Y&R: Old Articles

[will81]

Another one is Evidently. Every character uses this word so much it has creeped into my own vocab.

 

One of the things I noticed about Janice Lynde's Leslie is she mixed her strength and vulnerability so beautifully. In the 70's eps we have seen, she seems so soft and gentle but at the same time has a bit of bite to her, she can hold her own with Lorie but you can still believe she could have a nervous breakdown. Victoria seems just lovely but more like a woman who is about to fall apart at any moment and is desperately trying to be strong, JLB commands her scenes with Victoria while Janice seemed to match her more. 

 

It seems as though Lorie became more central once Janice left. Victoria stated when she joined the show she was sidelined for close to a year before she got story. It seems as though she played out Leslie's miscarriage and then was put on the back burner for the remainder of 1977 and JLB's Lorie started becoming more prominent.

 

Funny about the talk about names as I was just thinking about it. Reading soap press you see Lorie or Laurie and I always heard it was Kristen and then wondered why she was referred to as Chris and not Kris, though now I see it was Christen, I have never seen that spelling before. I had heard Christobel, but never heard/read that name anywhere in soap press of the day. 

 

In terms of dialogue I was just watching a scene with Ashley and Victor discussing Nikki and she keeps referring to her as "Your former wife" it is maddening, lol. Ashley says it multiple times and I keep thinking just say her name damn it, haha. "Are you still in love with your former wife" "I have to ask, do you want to reconcile with your former wife" 

 

Lastly how prominent was Lynn on the show? From reading synopsis it seems she had little to do for much of her run. Chris returns in late 78 and Snapper has become friendly with Casey, he has to decide who he wants and chooses Chris, then very little story until the Rose DeVille white slavery story. Then Lynn and Chris were pregnant. From what I have read Lynn was pregnant with twins and was quite ill during her pregnancy (this seem to happen to JLB and Victoria Mallory as well) and Chris left town again for a short period and returned thinking she had contracted measels but this was cleared up pretty quickly. When Lynn went on maternity leave in 1980 David had quit the show but agreed to do guest spots, Lynn didn't agree to this and was let go but Chris and Snapper were still in town. Lynn returned in early 81 but it seems no major story occurred until Sally and Chuckie returned to town in late 81, from here it seems Bell started writing more for Chris again, she had brief flirtations with Jack Abbott and joined Jabot, though she would be off air again within a year.

Edited September 15, 2019 by will81

[Broderick]

Some of the dialogue was honestly wretched, and we sometimes forget how bad it truly was.

 

"This divorce -- I have to wonder if it's what you truly want.  A part of me died the night we signed those papers."

"What are you getting at?  Are you playing some kind of mind games with me?"

"My God.  I'm telling you how I feel inside!"

"But why?  I have to wonder why you're laying all of this on me right now." 

 

lol.

 

Yeah, most of Lynn Topping and David Hasselhoff's storylines from about 1980 till 1982 were hit-and-runs, because of Lynn's maternity leave and the "out-clauses" in David's contract.   They were more like mini-storylines.  Chris has been exposed to German measles!  Will the baby be deformed?!  No!  Thank heavens, everything is ok!!  End of storyline.   A nurse at Memorial has a crush on Snapper!!  Will he sleep with her?!  No!  Thank heavens, he rebuffed her, everything is ok!!  End of storyline.  Chris has bought some expensive furniture and pretended she got it at a thrift store!!  Will Snapper leave her?!  No!  Thank heavens, he forgave her when she returned the overpriced furniture, everything is ok!!  End of storyline. 

 

About the only genuine storyline they shared together was the return of Sally McGuire with the Kidney Kid, and that seemed designed to serve as David Hasselhoff's swan song. 

[SoapDope]

i know that when Liz remarried Bill they came by and gave the couple a trip to Hawaii as a gift for their honeymoon.

[YRfan23]

That's cool! I wonder if we ever got any scenes of Liz and Jennifer checking in with each other over coffee or something? unless they didn't socialize as much outside of gatherings for their children.

Bill Bell could have probably did a "Sheila" type of story with Snapper and Chris if he wanted......but I guess as of 2019 they are still happily married offscreen, LOL

[Broderick]

 

I always got the impression that it was important to Mr. Bell that Chris and Snapper stay married.  They were kinda his "golden couple" in Y&R's early years.  When you think about it, it's kinda astonishing that they stayed married on the show from 1974 till their exits in 1982.   How many soap couples on-screen stay together for 8 years?  Not many probably.   And now, counting their off-screen time, they've theoretically been together for 45 years.  

[Legacy]

Hey i almost forgot i did read that spoiler and the way it was worded it sounded like when jennifer and stuart came not long after kay n phillip showed up so i guess they all did have a few seconds of sharing a scene probably jennifer and stuart left after they arrived

When i think of that story that was basically wrapped up very fast along with the characters, they could have put more layers into that triangle they could have even added jack abbot to the mix because those times when sally came back jack was hitting on chris there could have been a huge snapper/chris/sally/jack debacle going on sally could have walked in on chris flirting with jack and tell snappy just to get things started lol

[Broderick]

 

Yeah, I remember it, but not very well because it wasn't very interesting, lol.

