Broderick

It couldn't be much more negative. Truman Capote, in his heyday, was the very "literary" author of Other Voices Other Rooms, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and In Cold Blood. Late in his career, shortly before his death, for reasons no one really understands, he penned a volume of gossipy trash with zero literary value; it concerned the scandals of the Paley family, Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper, and other of his well-heeled Upper East Side friends. When he published a "preview chapter" of his book in Esquire magazine in 1975, he was snubbed forevermore by all of his friends. The article basically says, "Capote threw away his friends and his career for a piece of garbage that had no more literary value than an As the World Turns plot summary."

Soon after Peter Bergman took over the role (30+ years ago), the writers began giving him these cringe monologues in which he dramatically pours out his soul to other characters. It likely began during the Saigon Shack storyline, where he was asked to deliver these wretchedly over-the-top speeches to Keemo about "being the fruit of my loins". He delivered one of those speeches to Nikki this week. ("I've been there myself, Nikki. Thank God Neil and Phyllis were there for me! I want to be there for you, Nikki. I want to be your sounding board! I want to be your punching bag! Whatever you need -- as God is my witness! -- I will be there for you!!") Instead of "downplaying" the theatrics and making the scene look somewhat genuine, Peter Bergman amplifies his intensity, becomes overly earnest and sincere, employing deep conviction, turning on the tears, wringing every ounce of emotion from his performance, channeling all the great sirens of the silver screen in the golden age of Hollywood, as if he's trying to outdo Vivien Leigh, Miss Barbara Stanwyck, and Joan Crawford in delivering the most poignant and heartfelt monologue in the history of cinema. And it often ends up looking downright silly.

The "foreshadowing" was pretty over-the-top 😂 "But what will VICTOR think when he learns AUNT JACK is my sponsor?!?" "I know, I know, their feud is legendary and goes back DECADES!"

Seth struck me as being nothing more than a short-term plot device to explain how Aunt Jack suddenly became Nikki's sponsor, and to (unfortunately) renew the conflict between Nikki and Diane Jenkins.

Phyllis is being written like Peppermint Patty in those old Charlie Brown cartoons. "You wouldn't be having some FEELINGS for me, would you, Chuck?? You wouldn't be wanting to HOLD my HAND, would you, Chuck??"

Naw, she specifically stated that she'd be available if they wanted her. She said Jesse (her son) was 15 and only had a couple of years of high school left, and then he would likely be leaving home. She & Vince had decided they could afford for her to stay home more often during Jesse's last few years of high school, cutting down on the amount of time she spent commuting from Malibu to Hollywood & waiting around in the studio for her scenes to be taped. She said if the show wanted Ashley full-time, they should recast, but if they were okay with periodic appearances, she'd be happy to oblige as she'd be around and available. Seems like she took off completely four or five months, then started monthly or semi-monthly appearances. Jesse is about 20 now, and she appears willing to work more often than when he was 15.

Not so long ago, I was re-watching one of Sally Spectra's first scenes. She was having lunch in a restaurant with Stephanie Forrester. Sally kept making empty promises that she would make a LARGE DONATION (I believe the amount mentioned was $10,000) to one of Mrs. Forrester's charities, possibly a children's hospital. You could tell right away that Sally didn't have the money and wasn't a philanthropist by nature. Mrs. Forrester tossed Sally her fountain pen and encouraged Sally to go ahead and write the check. Sally frowned, dug around in her purse and said, "I seeeeeem to have forgotten my checkbook." 🤣 Right from the start, she was Rose DeVille 2.0 -- a morally bankrupt thief who was illegally stealing intellectual property from the Forresters, didn't have the social skills to conduct herself around "Queen Stephanie", and was as broke as a church mouse, pretending she'd forgotten her checkbook to weasel out of making a donation. As you said, she became more endearing and humorous over the years (and also wealthier), but in her earliest incarnation on B&B, she was almost as broke financially, socially, and culturally as Rose DeVille.

Ha, yes, Vince was utterly horrid too, and Rose DeVille would often lambast him loudly by calling him a "ninny" or a "stupid fool". They were like "Honest John" & "Gideon" in Pinocchio, that terrible fox & cat who were always trying to hoodwink Pinocchio. They typically escaped at the last minute, presumably because Bill Bell had hopes of using them yet again at some point in the future. He could've easily tied them to the crime syndicate storyline in the early 1980s, but he declined, probably because he'd have to kill them off in a shoot-out. He waited until all of the mob storylines were over, and they came crawling up again circa 1986 to hold expectant mothers hostage & sell black-market babies -- a crime they could potentially escape from.

