Y&R: Old Articles

[Khan]

Part of me still wishes there had been some mix-up at the sperm bank, or that Victor's sperm somehow didn't survive once it was removed from there.  Anything to undo that shitstorm of a storyline.

[BetterForgotten]

Alden had an unhealthy obsession with Victor, and that's plagued the show ever since.

 

While you can argue Bell may have had a similar obsession, all roads didn't lead back to Victor during his tenure. With Alden, it often felt that way. 

Edited May 5, 2019 by BetterForgotten

[mikelyons]

These scenes in the Jabot boardroom were epic and on YouTube for years under the title “Does Anyone Have a Spare $75 Million?” How I wish they would resurface. Brad, Jill, Jack, Nikki... Good times and great storytelling. 

[j swift]

As much as I appreciate Hogan Sheffer, I wonder how his pairing with MAB effected her ability to tell stories.  MAB seemed like a 4th gen writer who had long term appreciation of the show.  The beginning of her tenure felt like someone was trying to button-up all of the loose holes around Genoa City.  In some ways, it was satisfying to find answers to longtime questions such as what happened to Victor's sperm sample.  However, too many other details were established that were less than satisfying, such as exploring Jill's paternity.  My recollection is that there was a shift when Hogan joined in the second year of her tenure which I no longer found appealing.

 

BTW I always think it is funny that the Clear Springs story was so clearly inspired by the building of The Grove shopping center next door to CBS.  Even down to the parking garages which were cause for concern when the mall first opened.  

 

I think of writers in terms of generations, the first gen are the creators, the second gen were trained by the first but wanted to rebel against them, third gen were typically people from outside the field to give the show a fresh perspective and fourth gen are people who grew with soaps on TV and are nostalgic for the genre.

Edited May 5, 2019 by j swift

[Broderick]

It's hard to get an idea of what kind of "writer" Maria Arena Bell really was.   According to her biography, she's a novelist.   How many of her novels have you ever read?   How many of her novels have you ever even seen?!  lol.  I'm assuming that she's actually an "unpublished novelist", which puts her in the same basket with most of us --- nowhere. 

 

I always got the impression (perhaps mistakenly) that Maria Bell is merely a Beverly Hills socialite, a girl who breezes into occasional board meetings at the Museum of Contemporary Art, provided she's not in Paris shoe-shopping.  (She's also billed as a "fashion consultant".)   She never struck me as someone who's organized, disciplined, grounded, devoted to sitting in front of a word processor, thinking deep thoughts, and determining the best way to execute those ideas.   She lacks the "introverted awkwardness" of a really good writer, who's normally preoccupied with his/her craft.   She seemed more interested in globe-trotting, granting high-handed interviews, and appearing at red carpet events in hideously trendy shoes.

 

Obviously Mrs. Bell (or someone on her staff) had visited various message boards or had read letters to the show, and she could clearly articulate what we (the fans) disliked most about Lynn Marie Latham's reign of terror.   Mrs. Bell (or someone on her staff) knew what problems needed to be reversed, although the day-to-day execution itself of the writing was often bungled terribly.  After a year or so of coasting along correcting problems, suddenly Mrs. Bell and her staff found themselves in WAY over their heads.  

 

I blamed Hogan Sheffer.   It appeared to me that Mrs. Bell was an absentee dictator, a "name-only" writer/executive producer who stormed into the studio when her hectic schedule of board meetings, shoe-shopping, and overseas travel allowed, and screamed at everyone about what they were doing wrong.  (Sort of a sado-masochistic dominatrix who didn't really know how to edit a script or turn on a computer.)  Hogan Sheffer seemed like her overweight toadie, a man who sat under flourescent lights all day, cranking out ten zillion ideas, of which ONE might be decent and the remainder might be garbage.   Mrs. Bell probably stood over his desk five minutes per week, reading through an exhausting summary of his lousy storyline ideas, and then finally just circling a few at random and then sighing heavily and muttering, "Follow through with the ones I've circled.  I don't have time to think about it.  I'm hosting a luncheon for Queen Noor at noon, and I'll be on Rodeo Drive this afternoon shopping for a cute but professional lavender blouse to wear to my next Museum board meeting."   

