Okay. I'll go one better.

How come LML wrote Brad as a former Navy SEAL on the run from Nazis who were out to kill his mother, an art collector, after we saw Brad actually meet his mother, who was far from being an art collector, at a diner back in the mid-'80's?

Nobody's perfect, marla.

That was probably some fraud actor that Brad hired to play his mother, like the fraud kids Gloria hired to play her sons when they met John. LML was one of the biggest hacks ever to hit soaps. MAB has made some mistakes but I feel they have learned from them and are doing their best to learn the history before stepping in it. As a whole the show has improved and become must see tv for me.

As a fan of Nick and Phyllis, I don't mind seeing them having marital problems. Happy couples, are dull and boring and so are couples who have problems and don't address them and instead file for divorce after one fight. I want Nick and Phyllis to try instead of just giving up and re-pairing him with Sharon. Why not have all these characters single for a while, throw themselves into their work and get a life. The back and forth bed hopping and wife swapping is what is old and tired.

Buffy creator Joss Whedon addressed the fan base wars by giving none of the fans what they wanted, and while it might have pissed them all off, it made for a better show in the end.

Here's the blurb from Whedon Info

INT: How do you feel when an episode gets fans really mad, i.e. killing Tara [whose romance with Willow was one of the most sympathetic portrayals of a homosexual relationship on television] in the episode "Seeing Red"?

JW: Obviously, I’m not out there to make people angry. But if they feel passionately about the show, they’re going to be angry every once in a while. If they don’t ever get angry, then I get worried. About Tara’s death, it was and is very controversial, but I stand by it. I do understand a little better now about why people were so upset, and I regret that it hurt some people the way that it did.

INT: You’ve said before that you give audiences what they need and not what they want. What do you mean by that?

JW: What I mean, and I got a little [!@#$%^&*] for saying that after Tara’s death - fans thought it was demeaning, but it’s not; I am a fan, I watch the show every week to see what will happen - but the fact of the matter is, no one wants to see Romeo and Juliet die happily married. Everybody feels terrible for them, wishes they could get away, but if they did, people wouldn’t remember the damn play as much . . . I think that people need two kinds of fulfillment - one in which you give and one in which you hold back.

Part of fulfillment is need, is longing, is being unfulfilled, that’s the nature of tragedy and a lot of drama. Very often, what the fans want, they get. But very often, what they want, they can’t quite have, because we want them to feel the way our characters felt, we want them to feel how Willow felt after Tara died. Some people will never forgive me for making that statement, but I’m not saying I know better, I’m saying that the narrative exists beyond me.

and like I said...if she was not married to a Bell she would not be a writer ...much less a head writer on Y & R.....

Let's also not forget Lethal's constant pimpage of Gloria despite her crimes, Amber's "secret porn past" with ATWT's Alison, nevermind mentioning that Amber was a pornstar once before on B&B(thanks to her ex, Rudy, secretly videotaping the sex and selling it), the poor development of the Ji Min, David Chow, Carmen Mesta characters...

And BTW, Maria ARENA was a writer long before she married Bill Bell Jr.

Need I say more? Or are we just gonna go in circles and make each other dizzy?

Edited January 16, 200916 yr by bellcurve

Why is it hard to believe that Jack Abbott would have served in Vietnam?

he would have been of age at the time and could have very well served.

The draft ended in 1973. Jack would have come of age before that and could have been drafted to serve and not volunteered.

That part of Jack's history had not been dealt with and fans did not see it play out - so it was perfectly logical for Jack to have served. It was not as if when Jack came to Genoa City we heard over and over again that he did not ever serve in Vietnam.

MAB's Y&R isn't as wonderful as Bill Bell's, but it's much, much better than LML's. She respects character and history more than LML ever did; and she isn't writing "events" like the Clear Springs disaster, but simple, honest-to-goodness stories. People actually care again about who's doing what on this show and why. If that makes her a slave to the past, then so be it.

Yep!

I was going to write a long-ass post basically saying what a lot of you guys are saying (Fan of Y&R, not of a fanbase) when I saw this post on page 4:

I am a 32-34 year veteran of the Y&R and I have been a fan of the show most of my adult life, and all the characters that have come and gone. This is the only soap that I have consistently watch all these years. There is not a soap out there that I have not watched at one time or another, and I am a Phick fan, that does not make me deluded or fanatic. I just love the pairing, it does not mean that I don't like other characters out there with the exception of Lame ( I just cannot wrap my head around them) but oh well.

I just am not a big fan of Sharon and Nick and if that makes me a fool then oh well. I am never going to deny it and I am one of those fans who write letters and make my displeasure known. The writers may toss it in the trash I really don't care, I know what I like and I shout it loud. Everyone likes what they like and that is ok, everyone has a right to their opinions and it is all good, but it does not change for me why I like Phick and as long as they are a couple I am going to root for them. When they break up I will be very sad, but I will move on, that is the nature of soaps, nothing last forever. I as a fan and can only talk about what I like about them, I have never presumed to talk for other fans of the Y&R. I know what I like and if I find like fans so much the better.

