Y&R: Old Articles

[Ann_SS]

I meant recasting the roles, in 2004 under Smith and Alden before things went wonky.

I will never understand Smith's thinking. He created this great young couple in J.T. and Collen and proceeded to throw them away. He could have simply recast the role of Colleen not long after he decided not to be flexible with Lyndsy. J.T. and Colleen were the backbone of that younger group and they had potential of giving years of romantic story much like Nick and Sharon. J.T. floundered as a character with Colleen which give LML the opportunity to ruin them and MAB to kill her off and write him out.

I thought Ryan Brown was fine as Billy. I don't think that he got a real shot at making the role his own as they quickly wrote him out.

I did not mind the second temp Mac. Rachel Kimsey's Mac, I simply did not like. Clementine Ford was atrocious as Mac.

I also thought it was a huge mistake not to recast Raul if they were letting David Lago go. He was the only long term Latino character on Y&R. The show has not had one since.

What was the story with Heather Tom? Didn't she want to come back, but they refused because there was bad blood when she left? At time, I remember thinking that it was ridiculous and that they should just have her back. She ended up on OLTL instead. Boy, has Y&R paid a huge price for that bad decision.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Ann_SS

[DeeeDee]

At the time Smith thought because Thad & Lauren were both popular in pairings & they were fairly well liked as friends that fans would want to see them together (which they did to an extent) but adding middle aged Enos to their relationship to make it a love triangle made everyone in the story look foolish.

He also was fine about not writing for Colleen as a character once Lyndsy left since she got in the way of his "redemption" of Kevin.

Ryan Brown was a solid recast.

He had just begun to hit his stride when Y&R wrote him out.

Clem Ford's Mackenzie was a great Mackenzie.

Hers was the most reminiscent of AshBash's Mackenzie.

The problem with Clem Ford is she was given pretty much nothing to do for a year except for unnecessarily propping Chloe.

By the time she began to hit her stride (like Ryan Brown) she was fired.

Kimsey's Mackenzie was a disaster.

Lago was fired because Smith wanted to pair Woodland with Enos.

He wanted to stay both times (during his initial run & when he briefly returned with Clem Ford's Mackenzie) but neither regime had any use for him.

Heather left because Y&R decided Victoria was a creative dead end.

Y&R ridiculously cut both Heather's money & airtime (angering her & causing her to walk) while Y&R made Nick & Sharon the primary leads of the second generation Newmans (which eventually led to Cassie's death).

Edited February 21, 2013 by DeeeDee

[ChitHappens]

YR had the best younger set with Brit, Raul (not Rowl), Mac, etc. The pairing of Brit and Bobby was for what exactly? That was ridiculous. Chemistryfree and pointless. An affair? Perhaps but to have them married and have a baby? Good lord!

[DRW50]

I don't think Victoria would have had more of a role by that time even with Heather Tom, because the show had to cut her off at the knees to help prop Victor.

Were Bobby/Brittany supposed to be like a new Victor/Nikki?

[DeeeDee]

Lauren became really popular once Ash Bash left (thanks to Raul & Brittany).

Pairing her with Enos was an attempt at maturing her (like Bregman's Lauren & Davidson's Paul 20 years prior).

Unfortunately they had no chemistry.

[SoapDope]

I have never liked Nick or Sharon. I think they have hogged up the air time for decades. Everytime some 30ish character is introduced, they are thrown into that pairs storyline and it's non stop screwing and musical beds. Like they have recently done with Steve Burton and Jessica Collins.

I always thought Joshua Morrow's acting sucked like a Hoover.

[Ann_SS]

I have come to like Sharon, but only because Sharon Case has grown as an actress. She has turned in some strong performances over the years. Josh Morrow is as wooden as he was his first day. He use to be a stud so at least he was good to look at, but I don't find him as attractive these days.

LOL! That was my thought at the time. I could see Bobby lusting after Brittany, but no way was it believable that she would fall in love in him. I thought that Brittany worked with Raul and that was it. Initially, I figured that she would have a short fling with Bobby and go back to Raul, but it never happened. I still don't understand why Smith went in that direction. And after all of that manufactured story, Lauren left anyway.

Next up, J.T. falling in love with Brittany and then Mac. RME. Please. It was these manufactured romances that ruined J.T. for me. When he was with Colleen, he loved her and was different when he was with her, but he was still apologetically snarky obnoxious with everyone else. Suddenly, he starts falling in love with every woman who passes his way and transforms into this boring good guy who everyone thinks is so great. It was like David Shaughnessy and Trent Jones left and Smith and Alden lost their minds, destroying the best parts of the show.

Blah, again I say to Clementine Ford. I cannot believe that J.T. ended up stuck with Mac. Ugh.

