Y&R: Old Articles

[j swift]

I was reading this article on The Soaps of Yesterday Tumblr about the ascendancy of Y&R in the ratings starting in the summer of 1983, and it got me thinking about the plots of that year.

 

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It is interesting to note that while there were more "teen" stories in 1983, (including the introduction of Cricket and the beginning of the Lauren/Traci saga), arguably most of the plot centered on the middle-aged John Abbott.  We got Jack and Jill's affair, the first return of Dina, John's stroke, and the mystery of who was sending the puzzle pieces of a picture of Jack and Jill kissing.  Victor and Nikki were big in 1983, but they didn't marry until 1984.  So, despite the normative reliance of 1980s soaps on younger characters and outlandish plots, 18-25 year old viewers were being drawn to a rather traditional soap plotline mostly involving characters above the age of 40. 

 

Also worth remarking, Price is Right was credited with buoying Y&R's ratings (although I still prefer a 30 minute game show format).

 

 

But, I thought, it was remarkable that classic soap stories about older characters (in contrast to other soaps going younger and more action-driven) were an integral part of Y&R 30-year-plus dominance of soap ratings.

Edited February 23, 2021 by j swift

[will81]

@YRfan23 Thank you so much for these. We have been spoiled with uploads, it's great

 

@j swift Yeah that is very interesting. I wonder what the demos were back then. In 1994 Y&R was often #1 in the crucial 18-49 demo and this was prior to Nick/Sharon etc coming in (which makes me wonder even more why they felt the need to do this) Arguably the cast was about the same age range in 93/94 as they were in 83/84, techinically the show skewed a bit older as we had characters still there ten years later. Yet they were either #1, #2 or #3 in that demographic and #1 overall. 

 

Oddly enough, though I am uploading this stuff, I rarely get enough time to read through it. 

I might just leave it as is so I can get it re-uploaded. Thanks again

[Manny]

Cool!

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You are welcome. 

 

Btw, I saw now that in July 1987, you should double check Andy's numbers.

[will81]

Lol, okay that was bad. I actually double checked to make sure he was in those episodes I marked him down in and he was. So he has 4 as noted, not the 1 in the total. My eyes must have been really off that day. Thanks again

 

[FrenchFan]

Thanks to @will81's wonderful work, I tried to have a ranking for 1987. Within brackets, the difference with 1986.

 

 

1987 Episode Ranking
A total of 243 episodes aired

1. Thom Bierdz (Phillip Chancellor Foster) : 156 (+96)

*. Eileen Davidson (Ashley Abbott) : 156 (-14)

3. Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) : 148 (+10)

4. Lauralee Bell (Cricket Blair) : 146 (+65)

5. Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor) : 142 (+45)

*. Melody Thomas-Scott (Nikki Reed Newman) : 142 (-1)

7. Terry Lester (Jack Abbott) : 132 (-36)

8. Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren Fenmore Williams) : 122 (-20)

9. Tricia Cast (Nina Webster) : 118 (+64)

10. Don Diamont (Brad Carlton) : 114 (-1)

11. Doug Davidson (Paul Williams) : 109 (-30)

12. Jerry Douglas (John Abbott) : 104 (-45)

13. Rod Arrants (Steven Lassiter) : 98 (X)

14. Colleen Casey (Faren Connor Richards) : 94 (+9)

15. Steven Ford (Andy Richards) : 92 (-21)

16. Michael Damian (Danny Romalotti) : 84 (-8)

17. John Shearin (Evan Sanderson) : 83 (+72)

18. Kate Linder (Esther Valentine) : 74 (+14)

19. Jess Walton (Jill Foster Abbott) : 73 (X)

20. Brenda Dickson (Jill Foster Abbott) : 67 (-97)

21. Susan Seaforth Hayes (JoAnna Manning) : 65 (+7)

22. Michael Corbett (David Kimble) : 64 (+60)

23. Beth Maitland (Traci Abbott Carlton) : 61 (-58)

24. Stephanie Williams (Amy Lewis) : 58 (-4)

25. Ashley Nicole Millan (Victoria Newman) : 55 (+11)

26. Anthony Pena (Miguel Rodriguez) : 52 (+21)

27. Christopher Templeton (Carol Robbins) : 51 (-17)

28. Robert Parucha (Matt Miller) : 48 (-64)

29. Roberta Leighton (Dr. Casey Reed) : 47 (-7)

30. Todd Curtis (Skip Evans) : 45 (X)

31. Marguerite Ray (Mamie Johnson) : 43 (-4)

32. Michael Evans (Douglas Austin) : 41 (X)

33. Patty Weaver (Gina Roma) : 39 (-7)

*. Quinn Redeker (Rex Sterling) : 39 (X)

