Broderick

With Raven & Draper, it's more "past-shadowing" than "foreshadowing". Draper dated Raven a couple of years earlier (1976 or 1977). Draper's father is a sleazy but successful attorney named Ansel Scott. Ansel Scott became engaged to a vain, wealthy, middle-aged widow named Mrs. Nadine Alexander. Nadine's husband had been dead for many years, but she had a nubile, shallow, selfish daughter named Raven Alexander who was about Draper's age. Nadine thought it would be WONDERFUL if Draper took Raven out to dinner and showed her a few nice evenings. He obliged. But it soon became evident that Raven had a "daddy fixation" -- Raven didn't care much for her mother, but she was practically in love with the memory of her deceased father. Since her father was no longer around, Raven decided her new stepfather (Ansel Scott) would be a suitable substitute, so she began batting her eyes and wiggling her ass at Ansel. Ultimately, Ansel Scott and Nadine Alexander got married and moved to London. To Draper, Raven is nothing more than the horrible girl who was always attempting to seduce his father. To make herself even MORE unlikable to Draper (and to April), Raven lied for several months about the paternity of her baby, little Jamey Swift. She told April that Draper had fathered the child, as Kevin Jamison was sterile. Well, really it was Logan Swift who'd gotten her pregnant, but she did her best to make April believe Draper was the baby daddy. April and Draper absolutely can't stand Raven -- but April LOVES Jamey Swift, as April had a miscarriage and lost her baby and can theoretically never get pregnant again. April thinks of Jamey Swift as the baby she'll never have. If Raven ever announces any intention of moving to London to be with Nadine and Ansel, you can already guess where she'll be dumping Jamey, lol. In my opinion, Margo is one of the most fascinating characters on the show. She's like a contagion, contaminating everyone she touches, but she's so forlorn and needy that you can't help but love her. The actress (Ann Williams) puts a tremendous amount of depth into Margo Huntington.

It's AWFULLY hard to tell. But out of the (approximately) 16 weeks so far in 2025, Bryton has only had about 12 episodes. That's significantly less than 1 per week. Once the actor drops down to less than 1 per week for an extended period of time (such as a 39-week cycle), I start thinking there's no contract in place for him or her. Surely these folks aren't tying themselves down to a show for a guarantee of 1 or 2 episodes a month. If I counted right, Bryton has had 21 episodes in the past 24 weeks. They're either (a) about to kick into high-gear & work his ass off to meet his minimum guaranteed appearances, or else (b) he ain't got a contract that guarantees him squat.

Of the so-called "contract" cast members, I'd venture to say these are recurring: Bryton James, Camryn Grimes, and (possibly) Michael Graziadei. I've suspected since 2018 that Kate Linder and Christian LeBlanc are recurring. And I believe we all know Miss Ordway is, because she said so. lol.

Sarah (with the English accent) isn't just some random character. Sarah was once the housekeeper for Eliot Dorn and Margo Huntington. One of the following 2 scenarios happened a few months ago: (1): One night, while Margo wasn't at home, and while Oscar the Doorman wasn't at his post, a burglar sneaked into the private elevator, rode up to the penthouse, stole several thousand dollars worth of Margo's valuable diamonds and pearls, and tied-up Eliot Dorn and Sarah the Housekeeper, ensuring that Eliot and Sarah couldn't pursue the burglar back down to the lobby or phone the police to apprehend the burglar. OR -- (2): Eliot Dorn was SLEEPING with Sarah the Housekeeper, and the two of them conspired to steal Margo's jewelry and went on a lavish spending spree and then tied THEMSELVES up to make it look as though a burglary had occurred in the penthouse. Margo Dorn currently believes Scenario #1 occurred, and she's rather annoyed that the "incompetent police" haven't located her stolen jewels yet. Eliot and Sarah know that Scenario #2 actually occurred. When Sarah stopped by the Unicorn and saw Eliot kissing Raven Swift, Sarah snidely said, "Oh! This must be Mrs. Dorn! Nice to meet you, Mrs. Dorn!" Sarah knew good & damn well Raven isn't "Mrs. Dorn" because Sarah worked for Margo Dorn on a daily basis for many months. That was Sarah's not-so-subtle way of announcing, "I'll be paying a visit to District Attorney Logan Swift and letting him know that his wife is sleeping with you, and I'll be paying a visit to WMON to let Margo Huntington know that you're sleeping with Mrs. Swift!" lol.