 

Seems like Stuart and Liz offered to downsize into a smaller house and give the Brooks house to Snapper and Chris.   Snapper, of course, rejected the offer because "with my salary, I couldn't afford a house like that, Mr. Brooks.  That's where I'm coming from."  Chris got all bent out of shape over Snapper hard-headedness, and Snapper offered to let her redecorate their apartment, following a strict budget.   She actually took her dad's credit card and bought some expensive furniture, then told Snapper she'd purchased it from thrift stores, keeping with the budget.   They had a dinner party for some doctor, whose wife turned out to be an interior decorator (or something), and she immediately started commenting on the value of the furniture (which was pretty tasteless on her part, lol).   Chris had to fess up that she'd used Stuart's credit card to buy the stuff, and then she returned it.   I don't remember finding any of that terribly thrilling.  lol. 

[will81]

Lol, sounds sort of like the Friends episode when Rachel keeps buying things from Pottery Barn and telling Phoebe (who is against places like PB) that she got them from flea markets.

 

Out of curiosity why did Snapper never earn a decent living as a Doctor? He was an intern when the show started so by 1981/82 he had been at it for almost 10 years and he still couldn't afford some nice furniture?

[yrfan1983]

Anyone curious to see David Hasselhoff and Lynn Topping together can find them on Amazon Prime Streaming... she guest-starred on Knight Rider, Season 1, Episode 18 "Chariot of Gold" which aired 2/25/1983 - filmed about 6 months after they both finished on YR. That was nice of David to arrange Lynn's guest spot.

 

I downloaded the ep for $2 but couldn't make it through the whole thing - not my style

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 Lynn's scenes are around 16:00, 19:30 and 38:30. She looks stunning.

[Broderick]

 

Snapper was too highly-principled to cash his paycheck, lol.   No, seriously, most of the time he worked at a free clinic, where he was paid a nominal salary.  He was on-staff at GC Memorial (remember, he was terminated from his hospital position wrongly when Liz unplugged Bill Foster's respirator, and Snapper took the fall for it.)   But a lot of the time, he worked at a free clinic.   It was explained that he and Greg, having grown up poor, wanted to give back to the community in which they grew-up by doing volunteer work (the free medical clinic for Snapper, and legal-aid for Greg).   I always thought this was actually sorta SELFISH of them.   Liz had worked her tail off in a factory to educate them, and Jill contributed to the family's expenses by cutting hair for old drunk sluts (Kay Chancellor).   You'd think that Snapper and Greg would've taken decent-paying jobs in order to pay back their mama and sister for the sacrifices the two women had made for them.   After Liz and Jill were repaid, Snapper and Greg could've spent the rest of their lives being poor if they wanted to. 

[SoapDope]

I remember years ago someone on the old defunct media domain Y&R board making fun of those horrible Chris & Snapper storylines from the early 80's. It sounds hilarious just reading them. I picture Snapper  leaving for work and they have a clawed up moth eaten old sofa, some scratched up end tables, and some cheap K-mart lamps then coming home to queen anne end tables, chippendale sofa, crystal lamps, and a mahogany Governor Winthrop secretary.

 

Snapper: "Chris where did you get all these expensive pieces ?

Chris: " I, er, uh found them at a thrift store downtown (she swiped Stuart's master card at the local Ethan Allen)......LOL

 

That storyline where the nurse fell in love with Snapper sounds bad too. I do know the nurse was played by Kelly Harmon (Mark's sister). Kelly was the spokesperson for about 15 years for tic tac. Kelly & Mark's older sister Kris was married to Ricky Nelson and she played herself on the family TV series.

 

How long did that story play out ? 2 weeks max ?

 

 

[Broderick]

 

Yes, the Famous Furniture Fable was stupid as hell.   It was about the way you described it.   Snapper came in, and there was all this high-end early 1980s furniture all over the apartment.   He was like, "Wow, Babe!  You must've gotten some really terrific buys! I've got the smartest, most incredible wife in the whole world!  I'm tripping, man!"  He'd take Chris into his arms, and the camera would focus on her stricken face, as she wondered whether or not to admit she'd raided Ethan Allen. 

 

The thing with the nurse was also extremely hokey.   I can't even remember the nurse's name.  Might've been "Jane".  Snapper would breeze through the hospital with a chart and say, "Nurse Jane, please check on Mrs. Cummings in 402," and then he'd go breezing away.   The nurse would step up dramatically to the nurse's station and say, "My, my, my, I can see myself having an affair with Dr. Foster.  This affair --- I will make it happen.  Mark my words.  It will happen.  It will indeed."  Cue the ominous music.   Just hokey as hell.   

[will81]

Lol, only Kimberlin Brown as Sheila could get away with that sorta dialogue

[SoapDope]

LOL....I hope someone unearths some of this crap for us on youtube. I wonder if that was Bill Bell's revenge on CBS for making him expand to an hour to fill air time  ?  I hope they also dig up Victor sniffing around pathetic Peggy. 

 

I can hear Kelly Harmon in her tic tac commercial voice saying that stupid affair dialogue. Kelly reminds me of Tina Cole who played Robbie's wife on My Three Sons. 

 

 

 

 

[Paul Raven]

Dr Jane Lewis - even the name was boring, earlier wasn't there Cynthia, the nurse at the free clinic who had the hots for Snapper?

 

The Sally return should have been epic but with a new Snapper and Chris - no opportunity for flashbacks- it fell flat.

 

Greg should have hooked up with Sally.Imagine the angst for Chris having Sally as a sister in law? And Snapper having to watch Greg father his son? and Mom Foster trying to keep the peace?