35. Carolyn Conwell (Mary Williams) : 34 (+6)

36. Scott Palmer (Tim Sullivan) : 31 (+30)

37. Frank M. Benard (Marc Mergeron) : 30 (X)

*. Concil Nelson (Betsy Sanderson) : 30 (X)

39. Nathan Purdee (Nathan Hastings) : 28 (-6)

40. Jennifer Karr (Ellen Winters) : 27 (-6)

41. Maureen McConnell (Janet Piersall) : 25 (+22)

42. Catherine MacNeal (Janet Piersall) : 24 (X)

43. Barbara Crampton (Leanna Randolph) : 22 (X)

44. Colby Chester (Michael Crawford) : 19 (-81)

45. William Wintersole (Mitchell Sherman) : 16 (+9)

46. Michelle Davison (Ruth) : 15 (X)

*. Melinda Peterson (Julie) : 15 (X)

*. Meg Wylie (Wanda) : 15 (X)

49. Darlene Conley (Rose DeVille) : 13 (X)

*. Cindy Fisher (Dana Nellsen) : 13 (X)

*. Brett Hadley (Carl Williams) : 13 (-45)

*. Dennis Haysbert (Ron Clarke) : 13 (+4)

53. Alex Rebar (Vince Holliday) : 12 (X)

54. Hugh McPhillips (Andre) : 11 (X)

55. Brett Porter (Jack Abbott) : 9 (+4)

56. Mark Harrison (Dr. Bernard Laski) : 8 (X)

57. Meg Bennett (Julia Newman) : 6 (-11)

*. John Denos (Joe Blair) : 6 (-16)

59. Peter Parros (Leo Baines) : 3 (-7)

60. Tonja Walker (Mandy Kimpner) : 1 (X)

 

CONTRACT ARRIVALS

1/06 – Rod Arrants (Dr. Steven Lassiter)

1/20 – Scott Palmer (Tim Sullivan)

6/10 – Todd Curtis (Skip Evans)

6/25 – Jess Walton (Jill Foster Abbott)

8/03 – Michael Corbett (David Kimble)

9/10 – Frank M. Benard (Marc Mergeron)

9/29 – Kate Linder (Esther Valentine)

9/29 – Quinn Redeker (Rex Sterling)

10/07 – Catherine MacNeal (Janet Piersall)

10/21 – Barbara Crampton (Leanna Randolph)

11/24 – Beth Maitland (Traci Abbott Carlton)

11/24 – Scott Palmer (Tim Sullivan)

 

CONTRACT DEPARTURES

2/05 – William Wintersole (Mitchell Sherman)

5/05 – Colby Chester (Michael Crawford)

6/04 – Beth Maitland (Traci Abbott Carlton)

6/15 – Scott Palmer (Tim Sullivan)

6/24 – Brenda Dickson (Jill Foster Abbott)

7/21 – Robert Parucha (Matt Miller)

7/21 – Jennifer Karr (Ellen Winters)

11/23 – John Shearin (Evan Sanderson)

11/23 – Catherine MacNeal (Janet Piersall)

12/02 – Colleen Casey (Faren Connor)

12/02 – Steven Ford (Andy Richards)

[will81]

@FrenchFan Thank you so much. Great effort and much appreciated. I do hope you tallied up the appearances and ignored my totals. As while I have the appearances correct, as you can see from previous posts I have been adding them up poorly, haha. 

[Vee]

Jerry Douglas was so suave, commanding, handsome, noble and authoritative and yes, sexy. Cutting John as the patriarch was one of the dumbest decisions this show ever made.

[Paul Raven]

I agree with that sentiment re John's early days on the show.

With Deborah Adair there was definitely chemistry and the way Deborah played Jill you could understand the mutual attraction.

Once Brenda went into full diva mode, John started to look like a fool for ever marrying her.

 

Would posters still want Jerry on the show now? Would he still be capable at his age (88)?

If not, the decision to cut Jerry from the show might have had to be made at some point.

Have John move out of town or kill him off?

