Broderick

That's a pretty decent interview, except the interviewer is such a bumbling simpleton. John James talks about shooting the Dynasty pilot with George Peppard, and the poor interviewer says, "Wow. I didn't know that." I guess he didn't even bother to read the Wikipedia page on Dynasty prior to the interview.

I don't know where the "retcon" originated that "Kay brought Victor Newman to Genoa City to run Chancellor Industries". In about 1987, Santa Claus left a pack of Y&R Trivia Cards in my stocking. They're not some fan-made product, but rather are official SONY merchandise. One of the cards says, "Who brought Victor Newman to Genoa City?", and when you turn the card over, the answer is, "Kay Chancellor -- to run Chancellor Industries". So the retcon has been around at least since the late 1980s. But obviously that's not what happened on-screen. Just a few years ago, Bond Gideon's husband posted a Summer 1980 episode, in which Kay Chancellor is introducing Derek Thurston to George Packard, and Kay explains to Derek that George Packard has been "running Chancellor Industries since Phillip's death". Victor had been a character on the show for several months by that point, had never met Kay, and Kay herself admitted someone else had been running the company since 1975.

Here's another one that indicates they really just didn't know what they were doing. Nick Benedict has been signed to appear on Y&R in an as-yet-undecided role, although the studio informs us two new core families will be added to the show, one of which will include Nick Benedict. [That obviously didn't happen as the "studio" indicated.] Come February, Meg Bennett will portray a potential romantic interest for Brock Reynolds, when she debuts as "Julie". [lol] Other newcomers to Y&R include Janet Wood as unwed mother "April", David Wynn as "Steve Williams", and Michael Evans as the safecracker "Douglas". Still not cast is a replacement for the exiting Brenda Dickson in the role of Jill Brooks. John McCook will be taking a short leave of absence to film a starring role in a TV miniseries.

Found this, from August 1980: Beau Kayzer is ready to move on. He says he is leaving Restless this week to look for greener acting pastures -- mainly in films. "It ceased to become a challenge here," he said in a telephone interview from his dressing room in CBS's Television City in Hollywood. "There is so little latitude in daytime television." Kayzer says soap operas are a "good training ground" but editing procedures give an actor greater flexibility on film than on tape. He wants to do films on location and has already completed a pilot for NBC in which he plays an undercover detective. [It goes on and talks about the spiritual and celibate nature of his character, his character's drunken mother, and so forth. But it doesn't really answer the question about his contract. I still believe he agreed to stay on -- recurring -- after his contract expired in February 1980, and after six months of it, he'd just had enough.]

No one's ever really answered that question to my satisfaction. I suspect he opted-out in February of 1980, but since he'd worked closely with Brenda Dickson and since he knew she was definitely leaving, he maybe, as a courtesy to Bill Bell and John Conboy, agreed to stay (in a recurring capacity) for an additional six months or so, to keep from "gutting" the entire Jill/Kay/Brock/Derek storyline. Perhaps Bell thought he could be talked into extending his stay even further, but clearly he was ready to go. Even today, it's sometimes difficult to tell who's on contract and who's recurring -- because even though Esther and Michael Baldwin are listed as "contract players", they actually appear to be recurring. Back then -- in 1980 -- it was even harder to tell, because the show didn't start running a full cast list until about 1982. In those days, they were only running the names of actors who'd appeared on that particular episode, and if you were off that day, you got no televised credit, regardless of your contract status.

What I recall about Victor & Lorie in 1980 was there was some uncertainty about Victor's motivations. (Of course, there was uncertainty about everything in 1980, because the show was a complete mess, lol). But seriously, we don't know exactly "who" Victor was at the time. He hadn't yet become the Evil, Macabre Villain who imprisoned Michael Scott in a dungeon, but clearly he wasn't a pussycat, either. He was more of an ENIGMA. He had a certain charm, but he seemed capable of violent outbursts and formidable vendettas. There was a scene in which Brock took Julia Newman out for a drink or for dinner. Julia was babbling about, "I shouldn't be here with you; I'm a married woman. What would my husband say if he knew I was dining with another man, especially a kind, handsome man like you, Brock?" Meanwhile, in a darkened corner of the same restaurant, Victor was treating Lorie Brooks to dinner, speaking softly, giving her deep, meaningful looks, telling her how much he enjoyed the novel "Naked At Dawn" (which she had written), complimenting her on her brains and her beauty. I wasn't sure where Bell was going with that. Was it merely to show that Victor was hypocritical about Julia's "outside friendships", or was Victor really falling in love with Lorie? Probably the latter, but the story was short-circuited with Brock's exit, then the whole Michael Scott mess, then Nikki & Kevin, and when it finally picked up again, with the Prentiss Industries takeover, it seemed Victor had really developed deep feelings for Lorie -- despite their trust issues -- and of course she broke his heart, which was pretty sad. Like I said earlier, I was sick of Lorie at the time, but her engagement to Victor and then abandonment of him opened the door for him to become the more well-rounded antihero Bell wrote so well (and Braeden played so well) for the rest of the 1980s.

