Broderick

Biloxi, Mississippi, is a pretty famous city actually.  Neil Simon wrote a trilogy of plays -- "Brighton Beach Memoirs", "Biloxi Blues", and "Broadway Bound".  

"Biloxi Blues" was made into a successful movie staring Matthew Broderick back during the late 1980s.  

11 minutes ago, will81 said:

Yes late September/Early October 1984 is the last sighting of the Foster house so far. Pretty sure Julianna's last appearance was Feb 1985 until she would return in May 1986. I think after that Liz was not seen again until 1993 after Billy was born which was also her last appearance during the Bill Bell years. 

 

ETA: Also missing is Brett Hadley as Carl Williams. I knew he had disappeared around this time. I think he rocks up again in 1985 but is missing again for most of 1986. He actually doesn't appear until May 1986 when Jill is shot. 

Yes sir, my recollection is that Liz is just gonna disappear in a puff of smoke somewhere between late 1984 and early 1985, the way Stuart Brooks had just disappeared into thin air in 1983. 

When Jill gets shot in the spring of 1986, John Abbott will call Liz in London to give her the news, and Bill Bell will make a huge production of ret-conning in the dialogue that Liz had moved to London to be with Snapper and Chris, which everyone on the show seems to accept as a fact, although none of us at home knew what on earth had become of her.     

I'd honestly forgotten that we had the Fake Nikki during the Children's Hospital Benefit scenes with Jack.  But I agree -- that girl Robin did a pretty good as Nikki, which is probably why I'd forgotten that Melody Thomas didn't perform in those scenes.   

And for those of y'all keeping track of the Foster house set, it appears once again in one of the August - October 1984 clips, with Liz Foster and Jill having a scene inside it.   There were some (partial) closing credits included with that clip, and Julianna McCarthy (Liz Brooks) had been demoted to a recurring character; her contract days were over.   Jeanne Cooper (Kay) was the "senior" cast member from then till her death.   

14 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Re Vanessa and the veil.

At one point it was stated that if Vanessa went ahead with surgery, it would involve years of skin grafts to restore her face and Vanessa wouldn't agree to it.

Then later, I think KT was off for a few months and then Vanessa returned, still veiled.

At some point she removed the veil and her face was back to normal and she revealed she'd had the surgery with no talk of any skin grafts and years of restoration.

I wonder why Bill Bell decided to do this. Maybe the effect of Vanessa creeping around in the veil had lost its value . Perhaps Bill thought of giving Vanessa more story (a romance) and felt the veil would be a hindrance.

Storyline-wise, I believe there was maybe some mention that Vanessa Prentiss had over-exaggerated how serious the surgery would be, because her "scarred face" was always her main tool for keeping Little Lance tied to her apron strings.    Production-wise, Conboy and Bell probably wanted to get Miss Stevens out of that veil, because in the 1970s she was still a recognizable movie star from the 1940s and 1950s, and it was getting silly to just have her eyes peeping up over that veil, lol.   

42 minutes ago, OzFrog said:

 

 

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. 

 

 

To me, the Kevin/Nikki pairing was just a goldmine.  (And I'm sure it was merely a result of Melody Thomas' real-life pregnancy and the last-minute rewriting of an entire storyline by Bill Bell.)  

Melody Thomas has always indicated she preferred playing comedy, and Nikki's dingbat antics while married to Kevin gave her a golden opportunity to skew her performance toward comedy.  Chris Holder puts so much passion, earnestness, and stuffed-shirt sincerity into his air-headed yuppie Kevin Bancroft character that he becomes the perfect foil for her.    Their fights and disagreements make me laugh out loud.  Don't know how Melody Thomas and Chris Holder made it through some of those scenes with straight faces, but they sure did manage it, and that makes it cute as hell.  

There was a nighttime show on CBS during this same timeframe called "Newhart", and it featured a dimwitted couple VERY much like Nikki and Kevin.   They were portrayed by Julia Duffy & Peter Scolari.  I can't remember which came first --- Thomas/Holder or Duffy/Scolari, but watching these clips in retrospect, you can't miss the similarities.   

