Faulkner

Mamie’s return feels kinda thrown in, and her main raison d’etre is to be a nostalgic, 50th-anniversary thorn in the side for her longtime rival, another recurring character (Jill), with a secondary purpose as co-conspirator to Tucker. Her relationships with Devon/Nate/Lily are merely incidental. Only maybe Nate grew up knowing her. (Mamie’s relationships are with their parents, one of whom has been dead for nearly two decades and the other hasn’t been seen in over a decade.) The show should have invested time in getting Mamie thoroughly acquainted with Devon/Lily/Nate away from the business realm, but as we all know, JG sees Y&R solely through the lens of corporate drama. They aren’t really delving into the family history in any meaningful way either. It would have been intriguing if Mamie was more apologetic about her absence in their lives or if the story really delved into the family’s intergenerational trauma (similar to how Dina’s return, the prospect of her memoir, and the specter of family secrets lit a fire under the Abbotts initially—but nope). And that’s not even touching upon what Mamie’s been up to in her years away, and the unsavory characters she might have encountered as an investor, which could be its own story. The Winters/Barber family has been taken for granted for years. They were expecting Neil to be their Traci or Jill, a stabilizing figure they could use on a recurring basis to half-ass a sense of family, but KSJ/Neil’s death showed how underprepared Devon/Lily were to be tentpoles. They can’t just shoehorn Mamie into that position all of a sudden with no setup.

It’s very, very noticeable indeed. Dru (or Neil or Olivia or Malcolm) never would’ve raised children who’d let their aunt be disrespected, even with the knowledge Mamie can hold her own with Jill. They’d have at least said, “She’s family and we won’t allow her to be spoken to in that way. Now let’s move on…” But all Nate and Devon did was squirm like “cowards” (as Jill called them). Hell, Jack or Ashley would have piped up more in Mamie’s defense. Mamie’s return has been a gigantic fail IMO largely due to that lack of familial connection, which is *somewhat* understandable due to her absence in Devon/Lily/Nate’s lives (due to writer neglect, of course—Y&R isn’t even really exploring Mamie’s role in the family right now—she’s completely underwritten). But still—Black families are very protective of their elders in general, regardless, especially with outsiders.

Now I know Nate and Devon are showing some deference to Jill due to her seniority, but allowing Jill to demean their elderly great-aunt in front of them? With no comment or pushback? Yeah, no. Whether Mamie was right or wrong. One thing the show has gotten right (or true to character, more accurately) is the condescending way Jill speaks to Mamie.

This is such an embarrassing garbage show.

While I understand the callback to Shemar presenting Susan with her historic first Emmy 24 years ago (plus Shemar’s a CBS primetime lead and former CBS Daytime sensation), I wish someone with a tighter personal or career connection to SL was at least co-presenting. Granted, someone like a Walt Willey or a Jill Larson or an Alicia Minshew wouldn’t have been a big enough name for promotion, but could they have nabbed Kelly Ripa? Can’t give that much promo love to talent from a competing network (ABC), even on a somewhat neutral ground? Maybe she turned it down or couldn’t be there? Who knows? Hopefully they got good people for her career tribute package…

Obviously, accepting a recast isn’t like flipping a switch; it’s often a gradual, imperceptible process of getting used to someone. However, do you remember a time or a storyline when a recast really came into their own in a role? Hell, it could be Day One if you didn’t particularly like the previous portrayal (or if the role wasn’t particularly fleshed out, like an adult actor assuming a role through SORAS). Or perhaps they just nailed it straight out of the gate. But was there a story or a relationship or an interaction when, say, Hillary B. Smith felt like Margo on ATWT or you came to accept Karen Witter as Tina on OLTL, to cite examples of two successful recasts?

Full trailer for the upcoming season:

BBCA ran a poll for a 50th anniversary fan special, and Donna was overwhelmingly voted as the favorite companion. Apparently, that result didn’t sit well with the brand managers in the UK, especially since Billie Piper was returning as a “companion” for the 50th.

Dan Feuerriegel

Well, well, Brenda Lee!

Tony hired Lujack to work at Company. Here’s one of their scenes. VI mentioned that he and the person later got to a good place but I’ve heard a lot of stuff about GA’s behavior.

Watching now. Wow at this. He said the actor physically assaulted him twice.

Yeah, JG loves dancing to the golden oldies. The rushing through the story doesn’t help. I admire CZ’s promotion of the story (saw her Locher Room interview), but it’s most certainly NOT classic soap beyond the superficial. The pivot from Newman CEO swaps to this gave me whiplash.

No one the networks would be willing to hire either. The people they’d consider would be the hackiest of hacks, dutiful corporate sycophants, or nepo hires.

Yep, it’s usually some male villain or antihero. Bill Bell did a good job in making Victor, Jack, and Paul feel like real, complex men with lifelong psychological baggage, but his writing for them rarely felt indulgent. Bell didn’t always signal to us how “broken” Jack or Victor were or how their behavior stemmed from an effed-up childhood or simply the desperate need for wuv. But when it came to later characters like Kevin Fisher, who did some pretty heinous stuff, they seemed to go the overboard with the trauma porn to make female viewers sympathize with them. Plus, they had these ‘charismatic’ actors like Greg Rikaart and Billy Miller they used for clout and Emmys. I think a lot of it was influenced by what GH was doing to capture younger viewers and the trend of having ‘sexy’ antiheroes (a la Tony Soprano and Don Draper) that really took off in the 2000s.

“Don’t let me whip your ass like your mama should’ve!” I know she gets hate, but Heavenly is one of the funniest Bravolebrities to me.

The drift toward man pain—exemplified by the sob stories of the Baldwin-Fisher brothers, Adam Newman, and Billy Abbott—is one of the most dreadful things to happen to Y&R.

Right during “Fairytale of New York” season. So sad.

A superb character actress:

This sh’t is laughable. Nick getting overpowered and stabbed by a 70-year-old woman while Victoria and Cole are completely oblivious. Claire already coming to the realization that she’s been deceived by Jordan.