Y&R March 2018 Discussion

[Vee]

Regardless, the only way either of those two are leaving is feet first or of their own accord. So the only viable alternative option is to make an investment in new characters, and preferably let Cane be the heel again instead - none of which they will do.

[Faulkner]

It’s a tough call. This show has gone all in on the Newmans for as long as I can remember. Eric Braeden is Y&R’s Susan Lucci. They have more sets devoted to them than anyone else. Nick and Victoria are the Newman heirs. Josh Morrow has been around so long that he just IS Nicholas Newman, in spite of his very apparent deficits. It’s hard to imagine how this show changes course without a rebrand/reset that’s way beyond its budget at this point. I guess they made their bed with a series of bad decisions over the years, and they just have to lie in it until Y&R comes to its natural end. I enjoy enough of the show to be OK with it, but I damn sure won’t watch if it gets too crazy. I tuned out during the height of the Patty/Adam crassness and a few other times over the years. Life’s too short.

[soapfan770]

 

It's just sad that the Newman's I fell in love with in the 90's have become so pitiful to what they were twenty years ago. Victor will always be Victor turning him into the Godfather was offensive. I'd love to see more Nikki scheming with Victor instead of always being the besieged heroine. Victoria would have never let Billy, Travis, or JT ever act like a jerk or try to one up her; she would steam roll right over them! She would also ask Cane if he ate a brain tumor for breakfast. Nick of course should be doing his own thing with a nice family with Sharon while keeping it in his pants, Adam should be a complicated but endearing soul while maintaining a marriage to Heather Stevens, and of course Abby is Ashley's daughter but also Victor's spoiled princess while Cassie should be a smart, successful young career driven woman who with Victor's blessing is eager to take own Newman as her own one day yet also is the voice of reason and sanity for the entire Newman family and a good go talk to character for the Newmans. 

 

Alas the past regimes of the last 15 years have really done a number on the Newman family. Y&R might have done a favor by gutting the Brooks and Foster families off as we savor the memories of them; Y&R has done no favors towards the Newmans. Instead of evolving them over the years, we are left with  blighted, degenerated shambles of what was once Y&R's prominent leading family. 

[DeeeDee]

The Newmans have indeed been the victims of bad writing over the last decade & a half but the rest of Y&R's core families have been absolutely GUTTED.

 

The Abbotts are obsolete, the Williams are an endangered species, the Fenmore/Graingers are invisible, the Winters/Hamiltons are relevant only because of Hilary, the Carltons are extinct, the Chancellors (except for Devon) vanished, the Barbers are demolished, the Websters & Romalottis are exiled & the Baldwins (besides Gloria) are MIA.

[Faulkner]

I think when cast culls have happened throughout the years, the Newmans are the only family who’ve escaped serious pruning, probably because they ultimately value EB above all else. He may not be frontburner or hooking up with the latest hot leading lady anymore, but he looms over this show in every corner. I know he’s had his scrapes with TPTB over cash, but the Newmans just keep multiplying. And the days when you had four or five core families co-existing on a soap are long gone. But the balance on this show is waaaay off.

[Juliajms]

There's the sad truth. Tracy's one child is dead.  Ashley has one child who is at core a Newman.  Jack is a terrible father. One child MIA and the other can't stick to the canvass despite endless chances.  What a hot mess. Meanwhile, there are so many Newmans there isn't even room for all of them on the show.

[edgeofnik]

@Faulkner The Newmans also survived in tact because of MTS. The Abbotts would've been fine if they hadn't killed John and Colleen - possibly Diane. 

 

The Chancellor family could've survived if not for the PIII nonsense. As much as I loathe Cane, he could've anchored the family with Devon (kind of a Chancellor/Winters merger). 

[Faulkner]

So lame that LML killed off John for a lame SFU imitation, especially since Jerry Douglas has been in good health. We could have had many years of him. Too many soap writers of the 2000s had HBO-envy.

[cassadine1991]

Which story from Six Feet Under did she want to replicate?

[Faulkner]

The dead father who haunts Nate as a ghost. 

[Paul Raven]

But that lead to the introduction of Alistair!

[ajsp35801]

 

Newman vs Newman left no room for anyone else. When the show decided to center everything around Newmans and focused on their interfamily conflict, no one else was necessary. Abbots only survived because Billy was paired with Vikki and Newmans needed foils/someone to win over. Winters managed to avoid extinction like others because CBS likes to pretend at caring about diversity. 

 

Newmans keep growing because every EP and writer attempts to hook their pet to that family. 

 

If Cane had actually been Phillip then I doubt Devon would be Kay's grandson. It would have been an unnecessary story that would have never been written. 

[Paul Raven]

In the last SOD, there was an article "What Were You Warned About Before You Joined The Show'?

Various actors from the 4 soaps talked about practical jokers, working with icons etc all very light hearted...

 

Christel Khalil's response  'Certain People'.

[ranger1rg]

 

These attacks on Amelia Heinle go too far for me.

 

We want actors to open up to us, but when AH admits in an interview that she struggled without Billy Miller, it’s “How dare she?”  Make up your mind.

 

And this story about her looking “repulsed” by DT in some scenes? I call bullsh_it on that. That’s a review from someone who hates AH and nothing more. It’s absurd.

 

I’m reading here about the crazies in the Lane fan club, but I think it’s just as crazy to go after Heinle like this. The supposed power she has over casting? The supposed revulsion on screen? Uh...no. 

 

I understand criticizing actors. I’ve done it myself, most recently with Cait Fairbanks, because I think she’s lousy as Tessa. I just think you can criticize an actor without resorting to “stories” about what AH said and did with ZERO evidence.

[Vee]

I think some of the comments about Heinle overstate her actual behavior. I do think her comments about Miller/the Billy recast were a bit much and unnecessary, but I'd need more evidence than those to say she out and out refused to do her job with David Tom.

 

I do think, as much as I was willing to give him a chance in the role again, it was clear from the beginning DT was a bad fit for who they now expected Billy Abbott to be. That is not on Heinle, that's on the show's concept of the character. But if Heinle did cop an attitude that couldn't have helped.