Y&R: November 2016 Discussion Thread

[JONNYSBRO]

This sweeps month feels it was written by interim writers. it had none of the stunt or spectacle of what Pratt usually writes.

[full hearts]

 considering some are already pissed at ssm. think she only cares about the characters 40+. I don't think a new family would be received that well right now. 

[ajsp35801]

I think a new family can be transitioned in slowly but it needs to be done from a character/actor that's been here for a while (Hilary, Chelsea, Neil's mother's family, Christine, Paul's brother's family, Ashley's father's family, etc.). The show has tried unsuccessfully to bring on unconnected family over the last couple years and I don't think the audience appreciated it. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

 

The irony is that soaps, especially ones like Y&R needs unconnected families, even in brief arcs. Y&R comes off as very incestuous. I agree that any new character, whether he/she comes with a family, should be transitioned in gradually to give the audience time to get to know and care about what happens to the character. I'm not saying they have to like the character but care about what this character has gotten up to, what he or she will do next, what happens to them.

 

The ideal way to introduce an unconnected character, IMO is to take a minor marginal character that's been around and expand his or her story by integrating them in other storylines featuring other characters.

Y&R used to kind of do this with a character like Lynn, Paul's administrative assistant.

Remember Cody, who used to work at Crimson Lights?  Well, suppose Cody had younger siblings and parents and a Grandma or Grandpa. One of Cody's siblings could have had their eye on Adam Newman or Kyle Abbott or even Devon. It could've started with a sibling popping up at Crimson Lights wanting a freebie smoothie or latte. That would've established character, relationship dynamic, in a short scene or two.

There are myriad of ways Y&R could've expanded from Cody's story alone to incorporate ex or current girlfriends, class/economic tensions, etc and expand their story repertoire.

Cody was such a minor character, he was pretty much a blank slate to write on.

Y&R had other minor characters in the past but now, after so many instances of poorly written stories and underutilized characters, the audience has little appetite for more characters being brought on, let alone an entire new family.

Y&R clearly wasn't interested.

[DeeeDee]

Y&R had the perfect opportunity to do just that with Raul & Brittany and they completely dropped they ball.

 

But until the new writers can prove they can write existing character in character they need not even think of introducing new families or off screen legacy characters.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I was going to mention Raúl but Y&R writers flopped badly on what little they did. Other than the diabetes storyline that read more like a PSA, neither Raúl nor Diego were thoughtfully written characters.

[ajsp35801]

 

I think most of the issues with the audience is that the show brings them in and makes them the center of all things. Shoves them whole down viewers' throats

 

Look at how Hilary has been written her entire time on the show. Everything Winters related was about her for YEARS. Luca and Marisa came on and dominated story. Luca was the shoved into stories that shouldn't have hand anything to do with him. Travis and Vikki were written like some grande romance with location shoots. He's another that was made pivotal to story unnecessarily. Remember Summers wedding where he showed up to stop it with some pivotal information like he was a recast Drucilla returned from the dead. 

 

I agree with you. It has to be done slowly. 

 

[ajsp35801]

Double post

[DramatistDreamer]

@ajsp35801 Yeah, all soaps in the last several years have made the mistake of saturating the audience with storylines surrounding a new or relatively new character, which is a sure-fire way to build viewer resentment against these characters.

 

I still think, if done thoughtfully, it's not too late to write Hillary better.  I have been reading all the Y&R posts (though I admit I haven't watched the show in some time) and I think the environment they've put Hillary in is all wrong for the character.

Y&R needs to put Hillary back in a corporate environment. When Hillary is part of a team, you see more sides to the character, you can see the calculating side, the side that is about preservation and self-interest but you also see the side that is all about delivering a professional job performance for the good of the company.

 

Hillary should be a thorn in Jill's side at Chancellor Industry. Devon, as a major investor who practically helped deliver the company out of Victor's grasp into Jill's stewardship could have wrested a place for him and Hillary on the board of directors and Hillary could have twisted Jill's arm into creating a lofty position for her withing CI. Jill, thinking she could create a 'nothing position' with a lofty sounding title, could pretend to go along but surprise, Hillary carves out an actual career out of paper job title.  

It could be a lot of fun, seeing Jill pushback against this, despite the fact that deep down both know that they actually work really well together.

Tons of corporate-related storyline posibilities there.

[DeeeDee]

Raul was a great character played by a capable actor. David Lago is/was a reliable actor (like Kristoff St. John or Doug Davidson) who isn't flashy but can/could realistically share scenes with just about any character on canvas without it stretching the show's credibility.

 

The introduction of Raul & Diego's working class parents was a nice nod to Y&R's fairly blue collar roots.

 

The problem was in the casting of Diego.

 

The original Diego (Diego Serrano) was very solid addition to the show but as soon as Y&R decided Diego would be paired with its white female leads they immediately recast the character with Greg Vaughan who was attractive but terrible.

 

Y&R had same problem with Lauren Woodland's Brittany.

 

John Martin & Mitzi Kapture's Fred & Anita were great additions to the show & helped to explain a lot about Brittany.

 

But Y&R dumped them (like Gutierrez family) to pay for huge new sets and to keep certain veteran actors happy.

[DramatistDreamer]

My most vivid memory of the Raúl character is that nobody could pronounce his damn name properly. Seriously, these people are his friends, how hard is it to learn to pronounce the guy's name? They didn't have the roll the r's but I was convinced that there was any true respect for a character from that time on.  It sounds like I'm joking but I'm serious, maybe because I grew up with a guy named Raúl and it strikes me as totally dismissive that no one would insist that anyone, I mean anyone would learn to pronounce his name properly.

 

The less said about Diego, the better.

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 This had me convinced that Y&R wasn't serious about building a Latino family for the show any more than they were serious about building an Asian family with Luan, Keemo and his sister Mai.

[JONNYSBRO]

 

I dont want to see a new family created. Sally should launch a murder mystery emcompassing the whole cast. a huge umbrella story

[DeeeDee]

Y&R's on set dialect coach insisted his name be pronounced Rall, which is what most of the cast did.

 

However some of the vets did what they wanted & referred to the character as Raool (Jerry Douglas was notorious for this).

 

For as much of a failure as Diego was (mainly due to Greg Vaughan) the Gutierrez family had it MUCH better than the poor Voliens. That story was one of the most racist stories in Y&R history. Up there with Tyrone painting himself white to infiltrate the mob.

Two white saviors learn their friendly neighborhood chinese takeout lady left a baby behind in Vietnam. They travel halfway across the world to find him which they do (after a week) living like Mowgli IN THE JUNGLE as a fullgrown adult.

 

Said fullgrown adult speaks almost perfect English yet has no idea of American customs and idolizes white women.

 

After a year of pouting & trying to screw any white woman he could get his hands on his LONG SUFFERING NOBLE mother eventually dies from a terminal illness he takes his sister AND RETURNS TO THE WILDS OF VIETNAM.

[YRfan23]

Most of that was because Bergman got his way right? (Luna dying etc...)

[Y&R21395]

Because Diane Jenkins' murder was just that enthralling, right?