I guess it was semi-important to keep Lance alive (even though Dennis Cole was a terrible actor). Bell's "ultimate big climax" to the L-Quadrangle was likely always intended to be the "huge revelation" (to Brooks) that Lance was the boy's biological father, instead of Lucas. For years, Lorie and Leslie had been squabbling and shrieking about the importance of having custody of Brooks, because whoever ultimately had Brooks -- when the Big Reveal came out -- would, of course, end up with Lance (and Become A Real Family In Every Sense Of The Word). But the way the Big Reveal finally happened, with Dennis Cole in the role, was that Brooks basically rolled his eyes and said, "So what? I want Lucas to keep being my daddy. Hit the road, Jack." That fizzle of a climax (although it pleased ME tremendously, lol) probably wasn't Bell's original master plan. Also, having Lance around in 1981 enabled the "Victor Newman takes control of Prentiss Industries" storyline to progress, leading to Lorie giving her proxies to Victor and then having to "trick" them back out of him with the 1982 engagement story. Although I was sick of Lorie by that time, and although most of us have become sick of Victor over the years, that particular storyline really resonated at the time -- defining Victor as a somewhat formidable anti-hero, Nikki as an insecure bimbo, and Lorie as a first-rate schemer whose scheme sort of backfired on her. That was a story I really appreciated while it was airing.

Seems as though John McCook popped back in (briefly) after he filmed the pilot they discussed. But only for a little while. And his return engagement -- like most of the storylines from that year -- didn't make much sense. It was something to do with having a French fiancé named Simone that came out of nowhere, and he squired her around for a few days, and then vanished again. The next time we saw him, he'd transitioned into Dennis Cole. I've not found anything (yet) about Eric Braeden, which makes you wonder if maybe Cindy Fisher's character was truly intended to be the "star" of the Rolls-Royce storyline. We know Eric Braeden was initially signed to a VERY short-term contract. So who knows -- maybe after the dust settled, we were gonna be "treated" to a long-term storyline starring Cindy Fisher. lol. Bill Bell obviously saw from day one that Braeden had something unique (at the time) to offer.

Tune In Tomorrow by Jon-Michael Reed February 17, 1980 Cast changes and additions continue on "The Young and the Restless" as the show settles into its new one-hour broadcast format. JOHN MCCOOK has announced he's leaving his role as Lance Prentiss after four years. John recently signed to guest star on nighttime's "CHiPs", but his most promising "star vehicle" will be the role of a tour director in the Operation Prime Time movie-TV series pilot, "Tourist", which begins filming February 21. John's co-star in "Tourist" will be none other than Laurette Spang, his about-to-be-wife, who costarred on "Battlestar Galactica". The couple will spend their honeymoon in Paris where portions of the movie will be filmed. The unusually-named actress BOND GIDEON has been chosen as Brenda Dickson's replacement in the role of Jill Brooks. And CINDY FISHER, who has appeared on several soaps in short-term roles, has joined Y&R as Cathy Bruder. [Cathy Bruder was the teenage girl who stole a millionaire's Rolls-Royce for a joyride, was arrested, and was assigned Brock Reynolds as her public defender. I foolishly thought the storyline was going to be about Cathy Bruder's trials and tribulations. But then we met the owner of the Rolls-Royce (Victor Newman) and his wife (Julia Newman), and it quickly became evident that THEY were the focus of the storyline, rather than Cathy Bruder, who disappeared entirely after a week or two.] April 1, 1980 "The Young and the Restless" audiences aren't taking kindly to BOND GIDEON as Brenda Dickson's replacement in the pivotal role of Jill Brooks. But fans should be reminded it was Dickson's decision to leave the soap and replacements take time to get accustomed to. Gideon lacks the spark and spunk Dickson brought to the role, but she beats Dickson by a wide, wide margin as far as accomplished acting is concerned. July 31, 1980 There has been another switch on "The Young and the Restless", and DEBORAH ADAIR has stepped in to replace BOND GIDEON in the role of Jill Brooks. HELEN SUNI is the actress who is playing New World leader Sumeko in the show's summer storyline on youth cults.

