BigMAnOnDeck

On 7/8/2023 at 3:49 PM, BoldRestless said:

Speaking of confrontations, I just added the one from 11/27/95 when Dru goes to Keesha's place... the look of fear on Keesha's face when she opens the door and then Dru pushes in anyway... 

"Nice try honey but we gotta talk." One of my fav Dru moments

On 2/14/2023 at 5:12 PM, Soaplovers said:

Nina slapping Phyllis was so satisfying.. and made me wistful that there weren't any other memorable Phyllis vs Nina pileups in the past especially in the 90s when Phyllis was a thorn in the bug's side (and you know she told Nina about her.. because Nina would throw shade on occasion).

For me, 1990 to 1992 were my favorite Y & R years.. because you had 3 huge stories that were were in various stages (David Kimble, Nikki's alcholism, & Sheila Carter) during those 2 years (1989 was kind of the seeds for all 3 stories with David wooing Nina after Jill turned him down, Jack/Nikki eloping, and Scotty/Lauren getting married though he was a bit put out with Paul being a presence in their lives as her good friend).

1993 had the Victor being persumed dead.. which briefly got Jabot back to the Abbots and Hope being introduced... plus the whole Ryan/Nina/Victoria/Cole story started after it was getting going in 1992.

After that.. the show seemed to have some strong stories, stories that went nowhere, and a repeat story that wasn't as good the 2nd time (John/Jill remarrying, having Billy, Jill cheating again, then another divorce story that became the two just co existing as a couple in name only, and finally peacefully divorcing when Bill Bell wanted to introduce the Dennison clan... with two daughters not liking Jill .. a bad repeat of Ashley/Traci not liking Jill back in the 80s).

When was Nina slapping Phyllis?

Palmer (AMC) is an easy choice. He definitely was the central villain for many years on the show. His character's schemes was one of the main reasons AMC went up in the ratings during the late 1970s and 1980s.

Adam/Stuart (AMC) As iconic as his nemesis was, David Canary added a lot of complexity and nuance to two characters and made it look easy. Whether he was as sweet as Stuart or as devious as Adam, both characters were the ultimate sun and moon of Pine Valley.

Jack (Terry LEster's potrayal; Y&R) As much as I love Bergman's potrayal, people forget Lester's version of Jack was as equivalent to JR Ewing. As villainous as he was you could still see the sympathetic side of yearning his mother's love while not dissapointing his father.

The Buchanans (OLTL): Another Dallas-esque characterization, Bo, Asa and Clint rejuvenated the soap and sustained its legacy for years to come.

On 1/28/2023 at 1:10 PM, Mitch64 said:

John Dixon faking his death to frame James Stenbeck...but unfortunately his love obsession, Dee Stewart was put on trial for it.  It was not the shows best era as the Dobson's had stripped the show of its base (Wagner quit, McLaughlin was on recurring and the Hughes were obscured) but it was a good fun plot (if you overlooked the fact that Dee was being charged with no corpse being produced.) Margo and Tom broke off because of it, even as she was preggers with his kid and John revealing himself in court was a great soap moment!  The only problem was that Dee was being played by Vicki Dawson who was a weak recast.

On 1/28/2023 at 1:10 PM, Mitch64 said:

John Dixon faking his death to frame James Stenbeck...but unfortunately his love obsession, Dee Stewart was put on trial for it.  It was not the shows best era as the Dobson's had stripped the show of its base (Wagner quit, McLaughlin was on recurring and the Hughes were obscured) but it was a good fun plot (if you overlooked the fact that Dee was being charged with no corpse being produced.) Margo and Tom broke off because of it, even as she was preggers with his kid and John revealing himself in court was a great soap moment!  The only problem was that Dee was being played by Vicki Dawson who was a weak recast.

That scene where John taunts James is ICONIC

1 hour ago, ironlion said:

I'd say 98-01 was strong. 02-05 is a decent bronze era for the show. 

94 to 96 did have good plots. Its just the plots before and after them were stronger.

