Y&R: Episode Discussion for the week of August 10

[CSF]

I really wanted to see Billy drag Ashley's ass out of the ranch. Ashley is such an idiot though, and she deserves everything Adam is doing to her. Her character has become a joke. I felt bad for Paul, I wish Nikki went through with the wedding. Then again, if they wanted to give Paul a story outside of Nikki, they should have him paired with a girl Heather's age to stir up some trouble. They just need to cast a new female around that age. Chloe really shined in this episode though, she was great today as always!

[DRW50]

Even if Ashley deserves it, I'm not sure viewers do. I'm also not sure why they had Adam say he never meant to hurt Ashley when obviously he enjoys hurting her.

Adam is one of the most boring psychos ever, and so are his victims. They really should just shelve this story and repeat Lisa keeping Brad locked in a cage.

[cara mia]

That's why this story is HIGHLY & CLEARLY misogynistic, as well as boring as hell as Carl noted. Ashley is being written as deserving her torment because of her female stupidity, just as Amber deserved her rape because of her stupidity. Why can't Adam & Ashley go for a long ride off a short cliff? Adam was utterly destroyed a little while ago, but Ashley is going to join him & Mary Jane in the trash heap soon, too.

[Juliajms]

Or she's an actor pimping the story she is paid to sell. I don't have a lot of respect for people who collect their paychecks on the one hand and bash their show on the other. How many companies will let their employees get away with bashing the product they are paid to sell to customers? It's the equivalent of a Starbuck's barista handing you your coffee and telling you that it sucks. There are exceptions, but ED's character is the victim, not the perpetrator, so I don't think she has the same grounds to complain that some others do. This is the woman who played some insane Sh!t over on Days.

[DRW50]

Yeah, I agree that ED is just doing her job. I think she is afraid to speak out because she was already fired once, by LML, and her return was treated as a big gift to her.

Truthfully I haven't seen ED give very good performances in ages, long before LML sent her packing. I think she just sees this as a paycheck and has for a long time. The last time I saw her fully invested in a role was Kristen/Susan.

I also agree about the misogyny of the story. They are very manipulative in that they work hard to make sure the viewers will not feel any strong sympathy for the women being violated.

[Juliajms]

That may be, and I don't need ED to tell me the show and especially her story sucks. Last week was my last week watching. They lost me, with the whole fetus thing, I just didn't know it at the time. The show just became depressing for me, although I continued to watch until MJ raped Jack and killed Zapato. That's when I really hit my limit. I know a lot of people liked Mr.Kitty, but after the first week, I found it to be incredibly morbid. I'm hoping things get better when MJ leaves, but until that happens, I have better things to do with my time.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

So many here seem to be dropping this show, and I can't say I blame any of you for doing so.

There's really no excuse why why this show has gotten so bad and so morbid. These writers just suck and they're so uncreative, it's not even funny. If they they know they're not doing a good job, then quit already.

I'm really, really sick of Billy. Has he missed an episode this month? It feels like he's on every frickin' day. Ugh.

[Juliajms]

WORD. As you may (or may not) remember I was very positive on the show until Ashley fell down the stairs. I can put up with a lot of things on my soaps, but morbid writing is not one of those things. Think of all the horrible things that have happened in a short period of time, Ashley losing her baby, Adam doing the clean up, Ashley being treated by a molester, Asley driven truly nuts, MJ lugging around MR. Kitty's corpse, Summer poisoned and brain damaged, Amber raped, Jack raped, Zapato killed. I like my prime time shows dark, but I'm not watching this crap on daytime where the characters are like my extended family.

[DRW50]

The darkness bothers me, but what bothers me more is the stupidity of poor writing behind everything, the poor pacing, the lack of consequences. You name it. I feel like they think they can get away with this crap because it's "edgy" or something else.

I've been watching OLTL clips of when Viki split into seven alters. THAT is how you do darkness. Her husband just died. She was starting to remember that her father had molested her for years. Her son was sleeping with her archenemy. And then the brother she had recently found and come to love she learned was a con artist who was sleeping with her sister and wanted the family money.

That is how you do dark storytelling which engrosses instead of grosses out. These people at Y&R are just like bad fan fiction writers. Look at how cool I am, I'm all emo and sh!t.

