Y&R: Week of November 10, 2008

[Toups]

In Monday's ep:

[MTSRocks]

Just watched.

I HATE Ashley, and I hope Victor makes that loser go postal again.

I loved all the simple touches, and the added letter by Larry was truly wonderful. I loved all those old faces popping up, and being utilized well. I don't mean to take a dig at OLTL, but that's how it's done. Keep it simple, keep it in character, and don't waste an entire conversation dedicated to re-stating history to viewers. It was so simple when Nina found out about Cane, and I loved that, and her "he's no Phillip" line was CLASSIC. It actually brought a tear in my eye, hell seeing Tricia Cast was such a blast. And the woman looks BEAUTIFUL.

And how I love thee Dina. I would hate to see her be wasted on Gloria. The past regimes have always painted Gloria as a martyr and I'd hate to see Dina be shown as the evil shrew, and Gloria "poor misunderstood." Just like they did with Lauren's mother. Dina's line to Sharon was awesome. Who the hell does Sharon think she is? That woman knows HER home.

It truly was a nostalgic episode. However, when God forbid that JC truly passes away and Katherine does die "for real," I think the mood will be much somber, and darker, filled with many glorious flashbacks.

Oh and fantastic music played in the opening monologue.

ETA: Delta I love your idea of Nina/Phyllis colliding. Nina could battle the BEST of them, and not break a sweat. Plus, I'm sure it would be hate by association, since Christine was her best friend. BTW I can't believe Lauralee once again opted not to come back, she truly is done with Y&R. I think a Nina/Cricket reunion would've been wonderful.

[y&r_fan]

If Susan Walters is busy then yes, that's exactly what they should do.

PS. I have to comment on Nina's line on Friday, "he's no Phillip". That was completely out of line. Nina doesn't know Cane and he was just as much a victim in the baby switch as Nina. I don't remember Nina ever being such a snob.

[Chris B]

It was amazing how well Dina and Nina both slipped back into the canvas. Tricia Cast is still vibrant and has great chemistry with everyone she interacts with. I'd definitely bring her and Phillip back and see what happens. She could work at Restless Style however long that lasts and they could romantically pair her with whoever. I'd love to see a confrontation with Victoria before she leaves. As for Dina, she'd have fill out the family with John dead. It would be a new dynamic and they could stop relying on Ghost!John. He's dead. Accept it and move on.

Fridays episode was really fantastic. I loved all the returns and the fact that it wasn't your typical soap funeral. They did it in a grand style fitting of a classic soap diva like Katherine Chancellor. It truly felt like a Y&R throwback. The ending was classic Bell with Ashley (who looked gorgeous) sitting by herself....until Victor arrived! MTS and JW are killing it and everyone looks grand. Not just the writing has improved, but every aspect that was destroyed by LML has been revitalized. I'd love to have her watch and hear her thoughts.

One thing I hope happens everyday until I die is that Nick and Sharon have a close moment followed by Phyllis flashing back to the kiss in Paris. It cracked me up so much at the funeral! Watching her squirm is going to be hilarious. It's like asking Dru to keep a secret. Poor thing.

[DaytimeFan]

I ask this without malice: did you watch Y&R when the original Phillip (Thom Bierdz) was around?

If you did I'm surprised you misunderstood what Nina meant. The line "He's no Phillip" was not snobby or even meant to be negative towards Cane as a person. Rather, Nina said "He's no Phillip" because she loved, married and lost Phillip. It was a line that conveyed Nina's love for Phillip and the memories they shared and how much she missed him, not some sort of contempt for Cane.

The show has just been magnificent. Watching Phyllis squirm with rage is delightful, Michelle Stafford must be having a ball!

And I think Dina is absolutely needed with the Abbotts, she's like John, except nobody likes her! Amazing.

But as I keep saying...wait till Monday!

[sheilaforever]

So true, I nearly fell off my chair while reading this...

As Barbie Bloom likes to hear: and we’re still #1!

This week has been really great - as evident by the fact that I took some overdue catch-up hours to be finally up to date.

First I didn't like the Paris remote, then I loved it with Phyllis having the fashion shoot. Ashley's ludicrous waltzing around Paris to find Victor (nearly 10 million people live in the greater area and she intends to find the Moustache all by herself!? ) turned into a wonderful reunion, although the sex creeped me out. Nick & Sharon had their own reunion which Phyllis witnessed was filmed wonderfully. Surprisingly enough Noah & Eden were the most pleasant surprise about Paris; I liked their field trip and everything connected to it. More than the veteran cast being actually in Paris.

But now to the real event: Mike Denney's directing post Kay's accident was fabulous. Katherine's bloody hand was extremely scary. As was Nikki and Jill finally finding her. Loved seeing Chloe comforting Esther - what a great dynamic and possibility to properly include Esther in all of this. Also loved how everyone learned and reacted to Kay's death. The whole cast amped it up but the most touching moment belonged to Jack and John. Too bad it had to be GhostJohn (Thanks LML! ) but Peter Bergman and Jerry Douglas really made this scene work, it was great.

Lily meanwhile is new Cricket. And I say this as a later Lauralee Bell/Christine-fan. But Lily is the most annoying thing ever since Cricket was thrown into every single story in the 1980s... Lily had absolutely no place to be at the Chancellors when everyone Chancellor assembled at the mansion. The writing was unfortunate but so was the acting of Christel Khalil.

