will81

In terms of Brenda, I get the feeling she eventually decided she knew how to play Jill better than Bell knew how to write her. I think the producers probably did get sick of her and maybe did sabotage her to get her off the show, hence her recollections. The only cast member besides Jeanne that I have ever heard talk about Brenda was Beth Maitland, who said Brenda was not a giving scene partner. That she made it difficult for anyone during a scene because she basically gave them nothing to play off. I wonder if Brenda gave nothing to the other actor and then gave it all in her side, but the production team used the bad takes to sabotage her. It would explain why her performances were so inconsistent in the last couple of years. The bad word on Brenda didn't start until 1985, which is also when her performances got worse. But even in 1987 she could still knock a scene out of the park. There is a scene with her and Phillip when he comes over for dinner and it is like having the old Jill back. The soft, calm and polite Jill with the icy veneer. The Jill I loved from 1983 and early 1984. Brenda also states she had health problems and they didn't believe her, I think she did have health issues but that she had cried wolf too many times.

Of the interviews I have read with John Conboy, he acts as if he was the sole reason for Y&R's success. I am sure he did a lot and I get the feeling Bell didn't want to micro manage, but wanted someone he could trust to take care of things so he was free to write, I get the feeling he saw his producer as a partner, not a boss. It seems like Conboy was doing real hands on producing and started getting an ego because of it. And yeah I doubt Bell was doing much in the way of producing in those early days, otherwise he most likely would have moved to LA sooner. The way he did in 1986 to get B&B off the ground. If there was no major issues, he probably just assumed Conboy was doing his job and let him go and maybe Conboy was feeding him a lot of garbage and Bell trusted him enough to believe it There are a few things I believe Bell would have never agreed to and if he did it may have been through Conboy's manipulations. Firstly letting go of Janice Lynde, from what I understand she was pretty pragmatic about staying or going, but at the time it was reported that Conboy was sick of her, he felt she had faked a back injury and called in sick in 1976 as a grandstanding to a new contract negotiation. So he let her go and she happily went. I get the feeling Bell would have worked harder to keep her there. Second letting the actors out of their contracts when the show went to an hour, if Bell did approve of this, it seems odd. He hated the idea of expanding, so to deal with the stress of that on top of losing key actors seems an odd thing to do and I feel this was Conboy again. Either it was just an arogant decision (the actors don't make the show) that didn't take into account Bell's needs or it was sabotage, as the way Bell talks about Conboy makes it sound like he wasn't above that.

Yes I remember loving Grant and Macy together, but they barely had any time together before he died Yes I remember in 1998 once Ridge found out he was Thomas' father and he chose Taylor, I thought, this better be the end of this, I was getting so sick of it by then. I can't say I liked Brooke with Thorne though.

It is these details that I love, thanks for sharing. Yeah maybe Brett was there and Sean was a temp and that's how it played out, I can't find anything that mentions Sean in connection to the show, at all, which makes me feel more and more that he was never intended as a long term John Abbott. Also until July when Jack comes on there is little mention of John and Jill, mostly just John is impressed with Jill's ideas. Jill comes up with a new product. John isn't impressed with Jill's ideas, lol. Maybe they were waiting for Brett to become available again or something. What did you think of Bond Gideon as Jill. The one episode that was posted, I feel she was fine, but maybe Bell had Brenda in his mind too much to accept her, kinda like a rebound relationship, haha. I would love to get a clip of Bond and Jeanne so we have scenes of Jeanne with all the long term Jill's.

Quick question to anyone that can help. I have seen almost full yearly DVD sets of Days from 1984 onwards for sale (though a bit too rich for me at the moment), has anyone ever gotten these or are they online to download for free anywhere? I would love to get 84 - 98 as it is the period I grew up watching. I also contacted someone from another site who said they have links to download of 84 to now, but have never had a response. Anyone had any luck? Sorry I am also asking because if I did go for the DVD's I would like to know if they are a scam or not. I don't want to waste money.

