Y&R: Old Articles

[soapfan770]

I do wish the maturing Christine had been placed in a different type of relationship after instead of always being the paired with the show’s heroes (Danny, Paul). Imagine if Christine had been paired with someone like Brad in 1993 instead of Paul. 

[Broderick]

She annoyed me from the get-go 

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Although her presence wasn't "all-consuming" at first, the way she became later, it was the constant barrage of compliments that I found so eye-rolling.  No one could ever say, "That little girl gets on my nerves.", or "We've had better models than Cricket."   Everyone had to spontaneously compliment her each time they encountered her, and it was just too much at times.  

Jeanne Cooper said it best.  Paraphrasing -- "Her father placed her in an awkward and potentially damaging situation, but she rose to the occasion."  I'd agree with that.  She steadily became a better actor as the years went by, but there was such an OVERDOSE of her during a certain period of time, and her father wrote her character in such a saccharine and predictable manner.  

It could've easily backfired even worse than it did.  She would've always been fine as a supporting character, but as the central heroine -- nope.  Not when she was 18-20 years old.  And those scenes where she would offer wise advise to older characters or smile politely while that little pregnant teen Mollie said, "Oh, Cricket, I wish I could be beautiful and popular like you!!"  Yuck.  

[kalbir]

Christine was too saintly for Brad and she had no clout, and there's also the factor that Brad was at Jabot when she was a teen model there plus she was once his stepsister-in-law.

What did you think of Bill Bell alluding to Victor/Christine in 1996?

For 25 years I couldn't get past the ick factor of LLB being Bill Bell's daughter and her being half EB's age at the time but I think Bill Bell's planned Victor/Nikki/Brad/Ashley quad got derailed due to SS not passing the chemistry tests w/ EB and DD so I can see why Bill Bell pretty much put Christine in the Ashley role.

Yeah Bill Bell dusted off some of the 1984, 1985 Victor/Ashley storyline for Victor/Christine but we did get two epic Nikki/Christine confrontations plus being totally shallow here EB glowed up during that storyline. 

2002 Christine got placed in Michael's orbit romantically (which should not have happened due to the sexual harassment and attempted rape a decade earlier) and CLB glowed up too. Who knew LLB had the powers to cause glow ups 

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Edited March 6, 2023 by kalbir

[soapfan770]

I could be easily see a sympathetic Christine suing on Brad’s behalf for joint custody of Colleen and that being irksome to both Paul and Lauren lol.

I wasn’t a fan at all of the planned Victor & Christine pairing and was just fine with them as friends, Nikki’s reaction was a bit over the top considering Brad & Nikki’s summer 1995 affair out of town was the first time she left the ranch in like a year

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.

But I can see Bell trying a Victor/Nikki/Brad/Ashley quad but it would have only worked had Epperson remained in the role of Ashley. Shattuck just clicked at all, and her epic groveling later on when Ashley confessed to Victor that she was Cole’s other woman always cemented the fact that SS was a failure was in the role. When ED left the role in 88, Ashley was the #2 leading lady after Nikki. When BED left in ‘95, Ashley was the #5 leading lady after Nikki, Victoria, Nina, and Dru. When Shattuck left in ‘99, Ashley was at the bottom of the list, with Megan, Tricia, and Grace ranked fall ahead of Ashley.

But over time there was a lot of ick factor when it came to Victor for a lot folks. Victor and Jill’s 1992 affair appears to disgusted a lot of folks. And Victor/Christine seems tame compared to Victor/Sharon, Victor/Sabrina and Victor having muses in the forms of Jensen Buchanan and Alicia Coppola under Pratt. 

[Planet Soap]

Critical clips from OG Matt Clark story are back up on YT again. Cool to see Nick interact with Hope and late era Douglas! Douglas never got a proper send off. No call from abroad even to say that the charachter died. Y&R was alwas so strange in that way. A constatt feature in the shows just fades away never to be heard from again (Mamie, Douglas, John Silva, Lynn, Carroll, Paul's parents). Good to see when Victor was a quasi good father and Nick looked up to him. Matt Clark & Victor's shootings were probably the strongest stories during the 94-96 slump.

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Edited March 6, 2023 by ironlion

[sheilaforever]

Ah, fond memories of the original desperate housewife: Mid90s Nikki was GOLD. She literrally barely left the ranch - and, even if she did, it took her like 10 episodes to do so and her main reason was to spout insults at Christine or Ashley (?).

[kalbir]

@sheilaforever Nikki was the OG ho turned housewife. Mid-1990s she was so snooty lady of the manor.

[kalbir]

You were right. That's Monday's clip.

[YRfan23]

Lol

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I swear I’m not the one who choose these clips. Like I said even these actors can go further down the rabbit hole. 

[Broderick]

I'm sure Eileen Davidson wanted something "dramatic".

To me, her very best scenes are more of the "everyday variety".  For instance, there's one scene where Terry Lester's Jack is giving her a sermon about how worthless Brad Carlton is, and the whole time Jack is talking, she's fanning her face with a manila file folder like she's burning up in frustration.  When Jack finally leaves, she exhales so hard her bangs rise up off her forehead, and she takes her thumb & index finger and does the "gun-to-the-head" suicide gesture.

There's another scene where Terry Lester's Jack is presenting her with a dossier about Tim Sullivan, and she tosses it into the fire, rolls her eyes, and prances out of the room. 

Those are the types of scenes where she REALLY excels in my opinion.    

[YRfan23]

You nailed it! Definitely for me it’s the everyday variety, where a lot of actors have memorable scenes, even more so then the bigger dramatic and climatic scenes we are accustomed to. Like one episode in December 1989 Jill and David are talking about David trying to win Nina over and Jill has her back to David, and David starts going on about how Nina thinks he’s only after her money, and Jill makes a face as if she’s saying “well no s*it”

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[kalbir]

A Victor/Ashley scene I hope surfaces soon is one I read about in a Fall 1984 recap, where Victor tells Ashley about Cora, and so they are connecting over their parental issues. I wonder if that was the scene that made Bill Bell decide that he had something to work with as far as pairing Victor/Ashley goes.

Edited March 7, 2023 by kalbir

[Paul Raven]

Y&R struck gold with Terry and Eileen.

Although she was a 'good' character Eileen brought in that sarcasm and cynicism that gave her an edge.

She still has it till this day, which is why I still enjoy watching her even in lousy stories.

But once Peter was entrenched as Jack, the character changed. Seeing Jack mooning over Diane -there's no way Terry's Jack even all these years later would be playing it that way.

[YRfan23]

Haven't watched yet, but finally looks like something new for 1992

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https://archive.org/details/vhs-fb-market-box-1-tape-2-part-2-soaps-tennis-1992

Meh.... Mostly partial stuff   but better then nothing I suppose. 

Edited March 7, 2023 by YRfan23

[will81]

I know we will never see a Brenda Dickson scene, but the one before Christmas 83 where the Abbott's are arguing over whether Dina should come for Christmas Day was awesome. Really showed the split in the family and Jill finally feeling like John was taking her side for once. Jill felt she had triumphed, while Ashley, although hating the idea of her mother being there, still felt bad for Traci and Jack who wanted her there. John who was torn and Jack and Traci who went from happy to miserable.