Y&R: Old Articles

[Broderick]

The whole fiasco of Phillip's resurrection was very poorly handled.  I'm sure there was a creative way for the writers to prove Cane was a fraud without digging up Phillip's casket.  And if Maria Arena was determined to exhume Phillip and reveal he was alive, she should've first made certain Thom Bierdz was up to the challenge of reviving his role after a 20-year break.  (He wasn't.)  Also, his scenes were terribly written.  Phillip wasn't given any genuine moments with his younger brother (Billy), and both Jill and Kay were so busy screaming at Phillip for "playing dead", they failed to show him any real affection at all -- despite having fought over the privilege of "mothering" him in the 1980s.  At this point, one would expect Chance and Ronan to be leading actors on the show, and Phillip III to be a recurring character who shares scenes with Cricket, Danny, Nina, Jill, and his son.  I'd call the whole ordeal an epic fail.     

[asafi]

it seems tptb were really in hurry to finish the Veronica/Sarah story in 1998..

after so many months of terrorizing Nikki.. the plot ended so quickly.. not even a proper finale showdown between Nikki and Veronica.. and melody played really bed here. 

https://x.com/MarcoMcinroy/status/1738405949415756131?s=20

Victor saves Nikki from Veronica Landers (1998)  #YR #YR50 #theyoungandtherestless #youngandtherestles

[Khan]

I agree.  Maybe Bill Bell had a mistake when he decided to kill off Phillip.  Nevertheless, we saw Phillip die; and I have always believed that if we see the character die, then they should stay dead.

I think the part of the story that I never will understand the most is Phillip's assertion that he faked his death, because he believed that neither Kay nor Jill would have accepted his coming out.  God knows I am not the foremost expert on all things Y&R, but I think I know that that is not necessarily true.  Jill might have denied it at first, because she always wanted her son to have the "perfect" life.  However, I think she would have come around, realizing that his father would have wanted her to love their son and accept him for who he was and not for who they wanted him to be.

Personally, I think Y&R made a mistake in reuniting Nina with her first child (Ronan).  The fact that Nina had had that baby as a teenager and then had it stolen from her was, IMO, the event that defined her life most.  It informed many of the choices that she would go on to make.  Take that away, and I think you take away a lot of Nina's essence and drive.

Edited December 23, 2023 by Khan

[soapfan770]

The ridiculous retcons of the Katherine/Jill saga did not work at all and never should have been done as they were so destructive and asinine. Katherine and Jill as mother and daughter? NO. Cane as the real Phillip switched at birth? NO as any potential was squandered. Phillip III back from the dead…? Hell NO. 
 

By 2009 Billy & Mac should have been having their second child with Katherine and Jill arguing who gets to see the baby first while fussing over the first kid’s welfare.

Instead in 2009 we got this, and this headline still makes me laugh out loud so bad

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[Khan]

"Then in 2002, Bierdz was again devastated when his older brother Craig committed suicide by blowing his brains out."

Subtle.

[janea4old]

I remember watching on broadcast TV when it first aired that Cricket and Danny were helping Nina look for her child, and the baby seller Rose, etc.
And yes that was defining for Nina.

Pregnant teen Nina feeling she had no alternative but to interact with Rose -- was quite defining for Nina.

And then, later on Nina being pregnant with her second child, this time Phillip's child, with Katherine and Jill trying to manipulate/control Nina. 

Those storylines are vivid in my mind.

I watched Y&R intermittently through the years.  I missed the years when Ronan was onscreen.  I was surprised to learn later that Nina's missing child had been found.  I only saw Jeff Branson as the creepy character on AMC, so I tend to think of Branson that way (even though obviously that was a character and not him).  I never saw his scenes as Ronan, and I have no idea what Ronan was like.

Edited December 23, 2023 by janea4old

[soapfan770]

Can’t remember if it was Jamey or Nelson Branco who wrote that lol. SOD had a much classier article on Bierdz back in 2004 when he returned as a ghost along with Rex in Katherine’s dream

Ronan was a cop/FBI agent who smirked and looked smug all the time. There wasn’t much to go on and Branson was always coming and going for his who two years there between pilot seasons. 
 

I had enjoyed Branson on GL a lot but his time on Y&R was fairly lackluster, largely due to the bad writing and his pairings with Rigel’s Heather (a dreadful recast) and EH’s Chloe bombing at the time. I recall they tried to pair him with Stafford more than once and it was a hot mess. 

[Faulkner]

[Joseph]

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LMAO Now This Was DEFINITELY Nina's Son And Jill's Grandkid!

[DramatistDreamer]

In about 2011, when people were actually able to post good quality Y&R episodes and clips and leave them on YouTube and Dailymotion for awhile before being pulled down, I was able to watch some of Ronan’s time on Y&R because I had stopped watching Y&R when those episodes originally aired. I have to agree with you that, the way Nina was written, the way Ronan was written, I don’t understand why the character of Ronan was brought on. It also seemed as if, after that, Nina was written differently, she was written as a generic mom to an adult son, the only times since then that  I saw that spark that Nina was known for was when she slapped the taste out of Phyllis’ mouth and oddly enough, during that clusterf*ck storyline with Phillip’s resurfacing as an “out” man, and I only think that any part of that was the least bit interesting because I genuinely think that TC was happy to see TB and for her it was like slipping into a comfortable pair of slippers, and perhaps because everything else about the story was so much worse. But yeah, from what I managed to see of Ronan, it wasn’t interesting to me and as someone who got into Y&R during those years during childhood, Ronan really should have been more interesting to me.

[Broderick]

I'm inclined to agree about Ronan.  

The retcon of Cane Ashby being the "real" Phillip Chancellor III was a pretty terrible slap in the face to all of us who watched during the 1970s and 1980s and were invested in the Phillip we'd always known.  I wanted the concept of Cane Ashby being Jill's son to be revealed as false (obviously) but didn't want to see "our" Phillip III resurrected from the dead, in a lame, poorly-handled storyline that fizzled out quickly.

As for Ronan, we always suspected that at some point Nina might find him and reunite with him.  That possibly was present throughout the 1980s and 1990s and into the 2000s.  BUT if there was going to be a reunion, I'd have preferred that it be a little more thought-out and permanent than the drivel we ended up getting.  As you pointed out, it lessened the sense of loss that had permeated Nina Webster's character.  

The "Phillip is Alive!!" reveal likewise sacrificed some of the Jill and Kay dynamic that had always revolved around the Phillip III character.  

[Khan]

I think that was part of the beauty of Bill Bell's writing: he could keep you waiting for years to see whether something like a mother and child being reunited would ever happen.  Like one magazine said years ago, when it came to Y&R, the mantra was, "No story told before its' time."

Edited December 24, 2023 by Khan

[kalbir]

I've often wondered if Bill Bell regretted killing off Phillip III. I think Bill Bell may have used Ryan to fill the void left by Phillip III.

Totally agree.

[Khan]

I am not sure, but I think he expressed as much during one interview or another.  Just as he said he had sworn never to kill off another child (after killing off John Black Dickie Martin on DAYS) before going back on his own word and killing off Lauren's baby.

I dislike bringing back people from the dead for one, very simple reason: I think to do so is insulting to everyone out there who has lost a loved one.  

Edited December 24, 2023 by Khan

[asafi]

and they must stick to the resurrection rules.. you cannot bring back a character from the death whom obviously died onscreen in hospital .. and in a very memorable and powerful scene.