What annoys me a little bit about the "day players" is they sound a bit too "Brooklyn-ish" sometimes. Obviously, the show was taped in New York City, and the actors are all New York actors, but Monticello is supposed to be located in Illinois or Ohio. Occasionally, they grab actors and actresses for small roles who have VERY distinct New York accents, which contrasts sharply with the main cast, none of whom have noticeable accents (except for our dashing European gigolo, Eliot Dorn, of course). The heavy Brooklyn accent works fine if the character is a bookie, or the owner of a pawn shop, or a guy who's selling stolen guns on the street corner. But when it's a steadily recurring character -- such as the first Mrs. Goodman, who worked for Miles and Nicole -- it's pretty jarring to me sometimes. And you'll see it often -- such as an "under-five" character who witnesses a car accident, or a character who witnesses a shooting, or the occasional desk clerk, or waiter.

Thank you, @j swift. I'm probably more sympathetic to Draper Scott than most audience members are -- even though I'm absolutely CRAZY about Ann Williams & her bizarre Margo Huntington character 😂 The more I watch these episodes -- and I've watched several of them a zillion times, I'm ashamed to admit -- you realize there's a WHOLE lot of passive-aggressive hostility brewing inside Margo Huntington about Draper. She wants to take April AWAY from him and recreate the childhood that she never got to experience with April, because of the adoption 25 years ago. Draper has sense enough to realize how heartless and vindictive Margo really is about other people's lives and their feelings, but he bites his tongue rather than poison his wife's mind about how horrible her mother really is. And I admire him for that. He's a sweet boy.

Kim Hunter is excellent, and she only gets better & better. By the time the storyline ends, she's downright DAZZLING. As for whether or not Nola Madison will encounter Eliot Dorn again, all I can say is that everything on the show happens for a reason. lol. Paige Madison is a wealthy young debutante. In real-life, in the 1970s, there was a rich heiress in California named Patricia Hearst who joined a violent gang and committed a crime; there was some question about whether Patty Hearst was brainwashed or whether she voluntarily broke the law. Paige Madison is the "Edge of Night" version of Patty Hearst. Paige Madison's storyline is loosely based on the real-life events surrounding Patty Hearst & the Symbionese Liberation Army. In the show, Paige Madison assisted a mysterious man named Tobias in stealing some firearms from the US government & delivering those stolen firearms to revolutionaries in a South American country. Paige faces jail time for what she did. However, she's been given temporary immunity from a prison sentence if she cooperates with the police in finding the other members of the Tobias Gang. The only problem is that various members of the Tobias Gang keep popping out of the woodwork and trying to kill her, before she talks to the authorities; that's why her father has hired a bodyguard to protect her. There is ALSO some fear by her family that she was romantically involved with Tobias himself, and that perhaps Tobias (or "Toby", as she calls him) still has a certain hold over her emotionally. All of that will play-out in the coming weeks and will involve a VERY surprising character whom you've already met. Paige Madison is NOT involved with the blond-haired, blue-eyed bodyguard. He has a girlfriend of his own. He's involved with a cute, red-headed female police detective played by actress Frances Fisher. Miss Fisher has been given a few weeks off to rest, because she's about to be featured very heavily in the Nola Madison storyline. Paige Madison is in love with her step-brother, Brian Madison. The "official story" of the Madison family is that Paige Madison is the daughter of Owen Madison and his first wife (a lady named Elizabeth); Brian Madison is the son of Nola Patterson Madison and her first husband. Many years ago, Owen Madison's marriage fell apart, and Nola Patterson's marriage fell apart; Owen and Nola then married, raising Paige and Brian as step-siblings. But in 1976, Owen had a "secret talk" with Brian about certain events from the past; Brian was so horrified by what he learned that he ran away from home and joined the Navy. Nola and Owen didn't hear from Brian for three years. He's recently returned home, and he feels VERY uncomfortable around Paige. She would like to resume dating Brian, but Brian isn't willing to participate. All of this will be discussed in coming episodes, and you'll learn the "secret" that sent Brian away three years earlier. The show's logo will change drastically in the summer of 1980 to something that doesn't look cheap at all. lol. I'll defend Draper to the "death" on this business with Margo. The woman is absolutely wretched to him. Not only did she trick him into purchasing a $100,000 house (which she led him to believe cost $65,000), she wheedled and schemed until she got APRIL to participate in the subterfuge of tricking Draper. Now Draper is not only annoyed that Margo lied to him, he's subconsciously realizing that Margo is easily able to manipulate APRIL into lying to him; he's wondering if Margo has created an environment in which his own wife will callously lie to him about important things in order to take advantage of Margo's open checkbook. The "subtext" is that he's unsure if he can trust April to be honest with him anymore, thanks to her horrible mother's haughty interference. (But of course the worst thing that Margo has done is interfere with the lucrative job he landed in New York City, an offer which was immediately rescinded before he even started. He doesn't know yet that Margo used sexual blackmail against the senior law partner in New York to snatch his job away from him, but the audience knows.) Right now, Draper isn't working for the Crime Commission. He's Mike Karr's "junior" law partner. Remember, Mike & Nancy Karr encouraged him to take the job in New York City, because the pay was so much better than what earns working for Mike. Then when Margo pulled her ace out of her sleeve and yanked the job away from Draper, Mike happily welcomed him back.

