prefab1

I miss the days when soaps tried to address real social problems. I'm not just talking about their reluctance to depict the current pandemic, but also the way that--aside from maybe DAYS' somewhat botched attempt to do a Black Lives Matter story--they steer totally clear of the 21st century's political or economic issues. We're not getting stories about homelessness or immigrants being deported or characters getting sucked into right-wing hate groups or anything else that might meaningfully connect to our current moment. As far as I know, no one's even an environmentalist or a vegetarian on any of these shows. I mean, I still enjoy the soap that I regularly watch (DAYS), but I feel like it's in its own bubble, dictated by the generic conventions of 60 years of soaps and not touched by the outside world.

Today's episode really showed off how good DAYS is at writing for couples, because it showcased the very different dynamics between Chad/Abby, Jake/Kate, Sarah/Xander, Eli/Lani, and Justin/Bonnie. I was especially impressed by those short Jake/Kate scenes

I keep wondering what their long-term plans are with Charlie. Today's episode went a long way toward humanizing him again, but still, after his rape of Allie and drugging of Ava, it's hard to see how they'd be able to keep him around. Great acting by Mike Manning, though. He's totally believable as the resentful, neglected younger brother, even though he's actually 6 years older than Lucas Adams.

In true DAYS tradition, they should just cast Crystal Chappell as nu-Hope.

Excited that we're going to get some more Tony and Anna scenes! I assumed there were only here for the holiday.

What about any of the actors who played Craig with Yvonne Perry's Rosanna?

Yes. I've never seen the 1970s episodes where Flannery played Laura, but just the notion of Susan Flannery playing the mom of Melissa Reeves' character has always made me laugh. I can't exactly see the family resemblance! Speaking of the Horton women, I can't imagine Marci Miller's Abby having an affair with EJ or lying about sleeping with Austin.

I really loved those scenes too. I think the show is smart to let Gwen reveal the truth about her deceptions and her motives one little nugget at a time, because each time you get these terrific confrontation scenes. Emily O'Brien really excels at those monologues, and Marci Miller was also doing a great job of reacting to her in a believable way.

I only tune in periodically, so I could be totally off-base here, but it strikes me that part of the problem right now is that, for a show entitled The Young & the Restless, very few of these characters are actually restless. A few months ago, I saw a 1973 clip where you saw that restlessness on full display, embodied by unhappy rich wife Kay and striving social climber Jill. But when I tuned in the other day, the only restlessness I saw, as well as the only energy, came from Phyllis spazzing at Nick about going to see Chelsea. The other scenes I saw were sedate and stilted, like they came from a video teaching foreigners how to politely communicate in the US workplace. There was a jargon-filled scene where Nate reassured Adam that Chelsea would get the best medical care, which seemed designed to deflate any exciting dramatic conflict between the two characters. (The dialogue acknowledged that they had conflict before, but this was quickly brushed aside). And there was a similarly weird scene between Victoria and Kevin, where they both shared the information that they were happy with their current jobs. Most of these people seem to already have what they want, and I'm left wondering why I should care about these passionless corporate drones.

I know that a lot of regulars on these boards wish their soaps brought back more "legacy kids," but Summer and Kyle are perfect examples of why that's not always a good idea. They are both extremely bland, as though the writers working on their characterization just wrote "Nick and Phyllis' kid" or "Diane and Jack's kid" and stopped there. Given who their parents are and what they would have witnessed growing up, the two of them should be far more interesting and psychologically complex. But post-Bill Bell, Y&R doesn't seem to have much interest in writing that kind of intergenerational psychological drama.

Yeah, RSW needs a story that better suits his particular, uh, talents. Like "Broke and devastated after the loss of Ciara, Ben becomes a male escort."

You skipped a step: Abby had the Salem brain for a day when she finally figured out that Gwen is not her friend. Totally agreed about Ben and nu-Claire being the show's weak links. That material just didn't work at all for me, and I thought there was something creepy and sexist about the way the show kept trying to build suspense with those bedroom scenes. Frankly, I think they would have been better off to just briefly show Claire and Charlie having good sex, but then Claire later feeling regret and anger once she learned she'd slept with her cousin's rapist.

I agree that Billy Flynn is the real weak link in this storyline, You know that saying about how 90% of acting is reacting? In his silent reaction shots, he often looks checked out, like he's just waiting for the turn to speak his line. But the women are really bringing it. Both Marci Miller and Emily O'Brien were on fire today.

I just read about the storyline she'll be appearing in, and as an infrequent Y&R viewer, I have to ask: why does the show give so much airtime and story to Chelsea? There are characters where we'd really care if they had a stroke and were paralyzed, and that would impact a lot of the canvas. I mean, think if they gave that story to Victoria or to Phyllis or even to Chloe. But with Chelsea, I don't know what viewers will care, apart from the Chelsea/Adam fanbase.

Probably not. But a steady paycheck is a steady paycheck.

If the show wanted to go for an Aussie EJ, they should just cast Murray Bartlett instead.

I guess this will never happen because apparently the actors dislike each other in real life, but I always thought Alexis and Jax made a really good pairing, even though they never consummated their marriage of convenience.

Cool! I hope she has some scenes with Kate, along the lines of "You slept with my husband AND my daughter's husband? You bitch!"

Anna's really been a lot of fun to watch the past couple of episodes. I especially loved the scene where she's teasing Kate. I think she and Tony are best in small doses, but I hope the show continues to bring them back periodically, not just during the holidays.

If the Top 5 airhog characters on this list perished in a bout of mob violence, GH would be a much better show. On a brighter note, thanks for putting in the work of compiling this list! It provides a really interesting look at how GH is using (or in some cases misusing) its sprawling cast.

Hey, think big. What about Jackee going up against Lauren Koslow for Jake instead?

She won't even air for another 3 months, and I'm already shipping them. (Should we call them Paulabe? Abina?) This sounds like a smart way to do stunt casting, with an actor who has plenty of daytime experience, who fits with the existing tone of the show, and who might bring along some curious new viewers

Whenever I hear about Juan Pablo, I always think of this video. It's hard to forget!

That's the part that's so baffling to me. One actually could make a legitimate case that the late-1970s cast of DAYS was a little worn-out and contained so many middle-aged characters, it just couldn't compete with more youth-oriented soaps like General Hospital. (This was, after all, the time when Guiding Light poached Doug Marland, partly so that he could introduce more young characters). But for some reason, DAYS saw characters like Bob and thought, "Hmmm...can we replace them with characters who are also middle-aged businessmen, only more boring and one-dimensional?"

Agreed that killing off Nick was a short-sighted move, and the show could have benefited from having a "bad" Horton, because it would cause a lot of organic, character-driven conflict, with some Hortons choosing family loyalty over morality. But to the show's credit--and unlike, say, GH, with its litany of dead characters who no one ever talks about anymore--they haven't forgotten about Nick, and his death has fueled years of storyline with the ongoing war between Gabi and Julie.