Y&R: Old Articles

[titan1978]

I watched several of the classic Emmy telecasts that have been posted in the GL and ATWT threads in the cancelled soaps section, and in one of the early 1990’s telecasts she is listed as co-head writer during the list of nominees.

 

During that great interview with Bell and Claire Labine, he mentions how distraught both he and Alden were about being basically forced to expand the show to an hour.  So she was vitally important back then.

 

I have been watching so much classic soap lately, my YouTube recommendations has led me to the Jill & John Abbott Divorce playlist.  I have never seen John’s confrontation with TL’s Jack about the affair.  They are both so great here.  I miss John, and Terry will always be my preferred Jack.

[YRfan23]

That's so interesting, for some reason July 15th was always given as Bill Bell's last HW date! but at least this confirms it!

I wish we had the actual dates where Jack Smith took over as HW over Alden in late 2002. That's trickier because Alden was always credited first even though Smith was HW late 02-Feb 06 when LML took over.

Edited May 19, 2020 by YRfan23

[BetterForgotten]

And Trent Jones was also in the mix as Co-HW with Smith and Alden for some of that time!

[will81]

Could it have been in 2000? His wiki says it and his name moved up in the writing credits on the show at that time as seen below. First is from Oct 99, second is Oct 00. I can't find any official confirmation though. Maybe he was an associate head writer. Not sure

 

 

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[Khan]

I'm not sure, but I think I read years ago that Bill Bell was overjoyed when he hired Kay Alden, because the "California writers" whom he had hired to write on Y&R weren't working out.

 

Also, I probably shouldn't say this, but John F. Smith looks VERY sexy in that photo. 

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[will81]

I was thinking the same, he's pretty cute in that photo

[yrfan1983]

 

Hey everyone, I just did a deep dive on the amazing Soap Opera Central daily recap site, reading all the daily YR recaps for the year of 1997, and thought I would share my observations. I originally watched YR from 1983-94, then took a break, then started again late 2001 – 2011 (off and on). Now I’m fascinated by the ’97-01 period that I missed, where it initially seemed to really be in the doldrums but then rose up for another renaissance.

 

I will divide my comments into 2 parts – first half and second half of ’97. The first half was ROUGH but steadily improved in the second half. Of course, my impressions are only based on the written recap, so something might have actually been better/worse on-screen. Full disclosure: I can’t stand Nick and Sharon so I skipped past all their story.

 

First half of ‘97:

-    Phyllis dominated the show with her shenanigans, which I’m not a big fan of. Hard to believe that Michelle S leaves in February. She started in Oct ’94 so that’s not even 2 ½ years, but she sure made her mark on the character. Sandra Nelson starts in March and is thrown into the deep end of the Phyllis story. I haven’t seen enough of her to know if she was up to the task.
-    The show seems to be “all in” with the Kurt/Ashley/Hope triangle but it sounds like a non-starter. Hope, I guess, is living platonically with Victor but maybe wishes to reunite with him…? It’s unclear. Little Victor Jr aka Adam is there too but believes that Cliff is his father, and Hope wants to keep it that way so that Adam is not “drawn into Victor’s world”.
-    The Winters crew are very isolated in their own story and it all feels very dreary. Neil and Dru’s conflict over her career has potential, but everything is so drawn out for the entire year and going into ’98. Liv only half-heartedly marries Malcolm due to her lingering feelings for Neil. How does anyone half-heartedly marry Shemar Moore?? Dru and Liv are mostly at odds, which rubs me the wrong way because they worked so hard in the early 90s to be close sisters for the first time ever.
-    Nina is a hot depressed mess, pushing Ryan away, I guess because of feelings for Cole? (Apparently in spring ’97, it’s stated that Nina and Cole had sex once in fall ’96, but actually that never happened, and the writers just retroactively changed history.) It is hard for me to imagine that the Nina of ’92-’94 who was single-mindedly obsessed with Ryan would do such a 180. Flo appears sporadically the entire year until Nina’s crisis is over.
-    Jill is oddly given an instant family with the Dennisons. I say oddly because it’s Keith she’s moving in with, but sometimes weeks will go by where Keith is not even mentioned. The focus is more on Jill’s interactions with Tricia and Megan, where she serves as a unwanted mother figure. I guess Keith is just a plot device to get Jill near the girls. John seems to barely appear the whole year (was JerryD put on recurring?)
-    Nikki is in supporting mom mode, and Joshua is almost like a background player. Every couple months there is a random mention of Veronica in the institution.
-    Diane gets engaged to Jack, while Victor secretly flirts with her. It all sounds pretty boring but we know the good stuff is coming.
-    HeatherT leaves around February, with NuVicki starting in March and only lasting til around June. Victoria is then sent on an “extended international business trip” for months.
-    I’m not a Michael Baldwin fan but seems like the show did a good job of slowly bringing him back in the mix.

