Y&R: Old Articles

[ltm1997]

Is it just me, or are 1977-1983 the best years of Y&R? As for the most action/drama packed, I'd have to say 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983 are the top 5 (in no specific order) for the show's entire run. Personally, my two favorite years are 1979 and 1983; '79 being because of the Kay/Derek/Suzanne/Jill storyline in its peak with all that transpired during that year, as well as Nikki and her shenanigans, '83 being because it's Lauren's first year, the whole Victor/Nikki/Kevin/Allison/Rick/Julia/Eve saga, and some memorable scenes between Kay and Jill (such as the one where Jill faints while fighting with Kay about her pregnancy) and the Traci/Diet pills saga where she has the car accident. I personally have never seen full episodes of 1978-81 and have only seen edits from 1983. What do you all think?

[SoapDope]

I wish we could see all of 1979. As you said that was a great year of drama. That was also when Lorie found out her sister Leslie was pregnant with her husband Lance's child. Leslie married his brother Lucas to hide the fact and Lucas claimed he was the father. At one point those scenes of Lorie/Lucas/Leslie was posted here. 

[yrfan1983]

I'm not as familiar with '78-79, but my impression is that 1980 and 1981 were years of mixed quality 

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 I read William Bell's autobio and he said he did not want to expand the show from 30min to 1hour at the beginning of 1980. CBS execs forced his hand. He said that he knew he would have to "recreate" the show as a 1-hour, and that it would take 3 years to get it back to the quality that he demanded of himself.

Reading through the synopses from '80 and '81, it reads like a mix of great stories and lukewarm experimentation. Lots of characters/stories that don't really click. 

I've seen 2 episodes from 1981 at the Paley Center.  First was the finale of Crazy Edward kidnaps Nikki, which also features Jack/Patty/Jill, and was amazing. Second was the New Year's Eve ep, which was not very good: Andy's ex-wife Karen and April's sister Barbara were featured and would soon disappear.

I think 1983 is the year when everything comes together, with all the highlights you noted in your post.

So excited for the upcoming 1980 episodes! Thanks again.

[Khan]

I understand why Bill Bell resisted expanding Y&R for as long as he did.  The show was doing just fine at thirty minutes, but there had been several recasts of some of the original characters; and those who had remained, like Jaime Lyn Bauer, were feeling overworked.  It's just a testament to Bell's skills as a storyteller that he was able to keep the show going through what had to be some serious "growing pains."

Edited February 12, 2018 by Khan

[SoapDope]

I remember reading that when the show went to an hour, it voided all the contracts the actors had signed for the 30 minute show. Several of them opted not to re-sign like Beau Kayser, Brenda Dickson, John McCook etc...Beau stayed for a little while beyond the 1 hour expansion.

[ltm1997]

Just got word from Bond Gideon's husband, who is a fellow member of a Y&R group that I'm in that focuses on the classic years, and he said that he managed to get the three 1980 episodes on DVD (I haven't ordered mine yet, as I'm waiting for the person to get back to me), and he posted some great news, here it is (directly from his post):

 

Delighted to announce the 1980 DVDs came in yesterday from Lisa M from Edmonton, Canada. Quality audio and video. My wife (Jill # 2 - Bond Gideon) had four scenes in the June 16 video - two with her Y&R mother Julianna McCarthy and a couple with John Abbott (?Brett Halsey?) where she is showing Jill Foster's ambition by using two kinds of blended lipsticks on the test model and owner Abbott comes in and tells her to follow the rules but she makes a convincing argument to enhance the product line and he says as he leaves that he will run it through R&D. She was not in the first April videos. There are some scenes with Nikki Reed (Melody Scott) and nervous Greg (Wings Hauser) in which he is hiding out because someone is trying to kill him and sobbing Nikki character is leaving him . There is one with Derek (Joe Ladue?) and Katherine (Jeanine Cooper) where he is playing a con game on her to become part of her company after they got married . There are scenes involving a scheming bearded character named Sebastian who is trying to get money from (?blond haired character I dont know) for some South American project. There's another with a good looking guy with blond hair named Paul who sleeps around and his 16 year old sister who is going on her first date and her brother Paul gives poor kid the third degree when he comes to pick the girl up. There's another with Victor Newman and ? So many different scenes going back and forth and since I didn't watch Y&R I had no idea what was going on. I will show them to Bond tonight but I watched them around 2 am as I am a night owl. She will be pleased.. So if anyone else out there has any other DVDs from the February to July or August 1980 time frame that has Bond in them please contact me This is the first time I have ever purchased converted Y&R DVDs, I highly recommend this Lisa M as a reliable source of Y&R DVDs.

[yrfan1983]

^wow, that is just amazing. Thank you @ltm1997!!

[kalbir]

Some collector out there might have Eric Braeden's first episode. The original airdate we now know was Friday February 8, 1980.

[YRfan23]

Do you have contact information or a website for this Lisa M?

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[Paul Raven]

As much as Bill Bell resisted going to 1 hour, it did give him the opportunity to expand the canvas as by around 79, the original concept/characters were becoming a little worn.

Had they stayed with 30 min and the limited characters that format allowed,I think he might have had to make some of the same decisions he made later on eg dropping the Brooks and Fosters.

 

[ltm1997]

Unfortunately, I don't yet, but am trying to find out! I hopefully will be getting the 1980 DVDs soon from another source whose website is this: http://soapoperas.webs.com/theyoungtherestless.htm

[SoapDope]

 Thanks for the recap. I hope the episodes make their way to youtube so we can see them. The blonde guy he mentions talking to Sebastian about a South American project sounds like Lucas Prentiss. I remember reading something about that storyline. One poster on another board made fun of that story and said that Bill Bell was trying to bring the mob to Genoa City. Leslie and Jonas were also involved in all that. This was when Leslie had amnesia and she bleached her hair.  The same poster who made fun of that also use to rag on the Peggy Brooks character when she was brought up.

 

The Greg & Nikki scenes sound great. Nikki's first marriage has long been forgotten.

[Paul Raven]

If Greg had hung around as GCs lawyer on tap (a la John Silva) then the Greg/Nikki/Jill connection could have been brought into play...

[yrfan1983]

 Delete

 

Edited February 21, 2018 by yrfan1983
Delete

[YRBB]

 

This is a spoiler.

Edited February 21, 2018 by YRBB