Y&R: Old Articles

[will81]

It is still mostly Victor/Nikki/Julia/Kevin etc. There is still a bunch edited out. No full episodes, 1982 had at least a couple of full episodes. The only big sequence we get not attached to Victor/Nikki is the Patty shooting Jack recreation. I was hoping for more Abbott family stuff, but not much is there. 

 

We don't get any Kay/Jill at all really, apart from brief glimpses

[Broderick]

 

Stuart wasn't "dating" Gina; he was just facilitating the sale of his daughter Leslie's club to Gina, along with the adjoining lot, in case Gina wanted to expand the size of the club.   (When Leslie left town, she gave her dad the power of attorney to execute the deed of the club.)  

 

Kay Chancellor saw Stuart meeting with Gina about the deed, and she misinterpreted the situation as a "date".   Kay ran to Liz with the "breaking news" that Stuart was "dating a girl about the age of his four daughters", and then Stuart had to fuss at Kay for causing so much trouble.  All of that is included in the clips.  

 

The premise of Kay Chancellor's plan was that she would offer Liz a return gig as her housekeeper.   Jill would then naturally pitch a fit and announce that it was inappropriate for the mother of Mrs. John Abbott to be working as a maid.   Stuart Brooks would ALSO be embarrassed that the newspaper publisher's wife was working as a maid.   Kay hoped that Jill's shame and Stuart's embarrassment would prompt Stuart to become more proactive in encouraging Liz to reconcile with him.  

 

[will81]

I really like Andrea and she did an amazing job, but it is hard to watch her play out those scenes. Lilibet was there for the two years of build up when Patty and Jack were involved (81-83), so it is a slight let down, but isn't Andrea's fault, you really still feel for her and she is chilling in the shooting scene. If Lilibet had stayed for a few more months and then Andrea took over, I think the recast would have been more successful. 

 

Julia is great, and I wonder if Meg was writing for the show at this point

 

You can see from 1982 (Maybe once Bell knew JLB was leaving) that Nikki becomes a real focal point. in the 82/83 and 83/84 seasons it is really Nikki/Victor/Bancrofts The Abbots and the Williams. Nikki was such a main draw and had a lot of story

 

I will always prefer Brenda, she isn't the better actress, she just inhabits the role so completely that everything she does is Jill to me. Only after Who Shot Jill wrapped up do I wish Deborah was back or Jess had taken over already.

Though Jill does push Liz to go back to work for Kay to spy for her when she is convinced Kay and DIna are plotting to destroy her marriage, so I guess she got over that, haha

The magazine she holds up at 11min I have or had, I wonder if I can find it. 

[DRW50]

@will81 those used to be on ebay. Not sure if they still are. 

[OzFrog]

 

That interview was amazing, and it says so much about what gave Y&R its strong social roots. In the more recent 1983 uploads I’ve watched, Victor is going incognito to go find a standard job (as part of a bet with Douglas). But it is SO good in terms of the social commentary it provides about people in working-class society and the issues they face day-to-day. It’s an eye opener not just for Victor, but for a viewer like myself, as it helps us to empathise more with the plight of working class people. I would not be surprised if Lee Phillip herself actually pushed that storyline, because it is so informative.

 

I also wanna know what the planned story for Nikki was before MTS got pregnant and everything had to change! I wonder if they kept any notes somewhere in their estate.

 

 

Like I was saying earlier, the stuff with Andrea Evans as Patty was her prior to her reincarnation as outlandish Tina Lord, so it was a great reminder of what she was actually capable of as an actress.

 

I’ve said it in another thread, but watching these clips in the vault, this is the first time I’ve seen Julia Newman. And I was captivated from the moment she came back into town in the 1982 clips to see Lorie. Meg Bennett is one hell of an actress, and I greatly admire the strong-willed, independent facets of what she brings to the role of Julia, so much so that the character is rapidly becoming one of my all-time favourites. Her stoushes with Nikki are hilarious, I completely agree.

 

1983 Nikki was all over the shop. Sometimes I watch more recent clips of Nikki on youtube just to compare what she was like back then against how she is today. I’ll also say that 1983 Nikki is worlds apart even from 1980 Nikki, and I wonder if that was the Victor effect at play.

 

I have such a crush on Kevin

Please register in order to view this content

. Yes he and Nikki were Mr & Mrs Dimwit, but both Chris Holder and MTS brought such energy and realism to the story that you couldn’t help but get caught up. Funnily enough, I watched Chris Holder months ago in old Another World clips when he played the first Peter Love (he went to AW almost straight after leaving Y&R in 1984). Completely different character, but still somewhat sympathetic.

 

I disagree to an extent about Brenda Dickson’s return. She still had many many elements of her 1973-1980 run and hadn’t completely metamorphosised into wannabe-Alexis at that point. The clips I’ve seen with BD’s Jill interacting with Jack, John, even Patty, show a very strong mix of insecurity and bitchiness, very similar to what Deborah Adair had towards the end of her run as Jill. I especially liked how she stood by John as he was telling the rest of the family what went down with Patty shooting Jack, and it was nice to see a united front.

 

All in all, 1982-3 Y&R has been a treasure trove to watch thus far - and our mysterious benefactor is STILL uploading clips as we speak. So THANK YOU  

[Broderick]

 

My recollection is that Meg Bennett wrote (occasional) scripts from about 1981 to about 1987, but claimed that out of fairness, she didn't write any scripts that included the Julia Newman character.  Still, I wonder if she "tweaked" Julia's dialogue a little bit, because Julia's dialogue always seems a bit more crisp, sophisticated and sarcastic than the other characters' lines, and  Meg delivers the lines with such confident "worldly authority".   Watching the clips, I'm amazed at how entertaining her character was in this second incarnation.  

