Y&R: December 2016 Discussion Thread

[Soapsuds]

Yup, loved all three. I missed a funeral to see the Lily reveal.....LOL. I had a VCR at the time and my family saying you can record and we can see it later. I was like no I am not going.....LOL.  The Tad Channing mystery ending  surprised me. I love stories like that. I don't think there has been a story in years that has had me in suspense.

 

 

 

The Devon crash didn't surprise me or shock me one bit. I saw it 2 miles away....LOL. It was very unoriginal and boring. He the actor is not leaving that cast that I know of....I wish he was... so we know he will survive it.

[Vee]

I do like JT as Billy, I think he has the right swagger. I don't think he had the best entry, coming in under Pratt and then immediately being thrust into a story where he spat on Jack and became aggressively unsympathetic, which Pratt and Jill apparently just thought made him cool, which is the cliche mold so many soap creatives fall back on these days. No matter how much chemistry he had with Gina (and there was a lot of it, IMO) there was almost no way to do that story that didn't ravage the characters, especially a very new recast like Thompson.

 

It will be a long way back but I think SSM has shown a commitment to rehabiltating Billy's character and softening him up. I've been fine with it. My problem is that I just don't think Victoria as played by Heinle is interesting enough for him. They have some chemistry but it's very bland. Unfortunately I suspect CBS/Sony is more likely to allow them to replace Thompson than Heinle. I don't think she'll ever leave unless she chooses to. Then again, I never thought Morina* or Alden would come back.

 

As for the rest of the show, I think they changed a lot of things on Day 1, very dramatically so. But that had more to do with resetting character and family dynamics than with the active plotting, because there were/are virtually no active plotlines on the show when they took over. And December is not necessarily the best time to launch a bunch of new ones. I think we'll have a clearer picture of the new storylines in 2017.

 

* - is it still Sally Sussman Morina or just Sussman?

[YRBB]

I thought it was an OK episode. It did what Y&R did often -- an episode of various characters hanging around, having small interactions, and some parts worked really well (like Mariah saying she and Ravi had a very awkward start but she was in), but a lot of the characters, as they stand now, not to mention the writing, are not complex or good enough right now for it to completely work. Not to mention the whole thing hinged on the Mariah/Hilary tripgate and the whole thing's a bit silly (I mean, Hilary was 'evil'? Overstatement galore!). But kudos for the beautiful party and the fireworks CGI that actually looked good.

 

About the crash being predictable -- irrelevant. They showed multiple scenes of Devon driving erratically. It wasn't meant to surprise but build to the accident and the audience's anticipation. I thought it was nicely filmed. Loved Hilary sliding down the wall and crying -- very soapy. 

 

I'm hoping they got the Reed casting correct. I refuse to hate on him already LOL

 

Now that the holidays are done with, I hope they can use the accident, Reed's arrival, Lauren, Jill, and whatever else, to really jumpstart and get moving. I think the change of pace is proving an exercise in patience for some viewers, not to mention there don't seem to be a lot of spoilers out there about where everything is going and I can see it's driving people nuts. In a culture were we knew so much from spoilers, this has got to be rough! I wonder if Devon will be paralyzed or vow revenge. That would work as motivation, no? But let's see.

 

 

Yes, it's entirely possible he just really wants to work with MCE or NOT with SC again. Maybe he's bored, and thinks a new acting partner will do it for him. I also doubt he'd be in danger, they'd just try and try and try until something sticks.

[Vee]

Viewers will adjust to pace. You can retrain them in how to watch just as the prior regimes did.

[YRBB]

 

Without a doubt.

 

 

On an unrelated note, the show keeps going with the surprises: They seem to have increased the show's running time by 30 seconds an episode or so. When was the last time a soap didn't cut time? 

[cattykittens]

Jill Spoiler

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[DramatistDreamer]

 

I noticed that too. That's good, hopefully it will bear fruit when they launch their stories next year.

[cattykittens]

 Thank you.

[ajsp35801]

 

Folks can say what they will,  BJ and MiM have elevated and sold this weak premise with their performances. People seem invested in a story that could have easily been something to sneer at. 

 

Bwahaha at refusing to hate on reed. 

 

No paralysis. Period. 

 

And that's probably it. He thinks if it takes off, he can escape Shick. 

[slick jones]

Took me a while. miss the button we used to have.    

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Anytime

[ChitHappens]

The reveal was weak but it was classic soap and a way to get Hevon in a place where Pratt refused to take them. The moment Hevon became popular, they tossed Neil in and no one can destroy a WOC faster than Neil!   

 

I will enjoy watching Hevon finally come together. They were the reason I began watching again a few years ago. I left the moment Hill went to TPIR with Neil. Hevon has not been about Hevon until now. I'm good. 

 

Hevon will not reconcile for a while and I'm OK with that.  And I'm praying Hill gets that aunt Sal talked about!  

 

Question: I switched to The Big Valley during so I missed what Jack said to Victor in defense of Hillary. Can someone help a sista out, please?

 

TIA 😊

 

[DeeeDee]

Viewers have serious issues with pacing these days given the popularity of binge watching.

 

Especially if/when the stories being told and/or actors involved aren't up to par.

 

A lot of recent primetime shows (especially soaps) have suffered because of it.

 

He better hope fans are still in love with his abs then because he definitely doesn't put in much effort anywhere else.

[Vee]

 

That may be, but the solution is not to continue to sell them the bite-sized ADD scenes Jill served up for years which turned this into a cut-rate imitation of a bad ABC soap. You don't pander to bad learned behaviors. If they want to change the rhythms up and tell new stories at the same time I say let them. It's not like any daytime soap opera has anything left to lose.

[Soapsuds]

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[DeeeDee]

I agree with in theory but not necessarily in practice. Y&R has been a cut rate imitation of a bad ABC soap for the better part of two decades.

 

Spending the first few months of an already tiny grace period, from an increasingly jaded audience, on meta touches and overdone callbacks isn't going to build an audience. Especially when the new regime feels much less a necessary paradigm change than more of the same...just with better production quality. If a new regime is in it to win it, they need to make sweeping changes immediately to prove their serious instead of smugly trying to ease into a new era because, as you've said, no soap on the air has anything left to lose.