Y&R: Week of March 2, 2009

[Soapsuds]

Was it me or was today's show so brightly lit?..LOL Talk about being too bright!

[Dan]

Paul Rauch strikes again!

[lmfan]

Come on. Their relationship was developed over a long period of time. It actually progressed from weary acquaintances to friends to lovers and spouses over two years. Two years! Now we get relationships that start in two days. Most of the relationships on the show go from zero to start in one easy lay. Michael and Lauren have so much history and substance to take advantage of. They are not superficial characters and have never been. Relationships that don't have much substance on screen are not kept together for five years. Which couple do you see with real substance? I totally disagree that they don't come of as real. I think and many others think they are the most realistic couple on the show. And maybe that is the problem. The writers never write them any conflict or drama. They are like many married couples in the real world.

But even happily married couples have arguments and issues. Michael and Lauren used to until LML took over and now Maria Bell continues to do even less with them than LML. Maria Bell has said she likes them together and happy. Fine, but give these characters something to do. Give Lauren her boutique back and let her mingle with the other business players. Make Michael a real player in these other stories not just the lawyer who shuffles papers.

You don't have to like them as a couple, but these are layered charactes with rich histories and are more than a couple who were brought together to show how far Michael has come. What do we know about Billy and Chloe except for some flashbacks and breif exposition? Lily and Cane went from a rebound relationship to loves of each other's lives in one month. Sharon and Jack were betrayed exes who married after dating for a month.

Finally, if they could easily be broken up then why haven't they when every single couple has been? Who would you put Michael with? Phyllis? Sure, like Michael would want a piece of that mess and you end up detroying Phyllis' only stable relationship in her life. Victoria? Ok, Michael will be even more of a Newman lackey and be matched with a less than dynamic actress. Sharon? Michael the third wheel with Nick and Sharon? He is too smart for that.

Michael and Lauren are well matched in temperament, history, looks, and most importantly intelligence. They also are two very good actors who can match each other scene for scene. What they need is some drama, some conflict, some problem. They need a B story and some good writing.

[DeeeDee]

Maria's done WONDERS with The Baldwins.

TPTB really need to bring Scotty & Joanna back for Michael & Lauren.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

My point was for as long as Michael and Lauren have been together, it's always been about Michael and his family, never about Lauren, or specifically Michael and Lauren. Also their history isn't that deep rooted, they haven't been through too many relationship obstacles and we never saw much of how their married life was developed.

Seeing as Michael and Lauren are actually the only happy couple on the show, they must have set them aside as being such. It sucks, but it's television for you. They're never going to mess with the only stable couple they've got going.

Michael and Lauren have rich histories separate from one another, not together. The same for a lot of other characters on the soaps right now.

Because TPTB obviously want them to stay together.

Why do characters always have to be paired with someone else? What's so wrong about being single, lots of people never get married or have long meaningful relationships.

For the record, I've never thought Christian LeBlanc has has much chemistry with any woman, maybe for a bit when Sandra Nelson was Phyllis, but that's long gone.

Their marriage needs to be developed more and needs to be more than an example of how Michael's changed and what latest problem Gloria/Kevin are in.

I don't buy their relationship, and I could just as easily see them away from each other than together. It's up to TPTB to see that.

[DeeeDee]

Amen.

Sandra Nelson, Tonya Williams, Alex Donnelly, Lauralee Bell & Heather Tom.

[lmfan]

I think they have faced challenges, as least they did in the first few years of their relationship with them both dealing with Kevin, Michael's issues with honesty and true intimacy, Lauren's past with Sheila, her kidnapping and Michael thinking she was dead, Michael almost getting caught for setting up Tom, the scare they had with Fen and Lauren's anxiety along with the kidnapping of Fen.

Of course, in the last two years, you are right. They haven't been much more than hand holders and problem fixers for Phyllis, Victor and their family, so I think they need to develop both characters and their stories more. They have with other characters. It is just a matter of making an effort. The problem is they make little to no effort with them and I think the actors deserve better.

I do think they have chosen to keep them as the token happily married couple while every other couple implodes, but obviously they must be getting some type of feedback that most viewers want them to stay together because they have received no propping from the writers and yet I think many viewers care about their characters and the actors. Michael and Lauren both were long time singles. I don't have a problem with certain characters being single, but they both spent over a decade that way, so I think they need to make an effort exploring their lives as a married couple.

I would love for the writers to focus on Lauren and bring back Scotty and focus on her issues, but that is not going to happen. They barely give lip service to Michael let alone Lauren anymore. Even his big father story last year turned into a joke and became all about Gloria and was a device to introduce a love interest for Noah and reveal the cream scandal for Gloria. There was little exploration of Michael's issues with being a good father to his own son by learning about his father as was the impetus for this story which started two years earlier.

