Y&R: Week of November 17, 2008

[boldfan01]

The problem would be getting Liz into the Abbott mansion, since her ties to the Abbotts have weakened over the years. Her daughter was involved with Jack at one time and married to John, but Liz moved to England shortly after Jill and John married, and that marriage was over by the time Liz next visited GC. But that doesn't mean they can't have Liz and Gloria go at it, since Liz is still Billy's grandmother. While I can't think of a non-contrived way to use that tie to bring Liz into the Abbott mansion, Liz could show concern over Billy's connections to Gloria if Jack and Gloria's plan to retake Jabot bear fruit, and that's enough reason for Liz to speak her mind to Glo given the right circumstances.

Dina and Victor have some history, and there is probably still bad blood between them since Victor took control of her second husband's company. In fact, it was Vic's takeover attempt that sparked his involvement with Ashley. While researching Dina and the Mergerons for ways to take over the company, Victor started studying Dina's children and became enchanted with Ashley from his research. When Ashley fled town in an emotional breakdown after finding out that Brent Davis was her biological father, Victor tried to find her and rescued her from a near-rape by a trucker who met Ash in the diner she was working at as a waitress. Shortly after bringing Ash back, Victor went ahead with his takeover of Mergeron. The rescue of Ash and the subsequent affair with her plus the takeover of his mom's company started Jack's long standing rivalry with Victor, and Dina probably also holds some resentment toward Victor because of that feud. So there is plenty of history that could get Dina and Victor interacting again because of that bad blood.

This is another one of those historical tidbits that MAB and company wove into the funeral. Danny and Gina were on the show for several years before Bill Bell decided to tie them to Katherine through their father. When Danny came on in the early 80s, he had no family and never really spoke of them. We found out why when Gina arrived in 1982, fresh out of jail; Gina had been their father's partner in his con artist schemes and both father and daughter went to jail for their misdeeds. Danny's mother's heart broke over her husband's life of crime and his mixing their daughter up in it and she died. Still, Danny gave his sister the benefit of the doubt when she claimed her crooked ways were over and he encouraged her to get a job as a singer, so she got a job at Jonas's, the restaurant where Danny got his start, going by the name Gina Roma. Seeing Danny's friendship with Traci, Gina decided a connection to the Abbotts might help her get ahead and forged a friendship with Jack. Even though Jack had no love lost for Gina's brother because of Danny's past relationship with Jack's wife Patty, Jack decided to front Gina the money when she sought to buy Jonas's from the Brooks family. Gina in return gave Jack a private room in the restaurant, which she renamed Gina's, where he could clandestinely meet with Diane Jenkins behind Patty's back. Gina's crooked past came to light again when she fell for and became engaged to Lauren's dad, Neil Fenmore. Lauren didn't want Gina with her father so she tracked down Gina's former cellmate, who had just been released, and paid her to come to Genoa City to blab to Neil about Gina's past, which killed that engagement. Although you wouldn't know it from more recent episodes, there was a lot of bad blood between Gina and Lauren for years over that.

Flash forward a few years later to when Jill hatched her latest scheme to get at Katherine. Jill and her assistant David Kimble found a bum in the park and transformed him into Rex Sterling so the man could romance Katherine. When Gina saw Rex, she recognized him as her father and confronted him. He assured her that his con artist ways were in the past. Gina alerted Danny, who was more skeptical of his dad, especially once he found out Rex was romancing Katherine. Danny warned Katherine, who decided to wait and see how things played out with her new beau. Danny eventually saw that Rex was not cheating Katherine in any way and reconciled with his dad, who didn't know Danny had told all to Katherine. Jill had started to fall for Rex herself, but Rex wanted Katherine and proposed to her. In retaliation, Jill came to Katherine and brought all the receipts for her creation of the Rex identity. But Katherine realized that Rex was sincere when he agreed without hesitation to sign a pre-nup, so Katherine married him and never let on that she knew who he really was.

About a year later, Rex's cellmate Clint Raddison got out of jail and looked up his old buddy Brian Romalotti (this was the first time they gave Rex's true first name). Clint asked Rex to cut him a break, but Rex wanted no part of Clint. Clint retaliated by renting a room above Gina's and wooing his landlady. Rex tried to pay Clint off to leave town, but Clint figured he could use Gina to exploit Rex and his ties to Katherine somehow. Clint proposed to Gina and they got married. Meanwhile, Rex finally came clean with Katherine about his true identity, since he had no idea she knew it all along. Clint kept looking for a way to use Gina's ties to Katherine and finally found it when he was at a diner and saw Marge, a woman who, after some cleaning up, could pass for Katherine's twin. Clint used Gina to get inside the Chancellor mansion for dinner invitations and saw his chance when Nina had hired Esther away from Kay. Clint had two of his cronies, Shirley and Robert, apply for jobs to take Esther's place and used the new employees to engineer the swap of Katherine and Marge. Once Katherine was rescued, Rex was able to be open about his family ties and remained close with his son and daughter until his untimely death at the hands of Esther's crooked boyfriend Norman.

