Y&R: Old Articles

[Legacy]

Your so right I never knew they even crossed paths until her going to the wedding in 84 and wasn't Victor more in Lorie's orbit during that time? At least 80-82 victor/Lorie had enough interactions

 

Eve is another character that had scenes with people I would have never thought, like her and Derek when she first came on like how did they cross paths without Katherine being apart of it and didn't eve and Jill use to be roommates back then?

[Soaplovers]

I liked reading that weekly summary.. two or three months before Victor/Nikki crossed paths... it seemed like both characters were being tested with other characters.  I think Nikki was dealing with a stalker.. and semi dating Cash.. and Andy (the same Andy that was Paul's best friend and later hubby of Diane Jenkins?)...  and Victor was being tested with Peggy.

 

And it was interesting seeing the starts of Patty's 'crush' on Jack.. while Danny/Patty were starting as well (that ended tragically in late 1984).

[Dax7000]

When did Katherine and Victor become friends? I know he came to GC to run Chancellor, but early 80's episodes seem to show they both cared about Nikki, but they were not that fond of each other. 

[SoapDope]

Thanks for the info. I guess Eve wanted a financially secure future for her and Cole. 

[SoapDope]

 Yes Victor was connected to Lorie from the start with him eventually asking her to marry him in 1982. I remember reading Jill and Eve shared a place together. Bell was playing around with characters left and right with the 1 hour expansion. 

 

I wonder what ever became of Pamela Peters (Peggy) ? She has no acting credits after 1990 and there is no trace of her on the internet.

[Broderick]

  

[Legacy]

Almost all the characters on the show were being tested with other people because there was no guarantees of any of these interactions to last or lead to any future story. They could have put Peggy with Andy or even Danny if he wasn't to young at the time 

 

I'm also very surprised the Prentiss men weren't tested with other ladies on the show cause at that time there was a bus load of them Nikki,Jill, Peggy,eve, Casey

Lol yes I tried looking her up and she is nowhere to be found almost like she never existed

 

I was just saying im the other post I'm surprised they never tested out any Prentiss men with other females other then just Lorie and Leslie, they could have even squeezed Jill in there but missed opportunities. Would have been fun to see maybe Jill/Vanessa go to to toe over Lance or even lucas

[Broderick]

This business that "Kay brought Victor to Genoa City to help run Chancellor Industries" --- I don't remember it that way at all.   I realize that even the official Y&R scrapbooks allude to this, but I don't believe Victor and Kay even knew each other for a pretty long while. 

 

My recollection is that Brock Reynolds and Greg Foster were practicing law together in February of 1980.   A teenage girl named Cathy Bruder stole a Rolls Royce and went joyriding.   Brock was assigned by the courts to be her public defender.    In the process of defending Cathy, Brock interviewed the owner of the Rolls Royce, a new character named Victor Newman.   Through the dialogue, we got the impression that Victor and his wife Julia had lived in Genoa City for a pretty long time.   They lived on a remote ranch outside of town that had previously belonged to Brock's parents (Gary and Kay Reynolds).  Victor wanted the girl who stole his car prosecuted as an adult.  Julia Newman was more sympathetic and wanted to drop the charges, but seemed frightened to disobey her husband.   Brock got close to Julia during the course of the case, and tried to convince her to do what was right regarding Cathy Bruder, no matter what Victor thought about the matter.   Victor, on the other hand, wanted Brock to stay far away from Julia.   This all occurred in February of 1980.

 

Later, during the summer of 1980, Douglas Austin challenged Derek Thurston to a duel over Kay.   Douglas asked Victor Newman to be his assistant during the duel.   I remember a scene where Victor asked Douglas who the lady was that Douglas and Derek were fighting over.   Douglas said, "It's Derek Thurston's wife, Mrs. Kay Thurston."   Victor thought for a moment and said, "Oh yes, I've heard of her.   She's the former Kay Chancellor, I believe."   The first time that I can recall Victor and Kay crossing paths was during the duel, when Derek was shot in the ass.   While the duel was going on, there was a lot of in-fighting going on at Chancellor Industries, between George Packard (the man who'd run the company since Phillip Chancellor's death) and Derek Thurston (Kay's young husband, who hoped to take over the company's management).   Kay became sick of Derek and George's squabbling, went away on a cruise, and asked Victor Newman to run the company in her absence, as he'd already successfully built his own company, Newman Enterprises.   This was literally MONTHS after Victor had first appeared as the owner of the stolen Rolls Royce.   I'm not sure where this idea came along that Kay somehow "invited" Victor to Genoa City to run the company.  

