Wasn't there an adult Billy before DT? Or would he be considered a teen? I seem to remember a dark-haired Billy in the late '90s/early '00s, but maybe that guy was after DT, my memory...

David Tom was the first.

It was David Tom as the first teen/adult (perfect)

Ryan Brown (meh)

Scott Seymour (wtf?)

Billy Miller (barf)

Who was Ryan Brown's Billy paired with? I just looked up the other actors and I think I'm remembering him.

Wasn't there an adult Billy before DT? Or would he be considered a teen? I seem to remember a dark-haired Billy in the late '90s/early '00s, but maybe that guy was after DT, my memory...

DT played Billy in the late '90s/early '00s,

Who was Ryan Brown's Billy paired with? I just looked up the other actors and I think I'm remembering him.

Kelly Kruger's MacKenzie

Who was Ryan Brown's Billy paired with? I just looked up the other actors and I think I'm remembering him.

He only worked with Kelly Kruger as Mac.

Thanks, I'm not exactly sure who I'm remembering.

people outgrow characters and just bc you are the original actor, doesn't mean you will always be right fit it, especially after one has been gone for over a decade and the role has been recast multiple times.

I just can't see how he can be not a right fit for what is his character. This whole idea reminds me of how on FRIENDS Joey had to audition to see if he would be right as Dr Drake Romoray on DOOL--the role he previously played. It was fodder for comedy in fiction because the whole idea is so bizarre in real life. It would be like if they did a new Brady show now as adults and the producers decided Maureen McCormick was all wrong to play Marcia.

Call it whatever you want, but if those in charge do no tolerate out of shape women then I will not tolerate men with beer guts! Sorry not sorry. I am not saying that DT needed to look like a male model. I am saying that his arms shouldn't look like a 55 year old woman's nor should his stomach stick out further than his chest.

LMAO...the first thing I thought when I saw the pic was "WTF...they replaced Billy Miller with that?". I wasn't a big fan of Miller's acting towards the latter half of his tenure on the show but he def wasn't flabby or bad to look at from day to day...this guy was bland as they come.

this whole thing is such a mess... Billy Miller will likely be back in the role by years's end, out of desperation for a paycheck.

Edited May 25, 201411 yr by dio

I just can't see how he can be not a right fit for what is his character. This whole idea reminds me of how on FRIENDS Joey had to audition to see if he would be right as Dr Drake Romoray on DOOL--the role he previously played. It was fodder for comedy in fiction because the whole idea is so bizarre in real life. It would be like if they did a new Brady show now as adults and the producers decided Maureen McCormick was all wrong to play Marcia.

Absolutely.

They were not writing Billy for David Tom and that is where this all starts to unravel. David Tom's Billy was Jill Abbott's most prized possession, the son she adored, her second chance at motherhood, of getting something right in life, at proving her worth through her child. David Tom's Billy was, really, an extension of Jill Abbott. And like Kate and Lucas Roberts on DAYS, the whole point of the child is to bolster the mother, serve her storylines, serve her character.

Sometime before Billy Miller's Billy the decision was apparently made that Jill Abbott was never getting an A-storyline again and that she would support scenes written by that hack bitch from the depths of hell LML featuring that down under wonder Cane.

And that's when the purpose of the character of Billy changed. He became a rapidly aged character, a leading man, hardly shared scenes with Jill, let alone the other Abbotts and went into the Newman orbit, married Victoria and had all these crap storylines that didn't fit the character's origins.

So many characters have been destroyed since 2005 when this show left the control of Bill Bell's team. The ones that have gone largely ignored (Jill, Ashley, Tracey and Neil spring to mind) are the lucky ones because they haven't been truly gutted.

Y&R is a husk and decisions like these only made it more evident.

Aren't those in charge STILL operating independently of viewers thoughts and feelings. Yeah, they say they use focus groups. I just feel like that is all smoke and mirrors. It gives an excuse/justification to do what they want to do.

