Y&R: Old Articles

[Broderick]

Couldn't agree more.  Less than a decade earlier, Cricket had been a "teen model" enjoying Coke floats, while Victor was a middle-aged man who'd gone through multiple wives and vasectomies.  It was silly.   

Pairing Victor and Cricket would've been about like pairing Kay Chancellor and Nicholas Newman.  

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[Legacy]

Thats crazy i almost forgot chris brooks had a storyline with her when rose first came onto the scene, i would love to see those scenes but im sure nobody could ever find them. i dont think ive even seen any episode from 1979 which is weird.

[yrfan1983]

I'm watching chronologically newer eps from the mid 90s... to me, it's so sad, the downward shift in quality from 1994 to 1995, and even specifically December 1994 to January 1995.

I can watch every episode of 1994 (like all previous years) from start to finish. Starting with Jan '95 - I can no longer tolerate certain stories and am forced to FF.

1994:

Shick: I can deal with them because they're separated. I like Sharon with Matt bc of Eddie Cibrian's evil electric presence.

Phyllis: I have no problem with her because she is so new.  In fact, she's kind of fascinating, in that she only appears in a couple eps during Oct '94, and arrives full-time only mid-Nov '94. And wow, she blows through like a hurricane leading up to the New Year's Eve leading up to the vehicular manslaughter.

Victor and Hope: I ship this couple 100% May '93-July '94. Then their story takes a downward turn to a troubled pregnancy after being married for one month (cliched much?) and I am increasingly frustrated.

1995:

Shick: I've lost any interest. Still will watch Eddie Cibrian scenes just to see how Matt can cause chaos in their lives.

Phyllis: I can't stand the damage she caused to so many lives and she faces no consequences. I'm done with her and with any related stories. (I know she faces her ghosts while she is in jail in 2002, and at some later point Cricket realizes that Phyllis ran her over... but there are no lasting consequences ever.)

Victor and Hope: the pregnancy turns out ok but now it's Kansas vs. Genoa City...? So many dashed storyline possibilities of Hope claiming her power in any number of ways. I'm not interested in watching her slooooowly decide she prefers farm life.

Thank god for the continuing John/Jill divorce story! While John and Mamie being romantic feels icky to watch, I'll endure it to savor the overall story. Just finished 2/1/95, and there were poignant scenes of Jill recalling her Jan '93 courtship with John, and holding Billy close before heading to the the custody hearing. The show continuing the use of the classic background music cues really elevates the scenes.

Will continue to watch: anything Barber/Winters related. Anything Mari Jo related. I guess anything Blade/Rick related even though that story is gross.

EDIT: Oh! of course anything Lauren-related even though her time on the show is dwindling.

Will struggle through: anything Jack and Luan related. Their romance is so barf-worthy and Luan/Keemo/Mai dialogue is so stilted... but I appreciate the representation for whatever it's worth.  And I guess Ryan and Nina bc I appreciate that they had a period of stability before Nina's major 1996 decline.

Will have to also FF through: Cole and Victoria and... Jeri? Was this meant to truly be a love triangle...?

Edited February 3, 2024 by yrfan1983

[Paul Raven]

Bill Bell made a miscalculation with Cole and Victoria in that he didn't really have anything waiting in the wings to cause problems. Maybe he married them off too soon?

Or maybe Aunt Jordan should have turned up then??

[YRfan23]

Love and agree with all of these comments!

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From my perspective it seems like Bill Bell either got very lazy or burnt out with a lot of the show/Characters. Nina/Ryan are mostly treading water, when I think at one point it was teased they were going to revisit Nina’s first born being sold by Rose Deville which of course years later we got that horrible Ronan stuff. 
 

and while this was mostly 1994, Bill Bell was definitely obsessed with everyone having babies! And no one could just be happy about it, they all had some sort of “crisis” in regards to the pregnancy or the father not being interested etc….

 

its a shame Matt didn’t get some sort of backstory on why he was so sadistic and narcissistic. I actually felt watching certain scenes a redemption story could have maybe been possible for him. I wonder if Eddie Cibrian becoming more of a star outside of soaps the late 90s/early 2000s, is why they didn’t do that type of story for Matt when he returned as Carter Mills in 2000/2001? 

Edited February 3, 2024 by YRfan23

[BoldRestless]

I haven't watched most of this since it originally aired, so your comments are interesting!

 

I think Y&R deserves a lot of credit for not trying to make Matt a reformed rapist or sex symbol. I feel like on any other soap, they would have caved and kept him on as a romantic anti-hero. They kept him evil and still managed to create a compelling storyline (rich boy goes on trial).

