Y&R: Old Articles

[will81]

I always thought the same of David as Snapper and if anything David should have been Greg. I think Wings had more the attitude of Snapper. Just watching that clip you see it, Hauser looks like the older brother, is dark and gloomy more like Espy's Snapper and David is just a relaxed happy go lucky guy. And maybe that influenced things. They lost the darker moodier Foster boy when Espy left. Maybe Bell and Conboy just decided to try to switch them. That seems to be what viewers essentially got during Hauser's time on the show.

 

In terms of his looks, it is interesting, as Conboy was pretty serious about his cast being young and beautiful. In general that is what Conboy hired, so I can't really understand it either. 

 

Interesting point about the anti-hero stuff in the 70's. I would be willing to buy that being part of his casting for sure. 

[DRW50]

 

David would have made a better Greg, yes, as didn't things just sort of happen and Greg reacted to them? Snapper had a much more complex inner life that David could not have worked with (he tends to just look constipated in moments like that). 

[will81]

Yeah he was the character with the least development. Greg also never drove much story until Hauser was in the role. Jim Houghton had the Gwen Sherman story which I don't think was a major one at the time, or if it was, it was the only one he had and when Houghton left after three years, I don't know that Greg was that important for the show, I mean there was a six month gap before Brian Kerwin came on, so was Greg really all that missed? 

 

Brian, who was barely there and played out only the Euthenasia story which he was supporting in probably didn't make much impact. Then the character was off screen for another six months. I am guessing by 1977 the idea of changing Greg may not have seemed like such a big deal. Viewers probably weren't that attached to him.

[ltm1997]

Okay I may be completely off-base here, but just from seeing that clip of Erica Hope as Nikki with Paul, she seems like she could play the role of an “easy girl” (trying to be nice here LOL) better than Melody could. Erica looks like, from what I could see and also the weekly synopses I read that I can now now be able to picture her portrayal of, she had the right “look” of the easy girl that an everyday high school might see. I can see why they chose her for the role for that period of time. Melody seemed to bring more class to the role when she began. Even though she was still supposed to play the “easy” role at first, she still seemed to have a certain poise about it that Erica didn’t. Now mind you, I’m just going off of what I saw, but for me it doesn’t take too long to be able to figure a person out by being able to observe them...even if it’s just for a short time. Erica with Doug seemed like “the freshman in college tramp with the horny boy down the street”.  Anyone else following me or do I just seem to be pulling this stuff right out of my ass?

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[BoldRestless]

No I get it... that "I'm only 18 but I already have that hard look" thing. Is this the version of Nikki that Casey was talking about in that 1978 episode that just got uploaded? I can see her complaining that Nikki was entertaining too many men.

[Paul Raven]

I think skanky is the correct word here...

[will81]

Kay Alden says this in her emmy legends interview. She said Melody wasn't the right type, but they liked her. She also said the actress they had didn't turn up for work because she was too much like her character

[ltm1997]

 

 

Yes!!! That’s exactly what she was talking about! I’m so glad I’m not off base hahaha!

 

 

 

 

 

This is true, I just couldn’t find the right word

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LOL I was actually gonna say, the actress herself seemed a little “too perfect” for the roleFigures

Edited December 1, 2020 by ltm1997

[SoapDope]

Or trailer trash.....LOL She did give Paul VD.  I can picture her wearing a tube top, satin short shorts while getting high with Paul out by the school dumpsters and then making it with him in the back of his Van and/or Trans-Am. 

 

 

Hauser was trashing his time on Y&R in the 90's and complained that he went shirtless on the show once, and then was never asked to do so again. He said they show probably did not like what they had seen.....LOL The late 70's and early 80's had some questionable casting choices on soaps. I guess that explains Anthony Geary. 

[Broderick]

Yeah, Erica Hope definitely gave Nikki a trashy look and attitude that was completely believable.   I can remember a scene where she was in the Allegro with that Patty Minter girl, and I made the comment to my siblings that Nikki looked as though she'd been gang-banged the previous night.   Melody Thomas initially played the role more like a silly airheaded bimbo and less like the complete slut we'd seen with Erica Hope.    

[SoapDope]

LOL @ Erica. What I have seen of her, she looks pretty rough. I have seen Patty Minter mention in  synopsis, but what was that character all about ?

 

I was watching an old Match Game episode  where 70's/ 80's teen queen actress Dawn Jeffory was announced being on Y&R in the opening segment. Who did she play ? In 1979 she played one of Lucy's friends on Dallas that helped her score some drugs when she was squalling around over her break up with Kit. This would have been around the same time she was on Y&R. 

[trainman]

 

Never thought I'd see any of these scenes.  What I'd really like to see at some point are the first scenes showing how the Williams family was introduced.

 

[Paul Raven]

She was one of the teen runaways (Sharon or Julie) that got involved with Rose deVille in her first Y&R stint. Chris Brooks was involved with helping them escape Rose's clutches.

[Broderick]

 

Seems like Nikki and Patty were both waiting tables at the Allegro for a little while.  Brock had hired them.  That Patty Minter was supposed to serve as a "conscience" to Nikki.  She never had a story of her own.   She just said things like, "Wow, Nikki, I'm saving myself for the right guy!"  And Nikki would roll her eyes and say, "Why?  Just do it with fifteen or twenty of them!"  It was a mechanism for the writers to establish that Nikki was a "slut going down the wrong path" without having to drag Casey into it as the confidant.  

[kalbir]

 

No wonder Nikki ended up climbing that pole three years later 

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