Agreed

On 10/31/2022 at 9:33 PM, Paul Raven said:

Y&R

Victor/Nikki/Ashley/Jack

Bill Bell took a risk in destroying the fairytale Victor/Nikki relationship but it was in character.

Although Victor had softened, at his core he was still selfish and controlling and while he enjoyed indulging Nikki and being her saviour he grew bored with the game and was intrigued by Ashley a seemingly self sufficient woman and total contrast to Nikki.

Of course, in turn, Nikki's need to be adored lead her to Jack, who had his own motivations for wooing Nikki.

Throw in family history, sibling rivalry and business machinations and your good to go for years.

A pity Terry and Eileen left as that changed the character portrayals to an extent.

I never knew that was one of the reasons Eileen left the first time. More info?

On 5/5/2022 at 1:23 PM, carolineg said:

I forgot Jax was involved with Angel as well.  That is a character GH really tried to make happen and was tied to quite a few people for no reason.  I wouldn't say she ate the show, but McTavish and JFP sure wanted to make her work.  2001 was such an odd year for the show, but it was solidly back by 2002.

I think Jax still had story consistently.  He went from Skye to Brenda to Sam to Courtney to Carly without much lull in between.   I don't think any story between Brenda to Carly was good, but he had a solid B story almost always.  I think half the reason Guza kept him around though is because he loved playing the Sonny vs. Jax/whatever woman angle.  And Ingo was popular enough to stay at the time.  Jax just never got a full characterization beyond 'white knight'.

Luke/Skye were very odd.  I don't remember hating them just wondering how it came to be. lol

Honestly I might be the only one who liked their chemistry 

I say Eden Riegel

On 2/20/2022 at 1:40 PM, Soapsuds said:

Well to be fair it wasn't too hard to play a pool boy.

Lololol

On 2/6/2022 at 8:12 PM, YRfan23 said:

Y&R: 1973-2005 
B&B: 1987-2002
(Though my personal favorite years for those two are probably 1989-1995) 

Days: 1993-2002
Passions: 1999-2003

I don't understand why people say 1994 to 96 weak years

I loved the Matt Clark storyline, Nathan and keisha story....hell even the who shot victor story 

I admit 1998 to 05 to be an underrated era 

I got a good amount

On 1/8/2022 at 10:18 AM, titan1978 said:

I agree.  Although scenes of her learning that Justus let Laura go on trial for murdering Damian Smith would have been really wonderful.  But much like Lois, Guza did not know how best to utilize them, and Claire really knew what she was doing.  I loved the Ward family.

Ditto

On 11/13/2021 at 8:23 AM, yrfan1983 said:

Great summary! I'm at May '96 in my chronological viewing and everything you said tracks to what I've seen.

I will only add that the slow diminishment of the character of Traci Abbott didn't help matters. I see the character in two phases: 80s Traci and 90s Traci. 

80s Traci was a well-written, well-rounded full character that propelled Beth Maitland to YR's first acting Emmy.

90s Traci was a one-note drag, singularly obsessed with winning back Brad's love and haranguing her sister Ashley, who she used to be so close to. Starting around Traci and Brad's second marriage, it became such a chore to watch Traci's scenes, which really pained me as a BethM fan.

Traci IMO was at a real nadir by her '95 return, when she ostensibly comes home to support John's recovery, but proceeds to sniff after Brad and berate Ashley... never mind that Traci has a studly husband Steve waiting at home for her!

I'm not saying there weren't some great moments, like Traci and Lauren's 94 catfight. But it wasn't until her 2001 return, when Traci took on more of a parental role, that I started to enjoy the character again.

IMO I felt Traci got more stronger in the 90s but do admit the sniffing around Brad was deterimental

On 11/23/2021 at 11:55 PM, Soapsuds said:

 

I so want to see Paul confronting Lauren. Doug's shock is amazing

On 11/26/2021 at 3:21 AM, fivethej said:

How often has Victor used profanity over the years? Came across a scene between Matt Clark and Victor from 1995 when Victor dropped F word.

WHEN WAS THAT??

