DeeeDee

During the first part of Jack Smith's run Lauren wasn't so bad (despite becoming a serious Kevin apologist). But once John/Glo began to reconcile & Tom/Sheila hit town during the second half of Smith's run Lauren had been reduced to a whimpering Baldwin Fisher propper. Alden's Lauren was really fun. She was sassy, independent & sexy.

Agreed. But the thing is (aside from briefly during her initial time on B& her Y&R stint was treated as totally different & totally realistic. They had to regress the character into a cliche psycho to do that story & it didn't work. Because even during her subsequent runs (despite being increasingly badly written) on B&B she ALWAYS made her children a priority. Not really. So much damage had been done to Sheila but it did even more damage to Lauren (who went from being fairly strong to a weak idiot) & was another huge sign that pre-Baldwin/Fisher Lauren no longer existed. If they had any intent on writing her as a realistic character...maybe. But that's the thing if she were written as a realistic character she would never have had any reason to be back in GC in the first place.

Sheila's 05 return was horrible & Cricket being involved wouldn't have saved it. That entire "story" regressed Sheila into a cartoon character. She went from being a legit character to a Stefano Dimera/James Stenbeck/Carlo Hesser clone. Backstage drama.

Very much. She was an definite show eater but she has so much history with so many characters that it was a shame to lose her. Especially in Daytime's current climate where formally annoying characters (Traci) become much more tolerable. Hated it. Case & Diamont shared a TON of chemistry but their one night stand was used as an excuse to justify the horribleness that is Nick & Giggly.

Heather was pretty much angry that Victoria was being backburnered. Y&R wanted to cut her money & airtime (while subsequently elevating Morrow & Case). She balked, Y&R wouldn't budge, so she walked.

Yep. Yep. Once she first left (extremely early in the year) she was then only returned for ONE DAY in the summer then she briefly returned again for Ryan's funeral then wasn't seen again until spring of THE NEXT year.

She was done even before that. It was during that time that she took not one but TWO extended maternity leaves. The kind of maternity leave that would've gotten other actresses on any other soap fired. Misogyny. A long ugly story.

Lauralee was done with Y&R long before Bill died.

They care but again in this economy none of them are gonna risk it. Sony definitely cares. They weren't amused by the falling ratings at all. Yep.

Definitely.

A lot. She was very hands on including casting (TED SHACKELFORD) & rewriting scripts. LML firing was Sony & The Bells. Falling ratings is really what got LML fired. The creative blackhole Y&R became during her tenure, almost total dissatisfaction from the actors & major Bell disapproval were just the proverbial icing on the cake. MTS & Jeanne may not be best friends like Jeanne & Jess but they have MUCH respect for each other. And again EVERYBODY loves Jeanne.

Nope. Yeaggy.

That's the thing. Between Smith, Latham & Maria/Hogan so much damage has been done it's near impossible to replace ANY character without doing YEARS of damage first. Exactly. Maura was stunt cast. The horrible treatment during her Y&R stint was a given (especially since they didn't want her in any real capacity beyond a temporary ratings boost) It's been that way for YEARS. NOBODY cared about Y&R outside of its own longtime fans & the only reason so many "care" about the show now is because it will likely be the last soap standing. For YEARS Y&R had a quality show with quality actors now it's being driven into the ground with unnecessary stunt casts, quick fixes, constant backstage drama, inane retcons, terrible writing & lazy production.

It was Vicki's idea but the characters involved was Bill's decision. There was no drama there. They were both very professional. Surprisingly Heather's not snobby. She's assertive, professional & knows she's talented but she's not really into popularity contests either. Another one of the reasons Brenda had issues with MTS.

Falling ratings. Y&R/Sony was ready to lose Jess, Kristoff & Eric (amongst others) so MTS was nothing special in terms of contract negotiations. She was wild (in her own way) in the 80's & she got worse over time. She's a Bell in-law. Nobody's gonna risk blaming her (especially in this economy),

She's hot/cold a lot of the time. So how she treats people often depends on the day. They didn't. Vicki (for the most part) was too busy & had no interest in participating in popularity contests whereas MTS mainly (outside of Heather Tom & occasionally Braeden & Morrow) kept to herself.

It's because the actors respected (and in a lot of cases LOVED) Bill. And Bill returned that respect & love.

Both. But mainly when Brenda returned she was very unhappy about no longer Bill's primary heroine (though she hadn't been even prior to her first stint) but it got progressively worse the more Bill fell in love with MTS (amongst other stuff) & MTS (who can be bitchy herself at times) responded with a similar aloofness toward Brenda.

Yep. And they broke up cause of Lauren (the reason Lauren & Gina didn't get along for a LONG time). A lot of it has to do with who the characters were then vs. who they are now. Besides Paul (and VERY rarely Scotty) Lauren has been reduced to a Michael/Baldwin-Fisher appendage. The same thing happened with Jack after Terry left, Bergman arrived, Jack morphed into Aunt Jack & became reinvolved with Giggly Heffa . Exactly. Liz Hendrickson (for all her faults) proved (at least early on during in her Y&R tenure) to be a strong enough actress that she didn't need the OOC & unnecessary crutch of being made Katie. Tricia Cast didn't need forced relationships to be vital & relevant to Y&R's canvas (and bad writing aside) 25 years later she's STILL there. At best you might get a handful. But Brenda & MTS did NOT get along. At all.

She was semi redeemed. Kind of the way Chloe was treated after the Cane & Billy stuff but before the Kevin debacle. Neil's death made Lauren grow up a LOT. Prior to that (even post-Shawn) she was still very bitchy & self obsessed. They were hot together. But then Lester had chemistry with everyone & Bregman (back then) was total sex. There's a good reason for that.

They were & that's exactly what happened. Eileen left & so did most of Victor/Ashley's chemistry. Brenda's Ashley (with her softer style) actually went better (at the time) with Diamont's Brad. Actually they were. It wasn't until SpermGate that Eileen's Ashley became Grambo's permanent lapdog. And even then (despite all the damage done to Eileen's Ashley) they (much like with Victor/Hope) still managed to maintain a strong relationship (mainly due to the chemistry between EB/ED) while playing second to Victor/Nikki. Sheila was the second part of Lauren's redemption. Shawn was the first.

Everyone loves Jeanne. EVERYONE.

Not until toward the end. She spent most of that time fighting with Ashley.

Kimberlin is NOTHING like Sheila. She's very sweet. She & Tracey were never best friends (like Lauralee & Tricia) but they got along very well.

Maybe but he was definitely brought on by Bill. Scott was younger as were his love interests. Kimberlin had backstage issues at B&B (mainly with Hunter). But she was really liked on Y&R.