kalbir

1985 uploads so far are so good. The feud and quadrangle are building up. So many stories are going to culminate in the first half of 1986, the peak of the Bill Bell/H. Wesley Kenney era. Not digging the mob princess storyline. Still can't believe Y&R went there with Whiteface Tyrone. There's even another action hero Victor rescue sequence complete with cheesy 1980s music Can't wait to see more of 1985 and hopefully the first half of 1986.

Peter Bergman mentioned in a podcast that Y&R tested six actors for Jack before he was cast. I know two of them were Mark Pinter and Jeff Trachta, and a third may have been Jon Lindstrom. Any ideas of who the other three were?

IIRC, Christine got into the Newman orbit around Summer/Fall 1995 when Nick was accused of shooting Matt Clark. After Nick's trial, I seem to remember Victor hiring Christine for the Newman Enterprises legal department. I still can't believe Bill Bell would allude to a potential Victor/Christine pairing in 1996 🤮

Mid-1990s Nikki was so snooty lady of the manor. I remember the Nikki/Christine confrontation. It was before the shooting. Nikki witnessed Victor comforting Christine over Christine's broken engagement to Paul and then Nikki sauntered over to Legal Aid and put Christine on blast. It looked like Bill Bell was alluding to a potential Victor/Christine pairing before the shooting but thankfully that didn't happen.

@YRfan23 Agree that the mob story is way too General Hospital/Days. If the clips get into 1985, we might see Tyrone in whiteface. That would not happen today. Watched the fall 1984 clips, things are getting good. That meeting of Victor and Jack at Gina's, there were hints of the eternal feud to come. Was that their first meeting? I wonder how long Bill Bell would've kept the feud going had Terry Lester not left.

Kimberly was Bradley's version of Cricket.

The seeds are being planted for the eternal quadrangle and eternal feud. Do we dare hope that we get to see Victor and Jack's first meeting? Marc Mergeron is way too Dynasty. I think he stays on until 1988 or so.

Daytime dramas could get away with alot more stuff in the first half of the 1980s. Then AIDS happened and that changed everything.

Finished the 1983 uploads and watched what was uploaded of 1984 so far. The transition is complete and Y&R is becoming Y&R as we know it today. So from Summer 1983 to Summer 1986, Cricket showed up for summer, Christmas, Spring Break storylines. She wasn't annoying in small doses, but we all know what was to come in the later part of the decade. It was daring of Y&R and really brave of Jeanne Cooper to allow the actual facelift surgery to be shown. Katherine's facelift paved the way for reality shows like Extreme Makeover, The Swan, Dr. 90210. What in General Hospital/Days was that Caribbean remote rescue sequence complete with cheesy 1980s music? Victor started out as Bill Bell's version of J.R. Ewing and 4 years later he's an action hero! Can't believe Y&R went there and had Victor harpooned in the groin 😂 Of course little did Paul know that he would have a similar groin injury 10 years later 😂 One 1980s trend I noticed Y&R didn't jump on the bandwagon of as much was the supercouple craze. Even though Bill Bell may not have intended for it, one could say Victor/Nikki are Y&R's supercouple. Did the soap press give Victor/Nikki much hype from 1981-1984 as they gave Luke/Laura and Bo/Hope during that same time?

We hold Y&R to a higher standard than other daytime dramas, but even Bill Bell was not immune to jumping on the action/adventure bandwagon. I wonder how much of that was Bill Bell's own choice or was it CBS attempting to cash in on General Hospital's popularity. Allison was the poor man's Vanessa. Bill Bell's best Vanessa re-creation was Stephanie.

I've been enjoying 1983 clips more than the return episodes. I think Cricket's first appearance from summer 1983 is in there. It's so odd to see Terry Lester's Jack actually liking Cricket's modelling shoot, knowing what was to happen by the end of the decade. The mob story is way too General Hospital/Days. Jazz is serving up some Mr. T vibes, I wonder if CBS was trying to cash in on Mr. T's popularity. That reminds me of another Bill Bell element, the educated professional with a troublemaking sibling: Casey/Nikki, Tyrone/Jazz, Olivia/Dru, Neil/Malcolm. 1982/1983 Y&R finished 4th, becoming CBS's #1 daytime drama, with the ABC big three finishing in the top 3. 1983/1984 Y&R moved past One Life to Live to finish 3rd. Hopefully we'll get to 1984 as that's when Y&R became Y&R as we know it today.

Thanks @FrenchFan for the 1976 summaries. We're getting close to the arrival of Vanessa Prentiss. I can't wait to read more about her.