On 9/24/2021 at 5:37 AM, BigMAnOnDeck said:

2003 was Y&R at its apex and probably the genre too

Highly agreed

On 10/30/2021 at 4:12 PM, yrfan1983 said:

Jeanne Cooper said in her memoir that she helped to defuse the situation. She told Bill Bell that if he fired EB and PB, that’d he had have to fire her too.

Wow I never knew that. 

On 10/30/2021 at 11:39 PM, FrenchBug82 said:

I know Muhney is a hugely controversial actor on forums and he certainly had his own share of his issues but this seems to mirror a lot of how the similar conflict between him and EB started later on - the new guy who thinks he has the answers, the old guy stuck on his own ways and wanting "respect", the clash of egos and approaches to the job...
All these people have responsibility in the tensions generated but I suspect EB specifically is very rigid by nature and even more so as he established himself as a tentpole of the show and feels he has earned the right to have things his way.
This clashes with the guys who fancy themselves alpha males.
The male leads EB seems to get along with better seem to be the guys who don't care that much (JM, DD back in the day etc) or whose "performances" are in storylines EB is not directly involved in (like KsJ).

He always praised Doug  Davison as a great actor and to this day pissed on how TPTB handled him.

On 9/9/2021 at 11:26 AM, DjPisces89 said:

I have binge watched all of 2003 aside from the Kay/Jill mother daughter storyline 2003 was insanely good from Sharon leaving town, Cassie falling into the lake to Victor and Michael committing commercial bribery causing Ashley’s accident and mental breakdown. Nick turning Victor in to the authorities behind his back how I wished I watched this when it aired. 
 

I do agree when people say 2003 was the last classic year of y&r although 2004 and 2005 were still interesting 

2003 was Y&R at its apex and probably the genre too

Been watching a lot of episodes from 98 to 04 and I see why it was #1 soap. Straight fire

On 6/4/2021 at 10:28 PM, soapfan770 said:

I believe Malcolm was actually Y&R’s first actual real back from the dead story back in 2004. I mean Y&R had a history of characters pretending to be dead ie Katherine, Paul, Sheila, Victor but we the audience knew they were alive. However Malcolm was presumed dead for two years before his 2004 return. It should be noted that in 2004 Y&R rode the same wave of back from the dead stories plaguing daytime at the time (hello Days and ATWT!).

 

Since then we’ve had Phillip, Skye, Adam, JT, and Chloe all fake their demises only to pop up alive again. However of the above only Phillip and Skye were the ones we figured would stay dead forever. Adam’s 2010 and 2014 deaths we knew he was still alive, and his 2016 death was also left very ambiguous no matter how much SSM tried to make it seem permanent. 

And if Keemo ever came back he’d be played by someone like Matt Cedeño or of all things Billy Miller lol. 
 

On a side note thanks for sharing. It’s weird Paul & Christine are even the highlight of the promo but I suppose they were in a vacuum between April’s departure and Danny’s return. 

LOL why this fool running like Aladdin in that One Step Ahead song

11 hours ago, FrenchBug82 said:

Yes. Sharon and Victor counts as one of the worst things that ever happened to the show.

He had acted as a surrogate father to her all the way before. It was insane, out of character for both of them, absolutely revolting in the context of Sharon/Nick being the end game.
It was absolutely definitely a horrendous mistake. That they hung on to in some version for way longer than was sane to do. And the show knows it, making sure later to tell us they never actually slept together despite getting married twice.

The worst storyline...I pretend it didnt exist

On 5/30/2021 at 10:58 PM, FrenchBug82 said:

The process of change has been so slow that I had almost forgotten but Eric Braeden was such a dynamic presence back then. He wasn't always doing the cold mumbly thing he does most of the time now.
 

EB was on fire this time...personally I feel that it had to do with the stellar writing then. I love how he kept slamming that notebook.

15 hours ago, kalbir said:

I've blocked out Ashley's 1996-1999 storylines from my mind. Worst recast ever, even moreso than Eddie Winslow.

Agree.. most of the time she seemed bland.

