, I have never seen that spelling before. I had heard Christobel, but never heard/read that name anywhere in soap press of the day. In terms of dialogue I was just watching a scene with Ashley and Victor discussing Nikki and she keeps referring to her as "Your former wife" it is maddening, lol. Ashley says it multiple times and I keep thinking just say her name damn it, haha. "Are you still in love with your former wife" "I have to ask, do you want to reconcile with your former wife" Lastly how prominent was Lynn on the show? From reading synopsis it seems she had little to do for much of her run. Chris returns in late 78 and Snapper has become friendly with Casey, he has to decide who he wants and chooses Chris, then very little story until the Rose DeVille white slavery story. Then Lynn and Chris were pregnant. From what I have read Lynn was pregnant with twins and was quite ill during her pregnancy (this seem to happen to JLB and Victoria Mallory as well) and Chris left town again for a short period and returned thinking she had contracted measels but this was cleared up pretty quickly. When Lynn went on maternity leave in 1980 David had quit the show but agreed to do guest spots, Lynn didn't agree to this and was let go but Chris and Snapper were still in town. Lynn returned in early 81 but it seems no major story occurred until Sally and Chuckie returned to town in late 81, from here it seems Bell started writing more for Chris again, she had brief flirtations with Jack Abbott and joined Jabot, though she would be off air again within a year.

Oh right, yeah it is definitely possible that Leslie and Victor never shared a scene in that case. Very interesting.

Leslie gave Nikki piano lessons at one point. I think Victor hired her. I assume they shared a scene or two.

I vaguely remember Dorothy Green being outspoken about it, especially the isolation of the older female characters and how they were written. Apparently Dorothy had no idea she was being killed off until Jen started feeling ill and people backstage at Y&R were acting a bit odd. I get the feeling after Bell had wanted to kill off Addie on Days and was basically forced through fan outrage to keep her at least temporarily, that he basically kept Dorothy in the dark. Not the best way to treat an actor.

In press prior to the shows debut, The Hendersons are mentioned along with the Brooks and Foster Families. It made it sound like they were supposed to be the third family in town.

That's awesome thanks so much for sharing That's hilarious. I remember vaguely SOD complaining that the 1998 primetime episode was too dark and they felt the show was trying to imitate film with darker contrast and it didn't work. I seriously can't remember if it was darkly lit or not.

Fair call. I do like that not everyone knows everyone else, that worked in the 80's and 90's as well. I forget how small the main cast was in the 70's. Haha what a riot. I have to find these immediately, thanks for letting me know. I love 70's tv movies

How interesting, never knew that. I had no idea Jess was on a contract with Universal in the 70's. Do you know if Jess and Sharon ever acted in anything together?

No worries. Yeah I read about Derek long before I saw any pics of Joe and when I did I thought, oh okay, not what I was expecting. Bell had a habit of putting Brenda with older actors for most of her run. I guess David Mallory was probably the youngest and Michael Crawford. I know Jill dated some guy named Brent in the first year, I assume he was a young guy too. But mostly Jill was always with older men.

Agreed, it would have been great to see Kay and Jennifer as friends. As far as I know Kay was pretty isolated to Jill and the Foster family in 1975, I have never heard of her interacting with the Brooks at all during this period. Wow I went back and looked and it definitely looks like a young Dana Plato. Speaking of 70's Y&R this tumblr has a bunch of 70's soap mags on it. I have linked to one of the Y&R pages. It has an article on Donnelly Rhodes being bumped off the show, stating he was killed off in late June. Also somewhere in there another article mentions Bill Espy's last day was Sep 17, 1975. I assume this was his last tape date as he appears in the episode after the Sep 23, 1975 one just posted. This must have been his final week or there abouts. I know David came on as Snapper Dec 8, 1975, though I can't remember where I found that info. https://vintagesoaparchives.tumblr.com/tagged/Young+and+the+Restless/page/2

Hot damn the 1975 episode was great. In particular the final few minutes. High melodrama but so effective and well done. Considering they were still doing live to tape, it all came together so beautifully. Peggy turning up at the last minute and the Brooks girls watching their mother as the elevator doors close. Also the small moments, the way Leslie and Chris look at Bruce, even the way Trish as Chris folds her arms when Bruce is talking to her and the way Janice's Leslie gives that bit of bite to Bruce, it is those small moments that are so effective. Interesting that there was no B story, but I guess this was a big episode and there was no time for it. We have the episode that aired after this, when Jennifer is in surgery and comes out of it, I assume it aired the same week and it also has no B story, so I wonder if Jennifer's mastectomy and the Brooks family drama took up most of that week with few other stories progressing. Also I now want to see Search for Tomorrow, haha. Such a tease Also great to see Jane Curtin in one of the commercials barely a month prior to SNL starting. Thanks so much for this, will definitely give these a watch, I admit to my interest in Y&R starting to fade somewhat during this period, but still love the show and I appreciate it more now than I did then.

Cool. I wonder who else popped up on the show over the years in minor roles.

Sorry it was the Dec 30 1992, my mistake

Just watching the Dec 29, 1992 episode. Nicholas Brendan who would go on to play Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a small role as one of a group of kids trying to get Christine to get them tickets to Danny's concert. Always interesting to see actors you know from other shows pop up in small roles on soaps