Y&R January 2017 Discussion Thread

[MoTheGreat]

 

But, I thought the show was for black viewers. Don't white people have enough shows to watch?

[Juliajms]

I couldn't agree more. I don't think they should pander to white viewers and certainly not in that way.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

He said this of his new series Star. Something about wanting to help White people feel cool and good about themselves is why he made the central character white.

 

Lee Daniels has been making me roll my eyes for years now.

[DeeeDee]

Back to Y&R....

 

Has there been any updates about Beth Maitland's status? Or are holiday visits the only time Traci will be appearing?

[Juliajms]

I follow her on twitter and he usually talks about upcoming appearances.  She hasn't mentioned anything unfortunately.

[SweetPea36]

 

Part of the reason I have always loved the very best soaps is that they showed us a mixture of socioeconomic classes and occupations, were multigenerational and except for the very young, people from every generation drove story. Most of them featured great (usually female) tentpole characters who were like the grandparents you wish you had, and were told in long ongoing story arcs that captured us and never let go. I genuinely wanted to know what was going on in their lives.

 

Soaps lost all of that when they decided to become action adventure shows with characters no one but another sociopath could have cared about. I wouldn't have minded Helena killing Luke or hearing that Sonny, his boytoy Jason and his harpy wife Carly all died in a shootout. The reason I loved Y&R a lot longer than some others is that it retained an element of that old soap style until a series of terrible employment decisions nearly destroyed it. I'm excited that a real soap may be given a new chance at life.

[Vee]

The reason people on Y&R behave middle class now is for two reasons: 1) Money is much tighter BTS and 2) the show feels it makes them relatable in the contemporary TV era. They don't believe they can get away with showing obscenely rich people behaving the way the obscenely rich would. They may have a point, but they also do not have Empire's budget to throw around for this show.

 

If they can strike a balance between keeping the characters relevant to the now and keeping to at least a close simulacrum of the former day to day reality of these characters, then I think they'll have made a merger. It's difficult, because this is a show that in its heyday had tremendous perceived opulence. And they not only can't budget for it, but they fear they will lose their audience with more of it. I do think Victoria's home is too downmarket and suburban, whereas Nick's ridiculous affectations re: his bar are in keeping with his jockish persona.

[MoTheGreat]

I wouldn't mind a story about them having to downsize their life style because their products aren't selling like they use too.

[DeeeDee]

 

That's unfortunate. Y&R really needs her as a stabilizing anchor with so many Abbott characters in various states of disrepair.

[Darn]

No lie but I find Traci kind of awful. She just shows up in town to tell Jack he's terrible for his justified anger at whoever he's angry with this year.

[Juliajms]

That is for sure. I hope the new writers will come to that same conclusion. 

 

As for the Newman wealth, I'd be willing to go along with things the way they are if the writers wouldn't write silly stuff. Sure, I wish they had not made all of the Newman children independently filthy rich because seeing Victor pull their strings as they fight for power would be fun. Still, all the writers have to do is not give them silly problems that money would easily solve and I wouldn't bother to bitch about how the sets look. I'm willing to pretend on that front.  When Nick acts like Sharon shouldn't see Faith because she can't be trusted, I have to roll my eyes because he can afford a full time nanny.

[GMac]

 

Didn't he say as much before he took off in the car, though?  It wasn't just Hil causing Mariah's fall, he said that with the other things she'd done, it was too much.  Or am I not recalling that correctly?

 

I do like the twist that Hilary now has no alternative other than to lie to Devon so his recovery isn't jeopardized.  

 

 

[ryanc]

I agree. I really don't care to see her on all the time. Her random visits are good enough for me.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

These are the conversations the characters, could/should be having. It's one thing, if Nick would be vehemently against nannies and boarding school (all the things he grew up having) because he felt it kept him at a distance from his parent's affection (or whatever) and maybe Nikki tries to convince him to change his mind- maybe this could/should lead to a bigger conversation about why Nick seems to eschew the wealth he grew up with- instead of everyone pretending a billionaire's son living in a tackhouse is perfectly normal.

 

Maybe Victoria is insistent on living simply and not letting the kids see their wealth, out of fear of it spoiling them. I don't know since it's never been brought out.

 

At one point the Newman's lived a lifestyle of oppulence and then one day, we have Nick living in a barn, Victoria living in a house straight out of the 1950s (which has since been updated, I admit) and then Nikki and Victor living in a more modern version of the house that Mike Brady designed.

 

The transitions were clunky and weird and most of them could've been fixed with a few paragraphs' worth of conversation.

 

 

If they're going to show middle class living (don't the working class exist anymore?), get an actual middle class family. 

I know this is just ranting because Y&R doesn't have the budget for the Newman's oppulent lifestyle anymore but then you could have Victoria and Nick making a conscious choice to live minimalist or simply and spend a little bit of the budget to at least attempt to make Nikki and Victor appear to be wealthy, or make Victor adopt Warren Buffet's ethos of living.

[ajsp35801]

 

What a silly man!!! He sounds high on hubris. 

 

He made the lead of that show white because he AND Fox wanted to see if they could keep the HH share for AA viewers from Empire plus build up the HH share for white viewers using a white female lead. I don't buy that as anything other than a business move. 

 

No. I distinctly remember his dialogue because it was so underwhelming due to the focus on Mariah as opposed to himself. Nor is that what Neil and Lily are saying.  They are totally focused on the mariah event being what devon should be finding out as opposed to it being him finding out he was done with her. Neil and lily's dialogue frequently begun with "He will find out what you did you Mariah and...". 

 

I can appreciate that Sally didn't make her an out and out liar.