Allen Fawcett would've likely made a lousy Paul, and of course Paul was the ONLY halfway familiar face in the introduction of the family. My recollection is that Tammy Taylor first appeared in the Williams house the day Mary announced her "change-of-life-pregnancy" (which is what they kept calling it on the show, lol.) Paul and Steve were referring to Tammy Taylor's character as "PIP", which I thought was a bizarre name for a teenage girl. After several references to "Pip", it finally occurred to me they were abbreviating "Pipsqueak" into "Pip" (which made it so stupid a few years ago when Paul arbitrarily started calling her "Patty Cakes". Doug Davidson should've put his foot down and said, "Her name's Pip, dammit!") I'm interested, too.

Tune in Tomorrow by Jon-Michael Reed April 15, 1980 With the expansion of "The Young and the Restless" to an hour format comes a new central family to the action in Genoa City. The Williams clan, supposedly, has been in town since 1973, when the soap debuted. But they weren't needed for story considerations until the daily plots lengthened. The youngest Williams son, Paul, has been seen infrequently for the past year. He didn't have a last name when he was "doing it in the bushes" with nymphomaniac Nikki Reed last spring. When Nikki reformed and married lawyer Greg Foster, Paul faded out of the picture until two months ago when other members of his family slowly began popping up. Now, there's mama and papa, Mary and Carl (she's having a menopausal pregnancy, while he's investigating gold-digger Derek Thurston's fake kidnapping). There's also Paul's older brother, Steve, who's working on Stuart Brooks' newspaper, and younger sister, Patty, who thinks mama ought to have an abortion rather than giving birth at her age. Paul is portrayed by Doug Davidson, who's a karate expert and may "kick up his heels" for future story developments. Carl, Steve, and Patty are played by Brett Hadley, David Winn and Tammy Taylor respectively. [He failed to give us Carolyn Conwell's name, lol. For those who are interested in Y&R's "awkward period", this is EXACTLY how I remember the family's early appearance. Paul began popping up more and more frequently, Steve was introduced at the newspaper, Carl was introduced at the police station during Derek's faux-kidnapping, and I had no idea they were family members. Finally one day, Carl was called home by Mary (whom I'd never seen before) to tell him she was pregnant. Then all the others -- Paul, Steve, and Patty -- drifted in to get the news. I remember thinking, "Are these people all related to one another??]

Thanks so much for posting these!

Yes, she has an incredible vocabulary. But when she starts going fast, she begins forgetting names and dates, and she just barks out things that are completely wrong and says, "Umm, I think that's right, no, maybe it's not. Well, anyway ..." In her interview for the Television Academy, she came up with the wrong date for Y&R's expansion to an hour (1977 instead of 1980), and she couldn't come up with Lorie, Leslie, Chris and Peggy to save her life. But she could remember every detail of her initial meeting with Bill Bell at his apartment on Lakeshore Drive. She's obviously someone whose mind is filled with a tremendous amount of information, and she needs to look things up to get them exactly right. There was once a photograph of her office in the Chicago Tribune. I cut it out and saved it, to remind me I needed to organize my own work space. lol.

Great stuff, and thanks for sharing, allmc2008! I've listened to her long interview with the Academy of TV Sciences, and she's hard to pay attention to sometimes, with all that, "umm, umm, umm, ahh, I believe it was ..." (You know what I mean.) She comes across as fairly flighty and disorganized, but obviously that's not the case, since she was in many ways the "grounded person" on Bell's team, having to edit scripts, check continuity, make sure the actors were being utilized in accordance with their contract guarantees, etc. She sounds like a nice person and a hoot. If she's still living where I think she lives, I hope her road eventually gets paved, lol.

