Y&R: Old Articles

[soapfan770]

Ahh the memories. I've mentioned it countless times now but the first one features one my favorite stories I saw while growing up, certainly up there with Victor being in Kansas, Jill vs. John and Sheila's reign of terror. How it got forgotten is beyond me, but I'm always looking for the scene of Heather's nightmare of April being put to death. It horrified me as a kid!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UGh71XybFk

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Edited October 10, 2011 by soapfan770

[yr9190]

I want to see those episodes associated with those promos so badly! minus a scene or two there is NOTHING from Y&R 1994-1995.

I would love to see Nikki vs Victoria 1994. Nikki and Victoria were on the outs for most of the year because Nikki was mad at Victoria for seeing/marrying Cole and Victoria was mad at Nikki for seeing Jed i believe, as well as really no other reason LOL.

Here is another favorite promo of mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiG5tJXAeZw

I just love the way that they did this, this is the reason why Jill Nikki and Lauren led the openings for most of the 90's

I remember when i first saw this promo, i thought Lauren was fighting Nikki and Not Traci. I still think that Nikki and Lauren should have fought over Brad in the 1995-1996 era. You could easily replace Traci with Nikki in this situation, but it was good that even though she was recurring , Beth still got story.

[DRW50]

I thought the April story was good. The soap magazines at the time criticized the show for so quickly writing April and Heather out again.

I loved that Traci/Lauren catfight. It felt so unexpected, since I didn't see a lot of the Traci/Lauren history.

[soapfan770]

A couple years ago there was a ton of Y&R 1995 up but unfortunately was taken down; thankfully a handful of those videos have slowly resurfaced.

They should have kept April and Heather for sure. Conci Nelson I believe is Kay Alden's daughter and I remember liking her a lot. They could have developed Heather a lot in the 90s before learning that Paul is her father.

I pretty much loved everything about Y&R 1993-1995. Aside from the April story I mentioned, if I had to pick my favorite story for 1994 it would have to be Jill vs. John. They were so NASTY to each other and the stakes were super high. Jill was the loose cannon, having openly steamy affairs with two different men being unsatisfied with old man John who was prone to strokes and in love with his long time maid:

Victoria vs. Nikki was pretty good too. Nina losing the baby made me cry as a kid. Then we also had those lovely Winters, with crazy old Lilibelle moving in making everyone's lives miserable while Dru dug her Neil's past.

1995 was really good too even if some of the stories confused and frustrated me by being so slow moving (hello Blade/Rick and Matt's shooting!)

Edited October 10, 2011 by soapfan770

[DRW50]

At the time the story I was most interested in was Nikki/Cole/Victoria. Victoria in the closet while Nikki and Cole were together (I don't think they were having sex, thankfully), and Nikki setting the world's record for soap agorophobia. I used to look forward to whether they would at least get her off the ranch by saying she'd just got back from a "shopping trip."

Unfortunately I think they had no idea what to do with Cole and Victoria after that.

I remember liking the Jed Sanders story and being disappointed when he was quickly written out. I was also disappointed as that was the end for Flo, who was, in those years, one of my favorite characters.

[yr9190]

Thanks for sharing this soapfan! I have never seen this cover it's stunning.

I would also love to see those John and Mamie vs Jill scenes. Didn't they almost have Jill and Mamie get into a catfight? I heard about a scene where they were in the kitchen having a shouting match and apparently had some sort of food fight? (and no i'm not getting confused with Macy and karen's foodfight on B&B LOL) Maybe i'm going crazy... LOL

Yes there are some 1995 clips resurfacing, They finally put back up those Sheila and Lauren Y&R 1995 clips I talked about earlier. They are in French but oh well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VIzqqd5RzM

I have to ask this, I'm not sure if i'm the only one to think so, but where they really trying to make Y&R more Primetime starting around 1993/1994?. I know they did about 4 primetime episodes at night, but i ask because the "new" music cues of late 1993 throughout almost the rest of the 90's give off more of a prime time feel, like it fits better watching the soap in the night rather than the daytime. I don't think its bad or anything, but its just interesting if thats what they were going for. Even the look of the show looked like it was a primetime soap.

Edited October 10, 2011 by yr9190

[soapfan770]

Y&R was really in a class of its own there in the 90s becoming very close to the mainstream, I mean heck Eric Braeden has a cameo in Titanic. I don't remember it all but I found it very interesting they had a score at the time that sounds straight out of Melrose:

Starting @ 1:08

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBspv1ogo_4

And again at the very beginning of this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m292ATKV70Y

[yr9190]

LOL, I think someone refered to that cue as the "Wailing Guitar of evil" I have never watched Melrose Place so i wouldn't really know the comparison that much . As cool as it sounds, it does sound kind of out of place for a soap like Y&R. I can hear it being used more for B&B IMO.

