The Young and the Restless: December 2014 Thread

[full hearts]

Same for me. YR was my first experience with the soap fandom back in 2009. Wasn't on here but another board and it was crazy. I'll always loathe the term "soapy goodness" because it was used so much defend that mess.

[NothinButAttitude]

I agree. I think that Bill learned his lesson with killing off Phillip--a mistake that he hugely regretted he made. I think he would've been cautious about killing another legacy child. Hell, did he approve of Cassie being killed off? Or was that around the time he was about to succumb to his illness?

And speaking of Phillip, I am sure Bill spun in his grave at that half-asses retcon. Talk about jumping the shark with no real payoff in the end.

[Paul Raven]

Bill Bell thought out stories and plot twists carefully because for him there was no option of 'just write it for story now and deal with the consequences later'.

How better things were without the option of the back from the dead or long lost twin used regularly every time a popular actor wanted to leave and come back.

[NothinButAttitude]

So true. I find those tropes to be worn out by now. Nowadays, I just prefer that characters move away and eventually come back down the road rather than be killed off or come back as a long lost twin.

[titan1978]

And yet, he stated in interviews he didn't do bibles or long term story projection. He just wrote the show as he wanted day by day and week by week.

Which explains some of the pace and the strange inconsistencies with some of the stories. It doesn't explain how much he got right and how much his stories did come together as if they were planned out in exacting detail. Except Bell knew his show and his characters, so no matter the story he knew how to use every piece of his show to move story forward.

[NothinButAttitude]

But seriously 99% of the writers today NEED story bibles/long-term projections because that's the only way they'll be able make some sense of the sh*t they put out.

[YRfan23]

I would like to know more about how Bill never wrote out long term stories past the first 12 years.....I mean there was indeed quite a bit of laziness IMO, but at the same time, everything was plotted out more carefully and key scenes always made sense. There was never anything forgotten or retconned for the most part......I'm sure Alden fixed some of the laziness when she took over 1998.....

[NothinButAttitude]

Bill had lazy years?!

I'll take those lazy years for $1000, Alex.

They are lightyears better than what is on TV now.

How I wish I could back the hands of time....

[DRW50]

I think he must have had some long-term story plans. The whole Jill/Jack affair saga and aftermath felt that way to me. Other times, like Malcolm raping Dru, he clearly did not, and by the last few years before Alden became headwriter, the show was aimless as hell.

[YRfan23]

I guess I'm thinking about some of his minor inconsistencies, Like for example there I uploaded a few episodes where Traci was in the hospital because she was spotting (this was when she was first pregnant with Colleen) Ashley was the one who had taken to the hospital (offscreen) and John mostly stayed by her side...

Jack on the other hand seemed to be kept in the dark about Traci because in those same episodes he has scenes with Ashley, but not once does she mention Traci being in the hospital....You would think since that's their younger sister she would bring it up..

Of course I can't remember if Traci said she didn't want anybody to know, plus I know this isn't the first error we have seen in soaps, but I was just trying to point out something that was a little inconsistent with Bill's writing...

[NothinButAttitude]

Oh I know. I was just personally saying that I'd take those years with small continuity errors back over today's mess. Not dig at you, buddy.

More so at the current regime and SONY, who I hope stumbles upon our threads one day....

[Paul Raven]

I'm sure with a lot of stories Bill had an idea where they were going.Read his letters to Betty Corday to see how he plotted and planned Days.

Writing an hour soap with so many characters probably meant more inconsistencies but I am surprised that he did stuff like the Carl Williams amnesia story which rewrote recent history and then he turned around and dropped the whole thing.

[ChitHappens]

I am leaning towards rewrite until I think of the fact that Michael and Kevin NEVER crossed paths until the reveal. Kevin stayed on the opposite side of the law, yet he never had a reason to be in Michael's orbit? At some point, a criminal and the resident attorney meet for one reason or another. Regardless, it worked. It worked until Kevin was whitewashed as opposed to a redemption story. When did Soaps begin to bypass redemption stories? It wasn't always like this.

[ChitHappens]

Many of the hacks of today have done this too many times. Push the envelope with these characters and avoid writing them out. Adam should have been gone 6 months after it was revealed he was not human. Instead, they took sledgehammers to the entire cast to accommodate misunderstood Adam. I gave YR up once I saw how the canvas was sacrificed for him.

I always use Ryan's Hope as an example of how to write out a psycho and let the characters deal with the damage. The wacko who kidnapped Faith and kept her in a filthy room and ultimately was the cause of her father's death was written out as the loon he was. The actor was really good but there was no place on canvas for that psycho. Not sure when this changed, but it was one of the nails in the genre's coffin!

I will say, however, the scenes with Jack and Adam were wonderful Friday! I may watch again today. Justin Hartley is amazing and he and Peter work beautifully off of one another. Really good eppy Friday. I was home, so what the hell?

[dragonflies]

I still remember people on this very board hating on Chris Engen cause he didn't want to do the story with Adam seducing that guy lol

I love JH but I think Adam would have been so much more a sympathetic type character if CE had still been in the role