will81

Yes, I remember preppy blonde Kevin Bancroft. He had that 80's Ted McGinley type look. Kevin and Nikki fought like cats and dogs. His psycho mother Allison was always trying to break them up.

Your right about Greg going after Chris again. I think that helped drive a further wedge between Stu and Liz since Stu told him to go after her. Stuart told Liz he wished Chris had married Greg instead of Snapper. I don't think the show ever resolved what happened to Stuart Brooks. He was gone by 1984 and Liz reverted to using Foster as her last name.

I wish some 1982 episodes would surface. That was a period of a mixed bag of new and old characters. I have a copy of the one 1982 episode that's in fragments on youtube with John talking to Patty about Jack not going to marry her and Jack and Diane are carrying on. John also offers Chris Brooks Foster a job as a model and Snapper says goodbye to Chuckie. I wonder what Bill Bell had in mind with Chris working for Jabot before he wrote the character out all together ?

It's funny how there is quite a bit of late 70's/early 80's AMC, GH & Days material on youtube, but hardly anything pre 1984 for Y&R. I assume there had to be fans with VCR's that were taping Y&R if there is other soap material from that time period.

Stuart apparently died off screen of a heart attack, not sure when this was mentioned, and that is why Liz moved to England to be with Chris, Snapper and Jennifer. I think Colbert stopped airing sometime in 1983 and McCarthy stayed on recurring until around 1985. I am almost sure she was gone by the time Jill's affair with Jack was uncovered.

Yeah 1982 is interesting as everything was shifting. I think Tom Ligon and Lynn Topping were supposed to stay, then JLB left and they were off the show almost straight after, along with Howard McGillan. Only Victoria Mallory was there until the very end of 1982. Robert Colbert and Julianna McCarthy were around but as recurring characters.

I am also interested in Nick Benedict, in all the interviews he did, it seemed he was supposed to be a main character and on the show for quite a few years, when he and Meg Bennett got the pink slip, they both seemed shocked and unhappy about it, more Nick than Meg. I wonder what Bell had in mind.

Two Y&R episodes I wish would surface online are both from February 1980, the first 1 hour episode and Eric Braeden's first episode. I had always thought Victor Newman's arrival was on the first 1 hour episode, but apparently it was shortly after.

It was definitely that week of Feb 5th - 9th 1980. Also would have been the week Bond Gideon debuted, so would be interested in seeing her as Jill.

Wings Hauser had left the role around late 1981 and Howard McGillin came on as Greg and stayed into late 1982. I can't recall what his storyline was or if his version interacted with Nikki.

In 1982 Nikki was with Victor, got pregnant and was pushed to marry Kevin Bancroft, Nikki and Greg may have shared a scene together but no storyline. Howard's Greg didn't have much story, they re-introduced his unrequited love for Chris Brooks, which didn't go anywhere, then Chris left town in September and Greg left, I think the same week. Howard came on when all the original characters were being shipped off the show.

I think Wings Hauser left around late Oct 1981 and Howard was on by Nov 1981.

Speaking of 1980, I have read in many places that Katherine Chancellor brought in Victor Newman to replace George Packard as CEO of Chancellor Industries. Was the George Packard character on screen or just someone referred to? If he was seen, who played him?

Unrelated... does anyone know who Frank Parker [sean Brady, Days] played on Y&R?

Yeah George was on screen, but I am not sure that's why Victor was brought on. Victor and Douglas became friends and shared a mutual dislike of Derek. Douglas was romancing Kay, but Derek got her back on the sauce to try and control her and get power of Chancellor. George had a heart attack and shortly after Derek convinced Kay to go on a cruise.

Kay wasn't sure she would make it back alive and put Victor in charge. As far as I am aware Kay had nothing to do with Victor coming to Genoa City, though I could be wrong about that since I wasn't watching the show then.

Wondered the same thing but I assume it has to with Ashley and Marc Mergeron (? - or was his name Eric?); guess JAck wants to break them up with the lab guy. Correct?

I can't remember, it had something to do with a formula Eric and Ashley were working on. I think maybe Jack wanted to sabotage it or steal it. Not sure if this was during one of Ashley and Jack's many fights for power of Jabot.

The show seemed so gothic between 1980-1982 between the cult, the Edward story that definitely seems inspired by Psycho and wasn't Katherine taunting Suzanne and/or Jill around this time too? And I think it was 1983 with Victor faking his death and crazy Eve too. I wish I could see these years in full.

Kay taunting Suzanne was 1979. From what I understand the goth type feel/look started around 1979 and it looks like it continued through 80/81. I am guessing when Conboy left in 1982 the show's atmosphere and look changed. I think it brightened up quite a bit.

I thought Nikki was still in the cult during that time.....i will have to dig up some 1981 summaries to help me understand this plot point better.....the show seemed to lack a clear direction at that time, yet I bet people ate up Bell's "Hitchockian" moments.....