Really, we were speaking of the show's popularity in the mid to late 1970s, when they first hit #1, and the critics were gushing about how the show's "wildfire ratings success" was attributable to "boundary-pushing, innovative storylines". The Joann Curtis/Kay Chancellor storyline was a reminder that some "boundaries" couldn't be pushed, even by an enormously popular show. I would say the show's sustained trip to #1 in the late 1980s was more attributable to the collapse of the ABC shows, while one might argue that the show's peak of popularity in the 1970s was likewise attributable to the ratings collapse of the P&G shows. Deferring to the person who's actually spoken with Miss Alden, but I'd say yes, she was. Obviously Bell's ideas and vision were taking precedence, but Alden seemed to be a major contributor along the lines of what you'd now call a "co-head writer". But remember that Bell's job titles sometimes existed in their own universe (like his show). For instance, when she was first hired, I believe Alden's official title was "girl friday", lol.

That's a great character summary -- very introspective and clever from Bill Bell. If you remember Brock's first week on the show, that's exactly the angle that was played. Kay Chancellor didn't believe one word coming out of Brock's mouth. The actor sounded VERY convincing, but Kay wasn't convinced at all. I can't remember the dialogue exactly, but Kay's response to his "evangelization experience" was basically, "Oh dear God, Brock, you always believed the wrong parent died. You wanted Gary to live, and you wanted me to die. You made that very clear. Now you stand here telling me that you've found God. Very strange bedfellows, you and God. You and money? Yes. You and women? Yes. But you and God? I find that very hard to believe, Brock." The sincerity of Beau Kayser convinced ME immediately that he was for real. Kay Chancellor had her doubts, though. His was a character like none I'd ever seen before. (Thanks for the page of "Brockisms", too. I recognize the one about, "Let us offer our brother our hand, and accept our brother's hand when in need." And "for every problem there is a solution, even if it's only learning to live with it." I'm pretty sure he said both of those on the show. )

I believe Daddy gave Lauralee a 3-month contract for the summer of 1985. The Kay/Chancellor/Joann Curtis was probably a "rude awakening" for Alden & Bell about their actual demos. MUCH was written in the mid to late 1970s about Y&R being the most "progressive, innovative" soap on the air, and it supposedly had the youngest demographics in daytime TV. But if you look at the detailed performance of the show during those peak years, you'll see that Y&R was performing strongest in the South and the Midwest, often losing its time slot in more urban markets such as NYC, Boston and Philadelphia. The audience maybe wasn't as "progressive" as Bell and Alden had been led to believe. Yes, everyone was titillated by Snapper taking off his shirt and by Nikki getting gonorrhea and by Kay Chancellor rolling around in the hay with the stable boy -- but let two women look each other in the eyes or touch other's hands tenderly, and that was just too much for the "progressive" audience who actually turned out not to be so "progressive" after all. I've always felt that's when Bill Bell "retreated" just a bit and began telling more restrained storylines. For a while it had appeared that Y&R could dictate a whole new set of ground rules for nudity, candid dialogue, and sexual situations on television -- but that illusion kind of crashed back to reality the day Kay touched Joann too earnestly.

I really believe William Bell, back in the 1970s, had a genuine interest in telling a story about "fluid sexuality", but wanted to be thoughtful with it. (Surely, Lee Phillip had run across something similar on her talk show and shared it with him.) Wesley Eure's character on "Days of Our Lives" questioned his sexuality at one point. And someone on this board has mentioned that one of the Peters brothers on "Days" suddenly acquired a male roommate who appeared to be sharing his bed, which raised an eyebrow (or two), although the situation wasn't delved into on the show. I've always thought the Kay Chancellor/Joann Curtis story was fully character-based for both women, and as Jeanne Cooper noted here, the implications were more or less "in the eye of the beholder". Kay Chancellor could certainly be controlling and possessive -- we'd already seen that trait fully manifested in her -- and she'd been hurt terribly by Phillip and Jill's betrayal. Joann was reinventing her body (and her entire life) after a terrible hurt. It made perfect sense for them to seek solace in each other. If Bell had decided to take it a step farther, it would've made sense. If he'd decided to bail-out, he'd created plenty of "escape hatches" -- Derek Thurston's availability, Brock's caution, Peggy's rape, Jack Curtis's indecision. For Bell, everything was there; all he had to do was choose his course. I believe the loss of a ratings point made the decision for William Bell. But if the ratings hadn't dropped, I would've been interested to see where he intended to go. Nevertheless, it was a thoughtful and provocative story.

