Y&R: Old Articles

[Broderick]

I can't speak for everyone of course, but I was a big fan of Jeanne Cooper, and I enjoyed the Kay/Marge storyline because it gave Miss Cooper something to play.  (For several years prior, she'd been merely a mother figure to Nikki, a sparring partner for Jill, and the "protector" of Phillip III.)  It was a fairly stupid storyline, but it showcased Jeanne Cooper's versatility in a new way -- she got to portray Kay Chancellor as a captive, Marge as a waitress, Marge masquerading as Kay Chancellor, and even Kay Chancellor masquerading as Marge masquerading as Kay.  Most of Miss Cooper's work during the storyline, in my opinion, was spot-on.  

That was Ty's *big story*.  He came on the show as Jazz Jackson's younger brother from law school, and immediately he was involved with (the beautiful) Amy Lewis.  He was soon masquerading as "Leon Monroe", a Cool Pimp Bro who was the polar opposite of Tyrone (and totally unbelievable), then as the straight-laced white man Robert Tyrone (as unbelievable as Leon Monroe, just in a different way.)  Once the *disguises* came to an end, Ty was soon gone.  It was a waste of a decent and fairly handsome actor, but it was the times we lived in.  

[kalbir]

Katherine/Marge got JC her second Lead Actress Emmy nomination, but it was one of those second/third tier storylines that Bill Bell gave to the main females in 1989 that were not named Cricket or Cassandra.

The Jackson brothers were gone in that cast purge during the EP change from H. Wesley Kenney to Ed Scott. Do you think there was storyline potential with them in the years before the arrivals of the Barber sisters and Winters brothers? I think Jazz could have been a restaurant/bar/nightclub owner and Tyrone could have been another lawyer in town besides Mitchell Sherman and Michael Crawford.

[Broderick]

Jazz was interesting, but honestly Jon St. Elwood was more of a "character actor" than a lead.  Phil Morris, though, was a leading man whose time on the show seemed short-circuited, due to the nature of his storyline (the crime syndicate).  And I've always believed dropping Stephanie E. Williams to recurring was one of the biggest mistakes Bill Bell ever made.  Obviously an attractive young lady with her smile and her talent was going to snapped-up by another show; she wasn't gonna wait around indefinitely.

I *suspect* Bill Bell's intention was to give Stephanie a little bit of a rest and then bring her back as the "offset" to Victoria Rowell's Drucilla character.  He CLEARLY intended to contrast Dru with an upper middle-class female rival, which ultimately turned out to be Olivia Winters.  But in his early planning, I'll bet you anything her rival was going to be Amy Lewis.  (You'll recall that Stephanie was brought back to the show following a few months off, then she was snapped-up as Simone on General Hospital, just before Victoria Rowell's debut.)        

[kalbir]

So we could've gotten a Nathan/Amy/Dru triangle.

The Barber sisters were another Bill Bell educated professional with a troublemaking sibling. He also dusted off the intros of the Reed sisters: new doctor in town that has a troublemaking younger sister.

[Broderick]

I think that was his original plan.  But he stupidly brought Stephanie back without a contract while he phased in the storyline, and then *poof* she got a job on GH, and it was back to just Nathan until Dru's arrival. 

[lucaslesann23]

What were some of Bells strangest storylines?

[Khan]

Definitely Brad Carlton in a cage.  Someone was thirsty as hell when they wrote that one, lol.

[YRfan23]

I definitely enjoyed the Marge/Kay story!

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 like @kalbir mentioned it was definitely some of Jeanne's best work, and I think one of her favorite stories/characters If I recall. There were definitely lots of comedic moments in the story which I enjoyed too. 

[Khan]

Another strange storyline from the Bell days had to be the saga of Vanessa Prentiss and her veiled face.  I'll bet that was something soap fans back then weren't used to seeing, lol.  Unfortunately, I think Vanessa's choice of cover undercut the suspense a bit.  The storyline called for a Hannibal Lecter-type mask.  Instead, Y&R fans got a salute to "I Dream of Jeannie," lol.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Khan

[kalbir]

Brad in a cage was sort of a redo of Michael Scott in the dungeon, but it wasn't one of Bill Bell's finest hours.

