Y&R: Old Articles

[Faulkner]

Wings Hauser as Greg is a bit “Eric Stoltz in Mask” for me. 

[Dax7000]

Wonderful. Thank you so much to everyone involved in getting these tapes up for us all to see. I loved seeing Nikki before she was the Genoa City snob she currently is. It's also great seeing Katherine, one of my favorite characters.

 

How did Katherine and Nikki become friends exactly? The few early 80's episodes out there show them already being pretty friendly as early as 82. Was it the Bancroft marriage that put Nikki in Katherine's orbit?

[DRW50]

 

I always feel like that I just don't want to say it 

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I remember when he was on China Beach and I thought he did a decent job. Soaps really did not seem to be his forte. I still don't know how he lasted so long. Clearly viewers liked him more than I did.

[SoapDope]

He always came across as seedy in everything he has played in. His career since leaving Y&R has pretty much consisted of low life characters. I remember reading an article from the early 90's when Y&R was celebrating the 20th anniversary, he slammed his time on the show and called it a "hair show". He said he learned he never wanted to do a soap again and that any actor on them that complained of how hard they are to work on, long hours, lots of dialogue etc... is full of it. 

[DRW50]

 

Yet he went back in 2010 for that trash story with Liz. 

 

Bleh.

[Faulkner]

I’ve seen him look halfway decent over the years, and he’s not a bad actor, but whatever was going on with him styling- and performance-wise on Y&R wasn’t working for him. 

[SoapDope]

I remember someone commenting he looked like he had the shakes during that return. I noticed Melody never mentions him in interviews. I wonder how well they got along ?

[DRW50]

 

Julianna McCarthy is a world away from what Y&R became by the late '80s, yet the few times she appears even in those years she always has a special spark. It's a shame that we never got to see her all that much with Jess, as the Liz relationship was such an important part of Jill's character. Jill was rebuilt so many times, probably more than any other character on the show. You wonder what she could have been if they'd taken more care with her. I guess we should be happy she wasn't even more ruined than she was compared to some characters. 

 

It's a credit to Jess that even after seeing the other Jills I still respect her work a lot, as I am not like that with other recasts (see: Jack), but when I watch older material I feel like she ended up missing out on so many players who made Jill special.

[Paul Raven]

Liz definitely should have stayed around,at least recurring or a few visits per year, just to maintain some continuity and keep that aspect of Jill alive. Bill did bring her back for Billy's birth so he was interested and Julianna seemed up for returns, so why not?

 

Now the mystery to be solved is who was playing John Abbott. That actor presented as older and less attractive than Brett Halsey. I expected a voice over 'the part of John is being played by...'

 

Looking at those eps from the point of view of a watcher in 1980,there were a lot of new faces dominating these episodes. 

If this was typical, viewers might have been disappointed not to see their favorites. Maybe Bill should have structured those episodes to make sure their was a balance of new and familiar characters.

And when established characters did appear, they were in different spheres

Leslie with Jonas, Lucas /Sebastian, Nu Jill with John etc. That was a big change from previous years/stories.

[YRfan23]

I wish Liz had stuck around, as it would have provided Jill with a shoulder to lean on whenever she made her mistakes in the late 80's/90's. It would have been fun to see Liz try to interfere with Jill wrecking Nina's life with Phillip by bluntly reminding her it wasn't too long she schemed to get Katherine's life, and to try to take Stuart from her.....I could see her also trying to give Jill the biggest reality check during the 2nd divorce and custody battle with John.....

[slick jones]

 

 

I have a notation that John Abbott was also played by a "Sean Garrison"

 

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I'm planning on watching tomorrow with a friend, so I'm not sure if this is him.

[FrenchFan]

It looks like him. Sean Garrison died earlier this month.

I found an article mentioning Sean Garrison as John Abbott in January 1981 but not sure of how accurate it is. Maybe Sean filled in for Brett Halsey a few times during this 1980-1981 run.

It looks like him. Sean Garrison died earlier this month.

I found an article mentioning Sean Garrison as John Abbott in January 1981

Edited March 25, 2018 by FrenchFan

[DRW50]

Thanks to both of you for catching that.

 

Per his Wikipedia his last acting role was in 1981, so I guess this was just about it for him. 

[Sapounopera]

This John/Jill scene reminded me of the Nanny a little bit with all these "Miss Foster". Hmmm... A young beautician enters the life of a rich man raising two girls and a boy on his own.  

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In 1980 both Jill Foster and Erica Kane fell for cosmetics tycoons. Once again Bill and Agnes had the same idea. 

[YRfan23]

Thanks! that definitely might be him! I wondered if he was the original before Brett Halsey, but they just brought him in if Halsey was unavailable?