I really liked Grant when he first came on, on top of that KKL and Charles had great chemistry and if the writing had allowed it, the pairing could have worked. He really pushed her out of her comfort zone and away from her obssession with The Forresters. After Brooke's breakdown and when Ridge proposed to Taylor basically out of spite, Brooke should have matured and wised up and realised her love for Ridge was never anything more than a girlish crush. It was this point that Brooke's growth was stunted and she stayed in the same endless cycle, she just eventually transferred this to Thorne and then Deacon. I wish Brooke had become pregnant to Ridge, but decided Grant was the better option, having Ridge with Taylor and Brooke with Grant but also having Brooke with Ridge's baby would have kept conflict, plus Grant was such a foil to Ridge. Keeping Grant as a more loveable rascal instead of the douche they turned him into would have been so entertaining to watch. On top of this, they could have had Stephanie and Brooke's conflict remain mostly about business and pushed Stephanie out of her endless cycle of involvement in Brooke's love life. Maybe have them be more like Jill/Kay in the 90's, sparring partners. Stephanie would have still been wanting to have a connection with Brooke's children and concerned about the business and Grant's influence on both the children and Forrester Creations. I felt 1998 was the end of these characters, it was the point at which Brad Bell needed to grow these characters and move them on, and he didn't.

Alright to confuse matters more, I found an article that speaks of Brett's departure, I couldn't access the full article from March 30, 1981 due to technical reasons but just a small preview which states "There are more cast casualties at 'The Young and the Restless" Michael Evans and Brett Halsey have been sent packing in their roles of Douglas Austin and John Abbott. Evans was beginning to over-act to excess and Halsey was virtually ignored by writers since he joined the show last fall" So now we have Brett possibly joining in either May, July or sometime in the Autumn. Plus was he ignored? Maybe the writer felt so considering Halsey had soap/primetime and film experience and was considered a vet. Lol, poor Michael. I wonder if there was truth to this or if it was just the writers opinion.

Maybe Brett really was on first and Sean was a temp. Maybe Brett started and left pretty soon after for some reason. Might explain why John is MIA for a couple weeks after that June 1980 episode with Sean Garrison that was posted. Though normally Jon-Michael Reed would write about that sort of stuff. He normally loved those tid bits. SOD also doesn't mention Brett as joining the show until their Oct 14, 1980 issue, which is for July synopsis and has the first mention of Jack. I felt pretty confident about Sean but now I am not so sure. A few people have stated pretty strongly that Brett was the first John and Sean was merely a temp. The other thing that I do find odd is normally if Brett was a recast, then it would generally be mentioned, but I can find no mention of Sean Garrison and they never refer to Brett as a recast anywhere

Yeah it is. There seems to be some contention about that. But Brett Halsey isn't mentioned as joining the show until August 1980. John Abbott first appeared in May 1980. While cast change news was sometimes late, it rarely took several months. I also read somewhere (and I have forgotten where) that Sean Garrison was indeed John Abbott #1. @Paul Raven Just found it from Aug 10, 1980

Oh sorry my mistake. Broderick seems to have done a better job than I could of mapping that all out. Only thing I can add. It seems Sean Garrison and Bond Gideon were both replaced before Terry Lester came on the show. Deborah Adair is first mentioned in a July 31, 1980 article, Lester's first air date was Jul 22, 1980. Both John and Jill are MIA from synopsis for a couple weeks prior to Jack's arrival. Not 100% sure but it seems most likely Brett and Deborah were in place along with Terry in July. After John left town around March 1981 and Jill quit Jabot, Jack is barely mentioned. Outisde of the stuff with Peggy, Lester didn't really get much story again until Jill returned to Jabot and Jack and Jill began dating which would lead to his involvement with Patty and the eventual sexual harrassment suit by Jill.

@Paul Raven Just thinking about it some more. In 1987 Jack was involved with Nikki faking her illness and trying to get Megeron Inc and other things out of Victor. Once Nikki was caught out in late 87 up until he hooked up with Leanna around May 88 and started digging around in Brad's past, he might not have been featured too much or he was more a supporting player without his own story. I am trying to think in terms of his last year on the show. He had the Leanna/Ruthless story, then the Jabot take over and played a part in the Brad/Lisa story and he and Lauren were getting friendly and ended up saving Brad in early 89. After that he may not have been featured as much. I do remember Terry chewing gum in a lot of his scenes towards the end. He seemed so bored during the last year he was on.

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.