Googling does tend to ruin it. For those of us who were teens in the late 1970s and early 1980s, you can't imagine how much fun it was to watch the show in the afternoons. (It came on right after school.) There weren't any "spoilers" at the time. We would always try to anticipate how each crime and each mystery would be resolved, and we were ALWAYS wrong, because the stories are filled with so many weird twists and turns. The head writer (Henry Slesar) and his dialogue writer (Steve Lehrman) invariably toss genuine clues directly into your face in the most unlikely ways, but then they provide a host of "red herrings" to completely confuse you and send you off on the wrong path. Once the story reaches its conclusion, all you can think is Why didn't I figure that out weeks ago? lol

It really made Oscar the Doorman seem like an imbecile. I think the show's unusual format & subject manner is what makes EON often seem less "dated" and "old-fashioned" than other shows from that time period. It never attempted to be especially "trendy" or "modern" -- and its film noir style is pretty timeless.

Yep, that scene was at the conclusion of the Derek Thurston vs George Packard storyline, when Kay decided neither of them should run Chancellor. By the time she put Victor in charge, Victor had been on the show for months & months with his Rolls Royce, his ranch, and Newman Enterprises. SONY released some Y&R "trivia cards" in the late 1980s, and one of the questions was "who brought Victor Newman to Genoa City?" The answer on the back of the card is "Kay Thurston, to run Chancellor Industries", and it's a wrong answer lol.

Same here. Anyone who voluntarily left Margo's penthouse set (except to go overseas or to Heaven) was immediately on my blacklist. lol.

The storyline April and Draper are involved in during the summer/autumn of 1979 seems fairly "benign" but soon turns very serious. April has a VERY intrusive, wealthy mother (Margo Huntington Dorn). Margo knows that April and Draper (who've recently had a miscarriage and are theoretically never going to be able to conceive another baby) want to buy a house. Margo hoodwinks them into buying a house they can't afford. The house is listed at $100,000 (about $400,000 in today's dollars). Margo pays the first $35,000 and leads Draper to believe the asking price of the house is $65,000 instead of $100,000. If Draper finds out his meddling mother-in-law paid 1/3 of the cost of the home and tricked him, he'll be mad as hell. Meanwhile, Draper has received a job offer from a prestigious New York law firm. Margo pulls some strings and has the senior partner in the firm rescind the offer, to keep April in Monticello. If Draper finds out about THAT, he'll be even angrier with Margo than he will be about the house trickery. All of that is "bubbling under the surface" in the fall of 1979 but will be the next major story, as everything begins to spiral out of control. Yep, you've got the Karrs and their very basic middle-class house, the Victorian-themed place where Miles and Nicole live, April and Draper's old craftsman house with the exposed beams, the Madisons & their Mission revival house, and Margo with her 1970s-chic penthouse. Each of the sets is completely different. And their budget was like zero, lol.

I don't recall that we ever saw the exterior of the Madison house. BUT the interior is definitely Mission Revival. It has a wrought-iron staircase, and all the doorways & corridors have archways. I watched a few old episodes over the weekend from that period and really noticed for the first time how uniquely Mission Revival the set is.

