Y&R: Beating the Odds

[Cruising Soaps]

I would have loved the bad guys beat Billy up with his old face, and then when they were done the new face appeared.  

[YRfan23]

that was so stupid as they made it seem like that way, and all of a sudden he turns over and doesn't even look like he got beat up....

then you have Noah back into him and make you think that's what's gonna mess him up more, but it's still the same result....almost like they know he's gonna be recast and are just stupidly teasing the audience by making it look like he will be mutilated into Jason Thompson...

[edgeofnik]

100% YES. You completely summed up the way I've felt about Billy Miller's Billy. He WAS a breath of fresh air on the canvas and the Billy/Chloe pairing was great for all those reasons and more (EH/BM has great chemistry together and so did SC/BM - was so hot and they killed that).

And you're absolute right about the moving of roles. I really imagined a couple of years ago that Jack would be more like John as the true paternal guiding force for the Abbott family and Billy would follow in the 'Jack of the 80s' role. Good grief, with BM they had all of that - sex appeal, humor, sarcasm, quips, etc. He definitely had more Terry Lester swagger than Aunt Jack ever did! (Let's face it do you think we would have EVER called TL Aunt Jack?)

Absolute NO on killing Billy off - he's the product of a huge pairing in Y&R history - with Billy gone - that ends. Giving the character a break, definitely. My hope is that Jill gets involved with the spyware venture, but I suppose that depends on JW. I hated BJ when he was first cast, but I will admit I've enjoyed the past two months and thought that BJ has handled the material well, especially considering how long he's know he was out. But in my mind, GrampsBilly was more like a 'missing' Abbott brother, which would totally believable if they'd done that, who was far closer to Jack/Ashley/Traci age than, say, a peer of Nick/Victoria. 

The only thing that would have worked better with the next generation: Not killing the Jack/Nikki child. I never got that. When Nikki was pregnant, I though what a great way to continue the Newman/Abbott rivalry for years to come. However, these are soaps, so I'd actually forgive Pratt if he came up with a story that Nikki's baby had lived and someone (other than Victor) took him, etc. 

[dio]

lmao, wat? I honestly have NO IDEA what y'all are remembering when you recall 'pre-Victoria, AWESOME Billy!' because I remember him being a 24/7 punk, always and forever. That's Billy. He's a punk. Nothing has changed except the actor. That's his character. Or are we rewriting Billy/Mac in order to drag the current regime/Amelia Heinle? LOL

[cassadine1991]

Wonder if they'll pull the same thing AW did when Ellen Wheeler came back as Marley

[NothinButAttitude]

They are never going to use Jill in the same capacity again, so Billy can go. He can either be killed off or written off. IDC, he just needs to go. They've destroyed this character beyond repair. We got a glimpse of old Billy back when David Tom took over the role again but it was quickly lost when he was repaired with Victoria and recast with Burgess Jenkins. Yes, Grandpa Billy brought it at times, but I found him grating 99% of the time. 

Billy was a punk but still had good qualities about him. Billy isn't a punk now. He's a spineless wimp that stays whining and playing the victim. It's old. It's tired. Plus, pairing him with Victoria has declawed/neutered him. 

[detroitpiston]

I agree, Billy has always been a loser and a punk. The pairing with Victoria sucks but I wouldn't say the way he acts in it is out of character at all. He loves his family but can't help screwing it all up, that fits with how he's always been written IMO.

 

When is JT's first airdate? I'm ready to see what he brings.

[cassadine1991]

JT first airs either January 13 or 14

[dio]

i'm sorry, but no. Billy has always been whiney and spineless. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That was part of his charm, imo. When he would be running around town begging Mac to come back to him or self-districting because she wouldn't take him back, etc I found that interesting from a male character standpoint, because you rarely ever see male characters in soaps that vulnerable. Looking @ Billy NOW? He's pretty much the same. LOL The lack of character growth is what bothers me (but then that's basically every character on the canvas except Phyl, which is weird because she's one of the few characters that should remain set in their ways...) 

 

PS. give me one instance when Billy EVER had claws?  Billy was never that kind of character. He was a party boy that fell in love and remains so. 

[NothinButAttitude]

David Tom's whole first stint on the show, the character had more spunk than he did any other time. I'd even say the first half of Billy Miller's stint, he did as well. You can respectfully disagree but I meant what I said. The character was declawed or practically neutered when he was paired next to the succubus known as Victoria Newman.

[DRW50]

I think the idea of Bacteria was that it was supposed to put Billy into the big leagues. Fighting with the Newmans, moving on from his family (whom he never gave a sh!t about under Miller's run, even hitting Traci up for a loan right after her daughter died). And a lot of fans latched onto Bacteria too, likely because most of Billy's pairings had been viewer flops, not helped by Miller's unshakeable anti-chemistry with all his co-stars (which he has since blessed GH with). Billy/Chloe did have fans but the show seemed to back far away from that one for whatever reason.

 

Somewhere along the way, many of those fans probably did move on, and it just became the pet project of Amelia Heinle and of course whoever calls the shots, but I feel like the character was very damaged long before Victoria. Mostly because of the show's poor casting, indulging of actor egomania, and contempt for the Abbott family.

[Mathewson]

Billy/BJ had some of the best lines. He and Mariah are the only people I've seen show any kind of wit on this show. He and Victoria had no chemistry. He had more with Chelsea/MCE. But the writing was on the wall. I'd rather they just kill Billy off. Jason Thompson can act but I really don't care to see some plastic surgery nonsense and JT always checks out before long. He always seems so angry onscreen and it's not cute.

Why do so many people want Billy Miller back? I love "American Sniper" but BM couldn't act in that movie either and he only had one scene anyway (thank God!). Some "star" he is.

 

[sivad40]

Why kill Billy off just because  David Tom or Billy Miller isn't portraying him?

[slick jones]

I wouldn't kill Billy off, but I would send him off screen for 6 months to a year. Give Kyle a chance to actually become a character. Plenty of time to bring some other characters into stories.  Then I would bring David Tom back.  Also, JT should be a Brooks/Foster/Chancellor, not Billy. The show is too incestuous right now....

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Is it just me or is it sad that when you google DT, 2 pics of Billy Miller are in his top row....yucccchhhhh!..

[edgeofnik]

Honestly, the best thing to come out of Bacteria - MCE. Adding her has been one of the best things to watch during the past few years. I didn't know her previous work, so she was new to me as an actor. I didn't realize how much I grew to like her until it dawned on me that I've never FF through any of her scenes. 

David Tom would actually perfect for this 'new' direction with Billy putting him with Kevin, Mariah and, soon, this Natalie character. I do like the way that they are willing to mix things up on the business side away from Jabot/Newman with the Neville group (an interesting group of characters who normally don't cross) and with the Kevin venture (thank goodness for CG, she has really helped GR become watchable again - even though the character could be gone tomorrow and I wouldn't miss him).