Y&R: Old Articles

[DRW50]

Were there any story plans which were changed because Victoria Rowell returned towards the end of the drinking story?

[DeeeDee]

Nope.

Siena had been recast by that point.

The Trey stuff wasn't bad (it was a typical soap story).

It was Liv (and everyone else) going under the bus for Malcolm that hurt the story.

Liv/Malcolm weren't bad but their relationship pretty much was used as a placeholder Shemar (that conveniently kept him away from the white actresses)

Yep.

Actually it didn't.

Neil/Alex/Malcolm didn't happen until the middle/end of the next year.

No.

Liv never slept with Neil (at that point).

But Malcolm THOUGHT they slept together which he used as an excuse to cheat with Callie.

Serena was to have a longer run which ended early cause Y&R was happy to have Vicki back.

[soapfan770]

Alex was alright she was certainly a woman of power in her own right, a pretty high-priced lawyer in the vain of Leslie. The problems of course were the cliche's, like Olivia being on the defense against Alex while we ended up with Neil/Alex/Malcolm. We had Neil and Alex barely stand each other and then have an affair. Malcolm's disappearance and presumed death was...um well its been said Y&R lost a million viewers when Shemar left, but really its easy to see how the Africa story could see how it could drive away a million viewers.

[DRW50]

What were the other stories going on at the time of the million loss?

[DeeeDee]

Unfortunately Alexia didn't have Angell's star power (nor much chemistry with Kristoff & Shemar)

To be fair Liv's dislike of Alex really was about her issues with Malcolm.

Malcolm's death wasn't the problem. It was the forced love triangle (just like with Neil/Sofia/Malcolm).

Add that to losing Vicki/Shemar, Neil being relatively underwritten (despite Kristoff's good performances) & Liv being almost destroyed & it's easy to see why ratings fell so much.

[soapfan770]

Besides the Africa story we had Amanda/Mac/Ralph stalker tale, Nick/Sharon/Diego/Grace, Paul/Isabella etc. It was pretty boring actually, and it lead some changes with the writing line-up ie bringing in Jack Smith.

I agree, and I've always felt that Moore's exit was pretty much the final nail in the coffin for many after seeing these characters being mishandled or discarded.

[DRW50]

I always felt like the story with Amanda and Ralph was a bad idea for the Mac character. It was just more misery for her, the last thing she needed when the actress seemed so dour already (and so was the recast).

[DeeeDee]

The stories themselves were fairly solid.

It was the casting & recasting that hurt most of them.

Yep.

[SFK]

Michelle Thomas' passing, that was so sad. Malcolm Jamal Warner spoke about spending her final moments with her, really touching stuff.

[soapfan770]

I did take issue the whole the "Sharon is an irrational whore nailing the not so single Diego so its okay that Nick shacks up with Grace" mentality at the time. However in retrospect I think it was pretty tame considering anything since 2008. I was just very disappointed we got more contrived infidelity and that Sharon was made out to be the bad one following the death of the baby.

[DeeeDee]

Diego was single when he & Sharon slept together.

[YRBB]

I don't think Ralph/Amanda was a bad idea at all; it was pretty much a given that one or both of them would eventually show up and cause drama. It was just fulfilling of storyline potential. There was a lot to be milked between Mac and Amanda's dynamic, even without Ralph's presence.

Of course, one has to wonder how absolutely great it would be if Ash Bash got to play this. As she should have.

[DRW50]

To me Kruger played it the way Bashioum would have - very sullen. Mac was so solemn it was just tough for me to ever invest in her, although the jackass Billy didn't help.

[YRBB]

Oh well this makes more sense to me if you don't like Mac and Billy to begin with

But, I'm sorry, Kruger <<<<<<Bashioum. There's just no comparison. Totally invested in her.

[DRW50]

Ashley was a better actress, but all I thought the character did, after a promising start, was trip over her lower lip, as Billy twitched and Jill wrung her hands and plotted. It bothered me at the time, especially the way Billy treated Jill.