That the redemption of Kevin story that was the last straw for me with Y&R. It completely undermined the great story of Kevin preying on Lily and trying to kill Colleen. It made me roll my eyes and change the channel. Since then I have watched sporadically, but was never devoted as I was in previous years.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Ann_SS

[ChitHappens]

^^^

The "redemption" of Kevin soured me on YR, but Adam's "redemption" is what did me in! Both characters make the show unbearable, but unfortunately, Adam took Sharon down with him. As for Case, her public Twitter battles with EB made me loathe that bitch!

Sharon Collins Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman NewmanNewman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman NewmanNewman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman NewmanNewman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman NewmanNewman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman NewmanNewman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman NewmanNewman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman Newman can drop dead!

Lusting after your child's kidnapper and wanting said kidnapper in your kid's life? Rotgut!

[DeeeDee]

Lauren didn't leave.

She & Enos were fired to pay for Kimberlin.

JT eventually falling for Mackenzie was believable (since he had a thing for her long before he even met Colleen).

Plus their relationship was never written as denying his relationship with Colleen (or hers for Billy).

JT only ended up with Mackenzie because Y&R wanted to prop Billy Miller.

Hence Thad being fired & Billy sleeping with every woman in town.

Exactly.

[DRW50]

Thanks to SFK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCzJcrLSKv8

[soapfan770]

Heh I love reading this thread the most, I don't know where to start replying lol.

Let me say this about Y&R's redeemed characters is what made them work best was the fact they continued to be gray characters haunted by their pasts. The two most prominent examples of this are Michael and Phyllis. For years Michael spent most over of his time hanging with the other lowlifes (ie Phyllis, Diane, Isabella) and his attempts at being good for Christine were always hampered by his selfishness and poor judgment(becoming Victor's goon in 2003). Phyllis reorganized her life but still had the edge she always carried, and always haunted by her past whether it was having nightmares upon being jail for the pool-house arson in 2002 or breaking down before Danny in 2003 about how much she has improved yet couldn't take back the past. I had enjoyed the creep-fest that was Kevin Fischer as the perp terrorized GC and found the bizarre relationship he had with Lauren quite chilling. I wasn't entirely against a redemption arc of Kevin yet the show went about it wrong on so many levels. The whole fake rescue of Lily, Colleen in 2006 and Gina in 2009 both being belittled for their criticism of Kevin, Kevin never truly owning up or even apologizing etc. Yeah Kevin saved Collen's life when Jana tried to kill the both of them but beyond that Kevin in my eyes never lost it all and his redemption was always on shaky grounds being he was always up to no good, yet somehow under LML and MAB this became comical(falling in love with Jana, gambling, Angelo & Angelina, stealing Katherine's money).

Then again after 2005 both Michael and Phyllis were no longer written as tortured characters and until the past year their history was for whatever reason was swept under the rug. Maybe by doing that it made it easier to keep Kevin around for so long. Don't even get me started on the writing for Adam for the last five years.

As for Y&R 2004, well what a mess. The show had its moments that year but so many things went so terrible or stupid. The Bobby/Brittney hour was unusual, the Jill/Katherine/Arthur/Harrison story ended in disaster, the less said about Malcolm's return from the dead the better. Maybe Nikki and Sharon digging through the sewers of Genoa City looking for Cameron Kirsten's body was the perfect image of the show that year. The mistakes of 2004 of course lead Smith to panic come up the oh so brilliant ideas of killing off Cassie and writing a return of Sheila, thus leading to the downfall of the show.

I refuse to believe Victoria was at the creative dead end at the end of 2003. Sure Victoria hadn't been in a leading story for a good year but letting Tom get away was a big mistake on the show's behalf as Tom continued on a successful career with OLTL and B&B.

[soapfave06]

Was it Heather Tom's decision to leave? I really wish she were still in the role. She's great on B&B but I feel they don't need her. And seeing Heinle as Victoria...I just can't.

[soapfan770]

It was Tom's decision to leave because the show was offering her bad terms during contract negotiations so she jumped ship.

One more thing I should mention is I did always like was Nick and Sharon. My biggest problem is Nick and Sharon were married for ten years (1996-2006, they celebrated their tenth I recall) but spent at least eight of them engaged in some sort infidelity story of sorts. Nick and Sharon were at their best during the Cassie story and later on in 2003 when it was Nick&Sharon vs. Victor&Nikki.

[soapfave06]

Thanks!

I'm really enjoying all of this discussion of the past. Its nice to get more insight to when I wasn't watching.

[DeeeDee]

Nick & Sharon's infidelity stories made sense (until Nick cheated with Giggly).

Nick & Grace was classic soap, Sharon & Diego was well plotted (but hampered by bad casting) & Sharon & Cameron made sense initially but sunk under mediocre writing & terrible retcons.