Y&R: Week of March 16, 2009

[DeeeDee]

Stay classy Paul!

[dm.]

Not to get too off-topic but..... did he fire Hayman just because he wanted to get rid of all African American actors from the show? Wow, I knew he was very tough, but...

[Dan]

Oh, he more than clashed with Kinkead, lol. She slapped a sexual harrasement lawsuit against him. It would have gone further had Kinkead not been switched to GL as Vanessa (the harrasement allegedly occured when both Kinkead and Rauch were working at Another World). That's the last of it until 1996 when Rauch came to GL, which I'm sure pleased Kinkead. Maeve eventually left after the Matt/Vanessa thing became a "Manny-sized" albatross. Rauch also asked that Kinkead continue to dye her hair black (she let it gray while Vanessa was in a coma following the shooting of Ben Warren), but she refused. That was another straw that broke that back and she left.

[All My Shadows]

I don't know about that, but I do know that the way he fired Lil Hayman was just pathetic. She was finished taping for the day and went to her car, and so he ran after her and told her that she'd just taped her last scenes and that was it.

[dm.]

Nobody deserves to be treated that way, not even the hairmodels...

But it's nothing uncommon in daytime these days either, right?

It happened on Monday, but I really enjoyed the scene where Nikki tried to get Jill's DNA. First she offered her several drinks, then offered her a handkerchief.... so funny.... and Kay watching near with newspaper in front of her. Hilarious!

J.T.'s role this week was the man that had a couple of lines with Nick, only used to fill Nick's time between Sharon's calls. Now that's shameful.

Also, I loved Nikki's little comment on Phyllis.

Kay: Ahh, Summer is certainly a lovely young lady. Gonna be a heartbreaker.

Nikki: Mm-hmm. Hopefully not like her mother.

Was that a stab at Phyllis or what?

[DRW50]

Even now I'm not sure how many original cast members are treated the way she was. Not surprising for Rauch though. That and some of the same problems Sheffer brought to ATWT are why I'm not quite as into Y&R as many other fans are. I think it may also be because most of my favorite characters are people who don't seem to be very popular with the current regime, even though I appreciate some of what they've done in other stories.

[YRBB]

Does anyone think that MAB might get rid of her co-HWs when she feels she has enough experience to carry the show on her own? Somehow, I feel that some of the more OTT stuff on the show were not thought up by MAB, even though she definitely must have liked and agreed with them if she used them.

[DRW50]

I don't know. I think she could find a better co-HW than Hogan Sheffer, most of the more pointlessly dark, overly broad, and poorly told elements of the story remind me of his ATWT tenure. I think Paul Rauch probably helps her focus and they could go to even bigger success if they found a good co-HW. I know Richard Culliton isn't known as a great writer but I wonder how he might be in this position. Or Nancy Curlee.

Was it Louise Sorel Rauch had problems with at OLTL? She's probably never going to be at Y&R anyway. I'm not sure if she's still acting.

[dm.]

Ah, Augusta..... she had one last appearance on daytime in 2004 on "Passions," and before that a short role on "Port Charles" in 2000.

I don't think she should get rid of anyone. For now things work just fine.

[DRW50]

I think this would be a good time to closely study what isn't working (overextending Kay's absence and making it too cartoonish, Ashley's return, the Winters, questionable use of Nikki, Michael, Jack, overextending Billy and writing Chloe into a corner, how unsympathetic Cane and Lily have become) and look at who is more to blame for some of those problems, but then again I may be the only one who has those concerns and other fans may be getting a kick out of those parts of the storyline. Y&R is about 60/40 for me when I watch, because of the above.

I hope Louise can get back into daytime somewhere, I loved her on SB and DAYS. If Susan Flannery ever leaves B&B she might be good as another matriarch, a much more flamboyant one, of course.

[dm.]

You got that right on the "getting a kick out those" part of your comment. It's been nothing but great for me.

[BadZoe]

Personally I think that Y&R is adopting more of a Coronation Street method of storytelling where some characters stories build slowly in the background before turning into full front burner storylines. Actors rotate between front burner and back burner but most do get their turn. To have everyone featured all the time leads to a very scattered and unfocused show.

The only part of Kay's absence that has bothered me was the whole week spent in the motel room which could have been cut down to 1 or 2 days at most. To me, it is back to being stellar now that Nikki believes her but Jill still has her head in the sand. I don't know how quick I'd be to believe Kay/Marge either with as much at stake both emotionally and financially as Jill has.

Ashley's return hasn't been much to speak of but I believe there is stuff coming down the pipe soon to rev this story into high gear. Ashley is pregnant and Victor has been stabbing her in the back, just to get one over on Jack. She's either going to go nuts, or turn into super bitch when she discovers that Victor loves fighting with Jack more than he loves her. I'd love it if as revenge she starts banging his blind son!

The Winters? I thought that it might be racism that is keeping their storyline limited to once every few weeks. Now I wonder if they don't bother preparing material for lazy twerps who don't bother to come to work prepared. Ship Neil off to Hong Kong and bring on a new leading man, or develop the detective more by building a family unit around him.