32 minutes ago, will81 said:

 

Julia is great, and I wonder if Meg was writing for the show at this point.

 

I will always prefer Brenda, she isn't the better actress, she just inhabits the role so completely that everything she does is Jill to me.

My recollection is that Meg Bennett wrote (occasional) scripts from about 1981 to about 1987, but claimed that out of fairness, she didn't write any scripts that included the Julia Newman character.  Still, I wonder if she "tweaked" Julia's dialogue a little bit, because Julia's dialogue always seems a bit more crisp, sophisticated and sarcastic than the other characters' lines, and  Meg delivers the lines with such confident "worldly authority".   Watching the clips, I'm amazed at how entertaining her character was in this second incarnation.  

Brenda Dickson was my favorite Jill, too.   But I really find it difficult to "hate" Deborah Adair's Jill even when she's scheming, because Adair seems so GENUINE and COMMITTED, no matter what Jill's up to.  And it's hard to "love" Brenda Dickson's Jill even when she's insecure and vulnerable, because Dickson usually seems so POSED and SELF-ABSORBED.   Hard to explain.  Very interesting to watch the Jill character develop with each new (or returning) actress.  

4 minutes ago, YRfan23 said:

I swear someone said Katherine enlisted Jills help in reuniting Stuart and Liz who started to date Gina?? Is any of that in the clips??

Stuart wasn't "dating" Gina; he was just facilitating the sale of his daughter Leslie's club to Gina, along with the adjoining lot, in case Gina wanted to expand the size of the club.   (When Leslie left town, she gave her dad the power of attorney to execute the deed of the club.)  

Kay Chancellor saw Stuart meeting with Gina about the deed, and she misinterpreted the situation as a "date".   Kay ran to Liz with the "breaking news" that Stuart was "dating a girl about the age of his four daughters", and then Stuart had to fuss at Kay for causing so much trouble.  All of that is included in the clips.  

The premise of Kay Chancellor's plan was that she would offer Liz a return gig as her housekeeper.   Jill would then naturally pitch a fit and announce that it was inappropriate for the mother of Mrs. John Abbott to be working as a maid.   Stuart Brooks would ALSO be embarrassed that the newspaper publisher's wife was working as a maid.   Kay hoped that Jill's shame and Stuart's embarrassment would prompt Stuart to become more proactive in encouraging Liz to reconcile with him.  

At the time, I absolutely hated Andrea Evans as Patty, but now,  in retrospect, I think she does a FINE job with the material.   As someone said above, it was an unfortunate time for a recast to stray into the storyline, and that probably colored our (lack of) tolerance of Andrea Evans in 1983.   But watching the clips now, and knowing that the "new Patty" will be playing the shooting scenes, there's no letdown at all.  I can completely appreciate the qualities Andrea Evans brought to the role.

Another character that I really appreciate in the clips is the "liberated Julia Newman" of 1983.   In her first incarnation of 1980-1981, she was a rather dull, drippy, insecure character that didn't generate much interest.  But once she returns from Europe more sophisticated and worldly, I find her hilarious, especially when she's brushing Nikki aside and rolling her eyes at Douglas Austin and Victor.  Her character growth while she was out of town completely changed her dynamic with Victor. 

I'd forgotten how much storyline Nikki was working all at once --- divorcing Kevin, being courted by Rick, marrying Tony DiSalvo to get the master copy of "Hot Hips", being in love with Victor.   It's funny when the characters in Nikki's orbit are bewildered by Rick Daros, and just as soon as they get accustomed to him, they're suddenly confronted with "now who the hell is this Tony DiSalvo?"   

Enjoyed the awkward and tentative steps that Stuart Brooks and Liz Foster took towards a reconciliation in the spring of 1983.  I'd honestly forgotten those scenes entirely; I was thinking that their separation (and interaction) had fizzled-out long before then.   Bill Bell was clearly still interested in writing for the two characters (and exploring their relationship fully) as a B-storyline, until Robert Colbert bolted.   