[boldfan01]

Putting this in a spoiler tag since some people may not have seen today's show yet.

[boldfan01]

I know the feeling. I was a college freshman myself in 1982 and only was able to catch Y&R on days I didn't have classes at that time or during the summer. Fortunately, my parents back home bought their first VCR that year and my mom watched the tapes regularly, so she filled me in on what I missed on the days I couldn't watch.

And I also know the feeling of missing the Brooks and Foster families. While I came to understand why Bill Bell phased them out in 1982, those were still the core characters when I first started seriously watching Y&R in the 70s. So I always regretted the way they were basically ignored in later years except for those rare occasions. That's why I was sorry when Julianna McCarthy's 2003 return as Liz just died. I was looking forward to seeing how the Jill/Liz dynamic would develop once they revealed that Kay was Jill's biological mom, especially given the small signs of it we saw, so I was really bummed when Jack Smith and Kay Alden just let that die. Even if it's just on a recurring basis, there is so much that Liz can bring to the story because of her ties to Jill and to Kay, so maybe MAB might see how well she fit into these current shows and follow up on that later.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

It's amazing how un-jarring these returns are. No one feels out place and like they've been gone for years, especially Nina. They just "fit" right in.

Come on Y&R, you don't have to keep all of them, all I'm asking for is keeping Tricia Cast and Marla Adams permanently!

[DeeeDee]

Indeed!

[Toups]

The last scene in Wed's US episode with Victor/Adam is good. Victor's theme plays and

[All My Shadows]

I agree. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the characters aren't just interacting with one or two others, but they are actually circulating and mingling at this funeral. I'm all for putting Nina and Dina on contract. I'd like Liz and Brock on Traci/Beth Maitland-style recurring...living out of town, but still making appearances when it's logical for them to make appearances.

Good lord, Lauren just mentioned "Mean Girls." I officially love this episode.

[miajere]

I had goosebumps during the Lauren Tracey scenes. I almost cried. I loved it soooo much....Lauren apologizing, them hugging, the dialogue!!!Oh my God, the dialogue for that scene was overwhelming. It made me wonder why they don't use Lauren more, instead Phylis gets shoved forward all the time (not that I mind)....but I miss my Lauren.

[rangethatrover]

Wasn't it excellent?

I loved the nod to Mean Girls too...

One thing about Bill Bell's Y&R was that the show existed almost in its own world - there were never any pop culture references..

It always seems funny on Y&R when there is a reference to someone in the "real world"..

[miajere]

Because they care.....

I'm sorry, but I watch the show and I'm sooooo happy from start to finish- I hope Hogan stays on forever!!! I really need this show to get Lauren off her butt and into the scene. Once all these returns die out, she really should be apart of her own story with Michael and someone outside of the Baldwins, and if that's Sharon- then so be it. But I don't want her fighting for that little Eden character.

Of course I couldn't get over Nikki sulking at the reception. I thought it was pretty funny Paul had to get her a room. As much as I love MTS- I'm team Ashley.

[DaytimeFan]

I am too...although I LOVED Hysterical Nikki at the funeral!

[Faulkner]

I can't get over how fabulous this show is right now. It feels like old-school Y&R - the music, the faces, the pacing. It feels closer to old school soap than anything I've seen on American daytime in ages. And I agree with Y&RWorldTurner - nothing is being forced.

The problem is...sustaining it.

[y&r_fan]

And that was one of the things I couldn't stand about the Bill Bell era. The pop culture references make it more relatable.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Bell's emotionally gripping writing more than made up for it. Bell wasn't trying to write a show that kept up with the times, he was writing a soap opera whose sensibility could hold up for years to come and I admire him for that.

That said, I too enjoyed the Mean Girls reference. Traci and Lauren's interaction was great, hell, the entire episode was filled with great interactions.

Great episode overall.

[rangethatrover]

I loved Y&R when it existed in its own world, and I love the current Y&R. Perfect old fashioned soap stories written with Bill Bell's style, combined with little modern touches. No one touched Bill Bell's plotting skills. I think he was the master.

Soaps do not get better than Y&R right now. If I was in a coma for the last 20 years and woke up and you turned on Y&R- it wouldn't be jarring in the least. It looks the same, sounds the same, and is as good as it ever was.