[KMan101]

 

I love hearing the details. 

 

And it's probably easier to say "Kay invited Victor to town to run the company". It's *technically* true, but at the same time, it's not at all, if you know what I mean, lol. They probably don't want to bother elaborating on the details of the story. I do like a lot of soap history books but they only actually scratch the surface. So many little details and story threads are virtually ignored.

Edited March 28, 2019 by KMan101

[Broderick]

Yes, in early 1980 (when Y&R expanded to an hour), the nighttime show "Dallas" was VERY popular, and the Victor Newman character, who lived on a ranch outside of town, wore western-style clothing, and was somewhat intimidating to the other characters, seemed to be a nod to the popularity of JR Ewing on "Dallas". 

 

It was established in the early dialogue that Victor and Julia had married in 1970 when Julia was only 16 years-old, and they'd been married for ten years by the spring of 1980.   Victor was the only man Julia had ever slept with.   He didn't allow her to leave the ranch very often, and had forbidden her to work outside the home.   Much of Julia's early storyline was about her seeking some type of "independence" from Victor, but she was too frightened of him to push the issue very much.   (Eventually, she landed a job working with Jill Foster at Jabot, which led to Julia and Michael Scott having an affair, and Victor locking Michael Scott in the cellar of the ranch).   All of the dialogue seemed to indicate that Victor and Julia had lived at the ranch outside of Genoa City the entire duration of their marriage, but they just hadn't been seen on-camera interacting with the other characters until Victor's car was stolen by Cathy Bruder in February of 1980.   I don't believe there was ever any indication that Kay Chancellor had invited him to move to Genoa City.   She didn't even seem to know him until the summer of 1980.    

[Broderick]

Regarding the "last hurrah" of Peggy Brooks and Greg Foster, my recollection was that both characters were simply dumped with no explanation at the beginning of what promised to be a VERY dull and predictable storyline.   Peggy Brooks had broken up with Steve Williams, and Greg had been dumped by both Nikki and April.  

 

Greg and Peggy were both feeling alone.   One evening Greg stopped by the Brooks house to see his mother (Liz), but Liz and Stuart had gone out to dinner.   Only Peggy was at home.   Greg and Peggy ended up visiting for a while and having a good time.  They decided to go out together the following night.   They had a couple of benign dates with each other.    A few days later, a man whose last name was Dixon contacted Greg about setting up some dummy corporations to hide the fact that Dixon was a slumlord who owned numerous run-down properties in Genoa City.   For a large fee, Greg would be the registered agent of the corporations and would appear to be the owner of the dilapidated rental properties.   Meanwhile, community-minded Stuart Brooks decided that the newspaper should do an expose' on slumlords, and he turned the assignment over to his daughter, Peggy, who worked at the paper.   Peggy was VERY excited about the prospect of breaking open some of the various dummy corporations she'd encountered to publicize the names of people who were involved in leasing dilapidated housing to Genoa City's poor. 

 

It was pretty clear that Greg and Peggy were about to become seriously involved, and then Peggy would discover that Greg's newfound "wealth" was the result of working with the very people she was trying to expose in the newspaper.   A few weeks passed with no sign of either Peggy or Greg on camera, and it became clear that Bill Bell had simply dumped both of the characters into the trashcan, along with the entire storyline about the slumloards (which would be resurrected about ten years later via Cricket Blair and the dullass "Rainbow Gardens" storyline).  