We are talking about two different things:

Current headwriters, which vary from hacks to mildly talented (but still unable to handle daytime drama) write by committee, think the audience will, or at the very least should, adore their stories, and don't care about the show or its viewers unless there is such a massive outcry and/or ratings decline that the network forces them to shape up--temporarily. But, in the end, it will be the same old, same old.

Writers of Bill Bell's caliber could best be described as "not caring" for their viewers' thoughts and feelings. By which I mean, they had such vision and were so talented, that they "didn't care" if the audience was complaining because they knew--they just knew--that, once the story reaches a certain beat/point, all will be revealed/understood and the audience will LOVE it. They knew not to give the audience the easy gratification but to give it what it needed. They had their finger on the audience's pulse, whether by instinct, or by fanmail and such. And most of the time, it worked. When they truly made a mistake (Katherine is a lesbian, Christine/Victor romance, Nina's baby dying, among other examples), they heard the audience and REWROTE. But this attitude should only be employed when you are a talented writer.

Funny that--the talented, genius writers are willing to change course when it was truly warranted but the hacks stick to the same crap with almost pathological stubbornness.

Absolutely.

They were not writing Billy for David Tom and that is where this all starts to unravel. David Tom's Billy was Jill Abbott's most prized possession, the son she adored, her second chance at motherhood, of getting something right in life, at proving her worth through her child. David Tom's Billy was, really, an extension of Jill Abbott. And like Kate and Lucas Roberts on DAYS, the whole point of the child is to bolster the mother, serve her storylines, serve her character.

Sometime before Billy Miller's Billy the decision was apparently made that Jill Abbott was never getting an A-storyline again and that she would support scenes written by that hack bitch from the depths of hell LML featuring that down under wonder Cane.

And that's when the purpose of the character of Billy changed. He became a rapidly aged character, a leading man, hardly shared scenes with Jill, let alone the other Abbotts and went into the Newman orbit, married Victoria and had all these crap storylines that didn't fit the character's origins.

So many characters have been destroyed since 2005 when this show left the control of Bill Bell's team. The ones that have gone largely ignored (Jill, Ashley, Tracey and Neil spring to mind) are the lucky ones because they haven't been truly gutted.

Y&R is a husk and decisions like these only made it more evident.

Absolutely, 100% spot on.

David Tom can hardly be blamed for not succeeding in a role that is Billy Abbott only in name. The character was massively rewritten to the point of being completely unrecognizable. It has nothing to do with growing out of it. On top of that, he had to work with a zombie of an actress who made it clear publicly she was tanking her scene partner. I just hoped they would afford a freakin vet, the originator of the character, the same millions of chances they afford other less (much less) talented actors and characters.

It's a shame, really. Billy's arrival in Genoa City, and what that meant for Jill, were HUGE stories and affected a big part of the canvas. To see the blatant disrespect for that chunk of the show's (his)story in favor of a grinning ham with perpetually unzipped pants is saddening, to put it mildly.

DT was doing an outstanding job once again as Billy. It's not his fault he doesn't have chemistry with vampira.

Wait a minute -- Papa Bell actually attempted to pair The Mustache with The Bug? I totally do not remember that! Wow. He really did love his daughter, didn't he? (Either that, or he was looking for a really good reason to get her away from the show, lol.)

Now, I'm not suggesting viewers should rally around BJ regardless of his talent level. Definitely, give the guy a chance to prove himself. If he sucks, then pray TPTB will show him the door as well. (Of course, as I think I have suggested up-thread, if BJ flops, and TPTB still can't lure back BM, then that's pretty much the end of the road for Billy Abbott.) But if he's actually good...? Then, my suggestion is to beat the old drums as loudly as you can. Let TPTB know however you can that this Billy is a keeper, regardless of whether he has chemistry w/ AH. As fans, I think, we have to fight on the same level as the die-hard BM fans (w/o resorting to any "dirty tricks," mind you) because, chances are, BJ will be fighting an uphill battle with that contingent starting on day damn one.

Edited May 26, 201411 yr by Khan