And as a Phick fan, I make no apologizes, I think the actors are great and I am a big fan of Michelle and Joshua. So until the breakup and the actors leave I will continue to wave the Phick banner and make no apologizes about it

I just wanted to say that it was pretty gracious and, even though we may not necessarily agree on who we like and/or don't, that we can agree to enjoy the show as a whole.

People who love "their" couple and yet refuse to watch the show because the way "their" couple/fave character is being written is not up to their fan fiction standards, though... well, IMHO, that person is not a fan of Y&R. And while Phick may be teetering on the edge this week (I've only seen Mon-Weds so maybe everything is perfection for them on Thurs and Fri!), you have to admit that Michelle Stafford has been given some really juicy material. Which she has devoured with relish. Her threat to Brad on Wednesday's show really showed that the Phyllis we once knew ain't going away.

And, no, I am not a Shick fan, either.

BTW, Jack is absolutely the right age to have served in Vietnam. Who says Vietnam vets have to be a certain stereotype? And what exactly is the stereotype of a Viet vet?

Edited January 16, 200916 yr by Cat

when Jack Abbott first graced our screens with Terry Lester in the role, Jack Abbott was a playboy, he was in Tennis attire 80% of the time and he hated to go to work, this was 1980, he had just graduated from Harvard....and he was 22-23....he barely made it out of college, he had a few conversations with Ashley and his father about his lack of devotion to school, studies and Jabot....if he was 22-23 it would have been kinda hard for him to be in VIETNAM...also he was an only son...an easy out during the war....and the Jack Abbott of then was not the type of person that would willing go off to fight a war in the jungle...heck he might sweat or break a nail....even with PB playing the role...I can not see him being in Vietnam...it was not in the characters make up....also IF Jack was in Vietnam, that would make him NOW in his 60's!!!!!! do you really think that the Jack Abbott we see on our screen is in his 60's?!?!?!? the whole Vietnam storyline was stupid and IF there had been internet back then....you would have seen the outcry for the stupid writing and character history screw up....

Edited January 16, 200916 yr by marla0518

Why is it hard to believe that Jack Abbott would have served in Vietnam?

he would have been of age at the time and could have very well served.

The draft ended in 1973. Jack would have come of age before that and could have been drafted to serve and not volunteered.

That part of Jack's history had not been dealt with and fans did not see it play out - so it was perfectly logical for Jack to have served. It was not as if when Jack came to Genoa City we heard over and over again that he did not ever serve in Vietnam.

Remember Jack met his now deceased wife Luan and conceived his son invisible Keemo while he was serving in Vietnam. I don't get why it is so hard for anyone to believe that Jack served in Vietnam. While most of the men who served were drafted were from low income families, not all the sons of wealthy families dodged the draft, many of them served honorably and they weren't even Navy Seals. There isn't anything unrealistic about that background story for Jack who is the right age.

As much as I liked LML's storytelling at first, the Brad story was preposterous because we had already met his mother. Also, why would a man who is hiding from bad guys live such a prominent lifestyle? Ridiculous.

Edited January 16, 200916 yr by Ann_SS

Also, why would [brad] who is hiding from bad guys live such a prominent lifestyle?

For that matter, how could a woman (Katherine) forget for over 30 years how she switched her nemesis' child, and then recall it suddenly, thanks to some TV psychic? She was drunk enough to forget the crime, but not drunk enough to not commit it?

See, I could forgive MAB for not knowing that Sharon had been to Paris before, or that Victor had another vasectomy after Abby's birth, because, as much as she respects Papa Bell's legacy, she doesn't know every detail of Y&R's history -- or, at least, she didn't, when she made those faux pas. Plus, as awkward as it was for Kay to tell Nikki that Victor had had his vasectomy reversed so he and Sabrina could have a child together, at least it was an acknowledgement of the mistake on the show's part, which is a lot more than you could say for other soaps that make similar mistakes and never do.

But LML...her stories not only ignored history, they ignored logic and common sense as well!

But LML...her stories not only ignored history, they ignored logic and common sense as well!

Nikki running for Senate?

John the suntanned ghost?

Lauren the loon?

Colleen the skank?

JT the stalker?

Martha Stewart Victoria?

Amnesia Nick?

My head hurts just thinking of those.

Nikki running for Senate?

John the suntanned ghost?

Lauren the loon?

Colleen the skank?

JT the stalker?

Martha Stewart Victoria?

Amnesia Nick?

You forgot Drucilla and the cliff and the never ending medical drama.

Plus Daniel the porn addict.

Oh, and the horrid Carmen murder mystery.

My head hurts just thinking of those.

Kevin looking down on Billy?

Ashley accusing Jack of murder?

Daniel the porn addict?

Neil the cheater?

Saint Cane the bartender?

Gloria loving Jill?

Paul & Maggie the invisible?

Amber the eternal victim?

Stop it, my head might burst. I need to repress those.