Why Are Folks Here Much Tougher on Y&R Than on B&B?

[Max]

It has been my perception that people here tend to trash Y&R far more than B&B, which is a total mystery. I know that MAB is hated (and has made mistakes in the past), but Y&R has had multiple storylines going on (some quite good, such as the Paul/Ricky saga). On the other hand, B&B has offered nothing but the same boring triangle for the past year. With the departures of Flannery and Moss, some are starting to realize that B&B is doomed, yet B&B was seldom criticized before this shocking news. (And even now, it seems to me that Y&R is still hated more than B&B.)

[DRW50]

No one cares about B&B to that level. Aside from 90-93 or so I've never been overly invested in the show. I thought it was a huge POS for most of the 00's so it improving at all in the last few years has been a surprise.

[yr9190]

B&B is going to be the new show to talk trash on once Y&R gets somewhat watchable again thanks to this new regime.

[frequentsoapfan]

I never see much online support for B&B on any message boards. But it seems like on every message board Y&R is helped to a higher standard as far as expectations for stories than the other soaps. I guess part of it has to do with it being #1. GH is the most hyped soap and I see excuse after excuse for the same stuff that Y&R gets trashed for. DAYS gets picked at for it's production the most. Like when everythnig on DAYS was blue for awhile ever day I would see a post about it.

[wingwalker]

B&B and Y&R are like real-life siblings. Parents often set high standards for their first born and expect a lot out of them, but by the time the second one comes around, they set the bar lower and don't care quite as much.

[Max]

I'd have to disagree with these assessments. Even today, I saw at least one comment praising B&B for being the strongest soap (prior to the departures of half of the core four). But, Y&R's ratings are much better than B&B's ratings are (regardless of the fact that B&B is gaining viewers while Y&R is losing them). And from a qualitative standpoint, that all-encompassing triangle should have ended long ago (as it has become a total bore). B&B has failed miserably when it comes to new storyline development (evidenced by the fact that the Joanna Johnson/Crystal Chappell storyline and the Marcus texting storyline were wrapped up so quickly).

This is an interesting observation. What is sad is that the first-born will likely outlive the younger child. I can't blame Flannery or Moss for leaving, because B&B rarely writes for them. For all its flaws, Y&R writes for its veterans.

[All My Shadows]

Y&R was so good for so long, and up until 05-06ish, it was generally considered the best soap on the air, to the point where it would sometimes the praise would just be annoying. Once it sank to the level of the other soaps, those passionate fans were furious, and they still are.

[DRW50]

Should people say B&B sucks before they criticize Y&R? If it makes you feel any better, I spent most of 2009-2011 here trashing B&B.

[Max]

Of course they don't need to do that.

It just made little sense to me how anyone could like B&B and its go-nowhere triangle (and think it was superior to what MAB wrote).

[DRW50]

I think the B&B triangle did work for a while, which may be why people don't mind it as much.

MAB also made hugely arrogant comments. Brad Bell has made some but it's not as noticeable because he never got the press hype she did.

[Ms. Chandler Quartermaine]

I think maybe it's because B&B is virtually the same show it has always been. It hasn't been gutted and stripped of what made it ~it~, like Y&R has.

And I said it once before,but out of all the soaps left, B&B still actually feels like a classic soap. Now, I'm not speaking on the quality level of the work by the writers, but just the overall appeal of it.

I've always made fun of my mom for being obsessed with it, cause I think it's a bit crap, with it's endless triangles. But when I watch it, I honestly feel like I'm watching a soap be a soap, not a soap opera failing miserably at trying to be a prime time show (GH), or a soap opera failing miserably at trying to be a soap opera (Days) !

[Chris B]

B&B burns through a lot of story by focusing on such few characters, but I do feel a lot of what they feature is entertaining. The day-to-day scripts are fantastic as is the cast. I think of B&B kept Steffy/Liam/Hope as the main story and developed other stories you'd have an excellent show and even higher ratings. One storyline can't sustain a soap, even a half hour one. Pretty soon viewers will get burned out and the ratings will trend downward.

For the secondary story I'd give Dayzee, Thomas, Rick and Amber more to do, thus continuing the trend of featuring younger characters. You also need another male character for Steffy or Hope to have a potential relationship with so the women stop looking so pathetic. Then you MUST feature Brooke or Taylor or people in that age range as your third story. There is enough time for that.

A Story: Steffy/Liam/Hope (4-5 days a week)

B Story: Dayzee/Marcus/Thomas/Rick/Amber (2-3 days a week)

C Story: Taylor/Brooke/Thorne/Whatever other random 40+ character (at least 2 days a week, more when story permits)

I think a weekly format like that would help the ratings. Now with Y&R, the show has fallen so low in quality that it's truly shocking. Y&R also had the same HW for 25 years, then two HWs that were very similar. The show was extremely successful for a reason and once they started playing around with the format and what made Y&R stand out, it ruined the show. Everything from the direction and rich production values we were used to, to the TYPES of actors cast has been changed and that has hurt the show.

[DaytimeFan]

Could not have said it better myself. B&B never was as good as Y&R and consequently it's never been held to the same standard, B&B hasn't changed, it's always been campy, easy to watch trash...Y&R wasn't. Y&R was daytime's Shakespeare for decades.

[Cat]

I have watched B&B since its inception in 1987 and, as a result, I have a lot of affection for this little show. Sometimes, you just need something easy and bite-size and glossy to digest and B&B has fit the bill in the past. Now, do I enjoy this latest triangle of suckage? NO. I think it is killing the show. I think Brad Bell's pig-headed refusal to recognise any other SL or characters is stupid and ridiculous. I think scaring away Ronn Moss and Susan Flannery (if the rumours are true) has been a major mistake. But then I've always thought Brad Bell was a hack. I don't mean hack in terms of fast-paced, glossy soap -- that's fine and B&B's M.O. I mean hack in terms of abruptly abandoning certain characters and SLs mid-stream and not taking advantage of this show's amazing potential. This is the mark of a bad writer IMO, and I have posted as such many times on this board.

Watching Y&R used to feel different. Like watching a classic movie. There have been moments when even Great Y&R has been a little too precious, a little too perfectly constructed. But Bill Bell always knew to leave a little wrinkle, a little ambiguity, so that we could revisit it in later years.

I will give MAB credit on this latter point, too, for the current Phyllis SL. However, it stacks up against a host of horrendous plots like Sarah Smythe, DAISYDAISYDAISY, Fetusgate, chipmunks, killing Jana in order to prop up the chemistry-free insta-romance between Kevin and Chloe, Philip's botched return and others too trite to mention. All these sensationalist plots were in reaction to LML's hell o' boring run but they made Y&R just as unrecognizeable as LML did.

Y&R should take great care because messing the audience around further and straying from a tried-and-tested great formula will erode viewer numbers -- and viewer goodwill. I used to watch GH religiously; now that it is a little better than Guza's hatchet job, I still cannot watch it on the regular. My goodwill for this show has completely evaporated. My love for Y&R hasn't -- yet.

[Cheap21]

More people watch Y&R hence theres more people to complain about the show. Its not that hard a concept to get