OzFrog

Good article by Ezra Klein about the GOP strategy...

Most recent 1984 clip (50b) is now up in the vault, and it’s still lead-up to the V&N wedding. It contains a really beautiful and well-written scene between Victor and Lorie, as well as some lovely Lorie and Julia scenes.

Thanks so much for that recap. I do wonder if that scene is somewhere up on Youtube. Would be nice to watch.

^^ Maybe not so much Sharon (she doesn’t really have any rivalry of sorts with Christine, plus she is with Rey), but Phyllis definitely. It would make her eyes pop out and her head spin around a la The Exorcist. Then we’d start to see some REAL storyline potential from Phyllis again.

I’ve said this before, but bloody hell Lauren’s hatred for Traci ran *deep*. And all seemingly because Lauren was jealous of her. I wish they had delved into that a bit more instead of just having Lauren constantly being a bitch all the time. There were occasions where it almost amounted to bullying of Traci. But I will say that to Traci’s credit she eventually grew up from that shy reserved teenager into someone confident with her own life and her own identity away from the main Abbott drama. And it’s fitting that she is back on the show as the glue that is keeping the Abbotts together in the absence of John. By the way, I read somewhere that Lauren and Traci did finally bury the hatchet about a decade ago or something, but haven’t found any scenes on Youtube that would indicate that. Could someone confirm for me either way?

Vee, have a look at this. I’ve linked the playlist (it’s all of 1989). The takeover storyline begins around May/June, if I recall correctly.

As we speak, our mysterious benefactor has started to upload 1984 clips. They’re up to February-May at the moment. If they continue as they are now, I believe we will eventually see those scenes surface (the confrontation happened in November 1984).

From what I recall, Jack had just been fired from Jabot for his role in John and Jill’s ongoing divorce (the hookup he and Jill had a couple of years earlier). I think Jill was shot around this time if not a little later. And also, Nikki and Jack had been having an on-off again affair due to Nikki’s insecurities with Victor and Ashley.

Isn’t that how we all get into soaps though? 😏😜

I highly recommend people watch the last 1983 clip that’s been uploaded. Some scenes from January 1984 where Kay is starting to consider her facelift. There is some amazing dialogue that Kay has with Dina and with Liz about it. It really does start to put a lot of context on that whole storyline and the motivators for Kay going ahead with the surgery.

We’re starting to get 1984 clips coming up as we speak. But watching the last of the 1983 ones, I’m surprised by how Paul & Lauren actually started - by Paul wanting to break up Lauren and Danny’s engagement so that Danny could go back to Patty (this was all before Traci’s pregnancy of course). And now it makes sense why Patty hated Lauren so much during 1984. I wonder if that’s something the writers could bring back with Patty next time she comes on. Incidentally, I’m shocked by just how visceral Lauren’s hatred of Traci was back then. Everything Lauren did back then arose out of her dislike for Traci. And you have most of these characters on screen even today - Lauren, Traci, Paul. Bring back Patty *and* Danny, and you would have dynamite for years. Michael Damian has stated on Twitter that he would love to come back to Y&R at some point, and this would be the perfect way to bring him back in.