I also had to realize that Cane is still thin air to me and it's due to the actor. Whereas NuBilly who's been there basically five seconds and shared even lesser scenes with Kay made me really feel his pain and I could see the historic connection he had to Kay, Cane was written very much in pain and crushed about the news but I didn't care. I still don't accept Cane as the Chancellor heir and moreso Daniel Goddard in this role.

Therefore all the force to rejoice about Tricia Cast's return: Cane ain't no Phillip. Thank god for Nina!

...and Dina!

Once more, it was great a week with so many actors and actresses shining. Y&R at it's finest, who'd thought they could still pull it off and such flawless manner!?

Chapeau to cast & crew!

[VictorJrAngelBoy]

Okay the week overall was excellent.

And Victor gave me chills when he walked in. I LOVED how everyone was staring at him. Did you guys see Jack's face? The guy is PISSED. I about spit out my coffee as I watching it.

Nikki...I love you and everything but the overdramatizing really needs to quit. I'm not a huge Jill fan but I like her sometimes and I think she's absolutely 100% right in this situation. Yes I understand that Nikki feels close to Katherine but from where I'm standing Nikki is really overdoing it. If I were in Jill's position I'd feel the exact same way.

And while I like Nikki I'm glad that Ashley is with Victor for now. I loved how Ashley basically told her to mind her own business. She's absolutely right. Nikkie sent Ashley to Victor so why in the world is she trying to be all nosy?

Last but not least why is everyone assuming that Phyllis is hiding some type of inner rage/monster that is just fighting to get out? I think that's wishful thinking. The Phyllis I saw looks hurt about the kiss she saw. She's probably very worried about what it means and how it will affect her husband and her marriage. However I've seen nothing to suggest that Phyllis is going postal or will do something drastic. I'm not saying it couldn't happen but given what we've seen this week I"m not sure why everyone is so sure Phyllis is barely keep her "anger" in control.

And wow I had always thought Ashley was John's biological daughter. I mean it doesn't really matter since it doesn't erase all the love they have for one another but still it kinda hurts.

Now I hate Dina.

I can't wait to see Victor's interactions next week. I'm sure Nikki plans on passing out this Monday. Such a drama queen...

[MarkH]

Textbook definition of a perfect soap moment.

Did you see her TOTALLY RIP UP the tack house? And then HIDE it before Nick got home? And since try to overwhelm him with sex?

Girl's got problems. And I love it.

[a2sassy]

Hell yeah Phyllis is sitting on her anger. First she rips Jack to shreds for even coming to her with his suspicions and as soon as he leaves, she starts to loose it! That's not a "sad" woman, that's a woman who is pissed the hell off!

[shadow]

Uh Victor walking into a room and everyone takingnotice is a perfect soap moment done ad nauseum, so is the dead but not really dead story, which was done a couple of monrths ago

The stellar acting is the only thing saving these recycled, redone stories. Still not impressed with MAB or HS, and it seems I aint the only one

[a2sassy]

IMO, the difference with this presumed dead story is that someone is really dead. No one knew Kay was helping Marge so they have NO reason to question if the woman who looks JUST LIKE KATHERINE is really her or not.

And as for Victor coming in and everyone staring and mumuring is CLASSIC Victor Newman. It's so in character for him to do something like that, even if it was to upstage Kay's funeral.

[S&BFanForLife]

Friday's episode was FANTASTIC. I loved the build-up to Victor walking in. Classic stuff.

Jess Walton is

[BadZoe]

People morn death very differently. My family is exactly like Nikki when we lose close friends and relatives, we blubber away uncontrollably. It is not done for attention, just a different way of expressing sadness than keeping it bottled up inside. I think Jill is just upset at Nikki because Katherine was always more of a mother to Nikki than she was to Jill.

I also don't see Ashley's bitchy attitude as justified at all. Nikki's the one who had to beg her to find Victor, she didn't set out on her own. She could have left it as, "He's alive and alright, now you can move on."

[Dan]

I've always thought that recycling stories was never a problem per se. They just need to do it well. And they are IMO.

After all, most every type of soap "story" has been done before in the past 72 years of soapdom.

Edit: Not to mention that, unlike "Chuckie P's" (Thanks Marlena!) AMC tornado for his sweeps (sorry for bringing another show into this but I couldn't resist), Y&R has been rocked by a tempest of character. Characters actually acting as they should, not to mention how real people ACTUALLY ACT. I can TOTALLY understand Phyllis' anger, Nick and Sharon's love, Jill's resentfulness of Nikki and her regrets about Katherine, Ashley's love for Victor, Victor's mourning Sabrina (even if I hated her), Adam's drive to get back at a family that never accepted him, Jack's blinding need for revenge against the man who constantly overshadows him, Noah acting out against parents who constantly keep him in check because of their fear for losing another child. This ability to relate to the characters (more than any nostalgia trip) is classic soap and it what is truly breathing life back into this show. And it's the actors and also MAB who is doing this with writing that may not be the most unique we have ever seen, but is deeply rooted in what makes these characters tick. I'd much rather see that than some "new" storyline that does not fit into a show or its cast of characters (that's partly how my fave show GL got off the rails).

After all, as Jean Rouverol wrote in her book about writing for soaps, if we cannot relate to the characters as people, we may as well be watching shadow puppets on a cave wall.

[y&r_fan]

No, I didn't watch when Thom Bierdz was on the show (although I have seen clips).

I get what you're saying, but I still can't help but find that line a little snobby.