Y&R: Old Articles

[kalbir]

I always thought ES took over November 1986, based on some recaps from that time I came across.

Nathan ended up replacing Andy as Paul's sidekick, and I guess Lynne replaced Amy in the office. If Bill Bell kept Amy, we might not have gotten the Barber sisters.

I think Liz got dropped in order to set the stage for Katherine's attempt to adopt Phillip III and the custody battle w/ Jill. If Liz was around, Phillip III could've easily lived w/ her instead of Jill or Katherine.

By the end of Dina's first arc, I think she had mended her relationships w/ Jack, Ashley, Traci so Dina could've stayed on as Genoa City's second grande dame. Dina was more business-minded than Katherine though, and Mergeron could've been part of the future Jabot/Newman corporate battles.

Jazz and Tyrone were part of the action/adventure element and that whole aspect was dropped when H. Wesley Kenney left. Tyrone could've been another lawyer in town (at that point there was only Michael Crawford and Mitchell Sherman) and Jazz could've maybe become a restaurant/bar/nightclub owner. If Bill Bell kept the Jackson brothers we might not have gotten the Winters brothers. 

Jill becoming more involved at Jabot after the divorce sort of made Lindsay redundant. Margo was a much better part for Lauren Koslow than Lindsay. 

Diane had run her course. Jack wasn't going to commit to her (plus he and Nikki had a friends w/ benefits thing going on) and Andy moved on w/ Faren.

Matt also ran his course. He had no chance w/ Nikki (who was juggling both Victor and Jack) and Ashley had moved on w/ Steven.

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by kalbir

[Paul Raven]

Matt Miller was such a wasted character.

He could have been so much more-maybe a sibling rivalry with Victor that spilled over into business and romance.

Robert Parucha wasn't the most exciting actor but to have Matt just disappear was wrong.

Y&R didn't really do recasts in those days but it would have been warranted in this case. Send Matt off for a while then bring him back with the recast.

For Victor to remain viable he needed a lot of characters to play off and Matt would have fitted the bill.

Can agree re Lindsay and Diane.

For Victor to remain viable he needed a lot of characters to play off and Matt would have fitted the bill.

[ltm1997]

What do you all think it would take for Sony to sell the Y&R archives to Bradley (or the Bell family)? Is there any way it could possibly be done?

[yrfan1983]

Anyone else refreshing Paul Ditty's page every hour? 

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When you pull up the "Innocent Years" playlist, it says "4 hidden videos", so there's a few gems yet to released.

[YRfan23]

I think Bradley or someone from the Bell family would have to acquire some sort of ownership. They probably wouldn’t be allowed to stream from the beginning unless one of them was sole owner. I wonder why none of them have tried to step in?!? 

[Faulkner]

 

[DramatistDreamer]

That scarcity mentality is so weird to me. You can have multiple white families in town but apparently only one and a half Black families in GC? I understand the concept of cast culling but let's not pretend that there was anything more than five, at most six core Black characters at a time on the canvas. The idea that we could only have two young black women in the same age group at a time when we had Patty, Lauren, Traci, Ashley who was only a couple years older all on the canvas at the same time and it not be a problem is super weird and off-putting to me. Now, the aspect of the Amy character always having been expendable, that I can buy. 

[yrfan1983]

The really sad thing is - in Jan and Feb '88, Amy was serving as Paul's EQUAL at the detective agency. Not his secretary any more. She was doing her own investigations. Paul and Amy scouted out the new office in Newman Towers together. The story potential was limitless. But then, the show turned around and wrote her off.  The only thing I can think of is - the show wanted to isolate Paul as he entered the Cassandra saga.

[DramatistDreamer]

She was probably entering that forbidden territory of being too close to becoming a future romantic possibility for Paul too. Conservative forces in the executive wing of the show's production company and in the network had to nip that in the bud before the soap mags started to ask uncomfortable questions.

[DRW50]

It's also one of those situations where, conservative as Y&R viewers were in some situations (like the ugly backlash against Neil/Victoria a decade later), I do wonder if they  actually would have had any problem supporting Amy while also accepting Mamie's nieces being brought into the canvas. Amy had been on the show for 3-4 years and was part of a well-liked friendship group. She was someone who could have easily stayed on for years longer, even if they did not keep her with Nathan. It's a shame they never tried.

I do wonder about that, now that you mention it. Even though it was never likely a possibility, just the fear is enough in many cases. 

In the long-term I think moving Paul away  from all his old friends and just being with Lynne and the repetitive stories with Lauren and later Christine left the  character stranded, and helped make him feel all but irrelevant by the time we got to the early '00s and the ugly "rough sex" storyline.

[DramatistDreamer]

Which is exactly why I put it down to conservative forces among the decision-makers, rather than viewers.

Just the proximity of the two characters as equals, rather than Amy being ina subservient position to Paul (a la Lynn) would be enough to bring on that fear that some writer at some soap mag might propose the question. Amy came from a solidly middle class family, her father was Carl Williams' boss. She wasn't in the same socio-economic millieu as Mamie.

[Sapounopera]

Didn't Amy showing out of the blue a few weeks/months before Olivia made some people on the board speculate that the original idea was a triangle with Amy, Nathan and Drucilla as her kid sister/cousin?

[Vee]

I generally thought Stephanie Williams was boring on every show I've seen her on, but I liked her with Doug Davidson. They would've been hot.

[DramatistDreamer]

I thought Stephanie E. Williams was great on The Bold, The Black, The Beautiful, Robert Townsend's soap spoof. It was more entertaining than Generations tbh.

[will81]

This is what I thought. Amy and Nathan had history and Dru would have been a great addition to that. Frank and Loretta Lewis could have been featured more. We didn't see Loretta much, meaning the strained relationship with Dru could still have played out. Dru could have initially been friends with Jazz (without him knowing she was Amy's sister) Tyrone could have represented Dru in some legal issue she had when she came to town. His connection to Amy making him fight to keep her out of jail. 

Then we move to a triangle with Amy and Nathan, then move her into another one later with Olivia and Neil, a married couple who arrive in town. Dru has an affair with Neil. Liv gets pregnant, he returns to her. Liv dies during the birth (Never really cared much for Olivia) and Dru and Neil slowly make their way to making a family. Then Malcolm shows up. 

I agree Tyrone and Jazz could have stayed along with Amy, Nathan, Frank, Loretta and still add Olivia and Neil and still include Mamie too. Have her leave the Abbott family and start her own B&B or something, maybe with John's backing. 

I also think having Amy and Paul have a fling during the Rawlins murder mystery would have been great and given some tension between Paul and Nathan too.

Edited March 23, 2022 by will81