Y&R: Episodes discussion, week of September 21

[SOAPSFOREVER]

Writers kill off characters when they don't know anything else to do. It's easy, gives a few weeks of story. Sometimes it makes sense, evil characters needs punishing, whatever, but generally it's just lazy storytelling, especially when they kill off a core character for no good reason. Y&R is a mess right now. It has no story direction. The actors for the most part are saving this show's butt with their individual performances. heck, Beth Maitland is saving this whole storyline. Her emotion is the only one I believe. The rest of the characters are so damaged. And Paul Rauch in his interview with NB thinks everything is cooking on all cylinders on this show. No wonder it's in trouble.

[DRW50]

And Marge. And Clint.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Agreed.

It seems every time someone writing or producing this is interviewed, they refuse to acknowledge any mistake. It's like they're living in denial about the true state of the show and about their obvious lack of soap opera writing skills.

I get it, they can't come out and say their show sucks, but these people tout their horns more than anything else and want so badly to persuade everyone that Y&R is as good as ever and better than it has ever been, when it's not to a lot of people, and clearly, whatever ratings momentum they had earlier in the year has LONG died down.

[DeeeDee]

Hope

Skye

Sabrina

David

Walter

Marge

Clint

Brad

Zapato

Colleen

...That's ridiculous.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't usually find most of Sara Bibel's articles insightful, but I think she summed up what a lot of us felt about Colleen's death...

http://www.fancast.com/blogs/deep-soap/deep-soap-til-death-do-us-part/

[Chris B]

And MAB said the show was dark when LML was writing it?! That is a laugh now. Seeing just how many characters have been killed off is shocking. I knew it was a lengthy list, but I didn't know it was that bad. If I were the EP (of the entire show, not just production) I'd tell the writers straight out YOU CANNOT KILL ANYONE OFF FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. Then I'd even given them several characters who need to be written off and see what they do. Everyone doesn't have to die! Not only do they not follow through, but it's hard to care when it happens so often. I think the best exit in soap history is when Alison Mackenzie simply walked out of Peyton Place and never returned. It was suspenseful, they built up to it for over a year, gave the cast wonderful material to work with and it showed the consequences of living in a soap town. Alison was a character who looked at her life and said "This [!@#$%^&*] is crazy!" She didn't ignore that all these crazy things kept happening to her. It affected her so much that she almost lost her sanity which is why she HAD to leave Peyton Place. And that show wasn't nearly as dark as Y&R is now! If Alison were on Y&R, she'd commit suicide by now!

I want someone (perhaps Ashley?) to look at all this darkness and insanity and truly react to it. Peoples lives need to be shaken to the core and they need to do whatever it takes to move forward. Of course that will never happen because we know Adam and Patty aren't going anywhere. Despite murdering a child, they'll eventually redeem Adam. Or maybe just never reveal his crimes so he'll keep committing them. Then you have sweet, crazy, cute Patty whose sins will be washed away soon enough. Colleen who? There is no light at the end of the tunnel, just more darkness.

[Juliajms]

Did I miss a day? I thought

[Cheap21]

Anyone else get a kick out of Kitty Kitty meowing in the background of Patty's scenes? LOL

[DRW50]

Chris B, they can't have anyone react to the death, because then they would have to acknowledge the tragedy and the consequences of death. It's much easier to have a few episodes of sad faces, followed by everyone forgetting a week or two later. Or to have death used as an excuse for living characters to do whatever they want and to blame that on the dead.

Y&R is VERY clever with who they choose to kill off, just as they are clever with who they fire or minimize in airtime. They know that the soap press and some fans will ALWAYS find a way to blame the actor. Lauren reduced to the most worthless role she has had in decades? Well, it's OK, because she's one of the Fisher-Baldwins, she gets what she deserves. Jill and Nikki ruined? It's OK, MTS and Jess should just accept what they can. Phillip's return a massive failure? Thom Bierdz is to blame. The Adam story a confusing mess? That's Chris Engen's fault. Brad killed off? Well, LML used Brad too much, and Don Diamont should have accepted a pay cut, so who cares?

Now we have Colleen. Over and over, at Deep Soap, Serial Drama, wherever, I read comments to the effect of, "Colleen died when the gorgeous and talented superstar Adrianne Leon left. She was brain dead as soon as Tammin arrived."

So to some of the vocal viewers, it's OK to kill Colleen, because AL was fired.

Can you imagine if Y&R had killed off Jack after Terry Lester left, or Jill after Brenda Dickson was fired? And would fans have said no big deal?

The show will continue to find a way to make sure the actors get the blame for bad stories or bad, pointless exits, and sadly, I don't see this changing anytime soon.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

That travesty happens

[Juliajms]

Thanks Alvin. I was just very confused by today's episode. It seemed completely off to focus on the Scoobies GH style wacky hijinks when Colleen and Victor are in critical condition. Why was Jill at a party when Billy needed her? Did anyone even mention Colleen and Victor today.

[Cheap21]

actually Jill did. Kat mentioned that she invited Cane but that he wanted to stay with Lily. Jill then said she must be devasted bc of Colleen

[Chris B]

You'd think Jill would want to be there...she is an Abbott. Katherine is also John's best friend so why aren't they there? Both were so closely tied to that family since they arrived in Genoa City. Especially Jill due to John, Billy and Jack. Maybe she didn't have gas money, who knows.

[Juliajms]

OK, at least that makes some sense, even if any kind of party at the Chancellors doesn't, Kaye's speech not withstanding.

I wonder what they are going for with Chance/Chloe. Is Chloe going to accidentally fall for him? Or is the idea that Billy really does love Chloe he just hasn't quite figured it out yet?

[Ann_SS]

This might be as long a list of death as GH.