Manny

I agree with @CMS regarding the Mason recasts. Neither of them were Mason to me. Terry Lester was even physically different than Lane, and I just couldn't get into his interpretation. And then with Gordon, I just never enjoyed his acting style. I didn't like him as AJ Deschanel on SuBe either. I never saw Lester as Jack Abbott, which I am sure was a great role for him, but I just did not enjoy him as Mason. I also agree about Kelly. I adored Robin Wright and I still follow Robin's projects today due to the fact I loved her as Kelly Capwell so much. When she left and we got Kimberly McArthur, it was such a disappointment. And then Carrington won me over almost instantly when I saw those first scenes of her in Paris. She was awesome. Only to be followed up by Eileen, who at that time was new to me and I just hated her in the role, but have since learned to appreciate (and adore) as Ashley on Y&R. But Kelly Capwell she was not.

Thanks for the info, Jason!!

Have they started releasing the episodes in order or are they still skipping? I would consider watching if there was no skipping of episodes.

I don't know if this already exists in the USA, but I am in Europe and my Amazon Prime just added first 11 seasons of B&B, but only as "buy" option, either per episode or per season. I am surprised this was added. I have never ever seen any soaps on the streaming services here. Let alone that you have to pay additionally. One episode is 2.49 USD and it is almost 35 USD for the entire season.

Well I certainly hope they have either been looking for his replacement already or if they only started now, they will take their time. Otherwise, based on everything all of you have written, you might have again the SSM scenario, where a writer is hired in haste and they are not given time to come up with their stories.

.

Agreed, they should bring some young Newmans and Abbotts, but I would also bring in new characters and families. And yes, they should just merge Newman and Abbott and just have one company, forget Chancellor and all the other conglomerates that these characters operate from Genoa City :P Oh most definitely, soaps used to have small budgets and they made it work better than they do today. My guess is that in the past, a bigger percentage of the budget went into actual production, while I think today a lot of is spent for salaries and rent and different licences. Which is why I think Y&R is suffering, having so many veteran actors still on the forefront. Out of curiosity, I went to calculate average character duration for all the 4 long-running soaps today. I took into consideration the year of character debut (for characters born on screen, I took a year when they were SORASed into teens). Some of them might have gone away and come back, so maybe the character wasnt on screen all those years, but I didn't go into that much detail. So... Y&R has by far the cast of characters who are there for the longest time. Their average for the entire cast in 2026 (Jan-May) is 25 years. And if you just look at top 10 characters based on appearances, it is even worse: 31 years! SHOW Average Top 10 Average Y&R 25 years 31 years B&B 18 years 18 years DAYS 19 years 19 years GH 17 years 21 years

I haven't seen Y&R in ages, but I used to call it my all time favorite soap opera. I don't know how Griffith was on Y&R (I watched his material elsewhere and some I enjoyed, some not so much). I do think bringing back Matt Clark was a horrible decision, as well as killing off Chance. And those are just two big ones I know of. However, when it comes to the day-to-day stories, I just don't see anything changing. Based on the episode counts, this should has such small guarantees for their actors. Who can even tell a story when most of your cast appears 2 times per week at max? And also the number of sets, from what I have read around here, they have no sets anymore. Also the cast is too heavy with people who have been on the show for far too long. Victor, Nikki, Jack, Nick, Sharon, Phyllis, Victoria, Lauren, Michael, even Lily, Adam and Billy are all so overplayed. Most of them have been on the show pretty much non-stop for at least 20 years, but it goes to 47 years for Nikki. I am not say we should not have these characters. We don't need this many of them and they don't need to run story year after year. Maybe they can stay but be supporting, almost recurring. Otherwise it's hard to keep things fresh. This show needs YOUNG people. It is literally in their name. I think going with some younger writer, maybe a fan of the show who is in the business, would be better. Bring some new ideas.

I haven't watched DAYS in years... but when I see a soap promo, I check it out from time to time... and this is one of the worst promos I have ever seen. Wow. Nothing interesting happened in this promo. And it's not even that I know who these people are, I do know vast majority of them. I didn't recognize maybe two people, and now I realize they are a recast Theo and a recast (undead) Lexie?!? LEXIE?! They really just bring back everyone and anyone from the dead. If they didn't just completely forget about the Hortons, I bet they would have found a way to bring back Alice Horton back. Gross.

Thank you for the article. I will always remember SuBe fondly. I am one of the European fans. The show was HUGE in my country and also in our neighboring countries. Such a shame that the US market never embraced the show.

Omg are we talking about full loving murders here? Wow, would you be so kind to share with me as well, please? :)

Yeah, I wanna say she moved in into Victor's penthouse for a while for whatever reason. I cannot remember why, I am pretty sure.. It's a shame she never popped up on another soap opera.

Haha I haven't watched Y&R in more than 10 years now, so I don't care at this point, but I have seen that he has been bringing back random villains from the past without proper story, which is sad. I LOVED Ryan and Victoria. They are one of my all time favorite couples. She did rape Victor. Omg, Tricia coming back with Victor's child! Wow! And since that was in 2001 (IIRC), this child (lets say, son) would now be in its 40s if SORAS is applied they way the normally apply it. They would turn this child into a lunatic that would kidnap Nikki to torment Victor and then finally kidnap Victor before being killed in a struggle, where Grandpa Victor overpowers a much young guy.

Oh yes! Absolutely loved that scene (and the entire story that preceded it). Tricia is one of my favorite villains of all time and Sabyn Genet played her perfectly. Shame she never came back.

The most memorable moments on US soaps for me are (random order): AMC 1994 Tornado - I absolutely adored it. It was so well done. And the stories leading into it and stories leading out of it were just amazing. SuBe Shockwave - The earthquake scene and the tidal wave hitting the boat were also just absolutely awesome. SB Eden's rape - it was just so brutal. And it was so intense. And it gave so much drama and great acting. Y&R Cassie's death - probably the most heart-breaking death scene I have seen on a soap. Y&R Matt Clark's death (or "death", since they retconned it.. ugh!) - I had no spoilers back then and I had no idea that Matt would rip out his breathing tube and put it in Nick's hand, willing to die, just to frame Nick. Amazing! I also adore Rick Hearst in the role. The City "Happy Now" messages start to appear - Jared Chase's murder kind of got me interested in The City, but seeing the "Happy Now" messages start to appear, that completely hooked me into the show. Jocelyn being bricked into the wall was just a jaw dropping moment for young me.