Honestly, I expected him to pen some type of "redemption" storyline on Y&R for Rose DeVille, and use her more frequently. Because she was so wretched and seedy, she was strictly a short-term villainess that he couldn't overuse. But Bill Bell was clearly smitten with the actress (and with the character) so it really made perfect sense that he put her on B&B as a slightly less horrible person with many of the same characteristics as Rose DeVille. The new role on B&B was more or less her "redemption", I suppose.

Greg Foster is probably in on it, too, because of all the time he wasted as Tony Baker's attorney, searching for the "mysterious blonde girl" who was seen with Walter Addison shortly before the mugging. Greg even helped with the police sketch of the mysterious blonde girl who looked SHOCKINGLY like Melody Thomas in the closing credits! Rose was an offbeat and interesting villain. She had BIG HAIR, bright red lipstick, bright red fingernails, very poor grammar, and was often seen in "inner-city remote sequences", disposing of a corpse or making a getaway from the police. She was normally in a BIG CAR, an aging Cadillac DeVille, which made us wonder if she'd named herself for the Cadillac sedan. She had no class, no money, and was willing to engage in any underhanded and illegal scheme to make a few bucks. In her first go-round in the summer of 1979, she operated a shop called "Second Hand Rose Antiques & Pretty Things". The "pretty things", of course, were the girls she planned to traffic. She was an absolute wretch. When Nikki ran across her in late 1979, she was operating "La Plus Belle Rose" (the very beautiful Rose), and the "beautiful things" were girls in lingerie or less. And you remember her from 1986 when she was peddling black market babies. When she went to B&B as Sally Spectra, she basically played the same character -- just not as violent or lawbreaking. Still, she was that low-rent, low-class type of "broad" who was determined to play in the big leagues with the socially established folks.

😂 He really does appear to be playing a "pre-Floyd" version of Floyd. Maybe Mark Arnold will elaborate on what happened.

Yes, and somewhere buried in all this exposition, Barbara thanks Adam for "coming over and sleeping in the guest room", so we won't erroneously assume he slept in her bed during that 5-hour period between Mike's discovery of the listening device (at 1:30 a.m.!!) and the flight to the Dominican Republic (at 6:30 a.m.!!) which was overseen by Bert & Kelly (so Adam could get some rest!!) but only after Mike's early morning call to Rita (who revealed Roger had a listening device at Indian Lake!!! And she knows that because she heard Ed's voice!!! But then there was so much static she decided she'd imagined it!!) (I feel Douglas Marland got a bit too caught up in examining everyone's step-by-step itineraries for the evening to mine the emotion from the scenes.) P.S. This storyline seems like yesterday to me. I missed a dentist appointment because of it. My mother was supposed to pick me up early from school for a check-up, but I missed the appointment entirely because she was glued to the TV watching the climax of this storyline, lol. When she finally picked me up at school, I had to listen to exactly what befell Roger in the Dominican Republic.)

Oh yeah, the guarantees are important, but it often seems we catch Marland shoehorning people into scenes and creating unnecessary "clutter", which tends to zap the emotion out of the scene. Kelly was obviously Marland's "pet" -- the preppy little innocent virgin, junior chamber of commerce, goal-oriented young leading man who needed to stray into the main storyline to demonstrate that his heart was in the right place. And Charita got the thankless job of regurgitating exactly what Rita had told Mike on the phone, along with reciting all the details of exactly when the flight left Springfield (6:30 a.m.!!) and when it should land in Santa Domingo (in approximately 30 minutes!!) In doing all that exposition, Marland deprived Barbara and Adam of a tender and suspenseful scene in which they could've elaborated their anxieties about Roger and Holly, questioned their own parenting skills, and then ultimately been relieved when Holly answered and horrified when Holly dropped the phone, with them hundreds of miles away and unable to help. That's what makes Marland's work a little bit "cold" in my opinion -- he hits all the beats, but he sometimes accomplishes it in such awkward fashion that the emotion of the moment is lost in the exposition.