Madame Dina Mergeron's grand entrance was so Alexis Carrington Colby, right down to the black suit and matching hat with a veil.

@yrfan1983 I can't think of any summer social issue stories from the tail end of Bill Bell's run (1995-1998). Notice how almost all the summer social issue storylines from 1986-1994 involve Cricket in some way.

Between the classics, the uploads, and discussions here, we can pinpoint elements Bill Bell liked to use on his shows. Established upper class families: Brooks, Abbott, Forrester Working class families: Foster, Williams, Logan Working class single mother with a scheming social climbing daughter: Liz/Jill, Beth/Brooke, Doris/Sharon Brothers fighting over a girl: Snapper/Greg, Lance/Lucas, Jazz/Tyrone, Victor/Matt, Ridge/Thorne, Neil/Malcolm Sisters fighting over a guy: Leslie/Lorie, Donna/Katie, Ashley/Traci, Olivia/Dru Virgin heroines that are rape victims: Chris, Peggy, Caroline, Cricket Working class young woman in conflict with older wealthy woman: Jill/Katherine, Nikki/Allison, Brooke/Stephanie, Nina/Jill, Sharon/Nikki Mothers that attempt to control their son's love lives: Vanessa, Allison, Mary, Stephanie, Nikki, Jill Messy wealthy matriarchs: Jennifer, Katherine, Vanessa, Allison, Dina, JoAnna, Stephanie I think that covers most of them.

Did anyone like the police corruption/mob storyline from 1982/1983? I get that action/adventure was a big thing on daytime in the 1980s but I find that this type of story doesn't really suit Y&R, it's more of a General Hospital or Days type of story. The 1980s trend Y&R did right was the Dallas/Dynasty influence with Victor, Jabot, and the Abbotts, as that set in motion Y&R as we know it today.

Dynasty, Capitol, Santa Barbara tried to pass white actors with dark hair and tans as Middle Eastern. That would not work today.

One would think Victor would know of Jack's playboy reputation but for whatever reason it wasn't mentioned. 1980-1983 Victor knew of Jabot and the Abbotts but he wasn't placed in their orbit until 1984 and the rest is history.

Jill and Katherine were also out of each other's orbit for a while too, I think from BD's first departure until DA's Jill married John.

In the 1982 episodes Charles was in boarding school. Was Charles on screen in 1980? I wonder why Bill Bell changed the name from Charles to Cole in 1993? Maybe he felt Charles was not a 1990s soap opera name

Is it me or does The Bayou look more like a honky tonk dive bar than a strip club? I guess I have this image of strip clubs through a 2020 lens, you know, the pole, dollar bills on the stage, VIP section with bottle service Come to think of it, Bill Bell writing Victor and Nikki's story starting at a strip club may be responsible for an entire generation of hip hop artists and NBA players that love strip clubs 🤣

Taylor Swift is the 10th female solo artist to reach 6 #1s on the Billboard Hot 100. The top 10 female solo artists in terms of #1s on the Billboard Hot 100 are Mariah Carey (19), Rihanna (14), Madonna (12), Whitney Houston (11), Janet Jackson (10), Katy Perry (9), Beyoncé (7), Diana Ross (6), Paula Abdul (6), Taylor Swift (6).

I don't think anything further happened with Kevin and Ashley other than those scenes at the Newman Towers construction site and the Jabot lab. Not long after Ashley was paired with that chemist Brian but was another pairing that didn't last. There was also a scene with Jack bringing flowers to Julia but I don't think anything came of that either. I wonder if Jack knew during Julia's Jabot modelling days that Julia was married to Victor. There was a scene where Victor mentioned Jabot and John Abbott so Victor knew of the Abbotts but Victor wasn't placed in the Abbotts orbit until 1984.

I got through all the 1982 clips/episodes and now 1983 clips are up. That year had some big cast changes too: Andrea Evans as recast Patty, Tracey Bregman arrives as Lauren, Marla Adams arrives as Dina, Brenda Dickson returns as Jill. Hopefully there will be more of 1983 showing up.

There were also more action/adventure elements added, starting with the police corruption/mob storyline. That was the General Hospital influence, as they started the whole action/adventure/supercouple craze in the late 1970s/early 1980s. Even Y&R was not immune to 1980s trends but at least they didn't go ham with the whole action/adventure/supercouple craze like Days did from 1983-1990. Agree. H. Wesley Kenney's era laid the groundwork for Y&R as we know it today.