Found it. So many quotables in this scene

8 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

Not an unpopular opinion with me. I think Bryton does great work even when his story is bad. He comes across as real and genuine and authentic, and that warmth translates so well. 

Agree with you. Like most of Josh’s writing, their story wasn’t built properly. SHOW me the reasons that characters are at odds — don’t TELL me they don’t get along or have them attack each other and let me decide who to blame.

 

He does this with every story. Take Tara, for example. Will she be different from the quiet wallflower we’ve been given? Who knows with Griffith.

 

I do know that if we were shown signs of another side of her, it’s possible we’d see her casting as better than a complete failure. Instead, we’ve been given a wet dishrag for months, and most of us dislike this actress in the  role. If Tara does a 180 turn, will it seem believable? Again, it’s a failure in writing.

Bryton is carrying the Winters legacy wonderfully

On 5/24/2021 at 9:44 PM, KMan101 said:

Cyrus went from potentially being interesting, especially tied to Laura, but lord he's so pathetic. What a waste. Just dump his ass. Sidenote, I'm also tired of Martin's Colonel Sanders schtick. Sorry MEK, but it's becoming grating (IMHO).

 

And Peter will never leave us. LMAO. I fear we will never be rid of that cockroach.

 

I'm very much struggling to stay caught up.

Tbh I like Cyrus as a villain even though he can be grating.

Im loving this

Does anyone have the clip when Victor goes in on Jack, Jill and Keith Dennison over the low sales of the Dennison Deal.

I loved Victor's line when he said, "In this piece of fiction that you wrote!!"

EB went in.

I remember he was slmming a black notebook repeatedly

Also the scene when Victor got MAtt Clark in a headlock. LOL

On 5/22/2021 at 9:43 AM, soapfan770 said:

Olivia’s confrontation with Nathan didn’t happen until like Feb or March of 1996. If I recall right Dru was with her and epically told Nathan he was “PITIFUL!!!”

 

Nathan left town at end of ‘93/early ‘94 in disgust over the whole Lillie Belle situation, especially as her living with the Hastings took a serious toll on him. The actor Randy Brooks left Y&R for a role on AW which ultimately ended up being thankless unfortunately. At some point later in ‘94 is when Adam Lazarre-White was cast around the same time Vivica Fox was cast. Nathan and Olivia were at that point talking about having a second kid but Nathan was still very disillusioned. I don’t even remember how Nathan met Keesha aside from Olivia getting mysterious phone calls in the summer of 95.

Nathan as a villain made for good story at the time but definitely looking back it is very bewildering and heartbreaking they had him go that route. They at least redeemed Nathan’s final days when Olivia reunited with him in Heaven during Olivia’s aplastic anemia story in 2000. 

Nathan was no match for the force of The Barber Sisters

1 hour ago, yrfan1983 said:

Matt and Nick's bloody fight was 8/3/94 and here it is! https://youtu.be/xGoUnkb4o-A

 

 

Don't know the date of Olivia confronting Nathan, but yes I do think the show villainized him, and really cheapened his character from the noble Nathan we saw in the 80s and early 90s

Yea I was watching the 1994 and 1995 Primetime Special and it was like the writers did their damndest to make everyone turn on him. Hell even Paul turned on him and fired him episodes later. 

1 hour ago, YRfan23 said:

Nick and Matt's second fight was 7/5/95, which is considered the bloody fight. Here's a clip of it. 
 

 

Thanks so much loved this fight. Now if only I can find the clip when MAtt was intimidationg Nick And Sharon and Christine met MAtt.

Does anybody know the date when Nick and MAtt had that bloody fight

The date when Olivia confronted Nathan of his affair

MAtter of fact did you guys think they villainized Nathan over time they paired him with Olivia? 

2 hours ago, FrenchBug82 said:

Well I'd reword that and say that version of Jack Abbott was best - which is not only down to TL who was obviously great but also to the writing.
Jack *was written* differently back then too and that's important to note when we look back at it with nostalgia.

 

Jacky was more in the Vein of a Yuppie JR Ewing at that time Terry played him. To tell the truth the first two years of Peter B. you can tell he tried to capture Terry Lester style