Y&R: Episode discussion, week of January 4

[DeeeDee]

Exactly.

Heinle & Miller are the characters in name only.

TPTB's need to twist characters to suit agendas, fanbases & new viewers is horrible.

Katherine & Billy!

Jill's reaction alone would be worth it.

[Ann_SS]

I just remembered that Ashley and Billy are not biologically related so this means that Abby and Ashley are also in the running for some Billy loving.

[DeeeDee]

Billy/Gloria.

November Sweeps.

Watch.

[BadZoe]

It is always amazing to me how a putrid character can turn someone from a hunk to dog crap virtually overnight.

[DRW50]

Billy has made bad choice after bad choice (although I think we're supposed to consider this to be adorable). Victoria has only made one (sleeping with Deacon), so for them to present her as being as damaged as Billy makes no sense to me. There's no reason for them to make Victoria so pathetic. And if she is a big failure, like he is, then shouldn't she want to better herself, instead of spending time with a manwhore who treats women like garbage and for all we know never uses protection?

I don't see how they have similar families. Victoria is very close to her brother. Billy doesn't give a crap about his siblings unless they have something he needs. Victoria dearly loves her mother and any baggage they had has been gone for years. Billy hates his mother and blames her for all his failures. Victoria is domianted by her father and worships him. Billy barely seems to remember he has a father -- he could only refer to him, somewhat bitterly, as "old man."

Billy grew up raised by John Abbott. He barely spent any time in boarding schools.

I see little to nothing in common between them. I just see yet another dead-end pairing for Billy and more degradation of Victoria.

[DeeeDee]

[MarkH]

Honestly, that picture cracks me up every time I enter this thread. Go alphanguy! I love how you put yourself out there. The pic feels almost NSFW, lol.

But, on topic--I don't think Nick is putrid. I think he's awfully confused, and I think JM is playing that well...in a kind of emotional paralysis. I'm not saying he's any great thespian, but I totally get how Phyllis can take a long look at him at just instantly remember their chemistry.

My hope/expectation is that Phyllis is going to tell Nick to take a walk. And he's going to realize he's lost the most important woman in his life. And he's going to FIGHT for her, and SHOW her that he loves her. And that it will be a long courtship, but he'll win her back.

And then--just when they are on solid footing again--probably by May sweeps, the Adam-baby-theft and "Who Shot Adam" kickoff will begin. (LOL).

I have a hope for something different here. I want Billy and Victoria to find their better selves together. As a Phick fan (and I'm mostly attracted to how -- during LML's tenure -- Phyllis helped Nick heal, and how he responded by healing her insecure heart), that's what I want for Billy and Victoria. I want him to give her the confidence to emerge from her father's shadow, and I want her to give him the confidence to act with dignity.

Why do I even post, . I feel like I'll need a flame retardant suit!

[DRW50]

The way Billy likes to keep women under his heel, wouldn't she just go from being in Victor's shadow to his?

It would be nice to see Billy have dignity, but I think the show views his constant childishness and pettiness as adorable. And since this tic-filled muggy type of hysterics gets a lot of hype from the soap press, I don't know if it will change.

[DeeeDee]

This isn't Billy.

It's Schmilly his shark tooth long lost twin.

[MoTheGreat]

I hope Phylis isn't the one. They had their turn now it's time for them to go their separate ways. Phick didn't have chemsitry once they gotten serious. When they was just sneaking around they had all the chemistry in the world.

[DeeeDee]

Pretty much.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Whatever Phyllis and Nick had was gone by the time they became a legitimate couple. Their entire marriage was so poorly developed and Nick's constant attraction to Sharon and Phyllis degrading herself to "win" Nick from Sharon has gotten very old and is all very misogynistic.

Everything in Nick and Phyllis's marriage has been based on sex, and it still is. That's never enough to sustain any relationship.

Phyllis and Nick need to go their separate ways, it would benefit both characters a great deal. I've accepted that Sharon and Nick are end game and will end up together again when this show is canceled, but Phyllis needs to be freed from their orbit. She was a hell a lot more interesting when she wasn't in Nick's orbit.

2009 has made me hate every character in this ridiculous triangle.

[MarkH]

When I watch Stafford's reactions...that mix of tentativeness and anger and, yes, devotion....she sells me EVERY TIME. She makes the chemistry. And the fact that -- except when he's uber-greasy -- Morrow still has that "appeal" instantly helps me to understand why she puts up with him. I feel that chemistry. I'm obviously not alone in this.

I love Nick with Sharon, and they're the end game. But (episode relevant): any man who fries bacon for his woman knows a thing or two about reaching her heart, LOL. Give me some Nick dimple-smiles, and COMMITMENT to a defined course of action, and all is forgiven.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Stafford seems very fed up with Phyllis and Nick's relationship, she's made jokes on her Twitter and in interviews about how pathetic Phyllis is and how she would never let a man do to her what Nick has done to Phyllis and how she doesn't get why Phyllis does it.

Phyllis is tons more interesting when she's an underdog, Latham took away her neurosis and she's never recovered. And no, Phyllis destroying a hotel room and blaming Sharon more than her husband that cheats on her and treats her like crap isn't my idea of an interesting Phyllis or classic Phyllis.

I've never seen anything interesting in this "couple" other than their affair, which is where their relationship should have stayed. Jack Smith should have been allowed to develop their relationship and ultimately end it. I think the Latham transition at the time badly handled their development, and this current writing regime has certainly done them no good.

And you've got to be kidding if you think Sharon will ever stop being appealing to Nick, it's quite obvious neither Nick or Sharon have fully ever gotten over each other, or that seems to be the dynamic this writing regime is building between them, and even one Latham reminded us of from time to time, even as she was on her "Phick is love" agenda.

Nick can never fully commit to Phyllis because he and Sharon have never resolved any of their issues or "love" for one another. As long as Nick and Sharon are on this show, that will always be their dynamic until their eventual reunion.

[DRW50]

I don't understand why Y&R needs to have this insulting view of mental institutions. Any mental institution which allowed scissors and did not monitor the meds of a woman who not so long ago went on a crime spree, ending in the death of a young heiress...that place would be shut down fairly quickly.

Rauch and Sheffer have done these "funny" views of mental institutions on their other soaps (the worst was probably when Rauch was at GL), but doesn't anyone really care now? Does the story need this type of cheap writing to work? What is the point of this story anyway? It's just so desperate.

Poor Stacy Haiduk. In the space six months or so she went from being a hot new star on Y&R to having two roles which are, for different reasons, close to unwatchable.