Edited February 24, 2021 by Paul Raven

[will81]

I partly agree. I don't think Bell gave Jill (with Brenda) enough chance to vent John's poor treatment of her during their marriage. If you were married and your husband was stepping out with his ex, assumed you purposely caused a miscarriage and spent months deciding if he even wanted to stay married to you, how would that make you feel? 

 

He rarely seemed to back her up or support her and saw her insecurities about Dina (who with Kay was actively working to ruin Jill's marriage) as childish

 

Bell should have made more of this. Jill does say she felt like a trophy wife and undervalued and it was motivating her drive to take him to the cleaners, but this was one scene once. John wasn't the greatest husband and Jill went into survival mode as a result. Her diva act would have made more sense and John would not have seemed like such an innocent fool. 

[Paul Raven]

Y&R stayed #1 for years telling traditional soap stories with a few 'modern'nods to action/adventure/mystery plots but other soaps seemed more willing to copy each other with serial killers/clones/aliens/spies etc to chase ratings

[BoldRestless]

 

These are fair points, and I think how he died made it more difficult for viewers.  It was a very ignominious exit for such a beloved character: dying in jail, for a justified crime, the sort of which many soap characters routinely get away with. In some way it was fitting for his character after being a doormat to Gloria those last years (another point of contention). It was at that point in the show where they had a lot of questionable ideas but they were executed well, like Cassie's death and even Jill being mother and daughter (I felt like it was a mad writing choice to do it, but still entertaining as hell to watch it unfold). The scenes involving John's death hold up pretty well. There's the part where his family sets up a flight to Ireland and begs him to go there and he insists he must serve his sentence, which is in character. The bedside death scenes were all very good, and even the funeral episode that re-aired last year was good with the conflict of Jack not inviting Gloria, which is absolutely something he would do. 

 

I'd still categorize it as a mistake overall, for the simple reason that he had years of story left, and this was born out by how they immediately tried to bring him back, first with that ridiculous Alistair character, and then as a ghost. That showed there was still use for him as a patriarch of the family for several more years. I wouldn't object to them killing him off if he decided to retire, like Susan Flannery. That's a better option than just having a character disappear like Mary Williams and not even acknowledging the death onscreeen when it happened.

 

If you are going to be that writer that wants to make the big splash of killing a major character, then you had better be sure you're not going to need them again in six months...

Edited February 24, 2021 by BoldRestless

[BoldRestless]

I've gotten through another chunk of stuff from the Y&R Anonymous Angel

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January 2 and 3, 1992 clips

These episodes are already on YouTube but this is a better quality. These scenes are so funny.

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January 8 and 9, 1992 clips of drunk Nikki in the snow

 

 

February 14, 1992 clip
Victor reminiscing

 

 

March 17, 1993 clip

 

 

October 16, 1995 Primetime clip
Brad gets "cheeky" 

 

 

1992 Daytime Emmys
Bill Bell's Lifetime Achievement Award and Y&R's Best Show montage

 

 

1992 Bill Bell SOD Awards tribute

 

 

Various Y&R Awards show clips
I was lazy and didn't cut them up, but I'm pretty sure they are all available already

 

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

I had a vague recollection of that story with Dru and the pornographers but clearly don't remember the details. That was entertaining!  If Tricia wasn't on that list for the best heads of hair on soaps, she should be. Boy, do I miss Kristoff. Danny had some swagger in this piece. When the show actually had room for Neil and Nathan and Paul and Danny, what a time!

Those two guys that came in before were kind of 'roids scary.

In those final scenes, you know Dru's about to get a lecture.

Hard to believe anyone could take those two 'moobie' guys seriously but I guess two desperate idiots with guns are probably the most unpredictable and dangerous.

Edited February 26, 2021 by DramatistDreamer

[BoldRestless]

Another batch from the Anon Angel.  This time mostly clips.

 

2002 Daytime Emmys - Michael Bolton presents Y&R montage No More Drama

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March 4, 2002
Victor remembers Julia & Nikki
I posted that Christmas clip already

 

Jeanne Cooper - CBS Scrapbook 2002

 

 

Y&R Bloopers

 

 

John McCook & Melody Thomas Scott Behind the Scenes at CBS Television City Studio - I like the banter between them!

 

 

 

[moi570]

hello I'm looking for a music that is played in y&r on April 12, 2018 on cbs please