DeeeDee

The main problem was the plastic surgery. It wasn't that he had it so much as HOW it badly the surgery make up was done. Plus that part of the story (while entertaining) was rushed & unfortunately didn't allow Corbett to really shine. Not anymore

Who Shot Jill was fun cause Brenda was at her Love To Hate peak. Nah. Sven was the right choice.

Nikki never had an eating disorder. The Williams were very much a core family & had quite a bit of interaction with The Abbotts. It wasn't until Patty left that they became total supporting characters. Eve was a schemer, then psycho, then semi redeemed. She was an older version of General Hospital's Heather Webber.

Yep. Mason's Eve was a better enemy for Bennett & MTS. Julianna was way too nice (and Liz too realistic) to catfight & engage in camp. Pretty much. Y&R was like a mix of Ryan's Hope & Edge Of Night for a long time. Once the rest of Daytime became intent on being just like primetime soaps a lot of Y&R's interesting raw darkness was lost.

Neither. Eve was originally supposed to cause problems in Stuart/Liz's marriage but Bill dropped that & used her (in a wise move) to cause angst for Victor/Julia/Nikki. It all worked out cause N/V/J got several years of healthy story from it & when Bill brought her (Eve) back for Cole it helped humanize him & semi redeem her.

Definitely a mistake. But between Don getting insanely popular (in addition to Lester & Braeden) & the original Tori Spelling (LLB) the Williams never stood a chance. He never really had plans for them (except Mason). Susan was mainly used to make Lauren sympathetic (beginning her long redemption) & Patty was there to cause angst (initially) for Danny. She (Patty) a fair bit of story (as a supporting character) but was basically thrown under the bus for Giggly Heffa.

Not really. The cast size wasn't an issue. Plus by the time the new Leads became full Leads most of the old Leads were gone.

It should be. Y&R still would've been successful (Bill was just THAT good a writer) but the change definitely helped. It made him push himself instead of resting on his laurels & a lot of the new hires (Stern, Douglas, Ford, Bregman, Maitland, Hadley, Lester, Braeden, MTS, Donnelly, both Davidsons) were BANK from Day 1.

That was early 89.

Some of MTS best work & she really should've won an Emmy for it. Especially since she got to do everything lying (to Victor), scheming (with Jack & Casey), buying her own casket, facing her own mortality. It was a lot of fun. It was fine. Bill loved Beth personally but he struggled with Traci after she & Brad were married. He really liked the character but he was very hesitant to compromise her integrity. Plus Bill was lucky in that Don had chemistry with EVERYONE especially his other leading ladies (Eileen, Tracey, Nina, Brenda) as much as he did with Beth which actually worked for both characters.

Nikki spent most of her time being a mother (in between flirting with Jack & fighting with Victor).

It was perfunctory at best.

A few days & boring.

Indeed.

Indeed!

Cause Y&R HATES a strong Victoria.

They were sexy (especially with Ligon's dry humor). She bounced between he & Brock while he he did the same between she & Leslie. She ended things when he couldn't committ though. Hauser an awesome character actor but cool & ambitious Greg became a snarling douchebag overnight. It was ridiculous.

Judy. She & Derek were Gloria & Jeff with less bug eyes.

Y&R could've easily asked Lynne back for the wedding (especially since she had only left a couple of years prior) but they asked Trish.

John never hurt for work before or after Y&R. The same thing that happened to Leslie (post Janice) was the same thing that happened to Chris (only more drastic) once Trish left. Chris was Y&R's original Mary Sue however once Trish left Y&R relegated Chris to T & A (via Lynne) until Trish returned years later.

Jamie & John weren't happy about it nor was Brenda.

Janice (like a lot of her co stars) was ready to go. The sad thing is that even though JLB eventually became more popular Bill still loved writing for both characters. Mallory (though a solid actress) was never a Lead. She couldn't recreate the magic nor the synergy Bill had with Janice (nor did Brenda & Jeanne's growing popularity help) & thus was relegated further to secondary stories. Which in essence wasn't really a bad thing since she & Leslie still had fairly healthy airtime.

It was very slow. Originally she was the co lead (with Trish Stewart) but by the time she & Jamie Bauer's rivalry became popular they (along with Brenda) were Y&R's de facto female stars. Bill loved both characters but once McCook/Bauer were paired & subsquently became extremely popular Janice's Leslie went from competition for Lead Heroine to permanent secondary Heroine until she left.

Everyone loves Julianna. Everyone.