Y&R Promo - These Rivalries are Some of the Best

[edgeofnik]

1. Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) 64 32 years

2. Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki Reed) 56 33 years

3. Amelia Heinle (Victoria Abbott) 55 (7 years - not a vet, but a legacy character)

4. Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott) 51 23 years

*. Genie Francis (Genevieve Atkinson) 51

*. Michael Muhney (Adam Newman) 51

*. Michelle Stafford (Phyllis Summers) 51 18 years (-3 years away)

8. Joshua Morrow (Nick Newman) 50 18 years

9. Sharon Case (Sharon Collins) 46 18 years

10. Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea Lawson) 41

The ones in bold are definitely in the vet category. The majority of the top ten is occupied by long-standing actors and one legacy character. Of course, Chelsea is going to be there because she is the catalyst for a story that's about Billy and Victoria. I bet if you looked at other shows (past and present), you wouldn't find such a use of actors who have around for so long.

As far as Lauren/Jill both actresses of their own choice are on a limited basis (JW is asking for six-months off this year - can't launch her into a big story now) and TBR has always been non-contract - so she gets a ton of time in that limited role. (Of course, I'd love to see more, but that's both actors' choice.)

Lastly, you have to have some new blood in shows, it's the balance and this is where the Genie thing has gone terribly wrong. If they were playing more of the Cane angle in her interactions, it would certainly help, but they've chosen a different (and sometime painful to watch) route. The reality is that this Beauty of Nature story has just been a bust - it was supposed to be an umbrella story (e.g., Nicholas/Sharon - that started to end two weeks ago and nailed shut with Friday's Phick announcement.)

As far as the Winters clan, thank goodness for Devon, KSJ should've been fired after VR left. His acting is lazy and brings every scene down. In a perfect world, SM would've been the standard bearer for the AA storyline, but his future was elsewhere and I'm glad for him. I wish they would bring back Tonya and rebuild the AA family around her - a FAR better choice. Stephen Nichols - the vast majority of his scenes have been with Devon rather than Ashley so far this year.

My last point on this subject. I like Nikki/Jack - one of the biggest mistakes Bell made was having Nikki lose their baby. I thought that child would've been a fantastic catalyst between Newman/Abbott (sort of like Abby, but much better because he would've been Jack's son).

[cattykittens]

I think Nikki's in the top ten because she sat most of last year out. Victor, Phyllis, Sharon, & Nick are always up there so if they want new blood they should mix it up with some of the lesser used Y&R vets. At this point some of the vets on the back-burner are fresher than the new characters they continue to assault us with.

A new character can be a catalyst for a story without dominating it. There's more focus on Chelsea, than Billy & Victoria, and Chelsea's mother was a complete waste of time. What a joke! Instead, the mothers of Billy & Victoria should’ve been included. I think viewers would have enjoyed Jill and Nikki in that story interacting with each other, and their children, and much less Chelsea/Anita.

I don't think JW 's lack of story is because she is taking time off. I'm willing to bet it's the opposite. She's been sitting around playing support to an endless run of less talented newbies. She probably must spend the whole day on the set to say 10 lines. After a few years it must get depressing, I can't imagine how bored she must be. IMO she knows they will not write for her, so she may as well take some time off which is not really much of a "choice". MAB made her feelings about Jill crystal clear when they fired of Tristan Rogers. Jill & Colin were extremely popular with the viewers, even after they had Colin kidnap the kids. They were doing everything possible to destroy them because they didn't want to write for Jill since she wasn't one of their favorites, viewers be dammed.

Y&R has more new characters than ever, it has too much new blood, they can't even develop all these new characters, some appear and disappear for no reason. MAB has become an actor-holic, she keeps buying all these new people but has no idea or plan on how to use them, they just pile up on-screen after their initial story, if they had one. Carmine is a cutie, but how is he relevant? Why not cast him as Phillip Chancellor IV/Chance instead? A legacy character that matters to the residents of GC, oh that’s right, he’s related to Jill, and they'd have to spend hours writing around or ignoring Jill, or Jill & Katherine in his stories.

New blood should enhance the show NOT smother it. They should bring new story to the long-time vets and breathe life into the core families, NOT destroy and replace them. I'm not sure what the point is regarding Stephen Nichols and scenes with Devon,. Do you mean as to opposed to last year with scenes with Katherine? I don't see how a newbie replacing Jill in the Chancellor family and Neil in the Winters family is a plus. I'm sorry, but Tucker can never replace Jill with Katherine. Katherine has had some pretty good chemistry thought the years with other characters but it's just not there with this Tucker. Even Kevin has him beat when it comes to Kay.