"Odd Relationship Highlights Soap" Jon-Michael Reed Memphis Commercial Appeal -- April 20, 1977 A day without a smidgen of sexual strife and sin in the soap world is like a day without sunshine. But Anita Bryant, who's waging a war against homosexuals in Florida, would choke on her orange rinds if she knew what was going on in Genoa City on "The Young and the Restless". There's this alcoholic rich widow, Kay Chancellor, who hired chubby waitress Joann Curtzynski to be her live-in companion. Joann was going through a lot of grief after being dumped and divorced by her husband Jack, who married a slimmer young lady. The two lonely ladies overcame their sorrows together. Joann helped Kay lay off the booze. Kay encouraged Joann to lay off the calories. She also financed a beautifying program for the former fatty. During this process of living and sharing together, Kay developed what they used to call an "unhealthy" interest in her live-in companion. Kay's eagle-eyed son Brock was the first to become aware and wary of the relationship. He warned Joann about becoming too dependent on Kay. "I'd never take advantage of your mother or her wealth," said Joann, who missed the point. "We have something together that money can't buy. She's given me love and companionship." Kay was not as oblivious as Joann when Brock accused her of "trying to be Jack's replacement for Joann." "She cares for me in a way that she could never care for that man," answered Kay. "That man? Or any man?" retorted Brock. "Hasn't it gone beyond friendship?" It certainly had, with references to sharing sleeping quarters for loneliness' sake, comforting embraces, longingly wistful stares, and restrained holding-back-of-hands-upon-hair. Should Y&R audiences be prepared for explicit scenes that would make maidens blush? After all, this type of story has been done in graphic detail on "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." But it's not the stuff that daytime soap operas are made of. Although it's implicit what's going on in Kay Chancellor's mansion, the Y&R folks insist they're not telling "that" kind of story. Jeanne Cooper, who plays Kay, explains, "It's a story of two people who are very lonely. They just happen to be women sharing the experience of healing their hurts. When people have been hurt, they tend to look for anything to fill the void. These are two vulnerable women who have a psychological attraction and dependency on each other. Kay is desperate to hold onto Joann as the only friend she's ever had. And Jack is a threat to the end of that relationship." "Everyone connected with the show has worked their fannies off not to hit the audience with a heavy trip by implying sexual motives for the woman's actions. We're telling a tale of two people who need each other psychologically, not physically. Both of them would jump at a chance with a man, because they are not lesbians. The response from the audience has been encouraging. I receive letters from ministers and women who say it's an inspirational story. They understand the situation, the needs, and the loneliness. Any other suggestive implications are strictly in the eye of the beholder," Jeanne Cooper concludes. Y&R is indeed unraveling an unprecedented-for-daytime situation with tender, cautious care. It's so poignantly told and subtle that Anita Bryant would undoubtedly approve. Still, as Brock asked Kay, "Do you realize where this relationship could lead?" Tune in tomorrow to see if it leads to the bedroom.

My recollection is what you just said --- that Nikki was under the impression Victor had cheated with Ashley (while he really hadn't), so she hopped in bed with Jack. It's hard to remember because it became so convoluted with Ashley's abortion, Nikki's "impending death", Nikki taking the apartment where she and Jack were meeting, Ashley and Victor's "cabin in the woods". But yeah, I think Nikki/Jack were the first to cheat.

Gosh, I'd completely forgotten Tim Sullivan had MARRIED Andrea Wiley. I was thinking she was just his girlfriend. CRICKET: "Traci, it's not a new life that you need, but a whole new attitude toward the one that you have. When you feel differently about yourself, it changes you. And it changes the way other people look at you." TRACI: "But Cricket, you're so thin and so pretty!" (I about vomited during that exchange. Such pearls of wisdom from a 15-year-old! And she's repaid with a deluge of compliments for her own beauty, of course.)