The Golden Touch/Sleazy's Bar/Tony DiSalvo storyline is utterly DREADFUL, but it's fun to watch Paul and Andy mature into likable heroic characters, outside of the stupidity of the situation.  Also fun to watch Jazz Jackson evolve, despite his ridiculously bad dialogue (combined with other characters referring to him as a "gorilla" and an "ape".  Yikes.)    

Chris Holder does such a good job of making his dimwitted yuppie Kevin Bancroft character sympathetic and endearing.  

With the reintroduction of Brenda Dickson as Jill --- poof! --- all of Deborah Adair's insecurity and warmth go sailing out the window.  Works out fine though, as I don't believe Brenda Dickson's vampy Jill could've ever snared John Abbott into a marriage, and I don't believe Deborah Adair's earthy Jill would've ever divorced him so easily.  

1 minute ago, trainman said:

 

Did they mend fences on his way out?  When he paid her a visit right before the Newman wedding, they both seemed very cordial and happy to see each other, like nothing bad even happened.

 I think she just "outgrew" him and told him his gravy train had come to an end, best for him to move on.   But she did seem happy to see him again during the Newman wedding.  

1 hour ago, yrfan1983 said:

I think so - Eve and Charles were roommates with Jill and Phillip at the Foster house! There was a synopsis mention circa summer 1981 that Jack saw Charles at the Foster house but assumed Charles was Phillip

Seems like the little kid's full name (during all of that business with Eve and Derek) was "Charles Victor Howard".  

3 hours ago, BoldRestless said:

 

Kevin is adorable and a good singer too. Interesting that they seemed to have chem tested him with Ashley. And there was Allison's line about John Abbot having "two marriageable daughters." I thought they should have kept him around. I really love the whole Bancroft family storyline.

I think Kevin Bancroft added a lot to the show, too.  But in hindsight, where he REALLY excelled was serving as a foil to Nikki & Victor's relationship.   Chris Holder played Kevin as such a dimwit, and Melody Thomas played Nikki as such a dimwit, and their marriage and silly fights were a very good light-hearted contrast to Eric Braeden's brooding vampire of a character.  

13 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

 

April had some fire in her final.scenes...but I would have kept on Barbara a bit longer.

April had some fire AND a mullet. lol.   Bobbie was ok, too.  The parents drove me crazy, and mainly it was because they were quarantined in that same dreary set 24/7, repeating the SAME lines of dialogue.  ("That Williams scum better do the right thing by April."  "What about April and that Precious Little Girl?"  "She's asking too many questions about Her Twin."  "Wouldn't it be wonderful to be a Real Family.")  

1 hour ago, FrenchFan said:

 

I am so annoyed when scenes are cut. I am grateful of course but I really wanted to see more Abbott stuff.

We're like panhandlers, just thrilled with whatever little coin someone throws us.  lol.  

Looking back at these clips, it's easy to see why Bill Bell opted to make the changes that he did.   Some of the young performers (specifically Terry Lester, Doug Davidson, Melody Thomas, Lilibet Stern, Beth Maitland, and Eileen Davidson) are so FRESH and so full of charisma that it's easy to see how he decided they could carry the show forward into the 1980s.

If it was Wes Kenney's idea to ditch the entire Stevens family, then I sure don't blame him.  Lord, they were a bore --- although, in hindsight, there's something sweetly pathetic about the manner in which Cindy Eilbacher played April Stevens.  In 1982, I thought she was a drag.  Now I'm finding that I kinda like her.    

1982:  I'd forgotten this, but one of the biggest obstacles to Nikki and Victor's storyline (in my opinion) is how much CHEMISTRY Melody Thomas had with Chris Holder (Kevin Bancroft).   Their character interaction was always so comical to me, as Nikki was presented in 1982 as such a bubble-headed bimbo who makes one stupid mistake after another, then compounds each mistake with yet another, and Kevin was presented as such a bubble-headed yuppie who inadvertently falls right into her ridiculous traps in his noble (but brain-dead) efforts to do "the right thing" in every situation.  And Jeanne Cooper's Kay Chancellor is equally funny as the eye-rolling, outdone, world-weary matriarch trying to counsel those two air-headed children.  