[Juliajms]

Yes, the pacing is horrible. I actually think the most of the Ashley story would have worked for me if they had used the classic Y&R pacing. Most of what has been done would be acceptable if not for the fact that it happened within a few months. Nothing excuses MJ lugging around a cat corpse though and killing Zapato off would have pissed me off no matter what (unnecessary plot point). Not enough to take a long break, if not for the rest if it going down so quickly though.

Two rapes within a matter of weeks? No thank you. Even if you don't consider what happened to Amber rape (which I do), then two people having sex without their full consent is just a little too much for me. It's summer for pities sake! Aren't we supposed to get some light summer fun? I've watched this show for over 20 years, so I will come back, but not until Adam and MJ's stories wrap up.

[DRW50]

I agree. The Adam story could be better, with better pacing. As it is it's all just shocks. So is MJ. I think they lost any idea why they brought her in, if they had one. The worst part for me is Adam and MJ are both so generic that once they're gone, the show will probably just bring in other random psychos. It's all about the plot.

[lovely_m]

The worst part is that both are legacy characters that could have been used (especially Vic Jr.) in future storyline. I still don't get how anyone could still like this storyline.

It would have been great if they had brought on Diane Jenkins and Kyle Abbott. Diane is the woman Jack cheated with and caused Patty to shot Jack. MJ lost Jack's child and Diane ended up having his kid.

[Juliajms]

Screwing up Victor Jr. is one of the biggest mistakes I've ever seen this show make. Seriously. Why???? Why have they destroyed a character that could have been a thorn in Nick and Vikki's side for years to come? I will never understand it. I waited a decade for this character to come home to GC, for THIS?

[alphanguy74]

I don't think Adam's been destroyed at all. I think he's gonna get away with everything. Just like Victor did with the Michael Scott Kidnapping. But unfortunately, I don't think they are gonna turn Adam into a compelling character like Victor became... I think theyr'e gonna make him into a cartoonish Stefano Dimera clone. Just a prediction. Victor was so compelling because once his childhood was revealed, you could see why he was the way he was, and it was interesting. But Adam didn't have a bad childhood, no logical reason for him to be this way. Just like when they played this feud between Phyllis and Dru... it wasn't based on a DAMN THING. What? A petty workplace rivalry? Certainly nothing to push someone off a cliff over. If you have a bitter feud, it needs to be based on something BIG, dammit! I hate to say it, but Engen DID make the character more realistic and believeable, it's too bad he had to act like a prick and quit his job (And I'm CONVINCED they dropped the Adam/Rafe kiss at the last minute to piss Engen off and twist the knife). I like Muhney's enthusiasm... but having said that, I must say that in his scenes, he's proving to come off a bit TOO eager. I don't mind Billy Miller at ALL, seeing him alot is no problem for me, just like Cast and Hendrickson. I'm really tired of Sharon Case at this point. If she had some meaninful scenes with her mother, it would help a great deal. But theyr'e not using Doris, and they NEED TO. BADLY. I think most of these stories are fine, it's all the pacing that's the problem... all this crap should have played out not over 2 months... but over 2 YEARS. I would like to see Sheffer fired, but not Maria... I want her to FIX IT. From last fall and this spring, we know she's capable of soapy goodness, I honestly think she needs the right person to help pull it out of her. And Sheffer is obviously bringing her down, and in a big way. I used to see people praise him all over the boards, WHY? He's a dolt.

[DRW50]

I think one of the reasons they destroyed Adam was to help Nick. They think Nick is the big young Newman stud and they didn't want any competition for him. Adam was ruined for a Nick/Victor reunion (and now they barely speak) and because Victor has become too one-note of a character to drive storyline.

Even now I hear people say, "They can redeem Adam. They can redeem anyone." Even if that's true, when have they shown any interest in making the effort? This character has been increasingly butchered for over a year now, and the only thing that ever kept him relatively sympathetic was Engen. MM just seems to be playing the predictable crazy role.

I don't even like to think of Adam or MJ as legacy characters. I can't. It's too depressing. And as Amber, a character who was not even from Y&R and has not been written properly in almost a decade, proves, you don't even need to be a part of history to be considered legacy. The only time they write for legacy characters who have long ties to the show is when they rewrite their personalities and cut them off from their entire family, like Billy.