 

Second half of ‘97:

-    Much of the show is still dominated by Phyllis, but she is exposed in July and then it’s much more enjoyable. Michael is pressured into working on her legal defense as a paralegal, so that’s a good conflict with Christine.
-    Hope and Kurt aren’t mentioned at all in July and then briefly re-appear in August to decide to move back to Kansas together. Ending that story clears the deck for much better ones.
-    Nina!! She is front-burner. I am a big Nina fan from the early days (pre-Ryan-obsession) and really enjoyed her arc here. Everything finally comes full circle for Nina. Her mental state reaches a crisis point after the incident where Nina accidentally shoots herself but Ryan is suspected of shooting her by the police (Salena Wiley!). She is able to get her head together while recovering in the hospital, and it all reaches a happy climax in November when Ryan offers to escort her home from the hospital and she replies “I don’t need anything from you. Go be with your lover. I truly don’t care” <Rock star cheer> Jill is used very effectively as a middle-man, trying to keep the peace between Nina and Ryan/Tricia, with grandson Phillip’s welfare foremost in mind.
-    Veronica!! I am all about psycho stories if they’re well done, and from the few clips I’ve seen, she seems like one of the better ones. The plot kicks into gear around September when “Sarah” gets a job as the ranch maid. People have commented that it is ludicrous Joshua wouldn’t recognize her, but she actually had major reconstructive facial surgery due to being hit by a car.
-    Victor and Diane get married in August, which I guess got a “worst wedding” comment by SOD because their courtship seemed too quick, like a business arrangement. But I think it sounds great because it sets up the Nikki/Diane rivalry and by the end of the year, the mood is quite deliciously heated between them.
-    Cole and Ashley get close while Victoria is gone the whole summer on her “extended business trip”. HeatherT returns in October but she is unable to stop the Cole/Ashley romance. I’m not a Shari Shattuck fan so this one seems like a misfire.

 

By the end of the year, the stories are clicking overall – vast improvement from the year prior. 

[soapfan770]

 

 I wonder “who” he was talking about given I think Bell wrote most the first year himself, unless he’s talking about that intern writer who went on life to create Beakman’s World LOL. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by soapfan770

[mikelyons]

Kay Lenard was one of the first script writers on Y&R. In fact, Bill used a lot of a his DAYS script writers on Y&R scripts in 1973-75, but they were getting burned out, so he turned elsewhere. 

Kay Alden is the friend John F. Smith mentions who was working on her soap opera thesis and wound up interviewing Bell. Kay started at the tale end of 1973-early 1974 and was instrumental in shaping & forming Katherine under Bill's guidance. 

I have some old notes, etc. on this...I'll have to find them.

Someone asked how old Bill Bell, Jr. was...I can't recall if it was on this thread or another. Bill Bell, Jr. was born in 1963, Brad in 1965, and Lauralee in 1968.

[soapfan770]

 

Very interesting thank for you sharing that info, it’s sometimes hard to piece just what goes onscreen and off screen on Y&R during it’s early years. 
 

Given Bell himself was burned out from Days too makes sense his dialogue writers were as well. The intern writer I joked about was Mark Waxman although when he wrote scripts for Y&R in the 70’s wasn’t actually clear from an old list of Y&R facts compiled back in the ‘90’s I have unless IMDB’s dates of 1973-1981 is to be believed to be accurate. Who knows. 

[YRfan23]

Your awesome for reading up on all that!

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  I'm glad your thoughts confirm the overall tone of the show by this point that the end of 1996 and first half of 1997 felt distorted, and all over the place, while things picked up the second half just in time for the 25th anniversary! I know you will have better stuff to say for 1998! haha

RE: John I swear Ashley and Jack tried to play matchmaker with him and set him up with Katherine!!!. I guess nothing amounted to it...this is why Jeanne refers to these years (95-97) "The Young and the REST OF US!" because she and Jerry D. had no story, and the younger cast dominated....

Did it mention Flo being there for Nina's shooting?? I'm still shocked Sharon F. was even still around in 1997, since most sources say she left in 1996.

Edited May 20, 2020 by YRfan23

[mikelyons]

Should we start a Y&R writer's thread?

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[soapfan770]

 

Did you know that was one of the last Genoa City crimes that was investigated by Selena Wiley? After watching the Cassandra Rawlins story I had wondered why the show never fully invested in her character. After that we had Hank Weber always showing up with his smug self all the time when he really should have been romancing Olivia lol. 

 

 We might need to!

[mikelyons]

Early Y&R Scriptwriter (Dialogue Writers)

1973-75

Kay Alden

Kay Lenard*

Elizabeth Harrower

Bill Rega*

 

*Worked with Bell on DAYS while writing Y&R

[soapfan770]

 
Thank you so much!!! I knew Harrower was involved yet but couldn’t find exact dates except knowing she left to be HW at  Days for a full year in 1979 and then promptly came back to write for Y&R at least through the mid-80’s.