52 minutes ago, YRfan23 said:

wasn't it Vanessa, Casey, Nikki and April? 

It started out (in 1979) being the New Chris, as April wasn't on the show yet.   The New Chris was too new to make it into the opening, just the closing.  

Later on, the New Chris made it into the opening (in a shot with Snapper), and April was added to the closing in Chris's old spot.  That's my recollection.  

1 hour ago, FrenchFan said:

We so much need the access to all these episodes  

Yeah, that version originally featured Stuart, Lorie, and Leslie in the first shot.  The camera focused on Leslie and then segued to Lance & Lucas.  It then faded to Liz and Jill; Liz was on our right, and Jill was on our left.  The camera focused in on Jill, and then segued to Brock, Kay and Derek.   They faded out and segued to Greg & Snapper.   Once Brenda Dickson left the show, Jill was "erased", leaving a solo shot of Liz.  

The closing credits that accompanied that version featured Vanessa, Casey, Nikki, and the new Chris (Lynn Topping).     

12 minutes ago, Chris B said:

 

It seems Jaime Lyn Bauer truly was their biggest female star, so I can understand not wanting her memory lingering over had her sisters stayed. I like the one episode of the recast Chris that I saw (Although she seemed very different), but I feel her being a recast is what ended that.  What ever happened with the red head sister?  She never was recast, but it never seems like they tried to develop her. She could’ve been the perfect sister to redevelop the family around since she hadn’t been featured as much as the others. 
 

 

Naw, if you mean PEGGY, she wasn't anything to redevelop the family around.   Pamela Peters was a capable actress, but she didn't have any big charisma factor going on.  Plus, she actually HAD been recast in the late 1970s, although the original actress was brought back in 1980.   She had one big story circa 1975, and another circa 1980, but there always seemed to be some kind of "issue" with the actress that kept her from really committing to the show, and even if she had committed, she just wasn't a big draw.  

7 minutes ago, Soaplovers said:

 

 

I'm wondering if Chris was kept due to hercontract..and once her contract was up..she was written out.  

 

That's always been my feeling about Chris --- that she would have left with Snapper, except Lynn Topping Richter was probably on a different contract cycle from David Hasselhoff.  If Chris had suddenly said, "I'm leaving with Snapper!  Bye!", the show would've had to continue paying Lynn Topping's salary until her next 13-week contract cycle ended, even though she would've no longer been a cast member.   So they just kept her around for another cycle or two, then let her go.  

5 minutes ago, trainman said:

 

It may have been wandering, but things developed at a fast pace, which I liked and was refreshing to see.  

Oh, no doubt.   It was a strange & interesting time period for the show.  And it definitely had its high points.   A lot of the dialogue was witty and clever, and several of the stories were completely engaging.   I looked forward to it daily, just for the unpredictability of it.  

2 minutes ago, kalbir said:

 

1980-1982 saw the ratings drop during the transition but by 1983 the transition was pretty much completed, the ratings went back up, and Y&R became CBS's #1 daytime drama. As we all know, during the rest of the 1980s Y&R would topple the ABC big three one-by-one and eventually become the #1 daytime drama.

Yes, and by 1983, Y&R was also back in a position to win the Emmy for best show, which hadn't happened since 1975, as the "new improved show" was fully developed and finally realized after three years of wandering aimlessly in the desert (1980-1982).  

Because after all the recasts and reconfigurations, the two main "draws" remaining from the original core families were Jaime Lyn Bauer as Lorie Brooks and David Hasselhoff as Snapper Foster.  

Hasselhoff opted out during the spring of 1982, and then Bauer opted out during the summer of 1982.  It was just all over for them after that.  

