Y&R: Week of May 11, 2009

[dm.]

I am mostly okay with it, but I can't help but feel that occasionally they write whatever falls into their laps.

But it's just so weird... how crazy was it to push various new stories all at the same time? It's almost as if a new writer came and took over. Is it always going to be like this way when certain storylines wrap up?

And yes, as soon as I've heard it I didn't like Daniel's storyline. BIG mistake on that one. They've been collecting those too...

[marla0518]

so has Sharon's sex addiction/Kleptomania/mental illness been cured???

[Toups]

[sylph]BAM![/sylph]

[Juliajms]

I hope not. With any luck they are just waiting for the right moment to play the next beat.

[classicmoment]

I love your breakdown but here's what's wrong with it. Alot of these impulses are out of nowhere. At least justify certain things to the viewer. Why mke these decisons, the viewer still wants to understand. Even at times when the viewer see the character do it over and over again, the viewer wants to be reminded sometimes. They are doing pretty good with the characters Phyllis, Nick, Sharon and Jack's story they are managing to keep them all in character. I only have a problem with the Noah aspect of the story, he's extremely under-developed.

Adam- Does he have a heart anymore is he human? I will summize the character hurt or has been hurt but they are not writing to that, even in his scenes where he complains it's being undermined somehow by the deviousness of his ways and how calculating they have made him (that alone is plot driven). This story is either genius or wrong on so many levels.

I already wrote aout my problem with Daniel's story. Ashley's preganancy is completly plot driven. Plots aren't bad, when they make sense and are correctly executed

[MarkH]

No. And that has storytelling value into the future, I suspect.

[Greg's GL]

Good points. Like I said, I still like the show. Alot.

I will take exception with your synopsis on Sharon's mental state, however. There has been nothing on-screen to show us that she is still having problems. One day she mentioned "therapy", the klepto charges were dropped, she got knocked-up and no hint of what's going on in her mind. At least on the scale that was driving her story the last few weeks. If she were still having issues, wouldn't we see her still swiping [!@#$%^&*] off random pieces of furniture? All that stopped when lil junior started growing in her. TPTB put alot of emphasis on that aspect of her mental health before she was preggers. Why stop now?

I should know about poorly written shows - just look at which one I based my screen name on.

[MarkH]

Okay, so let's say we were a focus group, and we were sitting in front of the writers (or our report were to go to them).

What advice would we give them to "justify the impulses". I see your point...and I definitely agree about Noah. But what, concretely, would they do differently to move from a "B" grade to an "A" grade?

[Sylph]

I'm not saying it's bad to discuss those things, even though, I have to admit, I sometimes hate it how certain topics keep repeating themselves (those dream casting decisions, the rationalisations etc.). I'm just acknowledging it, kind of. Saying it's there.

That is because I watch and I can just sense it when things will start to fall apart.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

So you actually believe Nikki went over there wanting to beg Victor to take her back?

I've seen NOTHING of Paul's point of view on this show, and I haven't seen it for a good 7 years.

Yes, Nina's 2 minute scene with Katherine was sooo revealing.

But I thought Amber had progessed as a character and grown up?

The whole overall story is plot-driven, and Daniel isn't stupid enough to take the justification the FBI agent gave him from the START.

And do we know what his motivation is for harming Ashley of all people? If it's to get back at both Victor and Jack, we've seen no evidence of this as of yet.

Heather is far from a defined character. Another ill-developed character (that happens to be a legacy character anyway) from the Latham era that MAB doesn't care to develop.

Because Sharon needed a predictable pregnancy to show it all?

I've yet to see from Jack's point of view why he loves Sharon and continues to make hiself look stupid to run to her rescue.

Yeah, once this storyline is going on Phyllis is insecure about Sharon

Nick has no personality at all, so I'm not even going there.

Now tell me how character driven are these whose the daddy, new face but old character, and gaslighting with no clear action for hurting the victim "character-driven?"

I see no reason for MOST characters on this show acting the way they do at the moment.

[rhythmchyc]

I miss the good old days when one s/l or a few that were tied together would culminate with a bang while a couple more were building up, all the the same time.

Boy oh boy. When was the last time someone paced a show that masterfully?

[classicmoment]

They're just milking her mental illness for now, her always acting on her impulses I think is a nod to that. She's unstable, so to speak so for plot purposes the character will continue to think of the wrong things as remedies i.e. MEN. I understand that aspect of the story for that character, but many other things confuse me.

[Toups]

I agree with the art storyline. Even though it's starting, I went "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Hopefully it'll be good but my expectations aren't very high right now.

[MarkH]

LOL. Love your avatar, by the way.

Yes, I think they could be more explicit about Sharon. My read, though, is that she is "under-treated"...and so she remains vulnerable for future stories.

I also feel that we have already been told Sharon's klepto runs in stages after extreme guilt. One time was when she blamed herself for Doris' crash. Another time was when Brad died.

That means they "resolve" (this is true of most mental illnesses", and reappear periodically.

[sheilaforever]

I feel with that as well. BUT: then on some occasions they just write the most classic Y&R moments. You think they are done with a certain story and suddenly some time later it's back for one or two episodes which bring closure. (Right now I can't give a good example, although there several, except for the Glo/ash showdown in court last week.) No other show has done sth. like that in years (if ever) and it used to be a Y&R staple. This is when I'm easily back in heaven with MAB.