Y&R: Old Articles

[soapfan770]

Thanks @kalbir  I have the 2/21/97 ep here and both Heather Tom and Josie Davis are in that episode. The rapid succession of recasts was pretty jarring at the time. 
 

I remember always seeing the fire at Sasha’s as being the turning point when the show got things moving again after almost

a year of stagnation since Nathan’s death. 

[DramatistDreamer]

Hey, I liked Josie Davis in the role! I think the character' motivations were a bit more nuanced than the full on vixen that she would become with Gareis (although I enjoyed Gareis in the role). It's just that Grace's motivations were about ascension into what she saw as a fuller, bigger life, rather than snagging Nick and I appreciated that complexity.  I wish that, rather than chasing Nick had been more of an emphasis when Gareis was in the role.

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Years ago, when the scenes originally aired, I remember thinking that Paul couldn't come back from this, in my eyes. In a way, he never fully did, at least when it came to a pairing with Christine. Paired with anybody else, I could mostly forget but I found them to be an unsavory coupling when they were reunited.

Maybe I would need to watch the storyline all over again because much of the motivations for why things happened made no sense to me. Why did Christine decide to date Michael? I know the motivation where the writers were concerned but there is no logic behind why Christine would actually see Michael romantically. Paul was known for sometimes having a temper (the way he would bellow at Lauren, in the wake of her latest scheme backfiring) but having his anger cross into physical and sexual violence seemed beyond the realm of what had become acceptable of that character. Why wouldn't he just tell for Christine to get therapy and walk out, similar to what he'd do with Lauren? Then, somehow we were supposed to accept that Paul came back to himself because...he cried afterwards? Perhaps if they had Michael in that role, it would've been more logical, but that would've been it for the character of Michael Baldwin and like everyone has been saying, CLB had attained popularity on the show by then and when a character, particularly a male character, attains popularity, soaps are more inclined to write to reform them as quickly as they can, even if that means having the town heroine date them, though it may go against everything in both characters' history.

 

With the benefit of hindsight, I think that storyline showed early on that writers struggled with how to write compelling stories for Paul and Christine as a couple, at least, a storyline that didn't involve a criminal case.

[yrfan1983]

Another factor was LLB was about to exit for her 2nd extended maternity leave and the writers were struggling to come up with another reason for Christine to go away again.

Poor LLB! Having to film that scene while many months pregnant... I can't imagine Bill Bell writing that scene for his daughter if he was still in charge.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

HR business??! Yikes

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Some of the worst storylines on soaps have been written for the sake of a temporary or extended exit. Sadly, maternity leaves have produced some of the egregious. On a medium that ostensibly had a history of catering to women.

[sheilaforever]

Wasn’t all this on EVERY single cover of CBS SiD in 2002 AND 2003!?

Edited March 17, 2021 by sheilaforever

[Paul Raven]

• It's really funny when Nina jokes about Phillip calling Katie for a date, cause he actually did end up dating Chloe and Nina hated that. Meanwhile Abby won't be born for almost another 10 years but now they're all kind of the same age!

Yes and Victoria was already married when Billy was born.

 

Just about everyone is now in the same age group.

 

I wish they had kept the SORASING more consistent so that there were more delineated age groupings.

[will81]

How odd. Janice was in the musical Applause prior to Y&R and did other musical theatre. I have spoken to her about this on the FB group. She also sings briefly in the first episode "The Look of Love". She has stated she performed a song almost once a week in the first couple of years, but I guess it was instrumental. Maybe she felt a bit rusty by Feb 75 and wanted to brush up.

One of the reasons I dislike Y&R once John F. Smith returned and began taking over. I think this was also the time that Ashley was cancer ridden and Olivia and Brad were having an affair. 

 

Within about six months of this we got Kay and Jill as mother/daughter and Sharon making a move on Victor which was the beginning of the end of her.

 

I totally blame Jack Smith for all of this, he came back as co-headwriter in June 2002 and all this began happening in late 2002 and into 2003. I am sure Kay Alden without Bill Bell (whom I believe was too ill) and Ed Scott (who had left the show, though would return in a supervising capacity later) was being pushed aside. Jack Smith became co-exec producer in 2003 then David Shaugnessy was gone, Bell's Senior Exec title was stripped and he and Smith were sharing the Exec Producer title by Jan 2004. I doubt Bell had much to do with the show by 2002, which explains why Y&R and B&B fell from grace around that time.

Edited March 19, 2021 by will81

[Soaplovers]

I remember the Paul rape caused christine to leave..with wanting to process what happened to her.  Considering she was a victim of date rape as a teen/young adult..than a victim of attempted rape...the show didn't delve into Christine's psyche.  It was swept under the rug..and LLB was more than up to the challenge I believe.

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Good points. It just goes to show even more how much the story was written simply as a shocking, yet convenient way to send a character off the canvas, nothing more.

[yrfan1983]

Since we're talking about Christine, here's a delightful new interview with LLB... I always find her very engaging and down-to-earth

https://www.tvinsider.com/991665/young-and-restless-christine-lauralee-bell-vc-andrews-lifetime-movies/

 

[Paul Raven]

So what is LLB's deal with Y&R?

She pops up randomly. I once read she didn't want to come in for filler scenes but with such irregular appearances that's basically what they amount to.

Her lack of availability really didn't help Doud Davidson's status on the show.

[yrfan1983]

She posted on her social media in November to announce TriciaC’s return, so maybe she’s motivated to appear if she has scenes with Nina?

[Soaplovers]

Nina was the one person to make Christine likable.

 

I'm excited to see her in the lifetime movie...she's perfectly cast in it.

 

 

 

And shame Lauren isn't on as much...she and Paul need to reunite 

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Edited March 20, 2021 by Soaplovers

[Forever8]

 

From the LLB TV Insider Interview 

It was fun seeing Victor [Eric Braeden] and Nikki’s [Melody Thomas Scott] wedding. Chris and Paul’s [Doug Davidson] honeymoon in Nevis was so much fun. I was begging them to play all three days of the Masquerade Ball [from 1991]. Why not keep going? I would have shown more consistency. Maybe do a full week in a row of some shows because they’re all so good.

 

I wish they would've shown a full week of stories instead of random episodes. It would've given a fuller picture. Instead of randomly getting an episode from 1986 to end the week with 2015 episodes. 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Forever8