I'm crazy about Marland, but his primary weakness is definitely all that awkward exposition. lol. And he brings it upon himself; it's a self-inflicted wound he could easily avoid. In the latest episode posted, check out the scene at 44:50. What theoretically should be a two-person scene showcasing the anxiety and fear of the two oldsters (Adam & Barbara), culminating in their horror when Holly drops the phone, is shot to hell by Marland's trope of "herd mentality" and "over-exposition". Marland brings Bert and Kelly into the scene simply to provide exposition. It could be handled entirely by Adam. ("Adam, I thought I heard the phone." "Yes, that was Bert. She wanted us to know Mike and Ed caught an early morning flight to the Dominican Republic.") The director is forced to shoot 4 characters in a two-character scene, which results in poor Bert having to sit in that chair that matches her outfit and also matches the bricks just beyond the chair. Kelly practically has to sit in Bert's lap. And then the exposition becomes so clunky, Charita and Bob Milli understandably get tangled up in it and are left standing there flailing their arms and trying to get it back on track. "So Mike talked to Rita?" "Yes, Rita told Michael ..." "What did Rita say?" In my opinion, every bit of that dialogue could've been handled by Barbara and Adam, in a slower, more realistic manner while they wondered if Mike and Ed had arrived yet, and whether they should call Holly to check on her.

Rose DeVille & Vince Holliday. They were using Nikki as a lingerie model/hooker, and an old guy (Walter Addison) had a heart attack and died while Nikki was entertaining him.

She basically walked into Paul's office, threw some papers down on his desk, and said, "Please sign these, Boss. And by the way, although I've never mentioned her before in my entire life, I have an old sick aunt who lives a million miles away, and I need to leave Genoa City forever to care for her. Oh, and my plane leaves in five minutes. Bye!" Miguel got the same treatment. He randomly told Nikki, "Senora, I've finished the dusting. Oh! I must leave town forever if it is agreeable with you." She snatched an old clock off the mantel, thrust it into his hands, and said, "Here, take this with you as a gift for your decades of loyal service. And don't forget to close the door when you leave. Bye!" All those types of characters were dumped with no warning in the first round of budget cuts, and if you blinked you missed their exits.

At his peak, Slesar was a master of surprise, even when it came to defining his collection of core characters. Sometimes an actor & character would really *pop* with the audience, and Slesar would add that particular actor/character to his core mix. Other times, an actor & character would really *pop* with the audience, and you'd start expecting that character to stick around for years; instead, they'd end up dead on the floor with a knife in the back or a firepoker to the forehead. You just never knew.

My recollection is Raven was in the process of leaving Kevin and was claiming she'd fly to London to stay with Nadine & Ansel. Kevin planned to stop her at the airport. Draper Scott threw Kevin his car keys. April, meanwhile, had one of her premonition/dreams of Draper's car crashing, and sure enough Draper's car had driven off the highway. But it was Kevin Jamison in the car instead of Draper, and Kevin had died. I don't recall Geraldine ever really "loathing" Raven. She was righteously indignant with Raven plenty of times. When Kevin was killed, Raven threw herself a pity party and made herself the center of attention; Geraldine lost it with her at that moment, because Geraldine was grieving for Kevin and saw Raven more as the REASON for Kevin's death, rather than a "victim" of Kevin's death. Later, when Raven tried to make herself the sole custodian parent of Jamey Swift, Geraldine got fed-up with her again. Geraldine thought Raven was making the decision out of spite for Logan Swift, but actually Raven was trying to get her hands on Nadine Scott's money, as the funds were scheduled to pass to the custodial parent of Jamey. Raven also did some shenanigans to turn Nadine against Geraldine Saxon, and Geraldine was pretty fed-up about that. But by the time the dust settled, Raven did the noble deed of saving April Scott's life, and Geraldine offered Raven the opportunity to move out of her grungy apartment and into Geraldine's hotel suite, which of course enabled Raven to meet Schuyler Whitney.

Seems like a good way to introduce the show to ABC audiences, if they hadn't seen Edge before.

I'm inclined to agree about Ronan. The retcon of Cane Ashby being the "real" Phillip Chancellor III was a pretty terrible slap in the face to all of us who watched during the 1970s and 1980s and were invested in the Phillip we'd always known. I wanted the concept of Cane Ashby being Jill's son to be revealed as false (obviously) but didn't want to see "our" Phillip III resurrected from the dead, in a lame, poorly-handled storyline that fizzled out quickly. As for Ronan, we always suspected that at some point Nina might find him and reunite with him. That possibly was present throughout the 1980s and 1990s and into the 2000s. BUT if there was going to be a reunion, I'd have preferred that it be a little more thought-out and permanent than the drivel we ended up getting. As you pointed out, it lessened the sense of loss that had permeated Nina Webster's character. The "Phillip is Alive!!" reveal likewise sacrificed some of the Jill and Kay dynamic that had always revolved around the Phillip III character.