 

Brenda Dickson was my favorite Jill, too.   But I really find it difficult to "hate" Deborah Adair's Jill even when she's scheming, because Adair seems so GENUINE and COMMITTED, no matter what Jill's up to.  And it's hard to "love" Brenda Dickson's Jill even when she's insecure and vulnerable, because Dickson usually seems so POSED and SELF-ABSORBED.   Hard to explain.  Very interesting to watch the Jill character develop with each new (or returning) actress.  

[will81]

I definitely got the Y&R one from ebay at some point. This seems to be it, but it can't b the full magazine, so who knows what I did with it. I wish had I had taken better care of things. I'll post this to the FB group too

 

 

Please register in order to view this content

 

Part 2

I agree about Brenda and Jill, but I loved the ice in her veins Jill. The Ice Princess/Queen stuff she does is so good. That smile and soft voice, with those eyes that look like they will eviscerate you at any moment, wish Brenda had kept this style instead of the over the top Alexis Carrington routine that would come later. I do really like Deborah too though and would have been fine if she had stayed. I never found Jill to be a warm character though. Even in the Jan 74 episode you can tell she feels above it all and is just waiting for her opportunity to walk out the door of that shabby house and never look back

Edited August 13, 2020 by will81

[Broderick]

 

To me, the Kevin/Nikki pairing was just a goldmine.  (And I'm sure it was merely a result of Melody Thomas' real-life pregnancy and the last-minute rewriting of an entire storyline by Bill Bell.)  

 

Melody Thomas has always indicated she preferred playing comedy, and Nikki's dingbat antics while married to Kevin gave her a golden opportunity to skew her performance toward comedy.  Chris Holder puts so much passion, earnestness, and stuffed-shirt sincerity into his air-headed yuppie Kevin Bancroft character that he becomes the perfect foil for her.    Their fights and disagreements make me laugh out loud.  Don't know how Melody Thomas and Chris Holder made it through some of those scenes with straight faces, but they sure did manage it, and that makes it cute as hell.  

 

There was a nighttime show on CBS during this same timeframe called "Newhart", and it featured a dimwitted couple VERY much like Nikki and Kevin.   They were portrayed by Julia Duffy & Peter Scolari.  I can't remember which came first --- Thomas/Holder or Duffy/Scolari, but watching these clips in retrospect, you can't miss the similarities.   

[yrfan1983]

Thank you @Broderick this perfectly sums up the difference between the two Jills.

 

When Madame Mergeron made her entrance to the Abbott home, DA's Jill truly made me believe that Jill was terrified for John's health... don't think BD could have pulled that off.

 

On the flip side, I don't think DA could have rocked a turban in 1987 half as well as BD!

Ha, fantastic comparison! Newhart debuted in fall 82 but I don't think Julia Duffy and Peter Scolari were paired up until the 2nd season? So Nikki and Kevin definitely paved the way first.

[trainman]

 

It was nice to look back on these photos / articles.  Question about Vanessa...  What was the deal with her veil, anyway?  To hide her scars from some accident or fire?  Was she wearing it from the beginning?  At some point, she stopped wearing it.  Did she supposedly have cosmetic surgery to improve her appearance?

[will81]

Apparently there was a fire when the boys (Lance and Lucas) were young. I can't remember who was at fault. Maybe Lucas????

 

She wore it from day one. Lorie pushed Vanessa to have surgery as she felt Vanessa was using her scars as a way to hold on to Lance. At one point Lorie and Lucas were convinced Vanessa had already had surgery and confronted her and made her show her face. She hadn't had surgery and was so humiliated she swore revenge on Lorie by publishing her (Lorie's) book which led to Leslie and Lance sleeping together and little Brooks coming along.

 

Vanessa did have the surgery eventually around 1978 or 1979 I think

Edited August 13, 2020 by will81

[DRW50]

@will81 thank you for sharing all those pages.

[Paul Raven]

Re Vanessa and the veil.

At one point it was stated that if Vanessa went ahead with surgery, it would involve years of skin grafts to restore her face and Vanessa wouldn't agree to it.

Then later, I think KT was off for a few months and then Vanessa returned, still veiled.

At some point she removed the veil and her face was back to normal and she revealed she'd had the surgery with no talk of any skin grafts and years of restoration.

I wonder why Bill Bell decided to do this. Maybe the effect of Vanessa creeping around in the veil had lost its value . Perhaps Bill thought of giving Vanessa more story (a romance) and felt the veil would be a hindrance.

[will81]

Hey everyone. Here are some Jill clips from Nov/Dec 1983 and Jan/Feb 1984. Not sure where I got this but since the uploads are not really showing the Abbott's I figured I would share this. Clips are random and not full, but still interesting

 

 

 

 

[will81]

I think BD's Jill would have kept you guessing, is she frightened for John or herself or both. That's what I preferred about her. You could never be quite sure. Jess did say once Jill was a sociopath, not sure I believe that, but let's face it, Jill always looked out for one person. Herself. 

 

In 1985 when Jill got kicked out of the Abbott home. Jill cries her heart out to John "I love you, you are the most amazing man, I will miss you" she walks out lof the house and with a cold steely look vows to take John to the cleaners. This is the Jill I have always liked.