Y&R: Episodes discussion, week of September 14

[Toups]

Oh wow, Paul Rauch totally failed with today's production values. What was up with that. Man, I wish Ed Scott would come back and bring Kathryn Foster and Noel Maxam as his producers.

[Vee]

I caught those Colleen scenes. Oh, sweet Christ. You must be [!@#$%^&*] kidding me. They tried so hard to be, like, cinematic, like The Lovely Bones or something and it was just a joke. First of all, those FX were unbelievably laughable. Second, you could've pulled that off with a well-written character played by a talented actress, but Colleen's character has been de-natured for a long time now, underwritten, under-seen, and finally rendered irrelevant. Now, at the last moment, they want to give her some jacked-up Final Cut Pro ghetto-editing "vision quest" as she dies, to act like we care about backburnered Colleen #98's identity crisis? And then she floats her way to death with dead Dad. Nice.

Bottom line: Don't try to go Hollywood with the narrative if you can't pull it off. Don't do it with a character that has not been written for. Don't do it with bad effects. You can't do it half-ass at the last minute. They tried to be Linda Gottlieb doing the multiplexes in 1992 with Megan on OLTL, swinging for the fences. That did not work.

[DRW50]

Vee, I agree with you. As others have said, I was also reminded of Storm swimming around with Katie on B&B, wearing Joker makeup. I thought that was pretentious, pointless, and just reinforced how idiotic the show was to kill off Storm for shock value, but at least it was well-produced. If I had any doubt that Paul "production values" Rauch has no real taste or has no real influence on Y&R (or both), this confirmed it.

The sticking heads on photos was unintentionally hilarious. I wish they'd just gone totally crazy and for one photo, put Kylie Minogue's head on the body. For another, Ryan Kwanten. For another, that girl who sang "Torn". For another, Guy Pearce.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Agreed, I don't understand how anyone could defend this craptacular writing regime after this. If they think today's episode was some sort of Emmy submission, then they'll be left without a nomination next year.

I can't believe this is the crap they "worked hard" on.

It's really time for some changes...

Say what you want about GH and JFP, but she would have made this [!@#$%^&*] fly production-wise, likewise with any former Y&R producer.

Not only did the story fail massively, so did the production. Such a damn shame.

Colleen's death is pointless. Maybe it would have had some emotional punch HAD WE ACTUALLY SEEN Colleen interact with her family months leading up to her death, instead she was a virtual dayplayer since Tammin's arrival, which I don't blame all on her by the way.

They had enough with Patty Jane to reignite Jack and Victor's feud, Colleen's death shouldn't have happened. Brad is gone, Traci will be gone soon, Ashley is nuts, Billy only cares about himself, Lily has cancer, Abby is almost never on, and JT had marital problems with Victoria. Who will feel the long-term effects of this?

The family dynamics on this show are already so poorly defined. This crap is not acceptable.

You don't kill off a next generation character for purely "shock" and "awe" purposes. At least Cassie's death had weeks of build up and was about a serious issue that happens to happen a lot with teens. Also, its lingering effects are felt to this day. The same will not be said for Colleen's death. This is shameful. Bill Bell is spinning in his grave, I'm sure (yes, I used Bill Bell, which shows I'm just picking on poor MAB for the hell of it! )

[MoTheGreat]

Was Lily needed in today scene?

[DeeeDee]

EXACTLY.

[Juliajms]

I've started watching again for Tracy, but I don't know how much I can take. Just last April I loved this show and could not wait to see each episode. This Colleen death stuff is just so bad.

[Greg's GL]

Phelps would have made this [!@#$%^&*] look amazing, even if the story sucked. Which it does.

I just can't get over how quickly the wheels have fallen off this show. It's shocking. When Rauch joined, everyone was saying how better the production values were within the first WEEK. Now, look at it. Although MAB's first few months were boring, the beginning of the year everyone was in love with this show. Now look at it.