It's one of those "syndicated" articles they provided for the entertainment section of the local papers, that appeared on the page with the TV listings. The writer's name was "Jay Allen" and I meant to give him the credit for it!

He's something -- the way he patronizingly baby talks to Winter ("Come on, come on in the bedroom, come on"), the way he lackadaisically waves his hands around when he lies there will be "no funny business" in the bedroom, his sly eyebrow-raising references to jerking off to the videotape on all those "long, lonely nights when he needed comforting", his impromptu giggling, his smarmy, sleazy remark about how there could still be even MORE copies of the tape, his terror when she pulls out the gun after she's finally had enough of him. I remember the storyline, and I knew he was about to bite the dust -- but I've not laid eyes on that boy since I was a little kid, and I'd forgotten how he absolutely stole the show.

Genoa City's Young and Restless -- July 1973 Brad Eliot is a rather cool dude. Every day, his presence affects the lives and loves of those around him in the mythical mid-American community of Genoa City. He is a stranger in town, having arrived via an unorthodox set of circumstances. Brad Eliot was this Chicago physician, who had operated on his daughter. She died. He then took all his savings, hopped in his car, and skipped town. But, alas, along the way he was mugged and robbed. The culprit -- complete with the young doctor's money, car, and identification -- crashed the car off a cliff in his escape and is killed. The doctor thought, "Aha! I'm dead now ... why tell anyone?" So, he winds up in Genoa City, becomes the mysterious 'Brad Eliot' and is now working as an $85-per-week newspaper reporter. This is the setting of "The Young and the Restless", CBS's relatively new (now in its fifth month) mid-day soap opera. Its stars, along with the show's head writer, like to think of the program as something a bit more advanced than a typical "soap opera", however. They candidly assert that the show may be a prototype for a future evening prime time serial. TOM HALLICK, who portrays Brad Eliot, somewhat jokingly refers to "The Young and the Restless" as a "cross between 'Run for Your Life', 'The Fugitive', and 'Sermonette'." The program's biggest asset, says Hallick, "is the great writing. Because of it, we can do this show and feel that it really works. No doubt, this show is good enough for nighttime TV. " The head writer is William J. Bell, a twenty-year veteran of daytime television writing, considered among the best in the business. Bell, who also serves as chief scribe for NBC's popular "Days of Our Lives" series, says he's been "blessed with a great cast" for "The Young and the Restless". And the story? Well, Bell thinks it's great. "Our plot allows for a broad base of characters. The emphasis is on the young, and restless is an ageless word that evokes an almost ageless state of mind. The show attains a great deal of involvement for our viewers." Interestingly, there really is a Genoa City, not too far from Chicago. Genoa City, Wisconsin (population 1,084) is on the Illinois-Wisconsin state line, just minutes away from writer Bell's home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Bell admits that the program's mythical community is named after the real Genoa City, but in name only. "I picture our Genoa City as a community of 300,000 to 400,000 people," Bell told me. "In our story, you'd never want a town where all the people know each other." The real Genoa City is a quiet little town whose inhabitants haven't really reacted dramatically to having their community's name used for a network, nationwide TV program. The village clerk, Mrs. Lucile Berger, says "The Young and the Restless" does have a fair share of the audience in town. "From what I hear," Mrs. Berger says, "the show is pretty good. I don't get a chance to see it, though. I have to work when it's on." As for the sex, sin, and seduction so evident in many daytime dramas, Mrs. Berger dismisses all that, as far as the real Genoa City is concerned. "We have a peaceful little town here," she relates, "and about the only real excitement we have is sometimes on weekends the tourists who come up to the lakes around here will get a little rowdy. And occasionally the young kids get a bit out of hand on the weekend. You know, they can drink beer and liquor up here when they're eighteen." I wonder what newspaperman Brad Eliot would say about that ...

I'm going to give an A+ to that boy who played Wade Meecham. He turned in about the sleaziest, slimiest, most charming, most humorous, most animated, and most vulnerable performance I've ever seen on a soap. That boy could've played anything -- the president of the United States, a car salesman, an oily lawyer, a pornography studio owner -- anything. I realize he had to die to make the story work, but I expect Henry Slesar hated to pull the plug on him so quickly, because that actor obviously had the potential to play most anything you wrote for him, lol.