Planet Soap

7 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

I think Y&R was a perfect storm of many things. Being a “younger” soap with more “contemporary” tones may have helped attract some of the audience ABC was getting, but the show itself was also very traditional and Bell’s writing wasn’t that divergent from his mentor Irna Phillips, so regular CBS/P&G fans weren’t alienated either.

Affliate scheduling also helped - eventual 12:30 and 4pm timeslots in various markets was a great benefit.

Thanks. Y&R is one of the few examples of a successful 12:30 soap. It's dark shadowy tone IMO fits for a late afternoon 4pm soap as well.

What do you all think it was about Y&R that eventually made it perform so well for new soap in the late 70s into the 80s?

54 minutes ago, fivethej said:

Did Phyllis and Cameron Kirsten ever interact previously in 2004?

Good question. I'm wondering if they will cross paths in 2023. This would also be an interesting time to re-introduce Sheila to the Y&R's canvas given all these villains that are coming back.

I like that Cameron is back and causing trouble, and they don't have them trying to be reformed like Diane, which would be pointless and boring.

On the other hand, they need to raise the stakes and have Cameron either working with Grace or someone like Matt Clark's twin cousin. I don't know if this scene happened yet, but it would be interesting to see Mariah react to the man that killed her dad. Cameron's trouble needs to be methodical and impactful rather than just returned and crazy off the jump. 

I wonder if the writers worried back then that the Cameron plot was too similar to the Matt Clark/Carter Mills stories? I liked what of saw of the OG Cameron plot but it felt like randomly terrorizing Sharon just for some action.

Matt Clark's plot was more complex. Teen pregnancy secret, framing Nick for his shooting, coming back with a new face, the Tricia and drugs stuff and framing Nick for his death etc..

Overall, this is the most interesting thing Y&R's has done in years, and this is significantly better written than Sheila's return on B&B.

Late to the party but how do you all feel about revisiting Cameron.

Was Claudia being Johnny's mother a rewrite or was this a bombshell that was always planned for later on?

On 5/15/2023 at 3:57 PM, Darn said:

I will never understand Sarah Buxton's appeal. She always looked like a series of bad plastic surgeries and affected acting to me. 

Lol! I can totally see her as Phyliss on Y&R

On 5/16/2023 at 7:51 PM, BigMAnOnDeck said:

I don't understand why people say 1994 to 96 weak years

I loved the Matt Clark storyline, Nathan and keisha story....hell even the who shot victor story 

 

I admit 1998 to 05 to be an underrated era 

I'd say 98-01 was strong. 02-05 is a decent bronze era for the show. 

94 to 96 did have good plots. Its just the plots before and after them were stronger.

10 hours ago, Khan said:

I agree.  Bobbie was more than just Luke's sister.  We don't need for Tony Geary to return (and make it all about Luke) to have an effective memorial.

I see where you all are coming from but Luke & Bobbie's sibbling relationship was big on the show and IMO he should be there. There must be some way to write this in a non Luke-centric manner. 

Geary doesnt have to return but I'd like to see a characher as major as him go out better than died off screen in a train crash.

If Luke were to remain dead at minimum he could greet her into heaven like that Edward/Lila scene for like 5 seconds.

OLTL: Asa's presumed death in 2001. Loved the funeral with all the ex-wives and the acknowledgement that Blair's actress was Asian. The show was really comedic and satirical around this time. The entire time he was on an island hoping for Gabrielle and Max to go down for his murder.

On 5/13/2023 at 3:56 PM, DaytimeFan said:

That is a really wonderful idea. I hope TPTB see this and do it.

Yes!!! I'd like to see Tony and BJ's ghosts come to Lucas as a halucination or something for her funeral. Wish Lucky coukd come as well. Hopefully Tony Geary can come for her funeral and Luke is revealed to be alive. 

23 hours ago, Vee said:

I don't think we can quite reduce L&L to that, they were gigantic at the time. I think a more accurate summation would be that the media now (and perhaps then) considers the rest of the show a footnote, whereas in reality L&L was the crown jewel amongst a host of very strong stories and characters. There is a reason the silly General Hospital pop song features all those storylines too.

Agreed. L&L were worth the hype BUT give the other moments (outside of the ones always brought up) and actors on the show credit aswell. 

10 hours ago, Vee said:

Denise Alexander, Leslie, the Heathers (Mary O'Brien) and Chris Robinson, later Stuart Damon, etc. don't get enough credit either IMO. Or giving the show a stronger elder support system by zeroing in on Scott's family with Lee and the recently-added Gail, though that began before Monty and Marland (they ramped up that whole end of the canvas).

Tony (allegedly) saved her job in that period, because Jill supposedly wanted to ship Bobbie off to Ferncliff after going psycho over Melissa Bedford, as Jensen Buchanan was supposed to be the new star. We know how that went. I'd been expecting him to appear this year anyway but I will be shocked if he doesn't for this.

Agreed. Alan, Monica, Rick, Leslie, and Jeff and Heather deserve their flowers for also elevating the show during that period.

