Y&R: Old Articles

[FrenchBug82]

I checked because I had always assumed Blade was just a nickname based on his last name and his birth name was indeed Alexander Bladeson.

 

[Paul Raven]

Blade and Ashley was a non event. This is when Bill Bell's 'try things out onscreen approach' failed dismally.

And why marry Ashley and Blade? It made no sense at the time and longterm just gave Ashley another marriage  on her resume that made her look foolish and fickle.

The whole story could have played the same with them as a couple. Play up Ashley's reluctance to commit based on her track record.

Same with Cole- a relationship if we must but not a marriage.

Edited March 28, 2022 by Paul Raven

[FrenchBug82]

The story would definitely have been a little bit easier to be invested in if they had had even some minor chemistry. This instead was cold fish and pretty obviously a relationship created artificially to set up the story which is a no-no.
Get people invested in the couple and THEN create obstacles.
 

And soaps overmarrying their characters is definitely one of these things I will never understand. That has died down somewhat but Bell was the worst offender.
All the drama about Victoria wanting to underage-marry Ryan for some reason used to drive me nuts back in the day. 

[Paul Raven]

Having long term characters marrying 5 or 6 times is ridiculous, especially when some of them were pointless.

Victoria declaring her love for Ashland was hard to buy when she had been down that road so many times.

And marrying Kyle and Summer was not needed..

Edited March 28, 2022 by Paul Raven

[j swift]

Agreed

At one point it was a character trait for someone like Alexis Carrington or Erica Kane to have been married so many times that their last names read like the local telephone book.  But, Victoria has been married to six different men, and each time the audience is supposed to forget her prior romances and treat each wedding as if she was a virgin bride. 

If I lived in Genoa City, I would want to know if she really expected presents (and attendance at a destination wedding) given that she had already been down the aisle over six times.

Edited March 28, 2022 by j swift

[Paul Raven]

Agree.

Multiple marriages can work if it fits the character.

John Abbott didn't seem to have been married multiple times but he was wed to Dina, Jill (twice) Jessica and Gloria.

For Nikki to be on her 3rd marriage by the time she wed Victor seemed in accord with her flighty nature (although some of her later marriages shouldn't have happened)

But Ashley, Jack and Victoria stand out as having way too many trips down the aisle.

[j swift]

Don't forget about Phyllis, Genoa-ites would be well served to wait the full year before sending a wedding gift to that serial monogamist.

[BoldRestless]

You have the first 15 scripts of Y&R?! How has no one commented on this! 

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[FrenchBug82]

On the underlying criticism, I fully agree. 

But I am going to play Devil's advocate a little.

For instance, Nikki's first marriages may make sense because of her flighty nature but I don't think they make as much sense as she got older. The experience she had with Jack and Victor should have made her less marriage-happy. Her marriage to Steve Landers was in particular plot-driven and never made sense to me.

And inversely I think Jack being marriage happy can in a way be explained by his overcompensating for his irresponsible youth now that the Bergman recast had turned Jack into a forever-looking-for-love kind of guy.

Victoria being marriage-happy was also established when she was focused on marrying Ryan despite there being no rush and being underage. I thought it was stupid at the time but in a way one could say that set up this as being part of the character.

But in the end I agree. I think the reason it stands out a lot more for Victoria and Ashley, as well as Jack to an extent, is that a lot of their marriages were to minor characters who disapeared quickly and didn't make much of a mark (and often for plot-driven reasons and little actual chemistry).
 

[will81]

If you feel like sharing them, that would be awesome. Even if you can give us cast/tape & air date/writer info and a synopsis would be amazing too

[j swift]

To me, Ashley really stands out because she waited so long to get married the first time.  She was the last of the Abbott kids to marry, yet wound up with so many duds.  And, for being such a smart and beautiful woman, she always wound up with the scraps.  I mean who hadn't been with Tucker by the time she married him?

[allmc2008]

 

I will soon. These scripts were that final version before Bill sent them to CBS. He'd write in Radio format and then they'd reformat in what was called the "Transcription Unit" of CBS.

 

So, they have notes in his hand writing and last minute line revisions. It's fun to study as you can understand his mindset.

 

Bc I got these are UCLA I'm hesitant on what I can share/upload. 

 

The Snapper/Sally thing is great. Chris wouldn't screw with him on, if I recall, episode as they we're getting close on a romantic his side. She wanted to but ran off.

She confided in Leslie on her hatred for her upbringing. That scene made me cry. Almost every episode has deep moments that make me cry and I haven't cried over a work of written fiction in prolly 7 years.

Snapper then went to Sally to screw her as he was still horny from Chris.

Bill Bell went deep into Brad's training at the newspaper.

 

[BoldRestless]

 

That's awesome. Did you have to go there to see them? I always wondered about it but I think you have to be a student? 

 

I remember seeing some scripts from the Kay lesbian era and the notes as well as the stage directions do add a lot of context. It does read like a short story sometimes.

[YRfan23]

I'm so excited to read these!

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  I wish when I was in LA last summer I'd had found a way to visit UCLA Library and access the scripts, but it didn't quite work out! I would kill if someone found a way to make the entire collection available...wishful thinking of course.

[allmc2008]

Again, I will be very frugal when it comes to posting here as I really don't want to be on their bad graces.