Y&R: Eric Braeden update

[Soapsuds]

Well isnt that MAB telling him it was very rude of him to say that?...LOL

[Y&RWorldTurner]

That isn't lmfan's point. There's a host of veteran characters that have been neglected since the beginning of this writing regime and people like her favourites Michael and Lauren that have been without a real storyline for years.

I'm pretty sure Christian LeBlanc, Kristoff St. John, Jess Walton, and others are currently NOT being worked over their guarantees or anywhere close to, yet story isn't created for them. But somehow it is for people like Ryder, and soon the new girl Daisy.

Also, the show is out casting all these new roles, like Daisy, Ryder's mother, a middle aged man named Trucker, and apparently some younger actors for the teen set. So, instead of not using some of the veteran cast to their guarantees, why are they hiring more people? If budget cuts are so severe, why is the cast list growing and not shrinking? Regardless of newbies not costing as much as veterans, now is not the time to be adding more expense to the cast budget. They don't seem to understand using what they have and the concept of balance very well. They could also afford to cut some actors from their cast list. This show has tons of dead weight, yet that isn't being done. There's so many aimless characters on this show right now.

[moila]

From my own source PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT repost on other Y&R boards otherwise I will not post anymore info. The spoilers are supposed to stay on this board.

There has been reports going around that Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki) will leaving Y&R Once Victor exits with Nikki and she returns back. SONY now wants MST to be put on recurring status but she is refusing and taking no for an answer. Both EB and MST are both willing to take pay cuts .When the actress re-sgined a few months ago it was only because she coincided with EB's cycle - but now SONY is demanding for Nikki to be gone. They made SONY a counter offer but have not heard in return. So far it appears MTS is gone too.

[Sylph]

Melody Thomas will be exiting when she returns back? She re-signed because she coincided with Braeden's cycle? Can someone please translate?

I love it how a girl from the UK has inside source over at Sony's.

[moila]

Let me make make it clearer

Victor and Nikki will leave. Nikki will return but when she returns, there will be a storyline preparing her exit (depending on who wins). Its not 100% confirmed but SONY is pressurising MST to be put on recurring status.

[JaneAusten]

I guess I am ignorant to all this. Why does Sony care? I know they own the show for all intensive purposes but do they manage the budget? Or is this just part of an overall strategy to follow the Days path and get rid of expensive veteran actors?

[Ann_SS]

Y&R is owned by Sony, the Bells and Corday. Sony is responsible for the contract negotiations with the Y&R cast so it always gets the blame in public by the cast and fans for these decisions. IMO, Y&R is not trying to fire costly vets, just cut the budget by reducing payroll.

[Chris B]

When MTS returned didn't Logan or Nelson say it wasn't for as long as they wanted? I seem to recall something about her not winning like she tried to spin. Honestly, with Victor leaving and them possibly bringing on a replacement family for the Newman's, I wouldn't count it out. Nikki is too old for these writers and she won't have a love interest. You know they won't want to put effort into giving her a new one, so she's out. Victoria is played by a weak actor so she'll probably leave or continue to be minimized and only Nick will remain. Of course, that's if Eric Braeden decides to stay gone over the long term. With all the stunt casting I wouldn't be surprised to see Braeden turn up on another soap.

[JimTolkien]

Hahahahahahaha!!! At the rate this standoff seems to be going..welllll...I think the show can get more mileage if someone walks around with a handheld vc and tape contract negotiations and their fallouts.

[JimTolkien]

Unfortunately, I can believe this - it's becoming obvious that Sony probably wants the future generation to be frontburner. Your source better watch it, he/she could be under surveilance - the show after all is trying to trim the budget!!

[DRW50]

I will be very surprised if MTS stays without Eric on the show. The show has not exactly been subtle in their contempt for Nikki over the past year and a half. She has been made utterly irrelevant, she now exists as nothing more than Victor's prop.

They have been licking their chops to get rid of Melody and Jess, among others.

Worst. Future Generation. Ever.

We need some sort of anti-Logan's Run.

I wonder if this will be like DAYS in 80-81, when they dumped vets only to have fans reject the new faces and the younger set. Then again, DAYS was much bigger then.

[JimTolkien]

anti-Logan's run..

I think we longtime fans need to accept or not accept that the show is changing and going in a different direction than what we would like. Bill Bell is dead and never coming back and it appears there could be a new vision for the show and I don't believe it is the exact same vision that MAB had when she originally took over (whatever the heck that vision was ) because it wasn't working. Now whether whatever is coming down the highway works or not, time will tell. I am not going to call the future generation the worst generation ever because the writers have not written good enough material for these actors to sink their seat into and believe in. And as a viewer I need for them to believe in it so I can believe in it too. We have literally been going around in circles for well over an entire year..I am getting dizzy and I want off the ride.

