Y&R: Week of November 17, 2008

[JackPeyton]

the writing is on the wall for a colleen recast or written out all together. she had no family scenes, wasnt at the funeral, etc... even just sitting there reacting as others were.

did she even have a scene with her mother?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

God, the expression of Nikki's face when Jill told her that she had a miserable life was priceless. LOL!

[Toups]

Yes it was! Someone has to make a screencap! LOL

[Heyou]

Don't get my hopes up here. The whole time since Tammin came aboard she's barely had any interaction with her family, strange isn't it? I hope they are in the process of a recast since she's not been seen since Halloween in her witchy costume. If she's not seen next week (which is only 3 days of new episodes), she will not have been seen for a month.

You'd think that as important as having all of the Abbott's present in the last week (especially Dina) that she would have at least been inserted into one scene.

[JackPeyton]

Well up until recently the abbots were not much of a family.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Here you go.

[y&r_fan]

Are you trying to scare me?

[Heyou]

Yes, I realize that but LML seemed to love DD (Brad) and she did have some episodes with him and Jack but they were few and far between compared to the two previous ones.

These last two weeks of episodes have been absolutely wonderful. Did anyone else notice the look on Billy's face when it was announced that Esther got Kay's interest in the mansion?

[AMCHistory]

I loved the scenes of Nikki closing the door of Chancellor Mansion as if it was her las time. It was classic soap.

[Toups]

Thanks for the screenshot, Alvin. I hope we continue to see more of Jill vs Nikki.

[DaytimeFan]

Bwahahahaha...what a perfect facial expression, not a drop of Botox in that face...methinks Nikki's life is about to go from bad to worse, much much worse. Can't wait!

I am in love with Ruthless Bitch Jill Abbott...thank you dear lord that she has finally been rediscovered!

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I know, sometimes I think I'm pathetic for noticing all the production changes and use of past history on the show. LOL!

That's what I hated most about Latham. She took away all the little nuances that were apart of the show from its inception. To the casual viewer and those who became Y&R viewers during her tenure, it was no big deal. But for those of us who watched for years, those little things like music, directing, history references, and family meetings added to the show's uniqueness. When it was stripped, Y&R no longer stood out. I'm glad the show is getting more in tuned with its root. I personally don't care if people don't want the Y&R of yesteryear, the show feels more like "home" again to me than it's felt in a long time.

Maybe if Latham didn't strip the show of its nuances abruptly, the transition would've been easier to handle. But the changes were so rapid that I never got used to them. I also hated the conversations between characters where they would mention stuff that never happened. Needless to say, I'm glad she's gone, even if the ratings fell after she left. I don't need ratings to prove to me just how good a show is.

[JackPeyton]

Jill, Nikki, Lauren, Traci, Nina ... this week has been wonderful as a fan of all of them.

[boldfan01]

Yes, that was typical Liz. I especially liked the way she would always call Jill "Daughter" in that stern tone of voice, to let Jill know she wouldn't but up with any crap from her. They kind of harkened back to that at the funeral, where she called Jill "daughter" instead of by her name - although given the mood, it was much softer for the somber occasion.

And that's especially true when you think about how fluid the time lines on soaps need to be. Throwing in topical references leaves a mark in the story that often breaks the illusion that's needed to SORAS a child to a teenager, or to make it seem like more years have passed than a show is on the air. And since soaps depend so much on that history and continuity, is it really worth it to throw in a joke or a pop culture reference that might, years later, have people spending more time figuring out what happened when than they are enjoying the actual stories?

[boldfan01]

Bond Gideon's short tenure as Jill was in 1980. Nikki had been introduced two years earlier, when Erika Hope had the role, with Melody Thomas taking over in 1979.

As far as the bridge went, Jill and Katherine were the real bridge characters; Jill was there from the beginning and Katherine came a bit later during the show's first year on the air, and they both carried over to the "new" Y&R in 1982. The rest, like Steve Frame said, were characters who were introduced with ties to the Brooks and Foster clans that Bill Bell was able to expand on to build his new core structure. Nikki was sister to Casey, who worked with Snapper at the hospital, and Snapper's brother Greg was Nikki's first husband. Victor was brought to town by Katherine, which connected him with Jill, and he also was tied directly to Jill when his wife Julia modeled for Jabot. Paul was tied to Nikki, who already had ties to the Fosters, plus he had a tie of his own because Chris Brooks Foster was April Stevens' neighbor and befriended single mother April. Paul's family was introduced during the cult story and his brother Steve was later engaged to Peggy Brooks. John and Jack Abbott came on when Jill got her job at Jabot. So by the time Bill Bell thought he had to write most of the Brooks and Fosters off, he had a pool of characters he could build on to put them in place of his former core characters.