Y&R: Episode Discussion for the week of August 3rd

[DRW50]

Another cheap shot I never understood. Melody was anchoring huge, complex stories from the time she was a very young woman. "Hair models" don't do that. If she had been a bad actress, then the STD, the cult, Rose Deville, killing her father, none of this would have worked with viewers, and Nikki would either have been recast or would not be around now. It's quite a bizarre world in soap commentating when Eva Marcile is not seen as a bad actress, but Melody Thomas Scott is. Say what you will about MTS, she is the ONLY Newman who has managed to main some semblance of character and personality while the rest of her family, even those who get far more airtime and storyline, have been shot to hell.

As for Zapato's death, I think they just wanted to focus on the shock, not on the actual death. Otherwise he would have died, and died, and died, and died some more, like Sabrina.

[Scryber96]

Ok, move me over to the hater column, too.

So Nikki spends yesterday remembering how horribly Victor treats her even though he once loved her, and let's face it, the man abuses her both verbally and mentally if not physically, and most of today having everyone tell her that Paul treats her the way she deserves to be treated...and then she's going to call off the wedding to him because Victor is her true love? She'd rather be with the married man who treats her like a piece of crap on his shoe?

If I wanted to see women act like that, I'd watch Maury or Springer instead.

[cara mia]

Soap "criticism" is pure bullshit. We've heard the stories that MTS is bitch in real life. You know what? Who cares? The point is that the woman has charisma and beauty and TALENT to spare. But because MTS isn't Mary Sunshine in real life, people want to say she's not as valuable as EB or that she used to be a hair model. Film and prime-time tv critics don't play that bullshit game. They don't care that Sean Penn is a jerk in real life. If he's awesome in Milk, they're going to give him credit. The very idea that today's Eva Marcille is better than a young MTS is insanity.

[DRW50]

I think some people like to believe EB has somehow carried MTS, but would he be as prominent now if not for the Nikki/Victor relationship? What about the accomplishments MTS has brought to the show? Did anything symbolize 80s Y&R like Melody? And she managed to transcend many other eras, all the way up to now, when those in charge treat her like this.

I can't help feeling sad that newer viewers will not get to see the many assets Jess Walton and MTS bring to their roles. They know their characters inside and out and they always give their best, and they have been devalued and given scraps. For Jess this is not new, but MTS was one of the only highpoints of Latham's era, and was a huge draw for the show when Victoria was in a coma. Some of the absolute best work of her career. And in return, Melody gets degradation, an offcamera romance with a man she has not seriously interacted with in decades, and a story which tells us ugly behavior equals true love.

[Paul Raven]

MTS is the one of the ultimate soap actresses!

Her portrayal of Nikki is one of soap's best.The fragile heroine totally ruled by her emotions.

When they try to turn Nikki into a shrewd businesswoman,they are taking away from the essence of Nikki.

[sheilaforever]

I'm a few days behind but...

NICK & PHYLLIS are coma-inducing. They put Smugtoria & BoreMeToTears (It pains me to say that Thad Luckinbill is having some chemistry with Cybill Sheperds' daughter though... Gasp!) to shame as the most redundant, boring and chemistry-free couple ever. UNBELIEVABLE.

THe whole situation with Summer is as contrieved as in an old LML script. More over the icky acting of Michelle giggleface Stafford is vomitworthy. This couple is pure HATE; I couldn't watch their "wedding" last week for more than 5 seconds before hitting the FF-button...

The writing where Nikki & Victor is heavily contrieved these days in order to make room for someone's brief exit. For months they were on bad terms, then slightly warmed up to each other, although nothing really changed, and now!?

[DeeeDee]

Mel Scott is to Y&R what Genie is to GH.

[Sylph]

Amen.

[DRW50]

Yes. A lynchpin, underappreciated, prone to reports calling her a diva or difficult. I hope Y&R won't do to her what GH did to Genie.

At least Eric Braeden doesn't seem to make some of the blunders in interviews that Geary does, and he doesn't seem to resent the Victor/Nikki legacy that much. Or if he does he doesn't say anything.

[Paul Raven]

Nikki/Melody looked great at the church.

How is it that her appearance changes from ep to ep-from hag to hottie?

Paul/Nikki could have been a viable story but for whatever reason,it was completely ignored so we could watch half baked ideas played out.

Nice that Todd was there,but no mention of Mary's whereabouts.Couldn't they just throw in a line that she moved to Toledo or wherever to live with Steve?

Bill Bell lost interest in the Williams family early on.Steve(admittedly a boring character) was written off .A good recast a few years later could have been a viable character.Patty never returned and Carl got the whole amnesia rewrite that never amounted to anything.

After being invisible,JT/Victoria are suddenly around,but the conflict seems a little forced at this stage.It's hard to care about the state of their marriage when we have seen nothing of it.

[lovely_m]

I honestly thought that Zapato's murder was going to be worse than it was. I imagined Mary Jane was going to chop Zapato up into little pieces and leave his bloody body parts on Victor's doorstep.

Could they played up the fact that Zapato was going to die any more obvious? Yes they could have, but once Ashley said Zapato gave her great comfort and they showed flashbacks of him we all knew he was a goner.

They don't have enough intrest in the Williams family to redeem Patty. If they do it's only because Stacy Haiduk is popular and getting a lot of praise, basically the female Greg Rikkart.

I'm one of those people who feel that Victor should lose, but it felt kind of weird to see that Billy and Colleen could cause him worry. It feels sad that Victor feels so threatend by this twit that he would pay two goons to disgrace her. Jack has been trying to beat Victor for at least 20 years and it seem that Billy could do it in less than 5 years. They had Victor lose his cool when Billy was defending Colleen.

I do like that they are setting up their next Abbott generation. Billy is becoming Jack and Jack is becoming John. I just wish they weren't doing it so fast. Maybe it's because Peter Bergman looks so young. Now if they could only make Victoria head the next Newman generation.

Did anyone else think that Eric Braden looked like Bert Reynolds when he was younger?

[ian]

He looked almost identical to Magnum PI

They bear a passing resemblance to Reynolds:

[Rhiannon]

Why the hell is Nikki taking a taxi anywhere?

[dm.]

She wanted to have a quiet exit out of town?

[ian]

Victoria either goes from sleepwalker to shrew. At least JT is getting his balls, but, we all know how misogynistic this regime is... I'm waiting for the day Thad opens up his script and it says JT HAULS OFF AND SLUGS VICTORIA

THAD: Hogan, I can't hit my wife.

HOGAN: You will... because you can be replaced. We'll find someone unscrupulous, we already found Michael Muhney.