1974mdp

I think you're correct! Obviously, reading up on the show's history, other Corys had been introduced along the way: Iris, some random nephews of Mac's that didn't seem to last long, Adam (who I sort of remember), and Sandy. But, I can see where some would think the Corys weren't a core family in the traditional sense. For years, it may have just been Mac and Rachel (and Jamie) for the most part...and by connection, Ada. And, it appears for a few years there they were mostly backburnered. This era of the show smartly decided to really put the focus on them with Mac and Rachel as the matriarch and patriarch and with Jamie, Amanda, and Matthew as their children. Of course, Iris and Dennis also return to town. It's so sad about DW passing. Even as a kid watching the show, it was so sad when he died. The show kind of struggled for a bit there trying to figure out what the heart of the show would be now, and we never got to see the full story with Mac and Iris play out. I started getting heavily invested in the show as a young teen around this time. I thought all of the history was fascinating. Despite the mess-up on backstory about the farm, Matt and Josie were a great use of history to start a new generation on the show. There were some wonderful clips on YouTube of Rachel and Sharlene in conflict over the pairing AND the fact that Rachel had killed Janice. It set the show up with the "has and the has nots" which is something that I think is desperately missing on the current versions of Y&R and B&B, where everyone is already rich and successful. As a writer, you miss all sorts of potential conflict when you don't have those characters clawing their way up. I was kind of disappointed that they sort of dropped the Josie connection to the Matthews in the 90s and changed her last name back to Watts. Even though it was just her from the family in town at that point, it still would have been a nice nod to the show's history. I can see where they moved Rachel to matriarch during this time, and for a bit there, she even got a bit of her "bitchiness" back if you watch the clips on YouTube with her and Sharlene and also with Donna. I wonder if that was Lemay influence who wanted to give her an edge again. I did find reading his book fascinating just to get her perspective on things. Since I was too young to watch the show in the 70s, I was curious if some others thought that Rachel was prematurely aged too quickly with the rapid aging of Jamie in the 70s. He would have been shown as being in his 20s by the time Matthew was even born. VW must have only been in her early 40s during the mid-80s.

B&B has a long history of suddenly dropping actors AND stories, but this one is just mystifying. She was the best thing to come on that show in YEARS. I don't know if they thought they had no one to pair her with, but for God's sake, they could have introduced a new character for a change. The show needs some new blood in the cast desperately! We definitely didn't need Brooke/Ridge/Taylor for the 101st time.

So sad. He was a fave when I watched OLTL.

So glad they singled out the WAY OVERUSED business plotlines. I'm SO TIRED of hearing about mergers, takeovers, CEOs, COOs, and people changing jobs. I could care less about any of these stories. The show needs to get out of the boardroom and back into the bedroom, so to speak. I mean, how many people are on the edge of their seat about who's going to work next at Chancellor-Winters, Newman, Jabot, etc etc? Anybody??? I agree about Tucker. In general, I like the character and the actor. I thought he had great chemistry with ED, but he's not well-defined. What does he really want and why??? I've loved the Claire/Eve story, too. I just wish they would have dragged it out for a few more story beats before revealing the truth. I would have liked Aunt Jordan to come to town first and watch her wiggle her way into GC society, and THEN turn everyone's lives upside down. Imagine if she had first befriended Nikki first, gained her trust, and THEN got her to fall off the wagon. It would have given CZ more to work with versus being a one-note villian.

I'm liking seeing Zende more, and the actor is beautiful. IF the show were smart, they'd have him leave Forrester and start his own scrappy fashion company, such as Spectra was in the past. I think a problem on the show right now is that mostly everybody is either rich or super successful. You need characters that are trying to claw their way up for contrast.

The Bible quoting came out of nowhere...and Brooke reading the passage from Stephanie's personal Bible...LOL

Well, that's random as all hell. I'd even completely forgotten about the character.

I've been enjoying the story too for the most part, BUT they've already written her into a corner. I wish they would have taken more time with the story before revealing who Claire was and had Jordan come to GC and also wiggle her way into the Newmans' lives first while keeping her agenda under wraps for a bit more. I think the story would have had more impact.

Right, he's barely been on all of 2023. I always thought he and Taylor would have been interesting (even though she shot him!). What about Paris? We saw her briefly during the fashion challenge. Is she even on contract anymore, too? Although, I always thought the character and the actress were a bit flat. I don't know why this show can't write for a woman of color. Maya and Nicole were the best chances they had, and they dropped the ball on both of them, too. Katie doesn't really seem to have any sort of purpose at all. She could not have appeared at all these past few months, and the story would still progress. I was kind of intrigued by her pairing with Carter, but they've done ZERO with them. If you're not playing Brooke, Ridge, Liam, Steffy, Hope, Thomas...and MAYBE Finn and RJ at this point....the future is VERY uncertain. But, the show has been this way for years. Dropped storylines. Interesting new characters introduced, briefly used, and then unceremoniously dropped. Quinn and Carter were the HOTTEST pairing the show had had in years, so predictably they dropped it. Even Brooke and Taylor's "friendship" had promise to take the show in a different and new direction, and they dropped it because everyone needs to obsess over Ridge or Liam on this show.