The cult story was 1980. By this point Nikki Had been living with Casey who left town. She was stripping at The Bayou and her marriage to Greg was ending due to the events that took place in the first clip. I believe the Edward story started with Casey, she got the harassing calls and stuff, then it shifted to Nikki, when Roberta Leighton left.

Y&R 1980 - 1982 fascinates me, simply because the show was in a state of change, yet still had the same production crew, many of the same characters/actors from the 70's but was definitely shifting.

Heh, how old was Jamie to the fact he had to be institutionalized anyways? Inherited insanity early from his mother?

Apparently he went catatonic when his step father was killed in front of him. I think that was the story.

Going back to that 1977 article, did Derek and Suzanne's son ever actually appear on-screen?

Yeah I wouldn't mind knowing that. Possibly in 1979 when Suzanne takes Derek to see Jaime in the hospital to keep him from marrying Jill (who was waiting at a chapel to marry Stuart).

I am also interested in the original treatment of this story, in July 1976 this story was started and then abandoned within six weeks due to backstage dramas. From what I understand Caleb Stoddard was the first Derek and didn't have much presence or charisma and was dropped 3 weeks in, then Jeff Cooper took over and lasted about the same amount of time before the whole story was dropped.

I can't say I've seen this huge fire and personality in Eileen's Ashley, in the limited 80s material I've seen. She's very brittle. It works, but I don't think it damaged the Ashley character when they changed her for Brenda. It's not as if the material got any better when Eileen returned.

Yeah maybe fire is the wrong word, she just had more attitude and was more snarky. Brenda was very sweet and stoic and firm. More a classic heroine.

For the record I don't think it damaged the character and I love Brenda in the role. I do think Bell sometimes tailored characters to fit actors which is what helped these recasts.

I think what I miss about Dickson's Jill is the more playful elements that Jess had more of in the beginning.

I know I'm in the minority but I just dislike the Jack and Jill recasts. I know it's an unpopular-borderline-blasphemy opinion, but I just think it has affected the writing for the characters so much. I find it excruciating to see PB interacting with a woman/potential partner. Or even worse-- trying hard to play the bad boy, with all the smirking and hand-waggling. And about Jess- I do think she is a good actress and a marvelous human being, but she brought this 'shrewish' vibe to Jill which I feel eventually led to Jill being played for laughs (I can see how it all started when she tried to seduce Victor... say what you want about Dickson's campy robot delivery but that would have never happened with her).

Of the three big recasts around that time, Jill, Ashley and Jack. I would say PB was my least favourite. Lester played Jack as a arrogant, self absorbed player but had a complete rascal type charm about him that made you like his character. He could also do soft and emotional when he needed to. PB wasn't cut out for the bad boy Jack and it shows in the eps posted and Bell shifted the character accordingly.

I would say the same of Brenda Epperson's Ashley. Watching old clips of Eileen I forget how much attitude and fire she had compared with Brenda.

Jess, well I think she is a far better actor then Brenda was even in her first run, but Dickson was Jill. They definitely changed the character after Jess came on. It is only Jess' acting that I prefer, but the writing of the character and Brenda's interpretation were better to me.

I know!!! It's a no-brainer! But me thinks SONY-BELL fear that being provided with the great past episodes will take away the small remaining interest we have in the current shows.

I wonder if it is just Sony. B&B has at least a years worth of eps out on DVD in Germany and about 50eps in other countries, including here in Australia. Brad must be aware of that and ok'd it at some level.

I honestly don't know why CBS/Sony/The Bells don't look at the view counts on classic clips and realise there might be a profit to be gained from somehow releasing old episodes.

They could at the very least try streaming the show from the start to see what interest there is. Certainly the EW article with the first episode attached got some good attention.

Thanks YRfan23 for this and everyone who takes the time and effort to post episodes, I am eternally grateful especially considering the hard work of re-uploading constantly.

The one big change I noticed with the prime time episode is how much faster the scene transitions are, there aren't any real camera holds on actors faces. I actually prefer it and wish Y&R had incorporated that into the show at that time.

Thanks Carl for clearing that up. Yeah I didn't like Ryan either. I later found it amusing that Nina would give Victoria a hard time about her sexual problems with Ryan as I distinctly remember that Tricia (who may have been a virgin when she slept with Ryan) was completely underwhelmed by Ryan in bed. The first time anyway.

Ryan always came across in the writing as a jerk and complete douche. I wonder if Bell meant it that way or it was just accidental.

There's something that I wanted to ask you guys - I've seen clips of Cole & Victoria dating back to 1993 and others dating back to 1998 (the two of them were in a triangle with Shari Shattuck's Ashley, I think). Does it mean Vicky and Cole were an item for that long? Where did Ryan fit in all of this? From the flashbacks I saw in 2000, I thought Ryan was Vicky's longtime/endgame love... Can someone fill me in on the timeline?

