Y&R: Old Articles

[soapfan770]

This is interesting as I know the Victor/Diane vs Nikki/Josh story got played up there late '97/early '98 but this probably a rare time Victor and Joshua Landers shared scenes together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5FIydLcCyw

I'm also on the lookout for Hope's final scenes in 1997. I know she left town with Kurt Costner after dumping Ashley but I do recall she and Victor had a huge fight with Victor regarding his marriage to Diane.

[DRW50]

Now that you mention it I rarely do remember Victor and Josh having scenes together.

I wonder why they didn't cast Leigh McCloskey in this role.

[DeeeDee]

They wanted the scandal of an older woman/younger man pairing.

[DRW50]

I didn't even really see him as being that much younger. I can't remember but was this ever talked about among the characters?

[DeeeDee]

There were several scenes where Victor referred to him as a kid to Nikki & Victoria being incredulous of their marriage (with the implication that she saw their relationship as part of a middle aged crisis for Nikki).

Edited December 30, 2013 by DeeeDee

[DRW50]

Thanks. It's funny as I never really thought of him as being that much younger than Nikki.

[DeeeDee]

There's an 11 year age difference between MTS & HK.

But because MTS plays younger they didn't seem implausible as a couple.

[FrenchFan]

Heath Kizzier is 11 years younger than MTS.

[DRW50]

In a way I guess it's more of a believable indictment on society, in that even if a man doesn't look younger, a woman will be attacked for the age difference.

I have to admit I was watching very sporadically at this point so I mostly just remember him as being quiet and likely wondering how the hell he got mixed up with that family.

I wonder if it was Bell's plan all along to bring in a psycho wife or if that was Alden.

[Ann_SS]

I don't know why. Alden was horrible.

[sheilaforever]

At least on this board, you should be in the minority with this assessment.

Edited December 30, 2013 by sheilaforever

[BetterForgotten]

I think 1998 was generally strong, but by 2000 there was definitely something off about the show. It wasn't the same show, if that makes sense.

Alden's later solo work was a bit of a mixed bag that only now looks superior in retrospect given what the show has been reduced to over the past 10 years.

She's still superior to everyone who came after her, and I guess you can say many of us took her for granted at the time because she wasn't Bill Bell.

Edited December 30, 2013 by BetterForgotten

[sheilaforever]

I agree in parts. The show kinda felt uneven as soon as Trent Jones got promoted and worked as Alden's co-head writer by Fall 2000... 1998-summer 2000 was VERY strong and definitely lightyears ahead of 1996-1998 when Bill was still solo-writing, IMO.

Edited December 30, 2013 by sheilaforever

[DRW50]

1998 was one of the best years of Y&R in the time I'd watched, and I felt like some of the more annoying and static elements of the show had been challenged. Somewhere in mid or late 1999 is when I began to seriously lose interest and stopped watching, for a number of reasons. I think the show peaked around the time Katherine was presumed dead.

[YRBB]

It was Bell's decision. First half of the story was when Bell was HW, second half they co-HW & Alden finished it off.

You can't say she had one of the best sets of teens in daytime and then claim she was horrible! She must have done something right.

The fight for the Chancellor Mansion

The Newman Takeover

Mackenzie is Katherine's granddaughter

Victor & Diane's divorce fight

The custody case for Cassie

Billy's return

Tricia's descent into madness

And that's just off the top of my head.

Yep, she definitely had too many brilliant stories for that. I will never understand all the ragging on Alden.

Alden had a co-HW by 2000 and somewhere around that time the conflicts with the executive producer might have started as well. I wouldn't be surprised if Trent Jones was promoted to smooth out any creative differences.

That's exactly the thing -- it wasn't superior only in retrospect, it was still great on its own.

Alden has always been punished by most for simply not being Bell, which is insane because, if they didn't follow who wrote what, I bet a lot wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

It makes even less sense now that we've seen what truly badly-written Y&R means & it confuses me how even in retrospect someone can't look back and see that Alden's Y&R (while not perfect) was great soap that continued the legacy of the show.

When was Katherine presumed dead?

Edited December 30, 2013 by YRBB