I have the whole entire week where Victor returns from the grave. I heard that on the specific episode where everyone is gathered around (Airdate September 30, 1993) That was one of Y&R's highest rated episodes i think raging a 9. something. If im being a bit honest, i personally felt like there could have been more to those episodes and some aspects it looked rushed., but they defnitely had a excellent build up. Wayy better than anything with Adam or Chance "returning from the grave"

On the Sheila video, didn't B&B have that same exact cue starting at 4:00? I know that B&B is famous for stealing some of Y&R's cues.

[DRW50]

My favorite thing about the Victor returns story was when he saw that Nick was moving on and able to be happy without him. That was too much for Victor. He wasn't going to let his family move on without him, especially if Jack was around. It's so much more ambiguous and strong writing than recent years, which just tell us Victor's family is full of losers who need his abuse.

[soapfan770]

I don't know if I've heard that particular cue on B&B, I always thought it was a traditional Y&R cue, often usually leading up to even more dramatic music.

yr9190 would you also happen to have Victor's funeral as well? I fondly remember Ashley's moving eulogy while Nikki and Victoria both completely broke down as they huddled tight with a devastated Nick in their seats. The whole story was always a personal favorite of mine. The build-up was nice as everyone was finally getting sick of Victor and well then he was presumed dead. We saw a humanized Victor living quietly with Hope while Genoa City moved on without him. As Carl touched upon it, Victor thought it was for the best. Then he finally came roaring back after Jack was trying to one-up Brad and Ashley. Great stuff really.

[yr9190]

Sigh... I wish i did, i heard it was a really well done funeral too. Even Ryan did a eulogy which was touching after the hell Victor put him through with Victoria. Also i know that during that time they had a temp replacement for Brad (Russell Todd) taking over for Diamont so i wish i could see those clips just for that.

I agree that the Victor/Hope in Kansas story was one of the best summer stories on Y&R, and when i think about it its interesting that Victor left because not only were the woman in his life pushing him away, but he had to deal with Jack and being responsible for Nikki miscarrying the baby. Its interesting how i t seems that they made Jack the total victim which drove Victor out of town, but they later proved that Jack was no better than Victor by taking over his company even though Victor was pronounced "dead". So i guess what i am trying to say is that even though Victor won again and took back everything. He did pay that year by having to be driven away by his loved ones.

Edited October 10, 2011 by yr9190

[soapfan770]

That's interesting I don't remember there being a temp Brad recast. Then again honestly it has 18 years since I saw the funeral Actually I think CBS re-ran it in the late 90s or I saw it online again at some point but even so way too long.

Victor winning in the end? Not at all. When he came back he did fire Jack, but then everyone else threatened to quit so Victor was forced to hire him back. After that the two had a somewhat civil working relationship for a couple of years. Besides I didn't find Jack rootable at that time ie leaving people for dead and stirring up unwanted trouble for his own family. If anything the whole story humbled both characters. \

Y&R always had those amazing summer stories that I always looked forward each year(I mean I was off from school lol) In '93 it was Victor pretending to be dead, in '94 it was Jill vs. John in '95 it was Matt's shooting in '96 it was Nathan kidnapping little Nate, in '97 it was Phyllis' life imploding while in '98 we got that epic battle between Jill and Katherine.

[yr9190]

Yes, Don was out sick for about 2 weeks, so thats why they had a temp replacement.

I'm so mad at the fact that the only classic episode they showed during the holidays in the spam of three years is the 1989 xmas episode with Marge. I would love it if they re-ran summer 93 episodes with Victor on the farm etc. but we have to remember that Maria HATES anything that wasn't written by her which is why we got her crappy "classic" repeats. watch this year be the episode where Geneieve pushes Colin off the balcony or Devon finding out Tucker is his father,

I almost forgot about all the stuff that happen when Victor came back. Ashley John and Jack tried to build that rival cosmetics company, until the stress got too much for John and he had another heart attack. I posted those episodes with that storyline on youtube not too long ago.

So i guess after all that drama the didn't really focus too much on Victor vs Jack. It seems like 1994-1996 there wasn't really anything, and then the feud heated up again in 1998 1999 right?.

[Paul Raven]

The Victor/Hope story had elements of Bill Bell's Days story of Mickey hooking up with Maggie on the farm. It was the last ratings peak for Y&R,which never matched or topped that rating again,

[soapfan770]

Pretty much. Actually Victor and Jack became civil and Victor sorta became more trusting of Jack to handle matters, leaving his original heir apparent Brad seething by 1995(throw in the affair with Nikki in the mix and we get the start of Brad vs. Victor) The feud got restarted in '97, when Jack made a big fumble by nearly convincing Nick to leave town for work for what turned out to be a bad acquisition(Jack didn't do proper research) for Newman and when Diane left Jack to marry Victor.