I think the show is now into what I call a "dynamic shifting of characters" because I have no doubt that if EB does indeed come back that his role will be much more of a supporting one to the future generation and so would be Nikki's. I can see some rivalries ahead and some character transitions that could get interesting I hope. I have never been afraid of change so that's why I don't see the doom and gloom (at least not yet anyway). I am willing to give whatever the writers have up their sleeves a chance and at least for this past week's episodes I actually watched a few and was entertained. And that's saying a whole lot for me from where I have been in the past few months.

[DRW50]

The problem for me is that they have spent a year or more shoving this new generation at viewers, and by and large, I think they have failed. Yes, the writing could have been better, but still, they have shoved Billy into story after story and all they have done is made him into a total stranger (who is now getting yet another completely new job and personality -- his only consistent trait is self-absorption), the Scoobies have been a long, slow-moving disaster slowly covering more and more of the show, the teen set is utterly pointless, Mackenzie is a dreary frump, some sort of voice of morality on a show that is as moral as Marquis de Sade. Chloe has gone from being schizo to being dull, and her only real story tends to be letting us know she will never truly be happy without Billy. Cane and Lily are saccharine and not able to carry major stories -- they make Love Story look like Mortal Kombat. Chance is so hollow that people are now starting to believe he is a serial killer. Adam is now older than siblings who were born 5-10 years before him, and is a perverted lunatic to boot.

They have had all this time to phase out the old and bring in the new, and THIS is what we get? Personality rewrites, shoving make it up as you go along material to actors who can't play it, and sudden half-brothers and half-sisters.

I don't really have any confidence in them to know how to bring a new generation in. All they seem to know how to do is dismantle the show.

[Juliajms]

Billy, Mac and Chloe are all working pretty well for me. Mac is much improved and I don't think she looks frumpy at all these days. Chloe is stuck in Chance's orbit and while I want to like him, so far I don't. I agree that Billy needs a direction and some consistency, but for me, Billy Miller is definitely working as a cornerstone for a next generation.

Lily is a weak spot for me, but she has her fans. I think I would like can much better away from Lily, but again, the pairing has it's fans.

I have mixed feelings about the Scoobies. I would like Daniel a lot more if he had more Phyllis in him. I'd like to see that evil side of him come out when someone like Deacon comes along. As it stands Daniel is a little too wimpy for my liking. I like Amber and Kevin, but again, I think the writing is letting the actors down. Same with Noah. I think the actor is capable and likable, but they aren't using him enough yet. They also need to figure out what to do with Devon.

[DRW50]

I still think Mac looks too old for the part and just seems to be the town killjoy, most of all she seems to really have no place on the show, she has little relationship with Katherine, or with much of anyone besides Billy. I think they had a chance of making her character more but they don't seem interested.

I know I'm a lot harder on Billy than most people but this character is just too all over the place for me (he was up the Newman butt before they crossed him, and now he's on a rampage against them, to the point of berating his grieving sister as she was losing her daughter). He's also too selfish to work for me as anything other than another tedious wannabe alpha. I also don't think Billy Miller has chemistry or a connection with most of his scene partners. I don't believe him when he's supposed to be having family moments with the Abbotts, or when he's feuding with people.

Chloe, I can't invest in her because they have changed her personality so much (she never even really seems to be a part of Esther's orbit now, compared to what could have been). I like her more than most of the other new characters, because I think EH is a good fit for the part. I do think she doesn't work that well with love interests. I actually liked her best with Cane, a relationship that now does not exist.

I'm afraid if they tried to make Daniel like Phyllis, they'd just have him start raping or killing people. I think there's a way to make a character screwed up but a decent person, that's what Daniel could have been, but instead they have him as a wimp. I like Daniel a lot but it seems like DG is leaving sooner rather than later anyway.

I don't think Kevin or Amber are suited for major stories, especially Adrienne Frantz, not when they give her this constant shrieky, needy victim/lost little girl role.

For me it's a bad combination of actors who may or may not be competent, but who can't sell the confusing stories they're handed, stories that often seem to be forgotten about after a few months anyway.

I know every soap needs to have a next generation but I haven't seen any real indication that this group will bring any strong future to Y&R. And the trend of, "Hey, ____ has a long lost relative" doesn't comfort me either.