Y&R: December 2016 Discussion Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

I'd also be shocked if 6 months down the road, SS will remember much of what she said in this interview because writers often change their minds, they get new ideas, they adapt material after learning what works and what doesn't.

 

Personally, the idea of a "Black consultant" is insulting and I'm saying this as a "Black writer".  Either you open up your writer's room to true diversity (which includes economic diversity as well as ethnic) or you don't and do what Daytime does with that "1 Black writer". 

I hate to say this but I think Daytime has an idea of what their writer's room looks like and they are either too lazy or set in their ways to change. I think our best hope is that the current writers have had enough experience writing what doesn't work to steer clear of that and write enough episodes that "work" for everyone.

 

Daytime's days of having anything that resembles a revolutionary storyline are over. Y&R has never been that soap anyway. What we can hope for is a soap that has good drama that is not utterly offensive while giving it's characters time to play with great dialogue and entertaining storylines. SSM did do that in 2 out of 3 episodes that she aired. I am just going to see where it leads but I am long past waiting for anything groundbreaking from daytime.

 

There are no August Wilson's or Eugene O'Neills in this group.

[MoTheGreat]

I can see a writer in the writing room saying " Let's Make Soap Great Again". As they pen Devon lost Katherine million & he's no longer her grandson.

[GMac]

 

That whole storyline with Patch from DOOL was horrid, but I see what you're saying.

 

Hopefully they aren't quoting DJT in the writers room.  Eeek.

 

 

[ChitHappens]

 

I might agree is she didn't start with his lineage and inheritance. She's tying the lack of drive and ambition to having too much money. 

 

Chris, we all want to be wrong here, trust.  But YR has given us no reason to not be on guard. 

 

The difference in the white characters was immediate so I have to ask, why does SSM need more time with POC to redirect them?  My answer is, she doesn't intend to. 

[ajsp35801]

 

I actually did like the writing for Devon and his relationship with Hilary, which is why I've left him out of this discussion for the most part. My complaints are about how Hilary is being stepped on so that Mariah can rise.  That, I do not like. 

 

And tbh, I would be less offended by that had Mal Young not explicitly said in an interview how he loves CG/Mariah and wants her to do more. Her doing  more seems to be at the expense of MiM/Hilary. This story is only written to benefit her. I don't like it. 

[MoTheGreat]

 

They really didn't have to add Tucker, they could have just said Brock was the father. Then him and Mac can bond over their father weird taste in trashy women.

[ajsp35801]

 

Whether Devon had $2B or $250M is immaterial. Sally would have said the exact same thing. This is not about the amount of money he has. It's about him having money at all.  Devon is now rich and this causes creative problems for her. He can not be her next Neil Winters,  bowing and scraping to Newmans or Abbots for his livelihood. She has to stretch her mind instead of using the shows proven formulas for black characters. She's uncomfortable. 

 

Because Sally has been told to write for Devon. To feature him.  And she's new to the gig and wants to deliver to her bosses the product that they want. Of Sally's first 8 scripts, Devon and Hilary are on at least 5. Maybe 6.They are on at least 4 days this week.  I doubt she'd do that unless it was a requested. Especially since her great 8 didn't include them. But writing for them is more difficult than she had anticipated. 

 

If he were white, he'd be running Chancellor Industries. I think we can all agree to that. 

[DeeeDee]

 

+1.

[ryanc]

Making Devon Katherine's grandson was dumb as sh*t and made zero sense. I would applaud Sally for undoing that..

Again I have to disagree with you there. Making Devon rich is just as difficult to write for as making, say.. Kevin rich. Its different than like the Abbott and Newman kids being born with a golden spoon in their mouth because there is all types of ways you can write their relationships with the dynamic of their families. Devon wasn't brought up that way and I just think people envisioned him differently. That doesn't mean a black person can't have money and be rich but it just feels so out out of left field that Devon would end up with all that money. I don't think Devon should have to cater to the Newmans or Abbotts either it's just I always pictured Devon building something up for himself. It doesn't mean Devon never should possess lots of  money. I just didn't think it would happen this way. I would have the same complaints about any other character as well. If Kevin or Michael or some other character we've come to know suddenly became a rich Newman, Abbott or Chancellor I'd be going "WHAT THE FK.."

[ryanc]

Nope. Again I give a perfect example: a character like Kevin has been on about just as long as Devon, we didn't always know much about his parents or family. If Kevin suddenly became a chancellor people would not have accepted that. I'm never going to accept that Devon is a Chancellor, and I think my reasoning makes sense.

[DramatistDreamer]

Interesting how relatively modest Devon lives considering his fortune. Except for a sports car, Devon tends to spend his fortune to benefit others, similar to what people who did not grow up in wealth tend to do after they acquire wealth.

 

What I find more glaring is the fact that uber-wealthy, to the manor born, Victoria and Nick who live like they are barely middle class as well as billionaire Victor Newman and Nikki living in what looks like an updated version of the Brady Bunch house. That seems to be a far bigger problem as it's extremely noticeable (the optics alone). Let's regard and treat all of these problematic situations with equal consideration.

[Ponds]

I would think that Devon, with all his bucks, would have gone back to his love, a recording studio.  With his kind of money he could create a state of the art business that he'd actually enjoy.  I can never get why he and Hillary live in a hotel room.

[Darn]

Just saw Monday's episode. It was...not good.

 

This whole GC Buzz, the very concept, is a total clunker. I hate fake TV shows on shows I watch. I watch TV, I don't want to watch other people produce TV that doesn't even look like television. Also both Hillary and Mariah are about as charismatic on camera as Samantha Guthrie. And yes, that's an insult.

 

This is stupid. Hire a nanny, Nick. Don't try to play off this multi-millionaire like he's Mr. Mom.

 

Summer is useless. I can't believe she's Phyllis' daughter. Nick's, sure. But not Phyllis'.

[DeeeDee]

Y&R needs to bring Barbara Crampton back for this GC Buzz story to really work.

 

That's a HUGE missed opportunity.

[Darn]

 

I keep thinking about her as this story plays out, I wasn't watching then but was the reaction to her and the story surrounding all the gossip she spread similar to this?

 

Because the very concept of GC Buzz makes no sense to me. They're taping the show in a break room. They do gossip and fashion shows? Millions of people are watching this LIVE? Why is the show suddenly live? Oh so Mariah can trip. 

 

AND I'm pretty sure that on any real TV show they'd clear the set because there's no way Hillary wasn't in that shot.