Y&R January 2017 Discussion Thread

[Vee]

I have no idea what you do with Neil now. Him interacting with Devon and Hilary at all after what went down is so bizarre. I do think he still has chemistry with ED.

 

Same goes for Sharon, incidentally. I think Sharon Case is great and Nick is obnoxious, but it's always galled me how quickly Sharon seems to turn huffy and indignant when she's denied anything (like access to this baby) shortly after being exposed for her latest misdeeds. If they're serious about rebuilding her (and hopefully Neil as well) then go for it.

 

AFAIC they can prop Mariah for quite a while yet after spending years sidelining her to the C-list for the blondes and trying to force a pairing with Kevin(!!!). That being said, Tripgate was dumb and a means to an end.

[ajsp35801]

 

Neil yelling at Hilary after all he did to her felt more like abuse and harassment  rather than dishing out truth and advice, which I think it was supposed to be after reading the SOD summary for the scenes.  I'm not sure him playing the patriarchal role for Hilary, or Devon, is a good idea at this point. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Which is exactly why, a few days ago, I posted that he needed to be involved in a storyline that has nothing to do Devon and Hillary. He doesn't need his own storyline (unlike Jill, who does) but for the time being he does not need to be so intimately involved in Devon and Hillary's storylines, once this car crash incident has been resolved, he should step away and onto another storyline. With his Stanford degree and business acumen, I would've had him do some consult work for Fenmore's.

[ajsp35801]

 

Consulting work for Fenmore's is a great idea. 

[DeeeDee]

Given Neil is the Winters patriarch removing him from the family is a pretty tall order.

 

Victor's done some pretty heinous things in the past decade (remember when leaving Walter Palin for dead was a sign that Victor was a jerk?) but Y&R has managed to begin rehabbing him without removing him from his family.

 

And though one could argue Victor hasn't slept with and/or married his daughter in law it wasn't that long ago that he did. Twice.

[BetterForgotten]

So, I'm guessing Dylan will die while he's on this "dangerous assignment" or he'll simply serve Sharon with divorce papers while he's away and never return (unless they decide to recast)? 

[ajsp35801]

 

It's a even taller order because the family is so small. Victor has many Newman characters to interact with that he hasn't screwed over. Neil doesn't have that. So I agree with you. 

[DeeeDee]

You're 100% right about it being easier to 'fix' Victor given the current size of the Newman family.

That's another reason why diversity is important. In the modern soap opera era characters of color are notoriously limited thus making it all too easy for them to be written into corners. Wasn't it you who recently observed that Lily acts less like a concerned sister & more like an angry ex when dealing with Hilary about Devon? Because it's totally true. You can remove the entire Barber/Winters family from the show altogether and no other character (other than Mariah) would be heavily affected. That's a serious problem.

 

To rehab Neil from the debacle the previous regime left the character in the current writers are gonna have to make strong decisions about Neil's possible motives during that period and actually have the character confront his actions at some point. I would prefer the alternative (for the new regime just to ignore it) but there's a level of grossness there that can't be neatly swept under the rug.

[ajsp35801]

 

All great points. 

 

 

[Juliajms]

I was thinking this too. Maybe it's time to bring Moses back as a teen.  Then I'd love to see Traci adopt a teen girl and we'd have a new teen group on the show. I also think having Neil work with Fenmore's is a great idea. That would give him a new group of people to have some of his scenes with.

[DeeeDee]

Neil needs to start his own company.

 

While he's establishing the company that frees Hevon up (to an extent) for other stories.

 

Then very slowly have each one of Neil's family members be drawn into joining the company (each for their own reasons).

 

Bringing back a SORASED Moses to help Neil build his new company (unintentionally causing drama between the brothers) is a great idea Julia.

 

Let Hevon divorce with Hilary vowing to earn Devon back. Have Hilary ask for & receive full ownership of GC Buzz as one of the perks from their divorce settlement, then have her bring Leanna in as a Wendy Williams/Miranda Priestly hybrid to run/host the show. With Hilary running the show have her honestly approach Mariah to be the showrunner with them become reluctant allies turned frenemies while dealing with Leanna.

 

 

Traci adopting a teen girl and then having a late in life pregnancy from a ONS with Steve are really good ideas.

[KMan101]

 

This

 

I agree that it does feel awkward having Neil dishing out advice and involving himself, but it's ultimately no different than Victor, who's done a lot more heinous things, sitting and grinning like a fool with his grandkids and dishing out advice to Victoria and Nick, etc.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Not permanently but give the character some space to do other things for awhile.  He wouldn't be cut out, there are family gatherings, which I assume will be held in that utterly stylish penthouse that Devon and Hillary now have (at least, I hope) and of course, Neil should attend but the character has made several steps backward and has been severly underdeveloped as an individual in the last few years. Perhaps taking the time to focus him back on the things that we know Neil is great at would go a long way to revitalizing the character.

 

We all know that Victor is held to a different standard. I've heard people on other boards say that Victor can get away with bad behavior that other characters cannot. Neil has faced far harsher fan backlash for things that were mild compared to Victor's history. I wouldn't count on Neil being able to bounce back as quickly and easily as Victor has (countless times) without some help in the writing.

[Juliajms]

I think one problem is the intimacy involved in what Neil did to Hillary.  I've been watching since before Neil showed up, so I could never see him as a sexual creeper, but there was an element of that going on in the story. He never crossed that line, I know, but I think that's what makes it harder for people to accept him being close to Hillary.  Also, I've been "trained" by the ABC soaps to get over character killing plot points, so I just sort of let what happened with Neil and Hillary go, but I certainly understand why not everyone can do that. 

 

One thing that would help is getting Neil a love interest, but we all know how well that's worked out in the past. That's one reason I'd like to see Neil at Fenmore's at least short term. I wonder if maybe he and TED might have some chemistry. Maybe have Neil start his own company and fold Fenmore's into it somehow. I'd rather see Neil in situations with female characters where a natural spark can develop than to bring another woman on just for him. 

[ajsp35801]

@DramatistDreamer I agree about Neil having a harder time. The show destroyed Hilary trying to help Neil bounce back and I don't think it helped at all. He's no better off now than he was a year ago prior to her destruction. 

 

@deedee I like the idea of Hevon's divorce but let's not do it in an effort to save Neil. Those two have been held back enough for Neil to have story. I'd rather Devon offer GC Buzz than have Hilary ask though. Makes her seem more honest and sincere in her feelings for him. If Hilary hires Mariah as show runner then what role will Hilary have if she also hires Leanna Love as host? I'm not sure there is enough story for 3 people there being that Y&R has struggled to give Devon a defined role with GC Buzz. Although he constantly spoke about meeting with lawyers, we only saw it one time with Leslie. I always figured he was talking to advertisers and network execs about ratings, we never saw it nor was it mentioned. 

 

If Hevon are divorced then that changes things for neil and devon's relationship. It allows them to be built back up as father and son. With Moses coming on as a teen, I'm not sure a sibling rivalry with devon works. Unless it's one sides with Moses jealous of Devon cause he feels Neil shows Devon preference. 

 

This.

 

It was Neil's raason for doing it. Had it been cause he just wanted revenge that'd been one thing. But Neil did this cause Hilary didn't want him and cause she'd dumped him for another and he wanted her back. How many times have the female viewership seen lifetime movies with a crazy obsessed ex stalking and kidnapping a woman cause she had a new man? Thats what it played as. Maybe had Pratt not used Hilary's return story as a way to try to resurrect a Neil/Hilary romance then it'd been fine. But once Neil started kissing on her and slept with her knowing had she been in her right mind she wouldn't want him, he veered into rapist territory.