The rest of them were only peripheral characters, and he had three new stories that he wanted to tell:  the saga of the Abbotts, the triangle of Victor, Nikki, & Kevin, and the tale of young detectives Paul Williams and Andy Richards versus the "syndicate".   He tried to keep Chris Brooks Foster around for a little while (didn't work), and he tried to keep Leslie Brooks around for a short while (didn't work), so he wisely just gave them all the heave-ho.  

2 minutes ago, trainman said:

 

If I remember right, I think it was.

I think so, too.  Didn't he say something to Lorie along the lines of, "Next time I see you, Lorie, I hope Big Brother is standing right there beside you."  

I don't remember seeing Lucas at all after that.  

About a year ago, several of us on here had a LIVELY conversation about who in the hell ended up with young Brooks.   They'd all fought over him like cats & dawgs for YEARS, culminating in the famous boat scene, and it appears they all left town without him.

Lance basically said, "I'm leaving town since I've lost Prentiss Industries.  I'm leaving in five minutes!  Bye!"

Then Lorie said, "I'm going to look for Lance with these proxies.  I'm leaving in five minutes!  Bye!"

Then Lucas vanished.

A few months later, Leslie said, "I'm leaving town on a never-ending concert tour!  Oh, and I'm leaving in five minutes!  Bye!"  

Presumably Brooks was still around, unseen, and left with Leslie, but none of that was made very clear in Bill Bell's haste to usher them all out the door.    

To those who've furnished "the vault" with 1982 clips, thanks so much!

It's easy to see what a haphazard mess the show was in the very early 1980s, when an entire family could be swept off the canvas in one episode.  ("Mom, Dad, I'm moving to New York.  Won't you go with me?  I just remembered that I have a gigantic apartment with maids and butlers there!  I've asked April to go with us!  We can finally be a REAL FAMILY!  Oh by the way, we're leaving in five minutes!")  Sometimes if you missed an episode, you didn't know what on earth had happened to various characters.  Sometimes even if you DID watch all the episodes (I did), you'd still start wondering, "Hey, whatever happened to Greg Foster and Peggy Brooks?  Weren't the two of them in the middle of a storyline?  Haven't seen 'em in weeks!"  

But Bill Bell's writing could be so POIGNANT when he pulled out all the stops.  I watched Jerry Cashman's death scene last night.  I remember watching it when it originally aired, and I had no idea John Gibson was being written out.  I was completely surprised by Cash's demise.   After the scene ended, I sat there crying my eyes out --- I was just a kid --- and I could recall later that the dialogue somehow compared a person entering Heaven with a performer walking out onto a new stage and not knowing what to expect.  Honestly, that scene still stands up 38 years later.    Cash's line, "When I can no longer hold a champagne glass, then I'm a dead man.  Ha, ha."  And then his champagne glass crashes to the floor.  Wow.  And Kay's glass drops as well.  (She's dying INSIDE).   Nikki comes in babbling with the chaplain, and Kay Chancellor shushes her and says, "He's making his Entrance right now.  Can you hear the music?  I do.  He's Headlining tonight.  He's finally becoming the Star he always wanted to be."  Goodness.  Soap writers don't give PERSONALIZED death scenes like that to characters anymore.   Those lines were specifically chosen for a character who'd always wanted to be a "star", but had instead lived in messiness and squalor.  Like Cash.  It was a great ending for his bizarre character.  When things went right for Bill Bell, they definitely went RIGHT.   And in my opinion, that was a scene which was just about perfect.       

46 minutes ago, FrenchFan said:

Thanks guys  I am typing January 1976 then  

Many thanks!  I don't always respond, but these posts are my favorites.  

2 hours ago, SoapDope said:

They mentioned another maid named Ruth ? around 1975. Liz Foster took a job as the cook and did some of the maid work. It mentioned Katherine was a hard task master with Liz when she started. I wonder if she threw trays and griped about the food being slop etc... ? Little did Kay know when she hired Liz that she would turn out to be one her best friends (even though she hated her daughter Jill). 

Ruth was the one who had the crush on Bill Foster.  Seems like Ruth was also the one who claimed (at first) that Kay wasn't drunk when she signed Phillip's divorce papers.