I would LOVE to see CM's Jennifer and Kate go at it again. To me, the obvious story is for Kate to have an affair with a returned Mike. Jennifer would hit the roof that the woman who broke up her parents' marriage and almost hers was now getting freaky with her brother. Pairing Kate with Roman is yawn inducing for such a dynamic character.

CM actually made me care about Jennifer and revitalized the character, in my opinion.

If I were Zende, I'd be pissed, too! Ridge continues to come off as completely self-involved, but the character has always felt that way to me from day one when I started watching the show at the age of 12! I've just never been a fan of the character no matter who played him.

This is such a headscratcher. She was a total BREATH OF FRESH AIR and worked as a recast when I totally thought it would never gel. But, the show is so laser focused on only writing for six or seven people that all of these great actors barely get used. If you watch the classic episodes when the show first started, the stories were balanced. I actually enjoyed the show more during the writer's strike as more than one story was often featured. But, here are back with BB and his seemingly incapability of writing more than one story at once. I wish KA all the best. She deserved FAR MORE than she got. I'm pretty sure the hospital would NOT allow Bridget to work on Eric in the operating room.

I feel like the Hortons actually had a bit of a resurgence for a bit there...Abby, JJ, Will, Allie, Eli were all successful characters in certain ways, but now they're all gone. There's something about that ornament hanging, as cheesy as it is, that gives me a certain sense of comfort. My opinion is that under the current regime the Dimeras have eaten the show. They were better in small does, in my opinion, or just focused on Chad/ EJ. Every now and then, I'll check out part of an episode, but I just can't get back into the show as much as part of me wants to. I'm so tired of the latest Eric/Nicole round. Kristen feels played out. And, don't get me started on Leo. Besides Liam on B&B, he has to be the most irritating character on daytime.

The show has lost SO MANY Hortons the past few years until we're at the point where Sarah is the only one that has the last name. To me, it's a symptom of a larger problem with the show. I stopped watching about a year ago after viewing for many, many years. The ultra-focus on the Dimeras got sooo old. It felt like the show lost it's heart.

And, this is what I just don't understand. How do TPTB think that all of these non-stop corporate "stories" will be interesting to the viewer? I get so, so tired of hearing who will work where. That's when I hit the FF button which means some days I may watch only about five minutes of the show!

I've thought for a long time now that Adam as a character is played out and needs a rest.

Why does Eric's life lie entirely in Ridge's hands? What about his other children?

I thought SH was AMAZING as Patty on Y&R and could have had long-term potential to be a very complex character, but then they wrote her into a corner.

As soon as I saw Finn typing away on his computer, I thought...oh, Lord. Is he going to be the one to save Eric by just running a Google search?

It was weird to not at least get a Marcus mention since Eric is with Donna again, and what are the odds that all of these other people are on SAFARI together at the same time??? That's what makes the idea of a "party" not work because a lot of the people who should be there won't be.

I'm thinking the same which is a shame because she was truly a breath of fresh air when she started. She made Taylor feel relevant again. I hope BB wises up and gives her a story...without Ridge! Good Lord. I wonder what TK's episode guarantee is. He is on every single episode it feels like. They dragged Paris out of the closet for a few episodes of the fashion challenge and then promptly stuffed her back in it. I REALLY hope we keep seeing more of Zende. The show needs someone who is on the "outs" and has to fight their way to the top versus just having it handed to them (cough, cough) RJ.

I ALWAYS love seeing Jess Walton and wish she was back full-time, but MY GOD...I am so sick of hearing people constantly talking about changing jobs, takeovers, mergers, CEOs and COOs...these are NOT stories! I'm enjoying the whole Jordan/Claire story simply because it's not talking about a takeover or merger!

I was thinking the same thing. Y&R the past ten years has done a horrible job of developing the next generation of characters which is why Nick, for example, keeps getting stories that should be for a character Noah's age. It's ironic that there is no "young" on "The Young and the Restless." It should be renamed "The Middle Aged and Still Restless." Much like Rachel on AW who was prematurely aged by the abrupt SORASing of Jamie, the same thing happened to Julie, who went from being in her early 20s to middle-aged all of a sudden. This, of course, impacted her story potential down the road.

It's very strange. I think we're supposed to assume they're a couple, but they don't actually gets scenes together or any scraps of a storyline. I think there's a lot of potential there, but it's not explored at all. Point Heather Tom has turned into a glorified extra at this point. There's no point to the character being there or included in the scenes she's in.