[will81]

I have always thought this too. It would have made more sense, since Amy and Nathan had a history already. Bringing in Dru as either non-related to Amy or a cousin or sister that the family never talked about and bringing back Loretta and Frank would have worked well. 

I'm wondering what the timeline was. Tonya Lee Williams said she had read for Dru, but wasn't happy with the idea of representing as a Black woman who couldn't read. So Bill Bell created Olivia. I wonder if Tonya read and turned the role down, then maybe Victoria was offered the part and around the same time Stephanie took off for GH and that's when Bell created Olivia and reached back out to Tonya. 

I totally agree, losing Stephanie was a big mistake on Bell's part. She had it all, great acting, charisma and chemistry with her co-stars, even those her character wasn't romantically involved with. Plus history and an already introduced family that were established.

To add to that. Tyrone and Jazz could have come back too. Tyrone could have joined Jabot's legal department, Bell already had a triangle with Tyrone/Amy/Nathan and then you add Dru. 

I think he still could have brought on Neil and Olivia and had them be a married couple who are ultimately split apart by some new start at Jabot or something. Just off the top of my head, not sure what I would do with Neil and Olivia, though would still want them and Malcolm on the show. 

Edited May 12, 2023 by will81

[lucaslesann23]

He used the same thing on Bold right? I don't remember much but I do recall there was a women with a vail on that show also

[kalbir]

Deveney Dixon, who was impersonating Angela Forrester.

[Broderick]

Not to beat a dead hoss, but back to Whitewashed Tyrone for a minute, and the historical context of the storyline.

Isn't this the first time CBS daytime had even toyed with the concept of an interracial relationship?   

ABC's One Life to Live had touched on the subject of racial identity back in the late 1960s or early 1970s with the character played by Ellen Holly, who for a short time "passed as white" although she was Sadie Gray's daughter.  She had a white boyfriend while she was "passing", and then she had a Black boyfriend after she was "outed" as being Black.  [Another storyline that no writer would likely TOUCH in today's environment.]

NBC had experimented with Valerie Grant and David Banning on Days of our Lives in the mid-1970s, but this was "safer" to the viewers because the male was white, and the female was Black.  (Same as the ABC scenario.)

I don't think CBS had even opened the Pandora's Box yet of attempting an interracial storyline, let alone a storyline involving a handsome Black male and a pretty blonde female.  

With Whiteface Tyrone, Bill Bell gave us such a storyline, with virtually no backlash at all from viewers.  We all knew Ty was Black, and there he was courting Alana Anthony, becoming engaged to her, marrying her, and having a scene in a honeymoon suite with her.  This just wasn't something that was done on CBS daytime in 1985, but Y&R did it.  Would viewers back then have tolerated it without the whiteface?  Probably not. 

I do remember this -- after Ty took off all that preposterous make-up and Alana came to grips with the fact she'd been deceived, she asked Tyrone, "Why did you have to lie to me?  I would've loved you anyway."  Ty then kissed her on the lips, without his whiteface on, and this was something you just didn't expect to see on TV in the 1980s. 

Nowadays, such a retro-situation seems quaint, outdated, peekaboo-ish, and AWFULLY stoopid, but when we criticize this storyline, let's remember that while ABC and NBC were doing "supercouples on the run" and "mad scientists freeze the world", Bill Bell was quietly giving us Y&R's very first interracial love story, in a context that was probably appropriate for the time and that viewers -- who were younger and more open-minded back then -- didn't immediately reject as being "too much" for their sensitivities. 

[kalbir]

@Broderick Come to think of it, Y&R's action/adventure storylines were quite tame in comparison to the more outlandish action/adventure storylines on General Hospital and Days in that same era. I still feel those storylines didn't really suit Y&R and I wonder how much of it was Bill Bell's own choice or if it was mandated by CBS in attempt to compete with General Hospital and Days. Notice though that once Ed Scott becomes EP all the action/adventure storylines are gone and Y&R becomes more "corporate".