We don't have to agree on whether they are a good pairing or not. I just am tired of seeing these talented actors wasted and given nothing to do but deal with a difficult teen sister who gets more airtime and story than them. Most other characters are involved with some story at this point, except Lauren and Michael.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

But most of those storylines only served Michael and the rest of the Baldwin clan, Lauren was used as a prop, at least IMO. The Sheila storyline morphed into a huge mess that made almost no sense at all when it ended.

Latham never devoted more than 5 minutes to Lauren's anxiety problem, and it seemed to be over as soon as it started.

Whether that's true, I don't know. But one couple was always going to be the token happy couple on this show, it certainly wasn't going to be any couple in the quad or Nikki and Victor.

But anyway, this thread has gotten off topic again. It's time to discuss this week's worth of episodes.

[lmfan]

What has Maria done for the Baldwins (and by Baldwins, I assume we mean Lauren and Michael)? They get even less story and screentime under Maria and I didn't like how LML handled their story. I honestly don't see her having done anything with them except removing the cream from hanging over their heads. Which I am grateful for, but other than that what WONDERS has she done for them?

I agree with bringing back Scotty and Joanna. I think Scotty would be perfect as Y & R's first legitimate gay character.

[lmfan]

I agree Latham should have dedicated more time to Lauren's issues, but Maria Bell has devoted even less time to Lauren and Michael in her 14 months in charge.

I understand about being off topic, but you see that is where the catch is. I am rarely able to talk about Michael and Lauren without going off topic because they are never a real significant part of the week's worth of episodes even when they are on screen. Of course, just like two weeks ago they are once again not on screen for another week.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Perhaps you should start a separate discussion thread, something like, "Actors/Characters Shamefully on the Backburner."

I'm sure it will be a much more interesting discussion that anything involving Tammin Sursok or Christel Khalil (discussion about those two tends to eat this thread alive).

[DaytimeFan]

I liked his chemistry with Alex Donnelly the best, both characters were sort of...desperate (?) when they interacted with each other and it really, really worked. That said, I liked Donnelly with everyone she interacted with, romantic or otherwise.

Here's my take on Lauren and Michael. I think MAB likes Lauren and I think MAB likes Michael. I also think MAB hates writing for Lauren AND Michael. Happy couples are boring to write. If they were separated, there would be such history to draw on, as Y&RWorldTurner points out Lauren and Michael have rich histories, separately, not as a couple. OR...she's keeping them in the backburner so that she can break them up somewhere down the line when the storylines that we're seeing now fade...It's MAB's world, we're just living in it.

[lmfan]

Good point. I really didn't meant to hijack the thread, but just was frustrated that Lauren and Michael are going to be off the show yet again for another week.

Maria Bell was doing really well for awhile, but this Katherine kidnapping story has gone way too long and has become a complete farce. The real drama is when others do figure out she actually is Katherine and not Marge. Lily and Cane trying to take away a baby from her birth parents make little sense to me, but so does their whole relationhsip.

I like Chloe and Billy, but they need to show some redeeming qualities for him beyond his charm. A young guy not being quite ready for fatherhood is one thing, but to have sex with his brother's wife, ask a woman to marry him and then run off to mess around with a woman who is obviously screwed up right now and then to have him drinking at all hours because he is now a father makes him a real hard characters to cheer for. They need to let Billy grow up some if we are to believe he really means it when he says he wants to be a father to his baby.

[lmfan]

If that is true, then Maria needs to write for Michael and Lauren as individual characters and involve them someway in her stories. If she wants them to stay happy like she claims but has no interest in writing for them, I don't quite know what to make of that contradiction.

Still, if she has no plans for writing them their own story, then I think she needs to make some effort in writing for them in relation to other characters (and not always involving Michael's family) along with giving them their happily married burdened couple scenes once in awhile like she seems to like to do now.

[BadZoe]

That guy playing Clint could go to B&B as Ridge's previously unknown brother by Massimo. He is so OTT it isn't even funny. The Katherine storyline was so good, until this kidnapping that just goes on and on and on and on....

Lily is so pathetic

Hasn't she been in school forever? It is time they have her actually graduate as something and get a job. Supposedly she had a job working at that bar but she hasn't been there once and everyone on the cast has been there since.

And IMFAN I completely agree about Michael and Lauren. I love them as a couple and am tired of everything they do being clean up for their stupid family. Why isn't Lauren hiring Noah, Eden and Abby to work at the Jabot Boutique??