Having began watching in the 2000s I didn't even realize Bobbie was on as late as 2010. I knew she was big in the 90s but by the 00's you'd never know Bobbie more than a Sonny & Carly talk to. What a shame she never really lead stories after 1998/99.

6 hours ago, Vee said:

Since the news about Jackie Zeman these episodes are obviously one of the first places I went.

It seems like a petty aesthetic thing to admire at a time like this, but I had never noticed before that they used a slower, more subdued version of the FOTH theme for this crucial episode and (I think) sped up the opening considerably to try to dispense with it and not break the tone or action.

Always liked when they used that slower theme. Wish it were done more often for other heavy episodes like Stone's death.

Oh my God. We are loosing our daytime legends fast. Bobbie was a great charachter and I wish she'd gotten more lead material in the 2000s.

I'm really concerned about Leslie Charleson and I'm hoping we see her again soon.

5 hours ago, asafi said:

Sheila using her real name in LA and not changing her appearance was really stupid.

I suppose B&B writers knew Sheila would be a longterm charachter so they didn't want her using an alias? Maybe not to confuse new viewers? 

Lauren keeping her promise to Scott and not exposing the baby switch still makes no sense to me, especially given all her Sheila takedown attempts on B&B. 

Y&R frustratingly sweeps alot of things under the rug, and glosses over details, lol. 

Hope those episodes surface soon. Perhaps one of the best uses of an actreses' actual pregnancy.

Did Scott ever realize Sheila raped him and their "affair" wasn't consensual? I asked this before but how does Sheila not ring alarm bells if she's using her real name in Los Angeles LOL?

On 4/21/2023 at 9:33 PM, YRfan23 said:

New clip from 9/13/94. Hard to believe these scenes made it past the censors back then! LOL
 

 

Wow, That is actually alot by daytime standards. Furthermore have we ever seen John in a love scene besides this?

Even though CBS was more conservative than ABC soaps, some of the lingere and bikinis they had on Y&R and B&B were much more risque than what I've seen on GH, AMC and OLTL.

1 Stephanie

2 Brooke

3 Sheila

4 Sally

5 Taylor

Liking Ice Princes 4.0 story so far. Victor sounds alot like Thanos. Good Disney synergy, lol!

Didn't we do a pathogen story already.

10 hours ago, Vee said:

I'm saving the silly "Helena got 'em on ice" excuse for Emily and Georgie Jones and the next anniversary event tbh. After the whole Robin caper it makes perfect sense to me: Emily and Georgie both had deep ties to powerful families and/or the WSB. Emily was a doctor and IIRC Georgie was very bright and (I could be wrong here) also considering a medical track - Helena's cabal abducted Robin for all the same reasons, to force her to assist with their experiments. Keeping Emily in cryofreeze or Georgie imprisoned also allows Helena, Victor or their cohorts to leverage Frisco and the WSB in secret (the agency has been compromised at least half a dozen times by the baddies in the last ten years) and allows them to potentially leverage the Qs/ELQ if one of them is told Emily is alive. To say nothing of Nikolas finding out.

You wouldn't need to bring either character back on the show full time after this, of course - Lindze Letherman is retired, AFAIK and Georgie Sr. is not super necessary to the current canvas. But I feel it was a fundamental mistake to kill both of them, Emily especially, and I would make it a point to resurrect them in some adventure story and then promptly write them out happily to get their lives back somewhere else. You could then reintroduce them or their children or whoever any time you liked in future.

As a regrettable aging shorts wearer I resent these remarks. 

Or some random AMC cross over woth Dr David Hayward and Project Orpheus, involve Ana Devane in it some how to bring multiple charachters back (AJ, Tony Georgie, Emily, maybe even Justus, and it would be a behicle for Steve Burton returned if he or the show were on board. Too bad Stuart Damon is gone now. 

26 minutes ago, carolineg said:

@dc11786 I am always surprised how good Brad Maule is as Tony.  Obviously, he gets a lot of praise for the BJ story and the breakdown stuff, but he's solid his entire run.  I think Tony/BM tend to get forgotten because Tony is pretty dull most of the time and overshadowed by his brother or even Alan as a Dr. and him and Bobbie aren't terribly exciting either.  It's too bad the show let BM fade into obscurity after his breakdown because he is someone who could be a leading presence of the canvas today especially with Alan dead and Monica MIA.

What a shame that Tony could not get a break. From Tania to BJ, to Michael and then his death. He would fit in well with the vets that we still have today. They could've easily brought Tony back from the dead just as they had with several other charachters. Helena kept him on ice or sonething to use his expertise to revive someone else...again. 

For Y&R I expected to CBSto do a half a job in celebrating the show's history (on the show). For General Hospital however, I had significantly higher expectations given the fantastic events surrounding their 50th anniversary. The 50 hour soap net marathon, the Nurses ball relaunch and the Katie Couric special were all great. At the very least GH could've put out 60 episodes, (10 best episodes per decade) on Hulu. Even easier, ABC could have released all the episodes that were played during the soapnet marathon plus ten more.

3 minutes ago, YRfan23 said:

11/14/91  

THANK YOU

What was the episode date in which Jack almost hits a drunk Nikki out of frustration?