Y&R: December 2016 Discussion Thread

[JONNYSBRO]

Under Phelps, Y&R saw some of its best ratings totals in years. In January 2015, The Young and the Restless drew a whopping 5,110,000 viewers according to Nielsen's ratings system. For the week of May 9, 2016, Y&R had 4,758,000 viewers -- a drop of about seven percent from the 2015 high. However, Y&R ended the May Sweeps with its highest ratings since 2009.

 

This is from soapcentral about JFP.  highest ratings for this past May sweeps since 2009. that confuses me unless JFP pissed someone off. her ratings were fantastic.

[GMac]

There has been a marked improvement since 12/7, no doubt about it.  Has every episode been stellar?  No.  But that was true even in soap's heyday, under every writing regime and even the most acclaimed ones.  For the most part, I like what Mal, Sally and Kay are doing.  

 

If your idea of good soap are plane crashes, high rise infernos and doppelgängers, you've never watched a well written show.

 

[ClassicsSoapFan]

As I have said before:

JFP is nothing but tricks and stunts. Huge snowstorm! Devastating tornado! Building collapse! Bomb set off at a major gathering! Kill a beloved character! Kill a child!

 

That spikes ratings (maybe) but doesn't help in the longterm.

 

Sally and Kay are old school. They are cleaning up the mess JFP, Pissy the show killer (ask an ATWT fan,) Altman and Pratt and Griffith  created.

Soaps of old were built on character development not jerky plots with stunts. Soapwriters of old played ever point and took their time investing in their stories.

 

I am willing to give Sussman a chance. Hey I gave Bill Bell a chance when he told the Mickey/Bill/Laura story that went on for two years.

 

Todays audience doesn't have the patience to watch a story build.  Susman, Bell, Marland Phillips,Slesar and Nixon ---That is what  smart tv is !

They prefer JFP, Pissy the show killer (ask an ATWT fan,) Altman ,Pratt Carlivati ,Valentini et al!

 

[Soapsuds]

That would be me. Back then most were patient because the payoff was so good. Now the payoff is lame and not worth the time to keep viewers glued to their TV sets.  TPTB either push down your throats awful conclusions or continue stories that should have ended months ago. Bradley Bell is prime example of it.

[Soaplovers]

I think there has to be a happy medium between JFP stunts and Bell's old school storytelling.  

 

I havent watched for awhile...but i do have to admit I enjoyed seeing hilary today.  She wants to be seen as successful in her merits...and not be in Devon or any man's shadow.  Sussman/alden get that about hilary...while the other writers seemed to spend time having her be a ping pong ball between Neil and Devon.

 

Brash and Sassy...hmmm...run by three incompetent people....call Jill...your boss....she'd find some space for the company to go that isnt newman towers nor Jabot.

 

Im glad jack isnt forgiving Billy just yet....but he has to be careful not to let emotion guide his kidgement in business and....wait...this is actually in character for jack...he always lets emotion cloud his judgement.

 

I like Mariah...she isnt a goody goody..nor is she an all out bad girl either.  She's got different shades to her character.

[YRBB]

Today was a good show, especially the stuff at Jabot, with the exception of AH acting like somebody told her she shouldn't have ice cream. When DG sells it more than you do, you need to GO! But Billy/Jack, Ashley/Cane, and then of course the great "He's dead!" were wonderful. Jack is being written to say and act (out) like he usually would in the situation. This is part of who the real Jack is, and despite the OTT complaints about Bergman, he's played that side of Jack for decades. Ashley was a little out of character at moments, but two people who don't know here were writing her, so I'll give them a pass until they've had more time to pull out them classic tapes from storage and catch up lol

 

That Farah chick was SO bad. My God.

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 But enjoyable too, in a trainwreck, this-woman-has-clearly-never-acted-before way. At least I'm 99% sure it was a one-off stunt cast. Unfortunately, that eye sore set they created for Sage is back but I hope they can decorate it well enough to mask some of its JFPness. 