The whole fiasco of Phillip's resurrection was very poorly handled. I'm sure there was a creative way for the writers to prove Cane was a fraud without digging up Phillip's casket. And if Maria Arena was determined to exhume Phillip and reveal he was alive, she should've first made certain Thom Bierdz was up to the challenge of reviving his role after a 20-year break. (He wasn't.) Also, his scenes were terribly written. Phillip wasn't given any genuine moments with his younger brother (Billy), and both Jill and Kay were so busy screaming at Phillip for "playing dead", they failed to show him any real affection at all -- despite having fought over the privilege of "mothering" him in the 1980s. At this point, one would expect Chance and Ronan to be leading actors on the show, and Phillip III to be a recurring character who shares scenes with Cricket, Danny, Nina, Jill, and his son. I'd call the whole ordeal an epic fail.

Ross Moss had been making $700,000 annually until July of 2012. His contract expired, and the show offered him $400,000 for the 2012-2013 year. It was a one-year contract, indicating his pay would be cut even further for 2013-2014. He said, "No thanks," and left. The legal terminology in his spousal support case was "contract negotiations fell through", lol. Presumably, all of the higher-paid actors were offered similar deals when their existing contracts expired in the 2012 era. I always assumed Flannery said, "No thanks" to the new pay scale as well.

lol, yep, that was discussed. Kay had actually visited her ob/gyn, who assured her that she hadn't started menopause yet and could still have a baby with Derek if she was determined to. (I believe Jeanne Cooper was 48 or so at the time, although she appeared to be 67.) Turned out Derek already had a son with Suzanne Lynch, which is what dragged Suzanne to town. But with this (haphazard) Eve Howard storyline, Kay was presumed dead, and her estate was "up for grabs". Brock had technically already received his inheritance from Gary Reynolds and had squandered it. Young master Phillip Foster had been declared illegitimate by the courts, with no known father. Derek Thurston was presumably the sole heir to Kay Chancellor's money, as she was missing on an island with Felipe. If some unfortunate event had happened to Eve Howard, and if Jill had taken custody of young master Charles Victor Howard -- who turned out to be Derek's -- then Jill, fresh from her break-up with John Abbott and Jack Abbott, would've had a stake in Kay's estate. But obviously none of that happened, as all of the stories going on at the time seemed to be short-circuited (and it's just as well, because it was becoming pretty clear that Lilibet Stern, Terry Lester, Doug Davidson, Melody Thomas, Eric Braeden, and Michael Damian were the audience draws in all that convoluted mess.)

Yep, that sounds about right. Kay Thurston basically came back from Felipe's Island Paradise one random day in early 1981, popped into Victor's office and said, "Kindly continue running Chancellor Industries for me, for the love of heaven," then dropped by her mansion and told Derek Thurston, "Jerrick, I've changed while I was away. I'm afraid your free ride has come to an end," then popped over to see Douglas Austin and told him she wasn't terribly interested in him anymore, either. She then disappeared into thin air until the Jerry Cashman/male escort storyline started months later, in the summertime. Derek disappeared after she dumped him. I felt like the "punchline" of the Charles Victor Howard storyline was intended to be an ironic twist, in which (a) Derek and Eve did all this sleuthing and stealing of Victor's medical records to prove Michael Scott was the father of Julia's unborn baby, and -- surprise! -- it was really Victor's fetus, (b) the kid who was alive and alleged to be Victor's kid (Charles Victor Howard) wasn't Victor's son at all but instead was -- surprise! -- Derek Thurston's kid, and (c) Jill Foster would discover that the mysterious tyke who'd been living in her house all along was Derek Thurston's kid, and she'd never even known it. But obviously with the permanent exit of Derek, the months-long absence of Kay Chancellor, and the sudden flop (and disappearance) of Jill's new beau John Abbott (Brett Halsey), it seemed every vestige of several different storylines (including the paternity of Charles Victor) fizzled completely and were relegated to the Bill Bell Wasteland of Unanswered Questions. Which was pretty typical of Y&R in 1980 and 1981, lol.

My recollection is that Eve was constantly trying to make Victor "bond" with young Charles Victor during Eve's first run in 1980. But then again, nothing much during that period of time made a lot of sense. The little kid (Charles Victor) was blond, and looked nothing at all like Victor. But then it turned out Eve Howard and Derek Thurston knew each other, and the two of them reconnected to steal Victor's medical records (the vasectomy) and send the file to Julia Newman. When I learned Derek already knew Eve (and Charles Victor was blond like Derek Thurston), I assumed the kid was Derek Thurston's son. But then Derek was dumped from the show, and that was that. lol.