Y&R: Old Articles

[YRfan23]

LOL, It's kind of OTT that everyone would seem that interested in Traci's weight lost....given she looks really good, but Beth Maitland really does sell these scenes, yet I feel bad there was definitely a lot of personal stuff given to her with all this. 

Lauren I think actually developed into her looks more IMO about 5-6 years later...She's always been pretty, but I just think she looked better by the late 80's. 

[YRfan23]

Another generous soul (Who admits he isn't a soap fan mind you)  uploaded a new 1988 episode on archive.org!

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 I already downloaded and uploaded to YT! Give credit to @BoldRestlessfor uncovering this gem!  
 

 

[will81]

@BoldRestless and @YRfan23 Thank you so much for that episode

What a banger - Steven finally shows his true feelings about Victor. I don't agree with him, but he has a point. Victor wants Ashley in his life, he turns to her, and insinuates himself, only I don't think he does this on purpose or with malice or intent. That's why the scene with Leanna is so telling. She sees him a certain way and he sees himself quite another, she all but rolled her eyes at him. Steven sees behaviours in Victor that Victor doesn't comprehend but Steven held his feelings about Victor down and he lost the ability to convey his concerns to Ashley in a way she might understand. Ashley can't see what Steven sees, she has too much history with Victor and Steven is too jealous to communicate properly. Then we have Nikki once again planning to use her daughter to manipulate and try to hang on to Victor. All up this story is Brilliant writing. The kind of writing that takes years of story and character development to pull off well.

Brad confronting Lisa - the end was awesome. Brad trying to reason with her, Lisa being sweet and innocent and Brad threatening her. I like that Bell has Lisa firmly in control at all times. Brad is flustered and threatened but Lisa is chill af. Everything he throws at her she hits right back. Her smile in the end was like her knowing she is getting to him, and in her delusional mind it means he still has passion for her and still loves her. 

That last scene was tense and filled with anticipation. I wasn't sure if we would get to see it, but it was perfection. Paul walking around the house and the camera following him only added to the tension. When would she appear? haha. They don't make them like this anymore. 

Special note to Marc Mergeron - he sticks out like a sore thumb, he simply didn't fit into the show anymore.

Edited April 28, 2022 by will81

[BoldRestless]

Thank you for figuring out the date! 

[yrfan1983]

oh my gosh, thank you anonymous angel, YRfan23, and BoldRestless! The first full ep available from July '88. This is during the '88 writers strike, but based on Will81's review, sounds like it's still a good one.

[ltm1997]

See for the longest time, I never knew Lauren started out as Traci’s friend. I just thought she was always the spoiled bitch from day 1. I’m very interested in seeing the scene that features “the look” Bill Bell saw TEB give at the end of a scene with Beth Maitland that made Bell turn her into the bitch of the show. That “look” made history in Bell’s eyes!

I truly think TEB was perfectly cast for the role of Lauren. I remember reading that she had originally auditioned for the role of Patty Williams and I honestly don’t know how that would’ve played out. I do believe she was much better as Lauren and can’t quite be sure she would’ve played the “woman scorned” role very well. That being said, she did play the kind of innocent character that Patty was during her days on DOOL as Donna Craig. So it’s possible she could’ve played the role of Patty well. As for longevity on the show, clearly the choice to play Lauren got her the longer tenure and the notoriety that I’m not sure playing Patty would’ve given her. 

 

I, too, hope they do something for TEB’s 40th anniversary and do what they did with Kate Linder, MTS, and others and show her first scenes as one of the memory lane scenes @YRfan23. Honestly, I believe she deserves her own tribute episode just like MTS got that shows her very first scenes and journey from then until present day. In her first 10 years on the show, she went through a hell of a lot as Lauren from being the spoiled bitch to being buried alive and then to having her baby switched and almost being killed in a fire whilst finding out the truth. And let’s not forget how many men there were for her in that first decade as well: Danny, Paul, Shawn, Scott, and Brad! They could make a really great one for her. CBS/Sony if you’re listening, do this for us fans!! 

And OMG if her first episode ever surfaced, I do believe I’d scream and then FAINT. It’s definitely one of my holy grail episodes of the show that I want the most! We need more stuff from 1983 as a whole, but that episode would be AMAZING! 

[will81]

Was Bill Bell out during that strike? I thought he was still writing during the 88 strike. Either way I loved 85% of it. Jill and Marc was only okay not great, Marc just didn't fit the show anymore. I didn't realise David and Marc had any real interaction, but seems they did. 

[yrfan1983]

Really... how interesting... I wonder how he worked that out... he must have been in the Writer's Guild union and would have been tainted as a "scab" if he was writing during the strike.

[sheilaforever]

Bill Bell had loooooong and detailed story projections most of the time. The scab writers could always work on these outlines for at a couple of months before they had to invent their own storylines, so depending on the length of the strike it was not that noticeable. And I always thought it was interesting that many classic Bell show writers for the ad agency circles started around the late 80s and early 90s. Maybe they filled in during the strike and started their career back then.

[will81]

I thought he had a falling out with the WGA or whichever union he was part of and left, so the strike didn't affect him. Much like Irna in 1973 he was the only HW still writing his show in 88. Maybe I totally got that wrong though. 

At any rate, even if he was on strike as a writer, he was still the Senior Exec Producer. So it would have been like he was still writing the show in many ways

Edited April 28, 2022 by will81

[soapfan770]

Re: Bell and the 1988 writers strike. He officially participated but it was rumored he was dropping off scripts in a back alley late at night.

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Thank you @YRfan23 and @BoldRestless for that July 1988 episode! 
 

Interesting to see Stephen so dynamic at this point. Arrants had a wonderful soap past as a leading man on both SFT and Days, do we know why Y&R killed him off? It seems Ashley had nothing to do in 1989 at all.

Marc was always such a lame Dynasty reject character but at least his scenes with Jill and David were fun. I don’t know much about his second run aside from his romance with Joanna and him mentioning Danielle, a half sister of his who never appeared on screen to my knowledge. Surprised he was still on at this point too but I suppose it did give Jill something in the romance department beside Michael Crawford. How did Marc leave out?

Lisa was definitely spooky and chilling while acting sweet at the same time. I liked that she was in control too. It’s interesting that her behavior was easily explained—a very sheltered naive girl went had a total mental breakdown following her father’s death whom she had been so dependent on and was now obsessed/dependent  with the one man she thought had actually loved her. 
 

The Nikki/Victor/Ashley triangle really was great given what the three had been through over the course of the last 3 years. More fun was the Rawlins story setup which of course would affect the show for the next 3 years.

 

 

[BoldRestless]

The user on Archive has now uploaded the next day, July 14! https://archive.org/details/y-r-p-2-j-uly-1988 I'm sure @YRfan23will put it on YouTube soon. I haven't actually watched either video yet but I enjoy reading the comments. Lmao at Marc being a reject Dynasty character.

[kalbir]

Marc Mergeron worked as a character in 1983, 1984 when Dynasty was at the height of its popularity, but by 1987, 1988 he was outdated.

Edited April 29, 2022 by kalbir

[Paul Raven]

They should have gotten a lot more out of the Steven character. Ashley's marriage should have lasted longer with more complications.

Still maintain he could have been Steve Williams, again tying the Williams and Abbott families together .

[kalbir]

Eileen Davidson first run as Ashley was June 1982 to December 1988. From what I've seen of December 1988, ED's last scene was at the hospital when Steven was shot and killed, then a few days later Ashley was in her room at the Abbott house and it was Brenda Epperson.