Personally I love the use of Billy. It is rare that they find a young actor, this enjoyable to watch with all members of the cast regardless of age. His affair with Sharon is going to blow up in the most magnificent way, and I can't wait. Chloe is not painted into a corner, she's a cat and she's going to come out of that corner with claws bared and rip everyone involved to shreds. I wouldn't be surprised if when the [!@#$%^&*] hits fan, she is able to drive Sharon totally over the bend and right into the mental ward. Hopefully she'll take Billy for all she can get and wind up with a very good position at Jabot. With the right writing this character really could be the new Jill!

For Lily and Cane, I suspect they are writing them as this unsympathetic so they can turn around and drop those actors and use the line used on Heather Tom, "your character is not a fan favorite". Neither one of them is anything to write home about and their loss would not be significant.

As for Don Diamond, his exit is driving one of the best storylines on right now, Sharon's break down. It was probably supposed to generate story for Colleen too, but the viewers only laughed at the light weight paired against Victor and they appear to be moving on. Sorry but Don has never really offered much to the show acting wise and his one and only leading man storyline was one of the worst ever in this shows history. At least his death has had consequences. B&B is where someone of his limited capabilities belong and even then I don't think he's what B&B needs. Why can't he just retire like Susan Flannery plans to do.

[MarkH]

Actually, that is more "classic Bell method". And it is good soap storytelling.

Yes, I am very happy the motel is over.

You picked up on that too, eh? Yes, I think Ashley and Adam is the next couple. Can't wait.

Brilliant! Hired! Yes! That is EXACTLY what they should do! Brilliant!

I'm right there with you. Cane-Lily are NOT fun...but I think that is clever writing. We "root" for the bad couple, and we "rail against" the good couple. It is nice and paradoxical.

I like Don, and I think killing off his character was a mistake. I would have had him disappear. It could have worked excellently for this ex-Seal who has lived a life on the run.

That said, Brad was no longer a remotely central character, so the show will not feel his absence. I think he may be a great fit for B&B, and I hope he is used effectively.

Though Eileen Davidson was criminally underused on B&B, when she was used it was terrific. She got her sexuality back, and there was a renewed "lightness" that helped combat that snarkiness of which the actress is so capable. She brought that lightness back to Y&R. I'm hoping the same is true for Don...that we see him as less devious and underhanded and evil.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

You're kidding yourself if you think Diamont will be remotely established on B&B. I fully expect to hear he's off contract by August.

And I do agree with BadZoe, he was never that great of an actor in the first place. And since it's already reported that his character will be paired with

initially, I already don't care.

[MarkH]

I think the "Rauch miracle"...Dan's excellent post about how it was so different at GL...reflects "Management 101".

1. P&G = corporate interference...they don't let the creative people create. Per DaytimeFan, the Bells have CONTROL of Y&R again...so we're not seeing "too many cooks".

2. At AW, and I'm guessing at his other shows, there was a tussle between Paul and his HW. That is clearly because there was not an obvious "supreme leader"...or because Paul had (mistakenly) been put in charge of the HW.

At Y&R, they have made it VERY clear that MAB is the "president", and Rauch is the "Chief of Staff". So, some of his poorer instincts are checked.

3. Rauch seems (if we believe the statements) to have accepted his role with some humility. He talks about his role as SERVING the writing. MAB said in her TVGuide Canada article (I think) that she has never seen her writing so "beautifully produced". Production SERVES storytelling...which sounds obvious, but I do not get the sense that this is how it is working at ABC or P&G or Corday Productions.

4. A corporate culture of "appreciative inquiry". Now, again, I'm not there...but what is implied by the "happy set" comments is that they have created a culture of positivity. Negative affect is toxic and contagious. All you need is one gossip, one naysayer...and it lead to bad stuff. I think -- even though she was probably RIGHT -- Rowell was probably not always a force for saying "I'm with the team...I serve the team". I think what we're seeing is that by some process a "Zeitgeist" is being cultivated at Y&R to try to reduce the toxicity...and that plays out on screen.

5. A customer service mentality. Playing the vets, paying homages to old storylines, even resurrecting old music cues...all of this points to the believe that the FIRST order of business is to serve the LOYAL customers. Keep your base, and try to expand it. Y&R is relentlessly ignoring ALL the rules about attracting "young demos". For criminy's sake, their current front-burner player is an 80-year old woman! What Y&R is doing is saying "we value our long-term viewers", and that comes from both writing and production. I'm going to assume Rauch is, in part, behind resurrecting some of the old music.

[MAB made a huge mistake when she had the twice-vasectomized Victor get Sabrina pregnant. Since then, she seems to be atoning by having a real foot in history...like Victor and Nikki's many flashbacks lately, or the Kay/Marge/Clint homage story].

Nothing is perfect. But Y&R shows the effort and respect it has for its audience, and I think Rauch is part of that.

I also think that I have learned a great deal. Honestly, I initially dismissed MAB because she was the "daughter-in-law" (I figured she was a figurehead for Brad or Bill Jr.). I also figured, because of Rauch's toxic endings at some of his previous shows, that he would be a DISASTER for a show that needed to recover.

What I have learned, again, is that prejudice is never a good thing. It is all about "goodness of fit". And MAB/Rauch, for now, fit very well. So, for as long as this show is strong, I'll relish each day as a gift.