 

This was indeed a period of transition for the show, where storylines were just randomly dropped when it became clear that they weren't working out.  I think most of us can remember April Stevens, her twin sister Bobbie who looked NOTHING like her, and their blue-collar parents Wayne and Dorothy.   One day out of the clear blue sky, Bobbie suddenly announced that she was moving to New York and was taking her parents and her sister with her.   In one episode --- poof! --- the entire Stevens family was over, done with, and gone.    I remember someone at my school asking me, "What happened to the Stevens family?   Are they still on the show?"   And I said, "Naw, one day they all just moved to New York.  Thank God."   If you missed that particular episode, I guess you didn't know what happened to that entire family.    It was really a transitional period for Y&R, and the ratings drop between 1980 and 1982 reflected the viewers' confusion.    By 1983, with the Abbotts and Jabot, Paul's detective agency, and the love story of Nikki and Victor, everything had completely turned around into a cohesive show that was probably actually an IMPROVEMENT over the 30-minute show.   But those first couple of years of the hour format between 1980 and 1982 --- strange stuff indeed!    

 

Bill Bell seemed to be toying with the idea of involving Stuart Brooks, Vanessa Prentiss, and Liz Foster in a triange of some sort, either in the fall of 1979 or the spring of 1980.   I remember a scene where Vanessa (talking to herself) speculated that she and Stuart Brooks had a lot in common, as both of her sons were married to two of his daughters.   Vanessa even went to the bother of "prettying herself up" for Stuart a time or two.  But then one of Stuart's daughters (either Lorie or Leslie) mentioned to Vanessa in passing, "Oh it's wonderful that Dad has such a great relationship with Liz Foster.  Hopefully, they'll be getting married soon."   Vanessa's face fell into a big frown, and that was the end of that.   And it's possible that there was never gonna be a triangle.   This was possibly just a scene to show us that Vanessa was sad and lonely, depended on Lance for companionship, and helped explain why Vanessa was so anxious to remove the competition (Lorie Brooks) from Lance's life.     

[Paul Raven]

One strand that was briefly mentioned when Eve came on was that she had crossed paths with Derek previously.

Eve moved in with Jill and through Liz managed to get a job with Stu. Stu/Liz/Eve triangle never really developed.

[Broderick]

 

Yeah, after Liz married Stuart and moved into the Brooks home, Jill was all alone at the Foster house.   Didn't she put an ad in the paper seeking a roommate to help with expenses ("another single mom preferred")??   Eve Howard, a new character, was the girl who answered the ad.  She and Jill bonded over their illegitimate sons (Phillip and Charles Victor a/k/a Cole), became friends, and Eve started working as Stuart's assistant at the newspaper.   We all assumed that Eve was about to snatch old Stuart away from Liz.   Through backstory, we learned that Eve and Derek had crossed paths before, and now they had the same agenda --- revenge on Victor.   Eve was mad because Victor wouldn't acknowledge that he'd fathered her child, and Derek was mad that Victor had ousted him from Chancellor Industries.   Together, Eve and Derek figured out that Victor had undergone the first of his 738 vasectomies, and they broke into the doctor's office, got a copy of his medical records, and mailed them to Julia (who'd just found out she was pregnant).    Seeing that Victor had undergone a vasectomy, Julia assumed she'd gotten pregnant by her affair with Michael Scott, but really it was Victor's superhuman Goat Juice that had fertilized her, even after the first of his 738 vasectomies.   

[Soaplovers]

in regards to the Prientiss brothers.. didn't the show test Casey and Lucas before Casey left the show?  I'm not sure if the actress opted to leave or not... but I thought I read somewhere that the stalker story was originally meant for Casey.. but when she left the show.. Nikki ended up getting stalked.. and that once the story was over.. she returned to stripping at the Bayou.. and her return performance (where she felt confident and free after weeks after being stalked and feeling vunerable) caught Victor's eye.. and the rest.. as they say.. was history.

 

I do think the show was testing characters/stories out in 1980-1982.. and whatever worked was what the show went with... hence the random Victor/Nikki encounter.   I thought it was interesting the show tested/paired Jill with lots of different men between 1980-1982.. Steve Williams, Jack, John, Andy, etc before settling back with John/Jill again in 1982.  I do recall that Leslie dated Robert Laurence.. an old friend of John Abbott... so I always wondered if Leslie/Robert attended Jill/John's wedding since they mailed in 1982 before Leslie left... and wonder if Leslie had a scene with her former step mom or not.

