Y&R Discussion: Week of February 19th

[operagirl1]

Kevin and Colleen???? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I don't have a problem with Kevin leaving the dark side and Colleen forgiving him. But sex? He still TRIED TO KILL HER. This soap trend of forgiving and then having sex with your stalker/rapist, etc. is sickening and very demeaning to women. And to trade the real sexual chemistry of Colleen & Adrian for. . . Kevin? Who wants to watch? Ick.

[SteveFrame]

Drew, it is just a simple request with this. No one is asking anyone to agree with everyone's opinions - just to respect them. There is absolutely no reason that anyone's opinions should be made fun of. And that is all those type of responses are doing. A person does not have to agree with what a person is saying and they can express that. But there is no reason for anyone's opinion to be called absurd or for it to be laughed at - whether this is a messageboard or not.

This is something that we can all do - from the person who is doing the offending to the person who is being offended.

A few weeks ago when we had a discussion in one of the threads that Greg (Juniorz) started about posts being closed, this was one of the things brought up many times. I just don't see it a big deal to respond to a person with words, and words that do not ridicule the person or their opinion.

[SteveFrame]

I agree with all you say except for Colleen and Adrian. I am not too big on them yet. I am too crazy about her with JT right now either but still not sure about her and Adrian. But definitely not her and Kevin for all the reasons you mentioned.

[Josh]

So something just occured to me:

If Stephanie Forrester and Katherine share a history, then why doesn't Katherine pick up a phone and call Stephanie and by like, hey, what's up with this girl Amber Moore who has attached herself to my hip AKA pocketbook?

[sheilaforever]

This would definitely be too much logic for Y&R. And keep in mind that Kay AND Jill have been dumbed to stupid schoolgirls...

Another wonderful achievement by the writing department that left me beyond impressed: The Czech government officials talking to their boss, the minister, in ENGLISH. WTF!? I'd say that native speakers still speak their native language while talking to each other. The last time I checked Czechs speak Czech. But I guess I'm wrong...

[Josh]

OH and I forgot to add:

Cane is hot!!! LOL

And...this is our precious Alison recast?? Seriously?? I attempted to defend the storyline when I first heard about it, but OMG!! Seriously...OYE!!! This is just bad and full of shame...

[DeeeDee]

In just short of a year & a half, LML has totally ruined this show.

[kjazz]

^^^^^

Word. Considering all the build-up for the requilery storyline, Katherine and Jill and their storyline, and finally who actually killed Carmen Mesta and what you have is a great letdown with all of these storylines and a soap that is only a shell of its' former self.

It is like what Eileen Davidson said in an interview as she was leaving the show. She said the show is, "an whole new animal." Who knows how much worse this "whole new animal" has truly become behind the scenes with LML running the show into the ground.

[Chris B]

I don't think Latham has ruined the show. She's done an amazing job of getting in ratings and reviving the show and getting lots of attention in the press. Yes, some negative, but people are tuning in. Look at Anna Nicole, the entertainment shows are getting record ratings and Howard Stern is earning millions for interviews.

Latham has great ideas for stories, about a faster pace, better dialogue and some good character ideas, but her Y&R fails over the long term. For Carmen's story she made a big deal about how she had everything mapped out from beginning to end. This tells me she doesn't do this for other stories and it shows. If she mapped her stories out and RESEARCHED them to see how to execute them, she'd be brilliant.

So, in the short term I do think she creates interesting episodes, but it could be a million times better which is so irritating. Ultimately I don't think she's right for Y&R unless they get her a good co-headwriter to balance things. Latham is a mixed bag, but certainly not a total failure.

Y&R needs to keep searching for the perfect Bill Bell replacement, but with the ratings and newly positive comments from critics, Latham will be here for a while.

[DeeeDee]

But just cause viewers watch doesn't necessarily make it good.

...Look at NBC/ABC.

Just about every major story she's done has been a rehash.

And the rehashes were done better. Much better.

There's a difference between fast & frentic.

Fast is the sign of a good story moving from one logical conclusion to another.

Frentic is a slapdash story flailing about due to lack of any real cohesive structure or significant character development.

Latham? Is all about The Frentic.

This is the one area where she does pretty good at.

But given that she doesn't know the characters it falls flat. Really flat.

Phelia "Quip Master" Carter? Nikki "Flesh & Blood" Newman? Neil "Loved You At First Sight" Winters?

Her ideas are ok but they don't fit the characters she wants to utilize them for.

So she proceeds to stretch them totally out of shape and/or make them act wildly OOC in order to facilitate the plot (which itself is usually a mess).

She doesn't have a vision cause she doesn't know and/or care about the show.

As bad as Alden was (and she was), she at least knew the show & could (at times) do interesting things with various characters that didn't always depend on plot contrived occurances.

The same can't be said for LML.

LML is the female Guza.

She utilizes a frentic pace & incredibly slapdash writing to create "moments" that don't amount to anything but gratuitous sweeps stunts, an abundance of ruined characters & a show that's gone from occasionally boring to nearly unwatchable.

[Chris B]

Yes. but in order to see such huge ratings increases (which just keep going up and maintaining), people must be enjoying what they watch. If they weren't Y&R would be in a ratings freefall like most of the other soaps. I'm also not crazy about Guza at GH, but now the ratings are up a million and they will definitely overtake B&B. I can very easily see how lapsed and new viewers could be pulled into a Latham episode and love it.

I agree, this is her biggest problem. A great example is Jack and Gloria and how their writing shifts for the storyline.

I agree, she was good at faking it, but now I see this very clearly. Like this Jill and Katherine story which could show she respects the history, but it doesn't. She couldn't even get the basic facts like Phillip's age and Nina and Phillip IV. She'll give a Mamie mention or something, but I'm not fooled. How hard is it to research when you can ask any question on a soap message board and find your answer?

I haven't thought of that, but you are correct! GH and Y&R could both be so much better if the writers tried a little bit more and if they cared about history.

[DeeeDee]

Or folk could just be watchin out of habit.

And given that way that Y&R's always skewed that's a definite possibility.

Not really. Cause the difference between Y&R and other soaps is that Y&R is/was #1.

It wasn't strugglin to maintain/retain an audience like the other soaps.

And there's almost always a ratings increase with new writing regimes.

The real test will be whether or not can LML maintain that audience.

[Chris B]

I completely disagree. Y&R may have been #1 (thanks to a large lead in), but if you look at the ratings archives you will see the ratings were dropping and dropping over the years. They needed a change and I think Latham has proved she can maintain the ratings since they've been rising since she arrived a year ago.

And in todays ratings age, just because a new regime joins doesn't mean the ratings get a boost. Look at the much pimped Hogan at DAYS, it's not doing anything. If people didn't think it was good they wouldn't stick around. Why watch out of habit a show they've just begun watching? Or why would lapsed viewers stick around if they thought it was crap? If they had stopped watching, surely they won't watch a bad show out of habit.

[DeeeDee]

But that's not an isolated occurance.

Ratings have dropped for every soap.

Y&R needed fresher stories & possibly a few new characters.

But just about every (if not all) of LML's "changes" have been disasters.

Hogan's a bit different tho.

He's had to helm a rapidly sinkin ship that's barely stayin afloat (for a myriad of reasons), he's also had to contend with the mess JERk left as well as implementing his own ideas in order to try to woo back some of the audience that JERk ran off.

Hope. That things will get better.