Article: Y&R: Y&R: The Good, the Bad, the Excellent, and the Unwatchable

[soapfan770]

This two-part article covers what in my opinion was the last year that Y&R was really good, despite all its flaws and setting up problems the show still faces today:

The First Article:

[soapfan770]

Part Two of Smith's in-depth column:

[DRW50]

Thanks for posting this. I popped in and out of Y&R in 2003 (I mostly wanted to see the Katherine/Jill stuff -- I was never offended by the idea of their being related as long as it provided some decent story, which I think it did for about a year or so) and didn't get the full picture. Now I have more of an overall glimpse.

It's funny the things that are taken for granted at that time, like Nick hating his father (NEVER allowed today), or Kevin being seen as a pariah (now he's not only accepted, he's treated as a town saint and moral arbiter!). I was also reminded of how complex Michael used to be.

So was Damon ever very popular with fans? This article basically says he easily filled Malcolm's place but I seem to remember he was drummed out after not all that long.

[soapfan770]

I liked Damon, even if was just there to fill Y&R's quota for having an AA hunk(and hunk he was!) but in the end they ended up not using Damon's full potential with him, Dru, and Phyllis and wrote him out with the utterly bad Adrienne story in 2005.

It was Smith's missteps of 2004 that caused Y&R to lose the momentum(dropping storylines, lame returns) it had built up in 2003. Of course came 2005 and it all went downhill fast.

[DeeeDee]

03 was Y&R's last good year.

04 was TERRIBLE.

[lovely_m]

Sad to think that no character on Y&R can bring up Kevin's past or that his victims can't get angry without being chastised by fans. I remember the huge amount of vile towards Adrienne Leon's Colleen when she was pissed at Kevin for trying to kill her. I've even read post where people actually blamed Lily for what Kevin did to her.

[DeeeDee]

TPTB even used Mackenzie to prop Kevin at Colleen's expense.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE.

[lovely_m]

I always wondered if one reason Jack Smith fired Lyndsy Fonseca was because he knew it would have been harder to redeem Kevin with her in the role.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

You know Y&R is bad now when some of the stuff that was crap in 2004 actually looks decent today...

[DeeeDee]

That & she wanted to other projects too (he did the same thing to Camryn).

[MoTheGreat]

I think with Kevin, you need one good character to say to him. Have you look in the mirror. You can't judge until you pay for what you had done.

The thing with Lily is that people didn't like CK. So it was alright that Kevin did what he did. CKLily was so needy & she didn't want to be by herself. & people like LFColleen & she warn her. But CKLily didn't care that her friend, who would put her life on the line for her. That also probably got people upset with CKLily. They probably blame CKLily for Colleen getting caught up in that burning resturant.

I really didn't mind Jill & Katherine being family. It's what LML & now MAB are doing that makes me hate Jill not being rlated to Katherine.

[DeeeDee]

Exactly.

[Jay]

No, you didn't like CK. There's a difference.

[David V]

Y&R really went downhill following Bell's death. Even though Bell was no longer HW, his influence was still there behind Alden and Smith. In a way you can compare that to ATWT post-Marland, in that the show could never be quite the same or subsequent writers ruining a legacy.

[lovely_m]

Poor Sharon has been on a downhill for a while hasn't she? It's still better than what has become of her now. I wonder what Tom Smith would say about the show now?