Y&R Episodes Discussion, Week of October 5, 2009

[MarkH]

[DRW50]

Poor Colleen. Let's e-mail that collage to Y&R every few months since they will forget about her very soon.

[Cat]

Physically, these three actresses do look like an evolution of Colleen. Sursok especially could be Fonseca and Leon's love-child, physically (if not in the acting stakes). I just wish --sigh-- that Y&R hadn't fucked Colleen up, starting when they fired Leon. If they kill her off, it's because they wish to turn their backs on a mistake they made.

Beth Maitland should be on contract. It bears repeating because she is just that good.

[MarkH]

LOL. That's exactly why I posted that. Even if you hated the latest portrayer, at least a few of us have had a lot of affection for the character over the years. It is THAT we should remember this week. I know we're being manipulated, but I fully intend to jump on the "I'll miss you Colleen" bus this week. What a terrific bunch of years the character gave us. She'll be sorely missed.

I hope I won't get in trouble, but one of my favorite Jolleen scenes is embedded below. (My excuse...it is relevant for setting the emotional context of this week) For this scene, it is hard for anyone to love Kevin after seeing that. It goes down as one of my all-time favorites on Y&R, and always brings a lump to my throat. Listen to the music! I also embedded a cheesy clip package that is closer to what SHOULD have been playing this week.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=-AeDw_5BoH4 http://www.youtube.c...h?v=awMiEeHFiAs

Ah, sh!t...now the sappiness is coming out in me. I made the mistake of typing "JT and Colleen" into Youtube. Now I wanna cry. Nothing I'm seeing on screen these days does that . I wish they could have paid better homage to that romance.

ETA: Damn, I watched that fire-rescue video in toto. When I see that, or Cassie's death, then I really mourn for my lost Y&R. Not these heightened stories, but for all the emotion that was pouring out back then.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

And sadly, we'll never see anything with that emotional substance or resonance ever again on this show.

At this point, they're forgiven for their missteps (which weren't even huge errors when compared to Latham and Maria Bell/Sheffer/Hamner), time to bring Alden and Smith back in a last ditch effort to bring this show back to its identity and save it.

[DeeeDee]

Nadia's Theme will NOT redeem that garbage Maria!

[MarkH]

LOL. I was begging for Nadia's Theme .

For me, it's like I said above. This is a story I never wanted to see...but at least they're sending Colleen off with some sense of importance.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Word, especially when the overall story is so hollow, crappily executed, and meaningless.

Those scenes really didn't conjuere up the same type of emotions as Cassie's did. But again, we don't have writers of that caliber anymore...

[DeeeDee]

Putting a cherry on a dogshi.t sundae is still dogshi.t.

[MarkH]

LOL and true.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't understand how one show can feel so damn hollow. Am I supposed to be a wreck or a mess? I honestly don't feel anything.

I feel like this show purposely talks down to its audience, instead of recognizing the intelligence of its audience.

[MarkH]

I was disappointed they wheeled the donor and recipient out side by side. Dramatic, but that would never have happened. It would have been just as effective if they'd been on different floors.

The inability to use flashbacks for Colleen really hurt this part of the story too. We'd feel less hollow (and maybe more angry) if we could "remember the good times" first. Saying is not as good as showing.

I can't defend this story. I did think the emotions at the end--both Sharon's "farewell" to her two daughters, and the Abbott-Newmans--was nicely done. I find myself continously chilled by how Ashley stands with the Abbotts, not the Newmans. It speaks such volumes.... We are going to see Ashley-with-a-vengeance when this is done, I fear.

[DeeeDee]

TPTB are doing a Diane on her.

[MarkH]

Now, having watched the whole thing through, I'm more satisfied.

1. I got my JT scene. I wish Thad were more broken up (Amelia did a better job, crying for him outside the window), but at least we got that scene. I liked his "dream" of picking her up and saving her from the lake. Because, as we see at the top of this thread, he once fulfilled that dream. I also wish he had saved her.

2. Eric Braeden mentions, in his Michael Logan interview, how rehearsal time is gone. That's nothing new...all the soaps are doing that. But what is interesting is how it affects the performances, giving many of them less emotional heft than they should have.

In that context, it is interesting to see how some senior "stars" are able to coach good performances when the moment calls for it. Hayley Erin is no award winner, but today (with Colleen) was her best moment. And that moment was spent alone with Peter Bergman. So, too, Joshua Morrow showed much more emotion today than he did when grieving with the mother of his dead baby. And, of course, he was alone with Michelle Stafford. And Billy Miller was brought to greater heights by Jeanne Cooper.

I also was impressed by Eileen Davidson's chirpy coldness...and by Michael Muhney's teary eyed "outsider" status, watching Victor get wheeled away. These two are, IMO, very good.

3. The thing that didn't ring true for me was Kay as a reader of bible passages. I don't personally recall that much from her past...and it was at Sabrina's funeral that she was not much different from Billy in raising a fist to God. So, to have her recite an Ezekiel passage from memory was a bit much. It's like Amanda Beall wrote her as a generic "soap elder"...which Kay never was.

But, in general, I didn't mind Beall's script today. I didn't notice a lot of hip modernisms.

4. Beth Maitland totally won me over today. I felt her pain in those final farewells with Colleen--palpably. She is amazing. And Melody--with her streaked cheeks--gave all the heart needed to the Newman scenes. And BRAVO to Eric Braeden for summoning buckets of real tears today.

This was a good entry, and a relatively moving end to this part of Colleen's story.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Sorry, not impressed by Muhney, and there's something very flat, yet over the top about him. I also can't get past how damn old he looks.

Did anyone listen to the CBS podcast on DC? They really rip Adam, Muhney, the Colleen story, and this inane baby switch. Nice to know many of the supporters (now former supporters) for this writing regime at Y&R have seen the light...

Poor Colleen, you know she'll be all but forgotten in a month. What a terrible waste of a character with so much potential and so much to offer if properly written and cast. A year from now and after that, we'll still be asking "Why?".