I hate to pile on the gushing. Everyone has said things more eloquently. But what an incredible episode!

As I said in another thread, this show is driven by character and what makes these characters tick shows through brilliantly. The returning castmembers seamlessly reentered the canvas. I confess that my favorite so far was not Dina or even Nina. I never saw Liz Foster before, being a fairly recent fan, but her appearance today was wonderful and her speech was very heartfelt. I truly enjoyed it.

I'm also amazing at the variety of emotions the writers evoked throughout the episode. I cried at the eulogies, I laughed at the various side comments and thoughts, I felt angry at Jeffrey for being such an ass during such a solemn moment, I felt happy at the beginning while Adam and Heather celebrated and anxious as Frank Ellis came up. I alternately felt sympathy and annoyance at Kevin for even considering taking Katherine's money. I feared what was happening to Kay. All of that tied up with a great amount of heart. It's episodes like this that prove to me that daytime still holds such relevance and power, despite declining ratings.

By the way, congratulations Kate Linder. More than almost everyone else, you made me cry like a baby.

Edited November 18, 200817 yr by Dan

By the way, congratulations Kate Linder. More than almost everyone else, you made me cry like a baby.

Kate Linder has been WORKING hard for her money, she's been so believably heartbroken. She's really, really impressed me.

^It's so in character for Ashley to pick Victor over her own family, she'll always have an unhealthy obsession with him somehow.

Yep!

Kudos to Paula Cwikly for a great breakdown. I've heard that she was a fan of Y&R for years before she got the chance to write for it, and it showed in today's episode.

Also, kudos to Paul Rauch and the set designers for the ditch by the river set where Murphy found Katherine. It's one of the most realistically built outdoor sets I've seen in daytime, at least in the past few years, and even the river looked real.

Mike Denney, so good to have him back, directed a beautiful episode.

Y&R has been embracing it's history lately, and I've never gotten the feeling that they're trying to recreate it.

Edited November 18, 200817 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Sara A. Bibel blogged about the funeral, and brought up some interesting points (with regard mostly to Friday's episode) on how different it was from traditional Y&R, but how much it worked and worked very well.

http://thebiz.fancast.com/deep_soap/

Am I The Only One Shipping Marge and Ghost John?

The Young & The Restless is daytime’s most traditional soap opera. Other shows have experimented with the form. General Hospital’s each episode= one hour in real time Metro Court explosion was a success. As The World Turns briefly attempted to speed up the pace by having characters jump from set to set in adjacent scenes. One Life to Live and All My Children have done numerous special themed episodes. Y&R’s motto has always been don’t mess with success. Lynn Latham’s “innovations” of characters all talking on their cell phones at once and having characters discuss made-up “memories” that never happened on the show did not toy with the show’s structure. Even the “Who Killed Carmen” episode was structured so that Carmen’s multiple murder scenarios were all dramatizations of speculative conversations. That’s why I was so shocked that Friday’s episode of Y&R opened with Marge talking to the camera about how odd it was to watch her own funeral. She continued to speak directly to the audience for the rest of the episode, as she realized that it was actually Katherine’s funeral and set out to find her. It was incredibly “un Y&R.” It was brilliant. Co-headwriter Hogan Sheffer won an Emmy for a similar “narrated from beyond the grave” episode on As The World Turns. It’s a device at least as old as Sunset Boulevard. Sheffer has mastered it. Y&R wisely largely eschewed special effects. Marge walked around the chapel with all the other guests at the funeral until she disappeared to search for Kay. The gimmick didn’t overwhelm the best soap funeral in years. Y&R brought back numerous former characters to mourn, from Danny and Dina to, most wonderfully, Nina. The Cane is the real Phillip storyline suffered greatly from her absence. Her opinion that Cane was hot but no Phillip was pitch perfect. Y&R made the effort to account for missing characters, and give them good reasons for their inability to attend the funeral. We learned that Mac is doing relief work in Darfur – a fitting occupation for a character who did volunteer work throughout her stint in Y&R. Phillip IV is a soldier in Iraq, not, as many fans suspected writing autobiographical fiction on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and stressing over his Yale applications. (Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgley played Phillip IV.) The show took the time to play the classic character dynamics. Ashley still has issues with Dina. Jill’s complaint that Nikki was trying to make Katherine’s funeral all about her was both steeped in character history and a realistic depiction of the strange tensions that often flare up at funerals. (Veteran Y&R scriptwriter Sandra Weintraub wrote great dialogue throughout the episode.) The episode even concluded with an old-school cliffhanger as Victor made a grand entrance. I can’t wait for Monday. Kudos to Y&R for experimenting with structure while staying true to its roots.

