Y&R: Episode Discussion for the week December 28

[DeeeDee]

He's actually better as a drunk than he is at anger or romance.

Ashley & Traci carrying him out of Crimson Lights was hilarious.

[DRW50]

Both Scotts would have been good additions to Y&R. Since they seem to have aged Billy anyway, they wouldn't have been bad in the role.

Billy Miller is a capable actor, with proper direction and writing. It would help if the story hadn't been so awful from the start. They just threw random crap at the character and hoped if they kept up a drumbeat of "he's so bad he's good" and "poor Billy," it would work. The instalove with Lily, the schizoprehnically written, forced relationship with Chloe, the flat relationship with Mackenzie, the complete lack of chemistry with any of the actors in the Abbott or Chancellor family, except Beth Maitland. The history rewrites which allow us to believe Jill dumped Billy in a dumpster the day after he was born.

I do feel for Miller as I know he's doing his best. He talked about how he's honored the show trusted him with the NYE episode, and all I kept thinking was, how might things be if he wasn't one such a horribly written show?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Exactly.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Which means it's probably EXACTLY who we're thinking.

You mean the same Scott Hamner that gave us the oh so classic and thrilling "Who Killed Carmen Mesta?" mystery?

Yeah, forgive me if I don't believe a word that comes out from the man's mouth, given his awful stint at PC, his bizarre contributions during the LML era at Y&R, and presently at Y&R...

Hamner teases in the 2010 previews that this story will be "so far out there" and we've seen how "out there" this awful writing team at Y&R can get. My confidence in this show is at an all time low, and I have very good reason for it to be this way.

[Juliajms]

I buy him in anger scenes, but I agree with the general consensus that his emotional scenes are lacking at times. I do think he did well in the Sharon affair reveal though.

[DeeeDee]

Miller's emotional stuff is horribly disconnected.

He can do contrite & ashamed but he fights against being sincere which undercuts scenes.

He works well with more passive actors like Maitland & Case but struggles keeping up with people like Davidson & Walton.

[YRBB]

Why do I have the feeling things will only get worse?

[Soapsuds]

On tomorrow's show

At the hospital

Faux Lily: Huggie...Huggie ...Daddy...Oh my wig!!

Neil: It's ok baby. I'll get your wig!

Both Faux Lily and Neil turn around as someone walks in.

Neil: Malcolm!!

Imposter Malcolm enters....cue music

It's a rare condition, this day and age,

to read any good news on the newspaper page.

Love and tradition of the grand design,

some people say it's even harder to find.

Well then there must be some magic clue inside these tearful walls

Cause all I see is a tower of dreams

real love burstin' out of every seam.

As days go by,

we're gonna fill our house with happiness.

The moon may cry,

we're gonna smother the blues with tenderness.

When days go by,

there's room for you,

room for me,

for gentle hearts an opportunity.

As days go by,

it's the bigger love of the family.

[Scryber96]

I'm with you, Mark--I like when a writer assumes I'm smart enough to connect some dots on my own.

If I needed everything spelled out for me, I'd watch Sesame Street.

I just hope nobody that is confused by having to fill in some blanks on Y&R attempts to watch Lost.

[DRW50]

Can you tell us what Victor's true plans were for Mary Jane with Jack? Did he plan for her to kill Jack? And why did Victor, who is one of the wealthiest men in the world and has investigators who can find anything, not know that Patty was disturbed enough to kill animals and people, or that the plastic surgery she wanted him to get for her was a duplicate of her longtime psychiatrist? If Victor DID know how disturbed she was, then why did he believe saying, "I'm done with you, please leave town," was enough to get the job done, given how many times his family has had to deal with psychos?

Did Adam really mean to cause Ashley to lose her baby? If he didn't, then why did he think terrorizing her was a good idea right after she'd gotten back from the hospital with serious bleeding? If Adam was guilt-ridden over what he'd done to Ashley, then why did he gleefully try to convince her that she'd run over Sabrina with her car?

If Rafe only stopped investigating his aunt's innocence when he fell in love with Adam, then why didn't he start his investigation back up when he washed his hands of Adam?

Is it too much for viewers to be confused about this stuff?

[alphanguy74]

Honey, some of Y&R's viewers are lucky to get through an episode of The Electric Company without having major questions... I can hear it now, "Why is Rita Moreno beating Morgan Freeman with that riding crop?" ... or "Hattie Winston's afro is bigger than it was at the beginning of the show, where's the continuity?" but all joking aside, this pacing is driving me batshit crazy.

[Scryber96]

The easiest question is the Rafe one. It's widely assumed that Patty was the one gaslighting Ashley, so there's nothing for Rafe to be investigating. Do we really need to see a scene where someone says "Wow, I can't believe we thought Estella was the culprit when it was really Patty all along!"?

Adam is conflicted. He doesn't want to do these awful things but he can't help himself. He's wanted redemption from the point he broke down and heard his mother's voice but he doesn't know how to get it and keeps digging himself in deeper.

The Victor/MJ question is unanswerable, probably even by MAB herself.

My point is that there are people on this board so intent on finding fault with the show that they're losing all perspective. You just asked a lot of big picture questions and all, I would say, are valid. However the original post that started this, the complaint was that Adam should have waited until after the plane crash to confess when it was obvious that the man is thinking he's not going to survive the plane crash. A very minor point and one that really isn't a point if you spend as much time thinking it through as you do composing a message board post...and use a bit of common sense.

But common sense has no place in witch hunts. And it seems like that is what most of the posters on this board are on.

[DRW50]

Didn't Estella take a plea bargain, and it was never mentioned whether this had been cleared? I thought the family believed Patty and Estella were working together to gaslight Ashley?

I know soap boards are by nature places where people nitpick, and I understand why that must be annoying. All I can offer is that when this stuff adds up over the months, anything which people might be more willing to brush off starts to become a big deal.

[alphanguy74]

Scryber, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but I'm also in a real funk right now. There's too much dropping of the ball right now. But your point about Adam telling Sharon because he thought he was going to die is right on the money. To me, it's obvious....... but I don't know... do some fans want Y&R to be like this?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vs6IDXiV4Y&feature=related

[y&r_fan]

Best. Post. Ever.

Even if the current writers succeeded in making the show Bill Bell-good again, the majority of posters here would still want them gone.