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Maybe he thought 40 years later the audience wouldn't notice 🤣 I was thinking that this whole storyline is a JT redo.

This was the week of The Cosby Show's first season finale. Cliff's birthday, and Lena Horne guest starred.

I so thought there was going to be a Ashland/Diane hookup. Oh well, at least there's still the potential of a Nate/Imani hookup.

B&B's peak was Sally's arrival through the first half of 1995.

Y&R was killing it in the daytime ratings at the end of the 1980s while CBS was a mess in primetime in that same era.

@Broderick Vanessa Prentiss lasted 5 1/2 years, that's a pretty good arc for a villainess. K.T. Stevens didn't act much after Y&R but from what I've seen of her Y&R work, she had primetime soap matriarch energy. She was written off Y&R just when primetime soaps were taking off but for whatever reason a regular primetime soap role for her wasn't meant to be. Speaking of Golden Age Hollywood actresses, was the casting of Dorothy McGuire as Cora Miller considered a big get for Y&R?

Thanks @FrenchFan Y&R getting close to Paul and Nikki's introductions.

One nomination, Younger Actress in 1988.

Slight correction. Three of the Brooks sisters were originals: Jaime Lyn Bauer (Lorie), Trish Stewart (Chris), Pamela Peters (Peggy). Victoria Mallory (Leslie) was the recast. Janice Lynde (original Leslie) was on One Life to Live in 1984.

I think Victor got more "corporate" when Ed Scott took over as EP. The Newman Enterprises office set that we know today was set up and Victor dressed mostly in suits. During the H. Wesley Kenney years the horse rancher outfits dropped somewhat and Victor dressed more in sweaters and dress clothes, and suits became more frequent. Victor's introduction in February 1980 was around the time Dallas was blowing up in popularity (JR got shot a month later). Yes, Y&R had wealthy businessmen before Victor (Phillip Chancellor II and Lance Prentiss) and Wisconsin has horse ranches, plus EB appeared in westerns before Y&R, but the Dallas influence was evident: wealthy businessman introduced as the new villain that lives on a horse ranch, has a long-suffering much younger wife, and dresses like a horse rancher. Bill Bell might have based the Newman ranch on a horse ranch near his vacation home in Lake Geneva and been familiar w/ EB's work in westerns, or perhaps CBS Daytime wanted to cash in on the Dallas craze (a year later Guiding Light introduced the Lewis family from Oklahoma that owned an oil company). Here's a bizarre coincidence: the Dallas episode that aired Friday February 8, 1980 (the same date as Victor's first episode) was the first time Dallas hit #1 in the weekly ratings.

I remember this scene was shown in a flashback in 2009 or 2010 (maybe to time in w/ EB's 30th anniversary). Victor (who back then dressed more like a horse rancher than a businessman) and Katherine in the Chancellor Estate living room where they went over a contract that would put Victor in charge of Chancellor Industries. Katherine is more suited to a messy wealthy matriarch/grand dame than Kay is.

@yrfan1983 This is when Leslie becomes pregnant with Brooks. Was Casey originally intended to be a Chris Brooks replacement character?

Noah/Allie, like Reed/Mattie before them, are trying to channel the OG Billy and Mac story.

Victor was a blank canvas of a character. All we knew about Victor was that he was a wealthy businessman that lived on a horse ranch and was married to the long suffering much younger Julia. He had no family ties or other connection to anyone in Genoa City. I believe it was rewritten years later that Katherine brought Victor to Genoa City to run Chancellor Industries but I don't think Victor and Katherine met onscreen until sometime in 1981.

When wealthy businessman Victor was introduced as the new villain, he was initially drawn to Lorie, the vixen daughter of the main upper class family. Did you sense there was actual love between Victor and Lorie, or were they more of a set up for a 1980s high society power couple? Among Victor's 1980s love interests as written by Bill Bell, I put Lorie in the "got away" category. I think Victor had some degree of affection for Lorie, but I don't think he had genuine love for her in the way he had love for Nikki and Ashley in that decade. Also Bill Bell writing Victor's 1980s character arc from villain to anti-hero/romantic leading man with the backstory of his painful childhood may have had an element from literature: Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights, the brooding anti-hero abandoned as a child. We've discussed before Bill Bell using elements from literature (Le Morte d'Arthur) and film (My Fair Lady), and biblical allusions in past characters/storylines, so this might be another one to add to the list.

Victor interacted with Dennis Cole's Lance during the Prentiss Industries takeover though.

John McCook leaving really derailed the Four Ls quad. Dennis Cole was not a very good actor and I could not take his Lance seriously as a rival for Victor. Would JM's Lance have been viable as a rival for Victor? No scenes have surfaced of JM as Lance opposite EB.

@Broderick Thanks for the article. Some good stuff there. John McCook left Y&R to try prime time but wasn't very successful. He guest starred on Love Boat, Dynasty, Hotel and was part of the main cast of a short-lived NBC action series Code Name: Foxfire, but eventually returned to daytime w/ B&B. I didn't know Cindy Fisher had a role on Y&R before the cult storyline, so three short-term characters for her. Did that columnist cover EB's casting/Victor's introduction?

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@Faulkner Hahaha. Who would've thought Harry Styles would have the most success of the One Direction guys?

I'm getting an early 1980s vibe from this.

It's only a matter of time before Ashland/Diane hook up and Nate/Imani hook up.

@FrenchFan Thank you for starting 1978. Some good stuff coming up on Y&R. The four Ls quad reaches its peak, and the arrivals of Casey, Nikki, Paul.

Y&R: 10% good, 90% garbage time