 

In hindsight I'm surprised Phyllis went that crazy so fast! Those were the days. I enjoyed the dragged out divorce and custody trials, her sleeping with Dr. Tim... Danny was always viscerally disgusted by her after their ill-fated remarriage... his behavior today makes no sense.

 

The Hope/Victor stuff is still pivotal today I guess... and it's like.... yes, Victor, why couldn't you just get divorced and have visitation rights? Why did you have to completely disinherit your son and pretend to be a family friend? It was the same thing he did with Cole, except he knew Victor junior was his son... they still could have told much the same story of Adam the outsider.

 

Jeri... lol... I feel like Y&R had lots of random editors pop up as love interests for their various author characters Jed Andrews with Lorie, this Jeri person, and Steve with Traci, which was the only one that suck (barely).

[yrfan1983]

I hope to be surprised that things might improve as I continue with ‘95? I feel like things got better by spring ‘96 for the last strong story “Who Shot Victor” before the show entered the doldrums of late ‘96 into ‘97.

[YRfan23]

I meant to also say let’s not forget Victoria being the “aimless bitch” those years in late 94-96 

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Jeri’s name made me think if that. I think Victoria would even refer to her as “the bitchy editor”

Edited February 3, 2024 by YRfan23

[soapfan770]

The purpose of Jeri still puzzles me to this day LOL.

I know we discussed this several years ago @YRfan23 but the 8/4/95 episode I have on VHS strangely hints that Jeri is obsessed with Cole with her having a picture of him on her work desk yet it based on the synopses I have read from the period the story goes absolutely no where other than Victoria correctly assuming Jeri is in love with Cole, she confesses, and then is promptly swept under the rug never to be spoken of again although Victoria and Ryan shared a top secret kiss in this mess.

The Victoria/Cole/Nina/Ryan quad was such a mess. Bell loved his quads but they always sputtered out at the end. 

[YRfan23]

Yes! I remember you posted a nice summary of that episode years back!

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 Of course I have to ask, if it's ever possible that episode can be uploaded on here it would be greatly appreciated!   

I guess with the role out of psychos Y&R had running around in 1995, even Bill Bell thought it was one too many....although a psychotic Jeri holding Victoria hostage while Cole and Ryan rescued her (with Nina seething through all of it, haha), would have made more sense then Mari Jo holding Cricket hostage. 

Edited February 3, 2024 by YRfan23

[BoldRestless]

Yesss! I would be happy to convert the VHS for you @soapfan770 (and anyone else out there lol).

[YRfan23]

Which 1995 episode are you at btw?

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 I do think the first few months (Jan-March) overall was pretty solid for 95, then it tips downwards a little in the spring, but peaks up again by summer 95. At least I think it's really that period (summer/fall 1995) that definitely sets up all the events that happen the first and stronger half of 1996.

EDIT: Wait, you said you just finished 2/1/95!  IMO pretty slow episode until the ending with Jill/Katherine's fight, LOL

Edited February 3, 2024 by YRfan23

[soapfan770]

I’d gather Matt was simply originally Bell’s 1990’s update to Derek Stuart and George Curtis and the show just simply moved on like it had done in the past from them. 
 

Eddie Cibrian didn’t exactly light the world on fire between Baywatch Nights and Sunset Beach at the time but I doubt he would have gone back to Y&R. 

The Carter Mills/Matt story was strange. They originally hired a Power Rangers actor (not joking!!) to play the role (we saw him in a 2020 repeat) before hiring Hearst who was a well known and talented soap veteran stuck in a one dimensional role. I think the Y&R crew realized their mistake which is why they held onto Matt’s ghost as long as they could. 

Honestly we were robbed of a full blown Frank Barritt story.

[YRfan23]

In some ways I also wondered if he could have been the "male Lauren" at one time, where he doesn't necessarily turn evil, but schemes and plots all sorts of petty "school boy" stuff on Nick instead of framing him for attempted murder, but still maintaining some sort of heart, or redeeming qualities while evolving into a B/C leading man on the show? But I guess EC was just too good with the sadistic stuff that Bell really saw no redeeming qualities....I feel honestly Matt didn't face any real punishment for his crimes either, as when he died as Carter, he tried to frame Nick one more time before cutting his own Oxygen off...

The most recent thing I saw EC on was the failed netflex sitcom "Country Comfort" which Starred Katherine McPhee.  He played the single widowed dad with  4 kids, with one of them being the actor who's currently Tate on Days. haha 

Edited February 3, 2024 by YRfan23

[kalbir]

Y&R is off track second half of 1994 through first half of 1997.

The frat party starts Summer 1994. Nick/Sharon eat the show Fall 1994-Spring 1996. The storylines hit a lull Fall 1996 through first half of 1997.

Who Shot Victor was really the only bright spot for me in that era.