Y&R: Old Articles

[yrfan1983]

I think the dressing room thing is YR-specific... Days for example always has actors doing social media posts of everyone gathered in the makeup room.

 

Yea when he talks about his AMC firing, he still sounds resentful... he says it was a new head writer, new executive producer with no loyalty to previous regimes.

[YRfan23]

I guess it's fitting since there's always this idea the Y&R cast isn't that "family oriented" like other soaps...I don't really agree , but It's probably very "clique-ish" more then any other set.

 

[Vizion]

 

The East Coast soaps had a reputation for being very close. I know the GL cast used to go out drinking together all the time, they all would walk to a local bar. The west coast soaps are different. Everything and everyone is spread out. Several actors have said the Y&R cast was standoffish and didn't socialized much. 

 

Its interesting though evem compared to the other west coast soaps Y&R's cast never seemed particularly close. Even in the 80's and 90's the stories you hear about the cast of GH and all of their shenanigans - you rarely hear those kinds of stories about backstage Y&R. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by Vizion

[YRfan23]

I think the B&B cast seem pretty tight, but that being a smaller cast helps...and Passions definitely was a soap were everyone was friendly backstage....GH and Y&R seem to choose who will be their "friends" though the GH cast certainly has had more problems in recent years then Y&R ever had. 

[Vizion]

 

Well I'm not so much talking about now but the period that Peter is talking about (mainly the 80's and 90's).

 

I think the B&B cast seems fairly close now but I don't believe that was the case in the 90's either tbh. 

 

The GH cast now is a mess but the 80's and 90's crew are still SUPER close to this day (Kim Shriner, Lynn Herring, Jane Elliot, Jackie Zeman, Tony Geary, Ian Buchanan, Emma Samms, Tristan Rogers, etc). I didn't actually realize how close they all still are until they did those GH fan events together and told like a million stories (Jane and Tony travel overseas together, Lynn, Jane and Kin talk multiple times a day, etc).

[will81]

I wonder also if it has to do with how isolated the Y&R cast were in story. Many of the main long running cast had little chance to work with each other, and probably rarely saw actors that were not in their characters story spheres.

 

I know Eileen/Beth/Jerry and Terry were all super close, but they spent most of their time together. Tracey B and Beth were also friendly and Kimberlin and Tracey B also seemed to have had at least a close working relationship as well. 

 

Through the 90's Peter was mostly isolated to The Abbotts and Newman's. Maybe none of them liked him, haha, but they all secretly got together when he wasn't around. Jokes

 

Everyone loved Jeanne too and many cast are still friendly with each other. Brenda D has been seen with a few different ex and current cast members and it seems Eileen and Brenda Epperson became friends as well. 

 

I think on set it was just a serious business, and that may have had to do with how Bell ran the show back then. He was very specific about how scripts should be performed and according to Jeanne they were given six or seven takes to do it (not sure which period of the show this was, I know on the 70's it was apparently live to tape) Not sure about other shows but Y&R always seemed like a heavy production load for the actors. They were probably sick of seeing each other.

[SoapDope]

It seems the 1970's Y&R cast was the closest since it was much smaller. When the 1980's came and the hour expansion, it added more people and they all were probably. isolated to their storyline groupings. 

 

In the episode before Victor & Nikki's wedding, Douglas mentioned Snapper's name on the guest list. Did the show expect Hasselhoff to appear and it fell through ? When Chris arrived she told her sisters Snapper let her get away for a visit. It would have been great if Espy had appeared as Snapper and maybe had Chris flashback to her wedding 10 years prior. 

 

 

[OzFrog]

Another history question on the back of the vintage clips popping up recently. What was the deal with Eric Garrison? I know he was in a bit of a triangle with Ashley and Marc Mergeron, but there wasn’t much other information available about his character, apart from something involving fathering a child with Julia (?!). Can anyone shed any light on the character history here?

[FrenchFan]

 

Eric Garrison first appeared in March 1983 when Jill learned that Jack had contact with this French businessman about selling Jabot. Jack was very interested in selling but Ashley was shocked when she learned. Eric was instantly interested in her and he kissed her despite her giving the cold shoulder as he wanted to buy Jabot. John argued with Jack as he didn’t want to sell Jabot and he suffered a heart attack. As the sell was postponed, Eric was supposed to go back to Paris but he decided to stay in Genoa City to be with Ashley. He visited his boss in Paris, Madame Dina Mergeron – secretly John’s ex-wife and mother of his children – whom he had an affair with. Dina said she didn’t want to buy Jabot anymore and wanted to keep Eric in Paris. Eric wanted to back to Genoa City however and Ashley admitted she had fallen in love with him. They finally made love while Dina planned to come to Genoa City to close the deal. She saw Eric and Ashley together but didn’t realize the woman Eric was kissing was Ashley. When Dina revealed herself as John’s ex-wife who gave up on her family years ago, Ashley was hurt. Eric swore he didn’t know about Dina’s real identity and he immediately ended his romantic involvement with Dina. Eric left Mergeron and John offered him a job at Jabot when Ashley asked him to. Dina was very hurt to realize that Eric was in love with her daughter. Eric proposed to Ashley. Dina offered Eric to run the American branch of Mergeron which was a very interesting business offer. Ashley was worried that Dina was trying to come between she and Eric. Eric finally turned down the offer and stayed at Jabot. When Ashley found a portrait of Dina that Eric painted, she was surprised and Eric confessed he had an affair with Dina in the past. Shattered at first, Ashley finally forgave him. Despite the forgiveness, Ashley couldn’t really forget about the past affair and she couldn’t make love with Eric. He agreed to be patient with her.

