Y&R: Old Articles

[soapfan770]

You mean this lol? 
 

Y&R Casting New Role

A casting call has gone out for a new denizen of Genoa City, and it's described as a "fun, breakout role." The working name of the character is "Simone" and here are the details: She should be an ample-figured African-American female in her mid-30s. She will be sharp, sassy and bold, street-smart and unafraid of confrontation. She wears her emotions on her sleeve and does not suffer fools gladly. She dresses like she is going to a ball. She loves herself and knows she is "all that." The role is contract and will start around late-April.
 

 

I saved it from last year’s BLM discussions. 

[Khan]

In other words...

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[FrenchBug82]

Not going to lie; I'd love to read the casting call they put out for Drucilla back in the day.
Lord knows that story ended up being very special but I have to imagine it didn't age well.

 

[YRfan23]

LOL....Yikes  

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 It's so crazy how that was almost 12 years ago now!....I think I had just joined SON around that time....So many fun comments to look back on though from 2010-2012.... It's a shame Deeedee decided to stop posting because they were hysterical with some of their quotes ("TO THE LAKE!!") Her inside knowledge of BTS Y&R stuff was quite insightful too. 

Another thing I almost forgot about was Jeanne Cooper had apparently actually voiced her displeasure to MAB for the writing for Katherine circa 2010/2011. I think she actually told her that if she wanted "Someone else to  sit and wear a blonde wig and serve pudding" she better find someone else, because she wouldn't have any of that!    I guess she wasn't happy with Katherine all of a sudden being the "saint" who offered advice to everyone.  I guess Jeanne regretting saying that though, because she did an interview backtracking what she said. Given we almost lost Eric Braeden, and MTS and Jess Walton were absent for months all under Maria, I guess she feared for her job. 

 

[kalbir]

@soapfan770 Yes, that one. Thanks for the link to the thread.

[Paul Raven]

Pretty much consisted of  her stating 'backstage agendas' when anyone asked for more info from her.

 

I think Sean Dominic had that potential but with no workplace, home and a bland 'love story' that consists of catch ups in restaurants...

[YRfan23]

Well true...but her comments kept me curious?

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  Who the hell was she I wonder...I swear she worked on the show or was either Victoria Rowell herself. 

[DramatistDreamer]

I think most of the Black male characters on Y&R in the past 15 years had potential, no? Including the character played by Lamon Archey, who they refused to write for. 

But let's take Nate, a character born on screen and compare him to Nicholas Newman, another character born on screen. Compare the first year each adult character was on the canvas. Lord knows JM was no Olivier (neither Laurence nor Martinez) when he first arrived but they gave him story, surrounded him with highly competent and talented actors (Heather Tom and all the experienced adult actors) and oh, Nick was involved in plenty of story (his own and others).

What did grown Nate get? 

Even compare Devon's transition from teen to adult to Nick's. Nick had a heavy duty relationship, an affair with Grace Turner. Entree into the business world, working for the family business. What did Devon get? A barely visible girlfriend? Languishing until they pair him in a triangle with his adopted father...and his de facto Aunt?

One character was written into viability...the others...not so much.

[Broderick]

Yes, and go another step -- look at how they handled David Tom's Billy Abbott a few years later, and they were still pumping stories at his less those less-than-charismatic replacements that came between David Tom and Billy Miller.  They were just determined to make Billy a central character.  Nate -- nothing at all.  Devon -- very little after that initial storyline of foster care (which I believe was actually proposed to the writers by Victoria Rowell).  

[Paul Raven]

To compare Nick's intro in 95(?) under Bell to Devon is a little unfair in that as we know Bell's approach has never been duplicated under successive regimes.

Look at Reed and Noah - the next generation of Newman males -aged up and given very little to do. Reed has disappeared and Noah is on what,his 3rd recast? He's still an ill defined character.

Same with Kyle-he came and went until Michael Mealor, and you could still argue that the character wasn't ever consistent.

Scott, Fen, Charlie , Mattie -the list goes on.

Devon was merely the first in along line of partially ignored and poorly written characters.

[FrenchBug82]

I apologize for not remembering who said it but someone had an insight on here a few months ago that I have thought about a lot and ended up thinking was key: the strength of YR and the reason for its stability in the ratings is that it is veteran-heavy, much more than any other show in numbers and in fewer comings and goings.
The problem though is that that crowds out any new character and there is very little room to play new generations and invest in storylines outside of the narrow confine of those veterans.
It is a short-sighted strategy because none of them are getting any younger and once they start dropping, the void will be pretty terrible and the ratings will crash IMO if nothing is done to prepare the succession.

[Paul Raven]

The stability of the cast is a double edged sword.

It's great to see familiar faces and have that comforting connection.

The downside is that years of marriages, kidnappings, brushes with death etc its hard to maintain interest as those characters are caught in repetitive cycles.

Victoria blathering on how Ashland is the love of her life, she's never been happier and her wedding day is her best ever loses its luster when she said the same thing on 5 or so previous occasions.

Edited December 31, 2021 by Paul Raven

[DramatistDreamer]

I think Devon is the rare Black male character that they wrote more than one story for after being so poorly written. The others have gotten numerous storylines after, unless they were short-term characters like Scott.  Maybe Nate will be the second.

[YRBB]

I was the one who mentioned that and I still stand by it - retaining so many veterans is its saving grace.

I don't think having a lot of veterans crowds out new characters. The issue with that is the writing and often casting just isn't there. You cannot possibly invest in the new characters when they have no interest or actual audience pull whatsoever. That's what needs to be fixed. In a better written show, weaving in the old with the new would be no issue and in the late 90s/early 2000s, the show definitely did that very, very successfully. 

[Soaplovers]

My mom, when she was alive,  said that the show needed some strong younger characters to offset the veterans.  She said too many restless characters, not enough young characters.

However, she said her only nit pick was that the new characters needed to be played by people that could act.  And she said most of the younger characters were played by unmemorable performers (she loved Hilary though).

In regards to the best years of Y & R...I would say 1991 to spring 1992.

During that period, there were 3 strong stories going on at different speeds so the viewer was never bored:

David Kimball story 

Nikki's alcoholism

Sheila/Lauren