Hope too.

and this is ALL under this one writing regime during the relatively short amount of time they've unfortunately been employed at this show.

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.

And Marge. And Clint.

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.

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.

Hope

Skye

Sabrina

David

Walter

Marge

Clint

Brad

Zapato

Colleen

...That's ridiculous.

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/

by Sara Bibel

Sep 23rd, 2009 | 10:24 AM5 5

Prolonged Suffering

I am no fan of the Tammin Sursok’s portrayal of The Young & The Restless’s Colleen. I recently wished that Mary Jane would put her in a coma so that she could wake up with another actress’s face. I need to be more careful what I wish for. I wanted this version of Colleen off the show. I would have applauded her decision to study art history abroad. I did not wish her dead. I certainly did not wish her a prolonged, cruel death.

While Tammin Sursok never fit the role, Colleen was once a popular character. She was a member of a core family. She was young. Sursoks’ version of Colleen was annoying, but Colleen was a good person who was loyal to her family and friends. She spent most of the past year on the backburner due to a combination, I assume, of the miscasting and the time Sursok spent shooting a Nickelodeon movie. I thought Colleen might become interesting when she took over Brad’s seat on the Newman Enterprises board of directors. That storyline was quickly dropped. When Colleen kissed J.T. and declared she wanted him back, I hoped Y&R might have found a way to rescue Victoria and J.T. from their stable married couple doldrums. That storyline was not to be, either.

Colleen was fatally injured when her canoe improbably toppled over in the same lake where her father drowned. CBS heavily promoted Y&R’s September 17th episode in which, while floating at the bottom of the lake, she has visions of her friends and family. They had conversations in front of an obviously projected outdoor backdrop culminating in Colleen seeing Brad floating beside her in the lake, taking her to join him. CBS thinks that Y&R’s must see episode was what amounted to a snuff film.

Colleen’s death was prolonged three more episodes, increasing the suffering for both the character and the viewers. She was still breathing when Jack pulled her out of the lake. If Patty had not pointed a gun at him and ordered him to stop performing CPR, she might have survived. Once she finally reached the hospital, the doctors said she still had brain function only to declare her brain dead after further tests on Tuesday. The only point to prolonging the declaration of death seemed to be to twist the knife in the Abbott family’s side. Now Traci must make the horrible decision to take her daughter off a ventilator. I am not sure what story will be generated by killing Colleen. The Abbotts already hated both Victor and Patty. Brad’s death had little impact, and he was a far more important character in the show’s history.

These days, there is an increasing tendency in soaps to kill characters off rather than just send them out of town. It gives shows a few dramatic episodes. But, in the case of members of core families, it destroys future story possibilities. Y&R keeps bringing John Abbott back as a ghost because the Abbotts need their patriarch. If Billy Abbott had died when Scott Seymour played him, we never would have gotten to see Billy Miller in the role. I wish Y&R, which has recently killed off Brad, an unborn Abbott child, and a beloved dog, had chosen to let Colleen live.

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.

Did I miss a day? I thought

Colleen was supposed to be taken off life support today?

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

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.

Did I miss a day? I thought

Colleen was supposed to be taken off life support today?

That travesty happens

on Friday.

That travesty happens

on Friday.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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?

Hope

Skye

Sabrina

David

Walter

Marge

Clint

Brad

Zapato

Colleen

...That's ridiculous.

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