Y&R September Discussion

[DaytimeFan]

Such as? Eric Braeden, Melody Thomas Scott, Jeanne Cooper? All unknowns to daytime when they started on Y&R. The only notable NBC star would be Susan Flannery, but she'd had more than ten years since DAYS before she came to B&B. Peter Bergman, of AMC, certainly fits the bill, but then he assumed a front burner role from a previous actor.

And it isn't an issue of these, or any actor, coming from ABC or NBC. What people are failing to notice is that I pointed out the Chelsea/Dylan characters have been parachuted into the front burner, that is a classic ABC tactic from the Frons years. That never happened on Y&R and B&B when Bill Bell was in charge.

[Mr. Vixen]

Chelsea hasn't been. She has been on the show for 2 years, and until this baby story started, was always a supporting player.

[DaytimeFan]

Ahh but you see, with Bill Bell she would have been transitioned into a front burner story with a longstanding character, not someone like Dylan. True, she may have been transitioned with Adam, but even he is a botched character.

[kalbir]

There were several actors Bill Bell worked with on Days in the 1960s and 1970s that came on Y&R in the 1980s. Off the top of my head I can think of Peter Brown (who also appeared on B&B in the early 1990s), the late Margaret Mason, Susan Seaforth Hayes.

[Mr. Vixen]

True.

[DaytimeFan]

All of whom were supporting (or recurring) characters, not one of them was front burner.

[Chris B]

The problem is that Melissa Claire Egan is a boring one note actress. She is terrible at playing a heroine and she just doesn't have any chemistry or seem to gel in the Y&R cast. The character has had horrible storylines from day one and she should be written off. Unfortunately, this anti-chemistry is what Y&R wants now. I expect big things for her, Steve Burton and Jessica Collins boring ass.

[full hearts]

DEAD. Sad but true.

[Taiah]

I agree that MCE is terrible at playing a heroine and I've seen enough of Chelsea whining and fretting to sidekick Chloe to last a lifetime. As for Dylan, well SB's crying has improved but I still don't care for the character. I don't care how many tragic things happen to him or who he gets insta related to.

[Paul Raven]

There is along list of Days actors who came to Y&R including Patty Weaver, Don Diamont,Robert Clary,Quinn Redeker and some of them were front burnered quite quickly. The difference is that the characters had substance and they were seamlessly woven into the story.

A very early and unusual instance of 'name' actors being brought on was when Meg Bennett and Nick Benedict came on as Julia and Michael in 1980.The show was going to an hour and maybe they thought having some known faces might help.

But overall,Bell wasn't interested in 'stunt' casting

[Chris B]

The writing with Bill Bell was better and also he had a certain type of actor that worked for his brand. You can see it on DAYS, Y&R and B&B (which have all always shared actors). That is my problem with a lot of the recent casting, the actors don't fit the mold of a Bell soap. It's kinda hard to explain, but it's very noticeable when you have people like Amelia Heinle playing Victoria or Tammin Sursok as Colleen. Even Michael Muhney, although a good actor, doesn't fit the Y&R style the way Chris Eghan did IMO.

[Aback]

YES. I totally agree.

[chicklitsandfantasies]

Watching Lily try to stand her ground, just no! CK can't pull off that attitude

[full hearts]

Minus the reveal scenes, I have not liked this baby story. I really don't care about these characters. MCE and SBu did good work but not enough for me to care. Avery is just dull.

[DaytimeFan]

Exactly. The weird, anti-Bell casting started with Heinle as Victoria...it IS hard to explain why these actors don't fit the Bell framework, but they just don't. You really can see the Bell Pedigree with people like Lauren Koslow at DAYS (also of Y&R and B&, Heather Tom and Don Diamont who have succeeded in going from show to show. Visually, they are distinct people. Amelia Heinle, Michael Muhney, Tammin Sursok, while beautiful people (they're on television of course), just don't have that distinctiveness that Bell actors do.