Except she never worked there at all and barely even knew where the Chancellor Industries plant was located 😂 In 1980, Kay attempted to install Derek Thurston (her third husband) in a position at Chancellor Industries. The show introduced a character named George Packard who'd supposedly been running Chancellor since Phillip's demise in 1975. (George Packard's storyline in 1980 was attempting to keep Derek Thurston from bankrupting the company.) We didn't hear much of anything about Chancellor Industries for the next twenty-five years. Then, at that point, we met Eliot Hampton (?) who'd been running the company for decades and had been embezzling from it. Jill took it upon her herself to oust Eliot Hampton (?) and take control of the company. That's when Kay became actively involved in the management of the company. From 1974 till 2004 Kay Chancellor was strictly a hands-off owner. It was downright absurd that the last ten years of life, she was written as this formidable businesswoman who'd always been involved in Chancellor Industries.

April and her husband (Draper) are the "young leads" who tie all the storyline threads together. They're normally in the center of the action. In this particular storyline, Draper is the attorney who represents Paige Madison. (The district attorney, Logan Swift, has given Paige Madison "temporary immunity from prosecution" if she will lead the police to the members of the Tobias Gang who stole the firearms. But Paige mainly just ducks bullets from various gang members who pop-up to assassinate her.)

If you begin where they suggested (#6077), it's VERY easy to follow because it's right at the beginning of a new storyline. Another story is winding down, but it's fairly easy to catch on. The central characters in both stories (the one that's ending & the one that's beginning) are members of the Madison family. The Madisons have recently moved from Hollywood to Monticello. The father (Owen Madison) is an ex-movie producer. The mother (Nola Patterson Madison) is a washed-up, alcoholic actress who can no longer get a part in a film. Owen has a daughter named Paige Madison, and Nola has a son named Brian Madison. The Madison family left Hollywood primarily because the daughter (Paige) had gotten involved with a group of "renegade" young political activists who stole some guns to furnish to South American revolutionaries. Paige Madison is being targeted for assassination by various members of the group (known as "the Tobias gang"). As a result, Paige has a full-time body guard, a former Monticello policeman who resigned from the police force because he accidentally shot & killed a 14-year-old boy who was armed with a cap pistol. As the new plot (a movie called "Mansion of the Damned") takes shape, the existing plot about Paige, the assassins, and the bodyguard comes to a conclusion. The other characters on the show are all playing supporting roles to these storylines, and it'll be easy to figure out who they are and how they come into play.

Jonathan Kellerman is definitely the most EON/Slesar-like writer in the business right now. Unfortunately, he's almost 80 years old. Interestingly, he has a son (Jesse Kellerman) who's about 45, who's been studying under him. I believe what makes the Kellermans such effective mystery & crime writers is their background in psychology.

When a scene begins with her shouting, "Hey! Hey!", you instantly know she's going to be awful and so is the entire scene.

After Diane's grand announcement that the painting found in the attic was a 1956 gift from Dina to John, I was waiting for her to say, "Oh! And I also found the bloody GOLF CLUB your mother bludgeoned Brent Davis half to death with in 1971! It's now over here in the bookshelf with Traci's novels as well as some classics!"

I would send that new sofa right back to the Double Q Pink Salmon Factory and tell Diane to go get the other one back.

I may be wrong, but I believe they're actually taping the rehearsals now, and if the rehearsal of the scene is error-free, it goes on the reel so they don't have to run it again. Someone (Jeanne Cooper, I think) mentioned that sometimes the rehearsal ends up being the only take.

The way I remember it, everyone's contract expired when the show went to an hour. Their contracts, which included their salary stipulations, stated that they would be appearing on "the 30-minute daytime serial The Young and the Restless". When the show went to an hour, it effectively voided the contract of every actor, writer, producer, and director. Some signed-on for the hour-long show; others didn't.

The ages of the characters (and their parents) still BAFFLE me, lol. But as we get accustomed to seeing them interact, I'm sure we'll get used to it.

It's a mighty pretty-looking show. Lights are maybe a little too bright, and some of the dialogue was kinda "clunky", but they sure do have some charismatic performers. They could've just coasted along with Tamara Tunie and Clifton Davis, but it appears most of the other roles are also cast pretty well. And they didn't overwhelm us with melodrama. It shows a lot of promise.

I'm sure it'll be fine. I only wish it were 1/2 hour instead of an hour, because devoting 60 minutes a day, 5 days a week, is such a big ASK for a brand new product. I think it would potentially reach more new viewers if it weren't requesting 5 hours a week from us when we're not even sure yet if we'll like it.