GLATWT88

I was just going to mention this. YR and BB have been preempted regularly because of these press conferences. Last week was probably the best overall in terms of not preempting the soaps on CBS in the past few weeks. I thought when CBS2 preempted their soaps, they would be shown on WLNY. I finally have WLNY after all these years and I just checked and they're not airing YR. I'm assuming CBS2 no longer has a deal with WLNY to air their schedule when there are preemptions. I haven't really watched CBS soaps live this regularly in a while so I was going based on what would occur in the past. Sad I'm probably going to miss all these older episodes, because CBS hasn't even put up Friday's episode online or on the streaming platform. Looks like NBC is doing a better job at respecting DAYS in the NYC area because it's on my local affiliate.

I actually searched up the storylines after watching the episodes and I was so intrigued reading the summaries that I wished they were able to show more of it. IMO, since they do plan on being off the air for some time - it would be logical that they played out storylines instead of one off epsiodes, but either way I've enjoyed watching.

I actually find the older episodes exciting to watch, especially since I really only got into soaps in the early-mid 2000s, but watched a bit of DAYS and GH in the 90s when my sister would watch. I know some people argue that the older episodes will not attract new viewers, which is probably true especially since they're not running week long edited storylines, but instead theme weeks around characters so there's not much connection, continuity or conclusion for new viewers to really get into. But I don't think soaps in their current state would attract much new viewers. I think the hope (if even possible) is to lure back some of the viewers they've lost recently. I by no means am a YR fan, although the CBS soaps (B&B, GL and ATWT) have been my favorites to watch and I watched them pretty regularly between 2003-06 and on and off since then. I actually found myself enjoying these one off Y&R episodes. They really show how great soap operas really were...the masquerade even as a one off was exciting for me to watch even though I knew nothing of what had occurred leading up to those events, but I guess knowing the characters helps. I think instead of theme weeks surrounding characters, Y&R should consider theme weeks around popular storylines. They can air 5 of the more exciting episodes of a particular storyline over the course of the week with actors providing commentary at the beginning and even halfway point to fill in viewers. I know this is probably time consuming and not worth the effort from CBS, but it would be exciting for me. These old episodes finally made me understand why YR has been #1 all these years. Honestly, when I started watching soaps I always wondered why YR was ranked so high, aside from its production value in comparison to some of the soaps, I didn't find it that interesting a lot of the time. Now I get it and I definitely see that it was holding onto viewers from its past.

I started watching GL when I was in high school around May 2003 and fell in love with the characters and soap operas in general. I watched every day until 2006 when I went off to college and then followed on and off until around 2008 I believe but even in those days it was more challenging to follow along like you can now with streaming services, on demand and on the channel websites. I was sad when GL went off the air, but I wasn't really watching much in those days. I remember there being a transition in the way the show looked because of the filming technique or equipment towards the end of its run. I noticed that there are near complete yearly runs of the soap from the late 90s. I know it wasnt the peak of popularity and maybe perhaps storytelling for GL, but which year in the late 90s would you recommend for watching? Also, what was the real public and critical reception of the clone storyline?