 

Devon/Neil discussing knowing Hilary's sexual prowess and such was ICKY. Gross. But I liked seeing him with both Devon and Jack.

 

I do hope, now that Cane's called her, we see Jill blaze back into town and whoop some ass!

 

And, just to get it out of my system: It's been a week and a day. One week and a day. 13 years of destruction are not just undone like that. You don't come out of that smelling like roses. Of course they still feature stories, characters and actors that don't work. No reasonable person can hold it against them for featuring Abby, Summer, Cane, etc. Who else are they going to show? Some riveting drama about a disgruntled Crimson Lights extra? They're not going to dump 15 characters from one day to the next. Now, if in 5 or 6 months we don't have a solid show on our hands, then we've got a problem...

 

 

[JONNYSBRO]

Mal Young has been EP 6 months now and so far the only good stuff i saw was Phyllis and Billy fallout which was all JFPs stuff leftover. One that ended its been absolutely nothing. Maybe what Sally needs more of a Wendy Riche who is more seasoned. I dont see a vision is my problem.

[wingwalker]

After a couple of "meh" shows, today's was mostly good. Loved the Jabot stuff. Love that S&K aren't wasting any time kicking Brass and Sassy out of Jabot. NEVER made sense to begin with, though I'm not sure how Jack can just break a lease and kick them out either, hopefully there's some clause in the lease Jack's using. 

[YRBB]

Yeah, I hope Jack remains firm, because it makes no damn sense.

 

On another note, that little comedy bit with the elf costume was cute & they had those two dudes that work at GC Buzz reacting in the background to all the craziness that was going on, and that was a little funny.

[JONNYSBRO]

Give Gina Tognoni a juicy storyline. She delivers bigtime. I would love Phyllis to meet a new guy. 

[GMac]

 

In his scenes with AH and ED, DG was talking soooo low.  I had to dial up the volume.  I'm no fan of AH's Victoria, but if they styled her a little more...Cruella deVille (lol), I think she could pull off the cold/threatening lines that they had her saying today.  Just a hunch.

 

The thing that struck me, PB hasn't played Jack as a prick for a long time.  He hasn't been written like that in a long time.  It's cool with me if they go that route with the character, but be consistent.  Sure, he can have his prissy moments but not so wishy washy.

 

I kinda liked Farah.  High camp.

 

+1 for the bolded text 

[KMan101]

 

LOVED that elf costume bit. Perfect timing on everyone's part.

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I liked the girl who was talking to Mariah through it all. Mariah could use a talk to that isn't Sharon or Kevin.

 

God yes, DG was talking sooo low. He whispers just about everything.

 

Farah definitely had camp, I guess, if I'm going to give her a compliment. She looked amazing but these women really have to stop [!@#$%^&*] with their faces.

 

I agree that AH did fine in the line delivery and I liked her pulling away from Billy taking her hand. He's already ready to pounce on her. They both need a long break from relationships.

 

And yep, it's been a week and a day. The show is VERY watchable. I see a lot of improvement. It's going to take some time. I think they're doing fine. But of course I'm going to say whether the episode is meh, or good or bad. Even when it's bad it's still better than the other three soaps at the moment.

[ChitHappens]

 

Depends on the language in the lease. 

 

Amelia is not much better than a corpse. Not enjoyable at all. NunununuBilly is not working for me at all. I like JT as an actor but Billy's personality has completely changed. He's an arrogant POS and that's not who Billy is.  

[ryanc]

I feel like Billy is more in character now than he's ever been..

[KMan101]

I actually think the arrogance has been toned down. How else is he supposed to be around pissy Aunt Jack? Thompson works for me, and I liked him in scenes with Beth Maitland, Davidson and Jess. He has chemistry with them, IMO. What's so bad about him? I'd still prefer David Tom but that's just me.

 

He looks less tired and gray on this show than he did for years on GH where he phoned it in for a long time. He at least shows up for work again.