Edited November 18, 200817 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Y&R has been embracing it's history lately, and I've never gotten the feeling that they're trying to recreate it.

COUGH COUGH Ron Carlivati COUGH COUGH

Yes, All My Shadows it's Beau Kayser!! He was excellent, as was the divine McCarthy. I think the most impressive thing is the amount of emotions generated from viewers for the funeral of an undead person.

Did Kay crash into the hot springs of Genoa City, or is she going to catch pneumonia. Murphy was in no hurry to drag her out of what one would perceive to be a rather chilly river in November.

There's a good Traci/Lauren scene in Tuesday's episode......

Lauren was sorry because she was mean to Traci when they were younger.

What's the history between the two?

Tracy and Lauren were big time rivals over Danny Romalotti. Lauren was a real b*itch to Traci.

Okay I just got through watching Today's eppy on SoapNet.

I am so very mad unless I missed something. I know that Jill is mad at Nikki right now but how in the world could they robbed us of some comments from Nikki. If she gave any I missed them.

I loved Brock and so loved Julianna McCarthy as Liz. She was wonderful.

Nikki was more a daughter to Kay than Jill ever really was. I would have loved to heard what she said about Kay. But I guess she just didn't do it because of what Jill said to her Friday.

I so loved the eppy today. I had not watched Y&R since last April. I started back on Thursday and it was so easy to pick back up. Man is it really so much better than it was.

Oh by the way if someone can answer this please let me know. Did Liz and Stuart Brooks get a divorce? The last I saw them on the show in the 80's they were still married. Then when she returned for the Jill/Kay story I never could figure out if they were still married or not. Then today she used Liz Foster.

I still would have loved to seen some of the Brooks return. They were friends with Kay back in the 70's - esp. Stuart who was married to Liz. Plus Laurie and Brock and Leslie and Brock dated.

I wish these show writers who are seeking to embrace history would remember that these shows have history before about 1982. Carlivati celebrated 40 years of OLTL and totally forgot the first 12 to 15 and Y&R just always seems to want to wipe away those years too. I understood why Bell did it back in 1982 but to totally forget it's importance and relevance to characters that are still there is totally unforgettable.

I mean Stuart Brooks was even married to Jill. I mean they brought all these stars back - just a few from that time period would have been nice.

Tracy and Lauren were big time rivals over Danny Romalotti. Lauren was a real b*itch to Traci.

Ahh....so that's why the camera cut to Danny (who was looking at them).

What were some things Lauren did to Traci?

Traci grew up with low self-esteem. She's the soft and emotional one of the Abbott children. Anyway, Lauren would often prey upon her vulnerabilities, especially Traci's problems with her weight

Lauren would also always try to put Traci in a ton of embarrassing situations. I believe there was one time Lauren ordered tons of ice cream and had it sent to Traci, just to make fun of how fat she was. Anyway, Traci took the ice cream and dumped it on Lauren.

There's also the affair with Brad. Was that when Brad and Traci were married or separated? Anyway, that resulted in one big cat fight.

Lauren was a spoiled rich bitch in her teens and really up until she came back to Y&R earlier this decade.

Too bad Heather Tom is no longer playing Victoria. Nina and Heather's Victoria had explosive bitch chemistry...

so. much. WORD.

I can't wait to see Lauren interacting with people other than her family. I love Lauren with Michael, but she is connected to so many characters on the show and it is a shame they only have her on to be Michael's sounding board and support. I hope they let Lauren bring out her claws a bit.

oh im so happy! its about damn time she talks to people not related to mcihael.

^It's so in character for Ashley to pick Victor over her own family, she'll always have an unhealthy obsession with him somehow.

And i LOVE it. lol

There's a good Traci/Lauren scene in Tuesday's episode......

Lauren was sorry because she was mean to Traci when they were younger.

What's the history between the two?

i love Traci & Lauren. They have such history. Danny was like, a rockstar. lol. Lauren, the beautiful spoiled bitch and Traci, the chubby nice girl both use to sing with him and they hated eachother. Well more Lauren hated Traci and would do anything she could to hurt her in any way. Lauren would alway use Traci's weight against her but Traci did fight back.

Then there was brad. Traci married Brad and Lauren had an affair with him. It was amazing. Brad actually had a heart attack suring sex and Lauren & Traci got into a massive catfight in the hospital.

Toups, go to the clip area.. im about to go on a traci/lauren clip posting fit...

So Lauren finally got a scene without a Baldwin or a Fisher. Did Hell freeze over? It took them long enough. But already tomorrow she'll be probably knee deep in that family again. Except she won't do anything but deliver a few lines.

Edited November 18, 200817 yr by dmarex