Y&R: Week of May 25, 2009

[DeeeDee]

All the soaps need to backburner baby stories for a long time.

[Cashton]

I'll say this - MAB is going full tilt with her stories from what keeps pouring in from the spoilers. i just hope they aren't biting off more than they can chew.

[cara mia]

There is very little natural chemistry on between the actors on Y&R compared to what you find on DOOL or AMC. The writers are on Y&R are convinced (wrongly) that their pens determine chemistry (thus the many painful weeks of Billy/Mac, a story I wish I had FFed) and do not play to their actors natural strengths & affinities.

Jack is still my fave of the four, but that's really just because of PB's performances. On paper, Jack is pretty useless. And really, they all are. Those are grown adults with adult or nearly adult children. Any day now, their kids could make them grandparents. The sad thing about the quad is that you could send all of them to Bold & Beautiful and they would fit right in with the aging bimbos (Brooke, Ridge, Nick, Taylor.)

On Days, Sami has twins by two different fathers. They should do the hat trick with Sharon and give her triplets by three different fathers. Take that, DOOL!

[Sylph]

So much word...

[MarkH]

I think that is the concern that some people have...that it is too plot-driven.

That said, I have to remind us about the period from January to August 2008...when we dialed back from "plot-driven" in the post LML era. The shows ratings sank at a faster rate than at any other time in the post Bill Bell era. The weekly ratings declines were atrocious.

In the time since JG left, the ratings have SLOWLY started climbing up (positive trend, surprisingly), but still haven't recovered all the ground lost during those disastrous months. So, a little "plot driven" may be needed to save the show.

I will not deny that there have been a lot of OMG moments...including when Nick said he wanted Sharon back on Friday...and that is going to keep some viewers coming back. Even though I now hate that weather-vaning pig because of it.

I have been totally thinking that. Nick and Sharon have become Ridge and Brooke. I didn't need to see that!

[cara mia]

Y&R is very character-driven, even to today. The issue is WHAT KIND OF CHARACTERS are on screen. Nick has regressed so much that he disgusts me. And I'm sorry but Michelle Stafford is wrong. JM can't just smile and make it all better. An actor like James Scott might be able to use his charm to save someone like the current incarnation of Nick, but JM cannot.

Where are the characters to root for? Where are the characters with noble qualities? Where is our version of Jack Snyder (even if he can be a jerk, he's still a hero)? Where is our Vicki Lord? Where is our Angie Hubbard (and don't tell me it's Olivia!)? There is something wrong with the show when the root-for character of the week is a sociopath sadist torturing an innocent woman.

Maybe that's why I want Raoul to stay. I see him as a potential hero. I don't know. Are there any characters on the show you're rooting for?

[Ann_SS]

Which obviously is not true. Billy acts resentful when Chloe insists that he cares for his daughter because he wants to run after Mac. He won't even pick her up when she is fussing because he is mooning over Mac. Billy has no motivation for staying with Chloe and Delia.

[Sylph]

Absolute, total bores! That kind. Or those who been so overused, it's an understatement to say it's high time for them to go.

[MarkH]

Amen. I love flawed, grey characters. But it was so nice, after Nick got together with Phyllis...that he was such an honest straight-talking man with integrity. He was a dude who tried to help Noah cope, helped his epilepsy rattled dad build shelves, played charades with his friends, and tried to be a good friend and lover to his redheaded gal. I found him relatable, and always striving to make the right choices.

That's all over now, and I won't perseverate. But it is a loss.

And you are right. There is not one man on the canvas now--except maybe Murphy (and I'm worried about him, because he BRIBED the governor, no matter what he said)--that's just straight up, straight forward, honest, no agenda. Well, I guess JT. But I don't get to see him struggle and make good choices. I don't get to see him, period.

Amen.

[Ann_SS]

A character doing one thing and then saying that they did something else like Billy not caring about Delia and then telling Jill that he does is also a favorite Bob Guza technique.

[MoTheGreat]

Do you know something?

But it can happen. It happen in realy life.

[dm.]

I didn't... but in this age, when Y&R is the only soap that actually bothers to hide some of their spoilers and give vague info, who would know in such detail what will happen in the next six months... it's all fanfiction, I believe.

[MoTheGreat]

I don't believe it. Until I see it for myself.

[MarkH]

I mean, Billy is real. Many young fathers are like this...think Levi Johnson (I'm speculating).

Billy, in isolation, would be fine. At this point, though, we have TWO stable interesting couples (Michael-Lauren, Murphy-Kay), but we don't really get to explore their relationships. I mean brownies-in-bed and gin-games-in-bed were TERRIFIC. But we don't get nearly enough of that, and we don't see these couples -- as couples -- solving problems together. Lauren was absent during the Silver Chipmunk saga, and that was really Amber's story anyway. Kay-Murphy have real potential, but one assumes they're headed to a ride on the backburner.

I know many disagree, but I really loved having one young-ish, vital, sexy, happy, funny couple that was not all Sturm und Drang, front-burner.

I'd be better with their demise...certainly their descent into this agony state...if there was another couple filling the void.

JT-Victoria are really too mild and soft for that. And Bloom-Engen (note, I'm not saying Heather-Adam) sparkled...but that was never pursued as Adam got turned into what he is now.

Noah has real potential for "young love", but not with his Edens. Kevin-Jana and Daniel-Amber are clearly on the road to ruin, and we get little insight into the romantic dimensions of their lives. (I'm sure I'm alone, but I think that quad could be much more interesting as Bob-Carol-Ted-Alice anyway--talk about shattering some daytime taboos).

My only hope is that

is a romantic lead, and a strong one. But I see no available females for him. Don't say Colleen.

[DeeeDee]

And yet even while mooning over Mackenzie he asked Chloe & Deila to come back when she moved out.

Billy loves Delia & cares about Chloe.

If he wanted to leave he would've left but he wants to have his cake & eat it too.