That interview was amazing, and it says so much about what gave Y&R its strong social roots. In the more recent 1983 uploads I’ve watched, Victor is going incognito to go find a standard job (as part of a bet with Douglas). But it is SO good in terms of the social commentary it provides about people in working-class society and the issues they face day-to-day. It’s an eye opener not just for Victor, but for a viewer like myself, as it helps us to empathise more with the plight of working class people. I would not be surprised if Lee Phillip herself actually pushed that storyline, because it is so informative. I also wanna know what the planned story for Nikki was before MTS got pregnant and everything had to change! I wonder if they kept any notes somewhere in their estate. Like I was saying earlier, the stuff with Andrea Evans as Patty was her prior to her reincarnation as outlandish Tina Lord, so it was a great reminder of what she was actually capable of as an actress. I’ve said it in another thread, but watching these clips in the vault, this is the first time I’ve seen Julia Newman. And I was captivated from the moment she came back into town in the 1982 clips to see Lorie. Meg Bennett is one hell of an actress, and I greatly admire the strong-willed, independent facets of what she brings to the role of Julia, so much so that the character is rapidly becoming one of my all-time favourites. Her stoushes with Nikki are hilarious, I completely agree. 1983 Nikki was all over the shop. Sometimes I watch more recent clips of Nikki on youtube just to compare what she was like back then against how she is today. I’ll also say that 1983 Nikki is worlds apart even from 1980 Nikki, and I wonder if that was the Victor effect at play. I have such a crush on Kevin 😊. Yes he and Nikki were Mr & Mrs Dimwit, but both Chris Holder and MTS brought such energy and realism to the story that you couldn’t help but get caught up. Funnily enough, I watched Chris Holder months ago in old Another World clips when he played the first Peter Love (he went to AW almost straight after leaving Y&R in 1984). Completely different character, but still somewhat sympathetic. I disagree to an extent about Brenda Dickson’s return. She still had many many elements of her 1973-1980 run and hadn’t completely metamorphosised into wannabe-Alexis at that point. The clips I’ve seen with BD’s Jill interacting with Jack, John, even Patty, show a very strong mix of insecurity and bitchiness, very similar to what Deborah Adair had towards the end of her run as Jill. I especially liked how she stood by John as he was telling the rest of the family what went down with Patty shooting Jack, and it was nice to see a united front. All in all, 1982-3 Y&R has been a treasure trove to watch thus far - and our mysterious benefactor is STILL uploading clips as we speak. So THANK YOU 🙏

Biden and Harris live now on PBS News Hour.

If/when you ever get a chance, look at some of AE’s post-1985 OLTL stuff on Youtube. There is a reason why she is considered by most to be the one and only Tina Clayton Lord despite the various 90s recasts of the role. And a far cry from how she played Patty on Y&R as well.

Just been watching more of the 1983 clips, and I am gonna go against the grain here somewhat - I actually like Andrea Evans playing Patty, especially seeing as she was the one playing the role when Patty shot Jack. Yes I also think Lilibet Stern would have done it just as much justice, but AE does it really well here. I have to remind myself a lot that this was prior to her return to OLTL, so we hadn’t yet seen the over-the-top stuff she would eventually do as Tina Lord. One thing I found captivating about the shooting episode was that I had a preconception in my head that it would be melodramatic with lots of screaming and wails and gnashing of teeth, etc. But the actual scene was almost the exact opposite - very understated by both her and Terry Lester, yet playing exactly the right beats, and AE conveyed that psychotic break chilledness exceptionally well before pulling the trigger. The scenes where they re-enacted the shooting to jog Patty’s memory were also well done. It’s been actually rather refreshing watching AE play something other than devious, and I’ve loved every moment of it.

That scene of Jack watching Cricket model was creepy as hell to watch. I was half expecting him to flop it out and fap off as she was in front of the camera. It was like “did you not learn ANYTHING from being shot by Patty?”

It’s official!

I’ve been watching a lot of early 1980s Y&R recently, and it was the first time I had ever seen the character of Julia Newman, played of course by Meg Bennett. And I am absolutely enamoured by just how strong and independent she is (in fact she is fast becoming one of my all-time favourite characters). My question is about how MB played Liza Walton back in the 1970s. Was she written as strong-willed as Julia Newman was? It’s a shame that there aren’t any ideas around of Meg Bennett playing Liza.

I could honestly see Alex Donnelly and Stacy Haiduk matching each other up really well. If we really wanted to resurrect some old Y&R, bring back Michael Damian as well and restart the Diane/Jack/Patty/Danny quad (ok maybe I have been just a tiny bit inspired by the old Y&R clips in the vault). It’s a great use of old history. You see it in a January 1985 episode that’s on the vault. Basically Esther (at Kay’s behest) has blackmailed Jill for $10,000 re the picture. John won’t give it to her without a reason, so Jill goes to visit Liz at the Foster house, and tries to convince Liz to refinance the house.

I hope there is some way possible that it was a doppelgänger Diane who was murdered, and Alex Donnelly comes back one of these days. Especially if Patty came back as well.

Found this gem on Youtube. The only time Alex Donnelly’s Diane ever interacted with Phyllis. And it is *delicious*.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but 1983 Y&R was gothic AF.

Yes I have enjoyed watching those too, and other scenes showing the genuine friendship between Kay and Liz (despite Kay’s animosity towards Liz’s daughter).