Even the most die-hard fans here at SON are sick of this shitfest. I think the only person still "loving" MAB's Y&R is Nelson. That ain't sayin' much.

[DRW50]

I couldn't be excited about the new Y&R because of my Rauch baggage. Then when they proceeded to dump the long-built story of Nick and Victoria being estranged from Victor and Adam taking over as his heir apparent, all to make Adam the pathetic loser, I became even more guarded. The complete humiliation of Nikki, made into a beached whale and boozing her way to oblivion because she slaughtered Saint Sabrina all on her own, just made it worse.

There were other stories which were better, like the Katherine/Marge story, but unfortunately I think they took the "success" of the Palin nonsense and used that as their blueprint. I really believe everything wrong with Y&R has its roots in that trash.

[DRW50]

In terms of drowning deaths, I think this storyline was far more heart-wrenching, realistic, and had much higher production values.

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[Y&RWorldTurner]

LOL! Sad, but true.

The funny thing is, you know the arrogance of the people writing this show thought this was going to be so bad ass of them and that everyone would love it. I guess they're in for a shock.

[Heyou]

Yep and it was horrendous! Now we know what Sursok would look like without a neck. EWW! Couldn't they at least have swapped a photo of Sursok with Fonseca's for pete's sake? I'm sure it was just me, but did anyone else think that scene where Cawleen reaches out to JT, Damn, Sursok's got some monkey arms?

Her death will serve yet another plot point thus proving to only themselves that they did the right thing. I had no feeling whatsoever in today's episode. Sursok looked as if she was sleepwalking as she just stared into space. She can't even express herself with her eyes. It's no wonder they felt the need to kill her.

At least they got one thing right, the water that was in the 'water tank' sure was murky. If I had been one of the actors, I'd rather have been in a nasty lake with who knows what else. That's the only thing that was done right.

[mr. sweet]

I'm not the biggest Lily defender but i think Lily deserved to be in this episode. She's Colleen's best friend. It's like sying JT wasn't needed because he's her ex. Friends can be just as important as family.

Also the strange thing is I really liked this episode and I'm not even a fan of Colleen. I thought the images in water were very good. But I guess, it's just me.

[bellcurve]

[MarkH]

I watched a second time. I really tried to find some emotion. I found none. Not even for Traci. I kind of liked the Victor/Jack sparring, but Lily's facial mugging and Colleen's stoic lack of emotion sort of took me out of the scene. I was also having a real hard time tracking the 'device'. Why did characters like Billy first appear in the water? And then in that netherspace between this plane and the next? I didn't understand what that meant. Why did some folks--like John or Traci or Steve not appear in the water? I know this isn't important, but stupid questions like this took me out of the emotion.

I liked seeing Brad, but Diamont deserved a dry scene too. I would have felt something if this one (hokey) thing had happened: Brad appeared in the dry space. Everyone else faded away to white. The scenery faded to white. Brad took Colleen's hand. As a rousing Nadia's Theme played, Brad and Colleen walked into the light. Hokey, cliche...yes. But then I might have felt something.

There is no question Tammin's limitations were front and center today. I have no problem with her dismissal. I have a problem that, because she evoked nothing in me, the death of a "legacy" character has occurred...and I feel nothing. (Except I'm disappointed that they made this choice...and that also took me out of the story).

Alvin talked about Cassie's death...and that still remains the best one ever for me. I bawled like a baby. It was set up beautifully and played out over weeks. Every emotional reaction was played. Proper goodbyes were said. And, as Alvin noted, the fallout of it still plays today. That's how you do it!

Lily needed to be there. I agree!

But Khalil is...off. She has almost the opposite problem of Tammin. Tammin couldn't summon emotion, and showed no range. Christel mugs. Watch her face in FF with the volume off. It is one over-dramatic grimace after another. So, because she was ACTING, she took me out of the scene.

It also took me out of the scene that the two people who tried to roast Colleen, on two separate occasions, in a restaurant freezer were sitting there talking about her. They really didn't belong there...and I love Kevin and Jana.