Y&R episode discussion

[DeeeDee]

Exactly!

TPTB & Miller have made his Billy so self involved it's almost impossible to support his righteous indignation.

[Juliajms]

I love Billy and I'm not hesitant to talk about it. Not that I think he's been written perfectly, but I think some of the estrangement from his family makes sense given his gambling problems and the way it was dealt with. Right or wrong I understand his resentment. Jill was pretty damn quick to choose Cain over Billy and to go to Victor herself when she thought it would suit her agenda. I also have no problem having him learn his lesson about Victor and come running back to his family. I do think they should have written more bonding scenes with Billy and the other Abbotts, but this Ashley story never would have worked if she wasn't isolated on that damn ranch. They really couldn't do that much more with Colleen and Billy given the time constraints. I think it would have been a lot different if Billy had been on the show a few more years and Colleen had been on more consistently.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

My biggest problem with the Billy character is that I think he's been overexposed and stretched too thin for only being back for a year. He also bares very little resemblance to the character that David Tom and Ryan Brown played. While I can understand people can change with time, there's very little connection to the Billy of the past to the Billy we have now. It's like a new sleazy/man-whorish version of the character. Not to mention, his reunion with Mac has been completely forced, and they've yet to spark anything resembling chemistry.

And yeah, Billy Miller can't pull off emotional scenes or cry very well...

[bellcurve]

I want to vomit everytime I hear Billy say "CeCe." Like this insta-nickname is going to make this story have more emotional weight.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Though he has come charisma, there's something very over the top and lacking about Billy Miller's acting. I don't think he quite understands how to play the more human side of his character.

[Juliajms]

I agree Billy has been overexposed, but that doesn't stop me from loving the character, it just makes me wish they would stop using him quite so much. I'm very much OK with the change they've made in the character. I like him much more this way and when change is good I embrace it. He was gone long enough so that the change was not jarring. I don't see him as sleazy at all. A playboy and a jerk at times, but soaps need those.

I agree that Billy and Mac aren't working, but I have some hope the show knows that too. I think we may get more Chloe/Billy again down the road. That's my hope anyhow.

[Cheap21]

They need to put Mac back with JT. She seems to have more sparks with him

[Juliajms]

As long as it doesn't start as an affair, I think that's a good idea. It makes me mourn would could have been though. Victoria and Colleen fighting it out for JT could have been such a good story once upon a time.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't mind change in characters, but every time I see Billy, I can't help but feel like it's a completely different character from what David Tom portrayed. As I said before, people can change with time, but somehow I don't see the connection between this Billy and the Billy we knew when Tom was in the role, if that makes sense. I think the old Billy had a softer and more vulnerable side that made me like and sympathize with him more, this new version leaves me a bit cold. He's completely unsympathetic and forced, IMO.

At this point, I think they've completely ruined Chloe and Billy. Chloe seems desperate and loses all her self-worth when she's around Billy or trying to break him and Mac up. Chloe and Chance have no chemistry and are better off as friends, but I don't like who Chloe is when she's trying to "win" Billy. I think she degrades herself. I find the overall writing for women on Y&R already problematic.

[Juliajms]

I think they could easily do Billy and Chloe again as a push pull relationship. I don't see Chloe as being overly desperate. She's a soap schemer, she's doing what those type characters do. And I think it's only right that she has to scheme and plot a little bit to get Billy. She is the bitch in this situation. It wouldn't make sense if Billy just fell into her arms after the things she's done. Neither of them are innocents, but I think eventually they are going to turn into a push/pull couple.

Chloe/Chance isn't working for me because Chance looks like he's nearly 30 and he's a virgin...that is not a turn on to me. At all. I just can't help thinking there is something wrong with him.

[DRW50]

I agree about Chloe and Billy being degrading. Chloe started out as his stalker and he avoided accepting responsibility for Delia for months. Then when he did accept responsibility, he palmed her off on Chloe because he wanted Sharon, then Mackenzie. I don't believe he has any feelings for Chloe beyond wanting what he can't have, and I think her feelings for him are based on self-loathing. She even wanted to give him Delia to raise with Mac, so Delia wouldn't turn out to be a loser like her. That's just plain sad, and a cry for help.

I think they crossed a big line with Billy when they had him sleep with Sharon over and over, even before his wedding night. She was married to his brother, and she was clearly not well mentally. Yet he went for it anyway. Even worse, aside from some blink and you'll miss it anger from Jack, this was all swept under the rug, so it just sits there, peeking out from the carpet. This all seemed like a very sleazy way to show us what a "man with balls" Billy was, as Hogan Sheffer would say, and to once again emasculate Jack. And then, it was over. He got away with it in pure Victor Newman style.

I think I would be more accepting of his Victor bashing if Victor had been loyal to Billy and THEN Billy turned against Victor. As it is now, I have no reason to believe that if Victor had not screwed Billy over, Billy would not be shaking Traci down to give Victor Colleen's heart.

I need to see more of Billy actually supporting his family, not dropping in on them and using them to make himself feel better. I need to see more of Billy not in any sexual storyline. I need to see more of Billy not whining about other people and using them to make himself seem like a victim. Then I think the character would be more balanced.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Billy seems to think she's some nutjob obsessed with him. I think he's attacked to her somewhat, but I think he sees her as a stalker-type. Also, from what we've seen of their meeting via those flashbacks, we've been told that Chloe purposely set out to trap Billy and she stalked him until they got together as a couple. From that set-up alone, I found her to be completely desperate and pathetic, as well as someone who degrades herself for a man.

I agree, and really, I think Chloe feels more like Chance's shopping buddy than anything else. LOL!

[Juliajms]

She was. But if we didn't have soap females doing these kinds of things then they would all be Mac. Who wants to watch a bunch of emotionally healthy people interacting? Soaps are based on dysfunctional, desperate people. That doesn't mean the character can't change, as I think Chloe has to some extent. I have no idea what Y&R has planned. Maybe Billy and Mac will stay together and have 10 kids, but it wouldn't surprise me if Billy keeps having thoughts of Chloe the more he sees her move on. If Billy and Chloe are ruined for all time, then pretty much every soap super couple is too because most of them have been through much worse and treated each other far worse at some point in the story.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think there's a line between being a soap schemer and a stalker. Chloe comes off as a desperate stalker that's always being treated like crap by Billy, and it causes her to get more obsessed. Billy has rarely ever shown any affection for her, and he's always treated her horribly, IMO. I've never sensed that he really loved her the way she loves him.

I agree with Carl in that I think Chloe being happy with someone else makes Billy upset, since that means he isn't #1 to her anymore, not necessarily that he loves her or anything.

[Juliajms]

And up to this point, that's exactly what she deserves. Look at everything she's done! She's no one's victim, except her own and again, that's typical soap. I don't see Chloe as a real stalker so much as a determined goldigger. Talk about a soap staple. I'm not saying that I think Billy is in love with her right now. I'm saying that I think it's good the show destroyed them and that I think they can be rebuilt if the show chooses to go in that direction, which I hope they do. Chloe/Billy are much more interesting to me than Chloe/Chance or Mac/Billy. They've shown us a few little signs that maybe Billy does have some feelings for her, but whether the show goes in that direction is anyone's guess.