 

Lastly, I would have kept Leslie on and tried to pair her with Lauren's dad... Imagine Leslie having to contend with a potential step daughter that made her dealings with Lorie seem like a piece of cake.

[Broderick]

I don't remember that Jill's pairings during this period seemed as "haphazard" or "screen-testy" as some of y'all do.   Most of her interactions seemed fairly organic and character-motivated.

 

Jill had been caught up with the "Mrs. Stuart Brooks" storyline for a while, and the endless triangle with Kay and Derek.   By 1980, Jill was kinda "down and out" and seemed depressed to realize she was a grown woman with an illegitimate son, still living in her mother's home and working as a beautician.    All her dreams of becoming important and wealthy had been thwarted.   Steve Williams was a preppy, upwardly-mobile, Catholic boy who went around lecturing everyone that they should make the most of their lives (and keep their virginity intact).   Jill was exactly the type of "project" that Steve thrived on, and Steve was exactly the kind of "motivational therapist" that Jill needed to encourage her to make something more of her life.   I don't remember much romance between Jill and Steve.   He mostly just took her out for a drink, told her that she had a lot to offer, and encouraged her to pursue her dreams.   It was Steve who talked her into applying for the job at Jabot, in order to become more "white collar" and less "blue collar", a position which of course Jill ultimately did apply for and win.   (Peggy Brooks, meanwhile, had been unsure whether or not she wanted to date Steve, since the two of them worked together at the newspaper, but seeing him at the Allegro with Jill, whom Peggy hated, inspired Peggy to go ahead and accept a date with him.   Bill Bell's end-game here seemed to be spinning Jill into the Jabot storyline which ultimately happened, and spinning Peggy into a storyline where she was engaged to Steve but sleeping with a more exciting man which ultimately happened.   All of this made sense at the time in terms of the characters.)

 

Once Jill had secured the job at Jabot, her relationships again seemed organic.   John Abbott represented the old-money sugar-daddy type characters she'd married in the past (Phillip Chancellor and Stuart Brooks), while Jack Abbott represented someone young and exciting to Jill.   The triangle among John, Jill, and Jack seemed to flow pretty naturally, especially since Jack had a lot of "Daddy issues", and Jill was the pet employee of the reserved and icy John.   All of this crashed around Jill, of course, when John discovered that Jill was sleeping with Jack, and John packed-up and moved to New York.  Jill and Jack subsequently had a falling-out and a lawsuit, and she was out on her ass from Jabot.   Once again, her dreams of becoming a high-falutin' old -money mistress of the manor had been thwarted. 

 

That's when Andy came along.   Andy represented everything that Liz Foster wanted for her daughter.   He was grounded, nice, easy-going, he was a coach, he had a great relationship with Little Phillip, and he wasn't judgmental about Jill having produced a child outside of wedlock.   In Liz's mind, Andy would've been the perfect match for Jill.   But Jill, as had been the case from the very beginning, had dreams of being rich and important.   She didn't mind throwing Andy under the bus for a second chance at being with the wealthy and important John Abbott.   Liz gave her PLENTY of lectures, "Jill!  Are you gonna throw away your relationship with that good boy (Andy) to chase after some pipe dream with Mister Abbott?!   Haven't you learned ANYTHING!"  It just all seemed to flow naturally and made sense in terms of Jill's character and motivations. 

 

Ditto for the relationship between Peggy and Steve Williams.  He was very preppy and upwardly-mobile and was happy to be engaged to his boss's youngest daughter.   But he insisted on waiting till after marriage for sex.   Peggy had already been down the "frigid road" before (with Jack Curtis circa 1975), and she wanted to make sure she and Steve were sexually compatible before their wedding.   Since Steve refused to let Peggy pop his cherry, she let Jack Abbott (whom she'd known in college) bang her a few times, which ultimately led to Steve deciding that she wasn't the girl for him and leaving town for a job in Washington DC.   Like the Jill storylines of the same era, I found Peggy and Steve's relationship to be informed by the characters' histories and not just randomly slapped together.