Cole and Victoria were together until around 97/98. But they were more off than on towards the last year or so. I think 96/97 was pretty much the end of their relationship. Ryan was Victoria's shoulder to cry on, he was married to Nina, but every time one or the other had marital problems they would lean on each other with plenty of flirting. I am pretty sure Nina and Cole slept together at some point in 1996, not sure if Ryan and Vicky did. Ryan left Nina for Trish Dennison the psycho who ended up killing him during his re-marriage to Victoria, I don't think putting Vicky and Ryan back together was such a good idea to be honest.

@Sheilaforever - we must have posted at the same time.

The prime time episodes aired

March 3 1994, Oct 26th 1995, May 22 1996, Mar 10 1998. Not sure about production codes or if an episode aired that day, I assume it did.

I can understand Victoria's attitude about Sharon here, if you were in a similar situation with your sibling in jail and his new girlfriend was keeping her mouth shut you probably wouldn't be too kind, she is desperate and angry with how things are.

I agree Victoria and Sharon had a complex relationship, I do remember Victoria defending Sharon to Nikki or at least telling her mother to butt out on a few occasions. I think Cole was a good influence on Victoria and a big part of her softening her attitude.

That's how Considine words it in his book. I know Kay was said to of first appeared in November 73, I just wonder who the Chancellors interacted with prior to Jill. Did they just appear in sole scenes together as a couple with their marriage on the rocks or did they have dealings with other characters like the Brooks ? In the January 1974 filmed episode Jill talks about having done Kay's hair after the other girl had problems with her, but I doubt 2 or more months had elapsed sine they first met.

Yeah Jeanne also said John Considine was there when she was hired and gone shortly after. I assume he was introduced as Liz's boss, maybe shown at the factory and probably had very few scenes before Jeanne arrived. Bell was good at introducing a character slowly, so Jeanne may have started in Nov 73 but maybe was only on a couple times a week and many of her scenes may have been her sitting in her living room lamenting her life or with Theresa and of course Phillip.

Remember the Chris Brooks rape story was wrapping up, then Chris and Snapper were engaged and Sally discovered she was pregnant and tried to commit suicide about the time Kay started to appear. Shortly after she turned up on screen Laurie Brooks returned home, so there was plenty of other stuff going on.

I love the inner thoughts, I actually prefer it to characters talking to themselves, but it always reminds me of Airplane (1980) and makes me laugh.

What an amazing episode. Seeing Jill's determination and knowing how on point Bell kept her character for his 25 year tenure. One of his best creations in my mind. Loved her flub, Brenda recovered so well it does seem as if it was scripted and Jill's nerves got the better of her. Though after that I kept waiting for Theresa to do the same thing.

I always thought Kay was called Mrs. Chancellor until the mid 80's by everyone except of course her husbands/boyfriends.

I am assuming this aired very late Jan or very early Feb, was wondering how long John Considine was on for. I think Donnelly must have taken over soon after this though.

I too think the Foster family would do well today, if balanced out with a rich family. There are a lot of people struggling today, so it would be relevant, but we also seem to be in a society that loves watching rich people do sweet F*&^ all, all day long.

I do notice Bell's stories back then developed very slowly, but each episode I have seen from the 70's is rich with character development.

When Pat Falken Smith returned in 81, Valerie was one of the first characters she brought back.

Which makes me believe she wasn't dictating the changes in story as is implied in that article. Wouldn't be surprised if this story was one of the reasons she left.

What is interesting is Pat Falken-Smith left Days around the time that article came out, does anyone know why she left. I had heard she wasn't happy with network interference, maybe this story was part of that. Can anyone confirm?

Thanks for the article Paul. Amazing still is that in the 90's interracial (mostly Black/White) couplings were still controversial on many shows. I tend to believe the actors on this one. I am sure PFS and Wes would never outright admit to anything the actors were talking about. I call utter BS on Pat for her remarks about not wanting a more intimate display for David and Valerie. Never happened on soaps, all couples back then kissed or at the very least touched and were affectionate unless it was clear for the story that a character had a reason for it.

Interestingly they had Jill and John mend ways a bit in 1987 when Brenda was still in the role, so I wasn't surprised Jill and John re-connected and re-married. I was disappointed that it had to end in another affair. I actually thought it would have been something for Jill to stick it out with John through his impotence but fall out of love with him and want a divorce. No fault, but plenty of anger. I realise Jill needs passion and it was in keeping with her character, but I would have liked some growth on her part. After the disasters with men since her first divorce to John I would think Jill could have held back the insatiable desire to sleep with Jed. At least with Jack it was just once and she was vulnerable thinking she was going to die alone in the snow. With Jed it was crazy OTT.