37 minutes ago, yrfan1983 said:

Yea I think she was immediately a hit. She debuted 10/18/94 but I don't think she was on contract at first. Her first month, she didn't appear that much, but by Thanksgiving, the show was all-in for Phyllis.

Her first audacious act was on 11/23/94 when she (uninvited) brings baby Daniel to meet his "grandpa" Rex at the Chancellor Mansion. I wish we had this ep! This is right before Rex was killed.

Yeah I noticed that was missing. I would have loved to have seen her and Rex. Speaking of Im so sad that Rex was killed. I had read about the him being unhappy he was taken off contract but boy that was such a mistake.

It’s hard to imagine a Rex/Phyllis scene because they just seem so far apart character wise. Like Rex to me represents the classier Bill Bell era of Y&R and though Phyllis was created by Bill Bell, I feel she’s one of the constant problems that’s plagued the Y&R of the last almost 20 years if that makes sense? 

Unfortunately, those episodes of Phyllis’ arrival in Genoa City and the death of Rex Sterling are nowhere to be found. Such a shame, because they would have been amazing to watch again.

Barbara Crampton interview. I think its from late 1988 or early 1989.

 

Up to 1995 now. I was a senior in high school so most of this year I definitely remember. 

Mari Jo always pronounced Jabot so weird. Did they think it added to her character or just let said F it and let her keep saying it that way.

Quote

My God... I jsut got through watching a Y&R clip from 1976 where they use that word. Many times. 1976!!!! What have we become with the censorship? 

@brockreynolds (love that username) moving this over here to ask... what clip? Is this when Leslie was pregnant?

Rewatching the Patty scenes on Andrea Evan's channel, while her take on Patty was less fragile/neurotic... I did find it interesting during scenes between Patty and her therapist that she worried that she would always snap and never get out of the mental loop that she had found herself in.

And the therapist stated that if Patty could learn to live in the real world and not in a fantasy world, she would be able to get a handle on her mental health and not continually snap when reality hits her.  And then admitting that she viewed her marriage to Jack as being part of her fantasy world and how that seemed to cause her harm.

Those scenes really foreshadow the dark and tragic turn that Patty takes when she finally returns to the canvas in the late 2000s.  Without meaning to, the horrid writers really didn't retcon Patty into a looney person.. but actually followed the thread set up by Bill Bell for her character.

On 9/19/2025 at 6:33 PM, BoldRestless said:

@brockreynolds (love that username) moving this over here to ask... what clip? Is this when Leslie was pregnant?

No.... it was when she was talking to Chris about her failing marriage to Jack Curtis

3 hours ago, brockreynolds said:

No.... it was when she was talking to Chris about her failing marriage to Jack Curtis

Do you mean Joann Curtis had the abortion? The 1976 summaries have her describing a past abortion (knowing Bill Bell, she probably said the emptiness she felt, led her to eat...) but I am not sure if she'd be confiding in Chris? I don't think I'm familiar with the clip.

I just watched Nov 28th 1994

Sharon meets Victor for the first time in his office at Newman Enterprises and it was such a great scene. Those writers and producers really knew how to give a good scene that stands the test of time. I really miss the way soaps used to be produced.. the slow music and all. 
 

I could have sworn I thought Brenda Dickson as Jill was in the scene in this episode but I looked it up and it turns out it’s a character named Mari Jo who I do not have any knowledge of because I wasn’t watching back then but I did think to myself “huh? Wasn’t Brenda Dickson already gone by this time?” Well turns out they just share a very striking resemblance to one another 

40 minutes ago, Ryanc2 said:

I just watched Nov 28th 1994

Sharon meets Victor for the first time in his office at Newman Enterprises and it was such a great scene. Those writers and producers really knew how to give a good scene that stands the test of time. I really miss the way soaps used to be produced.. the slow music and all. 
 

I could have sworn I thought Brenda Dickson as Jill was in the scene in this episode but I looked it up and it turns out it’s a character named Mari Jo who I do not have any knowledge of because I wasn’t watching back then but I did think to myself “huh? Wasn’t Brenda Dickson already gone by this time?” Well turns out they just share a very striking resemblance to one another 

Oh, if you haven't heard of her, you're in for some twists and turns. Dont Google her!

Cassandra Rawlins and Mari Jo Mason both reminded me of those film noir shady ladies.

Brenda Dickson pre Y&R on The FBI.

Brenda Dickson on The FBI

7 hours ago, Broderick said:

When Conboy left Y&R to create Capitol, I was concerned that Y&R would suffer without his production influence.  It didn't.  It actually IMPROVED, lol. 

John Conboy built the foundation but H. Wesley Kenney laid the groundwork for Y&R as we know it today.

13 minutes ago, kalbir said:

John Conboy built the foundation.  

I think John Conboy had great ideas, but he never, in his entire career, understood when he'd gone too far with it.  

When Y&R expanded to an hour, the writing suffered tremendously.  Bell & Alden had no idea how to structure and write an hour show, and many of the storylines went off the rails.  The ratings nosedived.  John Conboy, in his (misguided) efforts to keep the ratings up, turned the lights down even lower, turned the music up higher, and put the cast in scantier clothing.  By 1981, the show almost looked like a cheap parody of the Y&R which had been such a phenomenal success in the 1970s.  The soap critic (John Kelly Genovese) wisely described the failing show as "cheap tits & ass titillation backed by dull stories". 

Wes Kenney fixed all of that nonsense immediately, and I believe he objectively told Bill Bell which storylines were working and which ones needed to be ditched immediately.  Within a month of John Conboy's exit, the show started a whole new resurgence -- a prettier and cleaner product than it had ever been under John Conboy.

I'm thankful to "Capitol" for relieving Y&R of John Conboy before the entire product crashed.