 

Whatever the circumstances were, she was a TERRIBLE show-runner, and her assistants didn't seem equipped to deal with her style of leadership.  In my opinion, she was even worse than Lynn Marie Latham and Chuck Pratt --- simply because she KNEW what the fans wanted, but didn't have the time or the motivation or the talent to deliver it, and she couldn't be bothered to hire people who could. 

          

[sheilaforever]

From what I remember Maria Arena came from a middle class family and worked in the fashion industry in LA during the 1980s when she met Bill Bell Jr. 

He got her introduced to his dad and the became a script writer on B&B. Poof 1992, she retires from public work, marries, gets children and rather shockingly shows up Y&R as head writer in December 2007. We learn that she did a lot of charity work in the years prior  and is an avid art collector. Personally, I thought that she was much better than given credit for. Unfortunately ever since she was allowed solo reign, it went down the gutter. It's deinitely true that she had not the chops or the experience to be head writer and or executive producer of a daily show. She needed strong co-working bees which she either stirred away due to ego or had the wrong advisors.

Edited May 5, 2019 by sheilaforever

[Legacy]

Hey good morning all does anyone know when Christine officially made her first appearance I use to see 1983 all the time but then some sources will say 1985 or 86.

 

But then again if she was around when Joe Blair was last around then that's like atleast 83-84 I'm guessing

[sheilaforever]

Circket returned in 1986 - as a contract player alongside Tricia Cast and Thom Bierdz.

 

She was definitely heavily featured during summer of previous years because everyone at Jabot knew her. My guess is that 1983 is correct after all, even if it was just a dayplayer part as a Jabot Teen Model or extra in a Danny Ramalotti scene back then.

Edited May 5, 2019 by sheilaforever

[Legacy]

Oh ok makes sense I heard she she and Traci were friends and Christine found Traci passed out when she overdosed, that's sort of interesting because I have probably never seen them share one scene

[Soaplovers]

Yeah, there was a.scene in the mid 80s where Traci and Cricket were having lunch... it was before 1986 and after 1983..because the scene that followed was a Nikki and Victor one where they were talking about Ashley...and Ashley wasnt in their orbit in 1983.

[Broderick]

I don't recall any shortage of Cricket scenes in the summers of 1983 and 1984.   I believe that she started modeling in the summer of 1983, and Ashley and Jack would have to pop into the photography studio periodically to assure her that she was the loveliest, most beautiful and most brilliant girl on the entire planet.   By the summer of 1984, Jabot had built an entire modeling campaign around Cricket (the "Jabot Junior" line), which resulted in many more ghastly montages of Cricket frolicking with a beach ball during corny photo shoots.   To reward the little model for being so incredibly beautiful and brilliant, Jack introduced Cricket to Danny Romalotti, who was her favorite singer (naturally).   Traci, meanwhile, had gotten knocked-up by Tim Sullivan, and had decided to stick her head in the gas stove to kill herself.   Cricket came bouncing along and saved Traci's life, and also offered her some health and beauty tips.   This led to a whole storyline where Lauren was SEETHING with jealousy that Danny had married the pregnant Traci.  (Lauren was afraid that Danny would start singing with Traci instead of with her, since Traci was a decent singer and Lauren wasn't, lol.)   Amy Lewis, Gina Roma, and little Cricket were always on-hand to push the pregnant Traci out on stage to sing with Danny, which annoyed Lauren to no end and led to lots of catty lines from Lauren such as, "I doubt the public wants to see a fat frumpy wife singing with a hot guy like Danny!"   

[Soaplovers]

I never understood why the show put Gina with Lauren's father..when the character of Leslie would have made more sense...and made Leslie sympathetic..and have Lauren really develop as a daddy's girl...and Leslie would have been on to her and been an ally to Traci, etc.  Oh well

[j swift]

I forgot about her brother the noted-fashion-photographer Joe Blair.  How was his absence explained when Cricket's mother and father eventually relocated to Genoa City?

Edited May 6, 2019 by j swift

[Paul Raven]

I think Joe was her cousin not her brother. Still he vanished without explanation, as did Cricket's dad later on.

[j swift]

Yes, SOD gave a "Picky-Picky" to Cricket's wedding in Hawaii because her father was missing from the guest list.

 

Was the order of photographers at Jabot: Joe Blair, Skip Evans, and then Blade Bladeson?  Did Jabot switch to freelancers after the Blade/Rick fiasco or maybe Malcolm was a photographer for a while?

Edited May 6, 2019 by j swift