 

In January 1984, Ashley left for a trip in Rome in order to sort her feelings for Eric. She was saved from a masher by a mysterious gentleman. When Ashley came back to Genoa City, she accepted Eric’s marriage proposal which made Dina fuming. The mysterious gentleman arrived in Genoa City, he was Marc Mergeron, Dina’s stepson. Marc was flirting with Ashley who got confused. She kissed Marc. Dina arranged for Eric to see Marc and Ashley kissing. Eric got drunk and slept with Julia Newman. Ashley and Eric then reconciled. Soon later, Julia realized she was pregnant from Eric. Ashley, meanwhile, was involved in Dina and Marc’s quarrel. Marc told Dina she tried to keep him from his father and strained their relationship. When the day of Ashley and Eric’s wedding arrived, Ashley got a panic attack and realized she couldn’t go through with the ceremony. On his way to the ceremony, Eric had a car accident. At the hospital, Eric told Ashley the would plan for another date and Ashley didn’t know how to tell Eric that she couldn’t marry him as she had fallen for Marc. When Eric pressed Ashley for another date, she finally told him about Marc. The wedding plans were cancelled. Meanwhile, a very pregnant Julia told Eric she was looking forward to the birth of her child but he had no idea he was the father. She even lied about the baby’s due date to be sure Eric would not be suspicious. When Julia gave birth to a little girl, Jaime, in November 1984, Eric finally asked her if he was the father. She admitted it but both Eric and Julia decided they could only be friends and Julia left for Paris with her daughter just before Christmas.

 

Eric tried to revive his romance with Ashley who was not interested but JoAnna Manning, Lauren Fenmore’s long-lost mother, caught the eye of Eric who helped her get a job at Jabot. JoAnna thanked Eric with a passionate kiss. They started a passionate affair which embarrassed Mary Wiliams, whose son Paul was married to Lauren. But JoAnna was jealous when her ex-husband, Neil, was seen dating Gina Roma. She avoided Eric’s bed and was very interested in her daughter’s plans to keep Neil away from Gina. Eric vanished from town in May 1985 and was not mentioned again.

[OzFrog]

Oh wow, thanks FrenchFan. I didn’t realise he was so heavily involved in the mix of things. It’s a shame we never hear about him, nor do we hear about Julia’s daughter Jaime. Might give Ashley something to focus on of he came back for whatever reason.

[Soaplovers]

Ashley had two romances pre Victor her 1st 3 years..Brian Forbes and Eric Garrison (along with Marc M in 1984).

 

I don't think the close family vibe was at all the east coast soaps. AMC, EON, GL, and AW seemed to have that...even early Loving...but OLTL in the 80s didn't it seems.  And ATWT seemed more formal.

[mikelyons]

Y&R's classic production model 80s-00s was very segmented. You wouldn't see or work with anyone other than the actors in your scenes. Everything is taped on one set before moving to another set, which means call times, arrivals, departures, hair and make-up calls, are all staggered from 7AM-7PM. 

For instance:

7AM Call: Newman Boardroom (Act 2, Scene 3; Act 3, Scene 1, Act 5, Scene 2)

Victoria, Jack, Victor, Ashley, Jill

 

9AM Call: Crimson Lights (Prologue A, Scene 1; Prologue B, Scene 3; Act Four, Scene 1)

Mackenzie, Nick, Sharon, Billy, JT, Brittany

 

11AM Call: Chancellor Living Room (Prologue B, Scene 4; Act 1, Scene 1; Act 3, Scene 2)

Kay, Esther, Nikki, Jill, Mackenzie, Brock

 

In this example, during the morning, Jill & Mac would be around for most of the morning, but if Victoria was done with her scenes after the Newman Boardroom scenes, she would CERTAINLY go home. 

 

ABC soaps would have everyone come in for a 7AM rehearsal (Y&R rehearsed on the sets and then shot), then do camera blocking, lunch, dress rehearsal, and then a final taping. So, yes, the cast were together all day, every shooting day. This is nicely illustrated in the All My Children behind the scenes video from 1993 or so. 

 

With soap eliminating rehearsals or whatnot, there must be zero time spent socializing since the producers want actors to nail a scene on the first take (which is impossible and needs to stop).

 

Lastly, Y&R would used to shoot six episodes in a week. Monday was dark, but then they would strip a show across the week (shooting those scenes throughout the week when the director was working) to save a day and bank of vacations. 

The model of shooting eight episodes in a week comes from either ABC or NBC and the results are blatant on screen. ATWT and GL would shoot on this schedule around 2003 to simply save time on crew and studio space. 

Edited August 18, 2020 by mikelyons

[Paul Raven]

Great summary. I believe Marc Mergeron was also involved with Joanna? Or am I getting confused?

Eric was one of a long list of bland leading men...

[jam6242]

@Paul RavenYes, Joanna and Marc were a couple.  But she wanted a commitment and he didn't.

[FrenchFan]

 

Yes, but it will be during Marc's second stint in 1988-1989.