Y&R August 2020 Discussion Thread

[Fevuh]

I only tuned in once in a while before COVID because everything was so boring and there were no "stories" on the story as my Granny used to say - we called thme the "Stories". and when I tuned in today for a couple of minutes today, there isn't anything I want to watch.  There's just nothing interesting.  I watched several of the classic episodes and it made me sad for the show that I knew.   Won't be coming back, it's too late for me.  The characters are just so boring.  There's just no fire.  This will be hard for people to stomach and it's just my opinion but the actors and characters and show are so much far worse than when Guiding Light was cancelled.  Far worse.  There was something likeable about that cast and people.  There is just nothing going on in Genoa City and no one I want to see.    

[Soap-princess]

I said the same in another thread. I think this is the worst Y&R cast I’ve ever seen since I started watching in the late 90s. At least if the writing was blah the actors seem engaged and believable enough to sell it. I can easily say ATWT and GL had a better cast at cancellation than this current show.  The writing is putrid and the cast, at least the ones they feature, are not good enough to keep people engaged. 
Someone mentioned HT as a Victoria recast; it needs to happen ASAP along with slashing half the dead weight currently on the canvas. 
And I’m a MS fan, but she seems old and tired now. Now sure if getting rid of Gina was a good idea. It has done nothing for the ratings and Phick isn’t the couple who’s going to bring viewers in long term. 

[Vee]

 

There are people that can be simply retooled, too. You turn Victoria into a matured ice queen riding herd on her son (cute, hairy hippie Reed, remember him?) like Kay/Jill over Phillip. Maybe you thaw her out with the right man later. Whoever plays her that you can get who's not Heinle, bc I have doubts HT would ever agree. You keep whatever Billy you can get and turn him back into a slightly older cad like Jack used to be, or keep him with Lily since those two have seemed to click with many different Billys IMO. If you put Billy and Victoria back together at some point they're both very different people. I don't know, there's a lot of ways to go.

 

The younger veteran/middle aged people that seem the most spent to me atm include Nick and Sharon. I don't take anything either does seriously anymore, and Phyllis is a total afterthought. I don't know why Stafford bothered coming back because she does nothing worthwhile. If you're not going to put her back with Jack then I'm not interested unless Tognoni returns, and failing that, if you're not going to make her a villain again then what's the point? Same goes with Michael at this point, though tbh the show I'd do with those characters (having both Michael and Kevin come out as gay/bi) would never, ever happen. Anyway, I'm just spitballing.

Edited August 11, 2020 by Vee

[prefab1]

 

As you say, I think the main problem is that the characters are just so boring. What's more, most of them seem interchangeable. I think that's probably more of a writing problem than an acting problem (although the acting doesn't help). The younger cast in the 1980s included some actors who were a little green (like Lauralee Bell or Michael Damian), but you weren't ever in danger of confusing Cricket with Nina or Traci or Lauren--they were each very distinct character types with their own unique voices. 

 

Maybe I haven't watched enough of today's Y&R (because I do always get bored after a few minutes), but I just haven't seen much of that distinctive characterization. It's too bad they can't take more cues from Days, which has a young cast of female characters who all have their own voices. Even if you were just reading dialogue on the page, with no names attached, you'd be able to tell which belonged to Ciara or Claire or Allie or Gabi or Gwen. 

[Faulkner]

All of this. The dialogue on Y&R is so lazy and by-the-numbers. Everything’s so story-dictated to get us from Point A to Point B. 

[Darn]

 

The show is so story dictated but at the same time has no stories! So-and-so is gunning for my job! Abby and Phyllis own hotels! Adam maybe killed someone as a child (it didn't work when Nikki remembered that she killed her childhood friend, it won't work now)!

 

The only story that seems to be a story is Sharon's cancer. The rest is people just talking at each other about inconsequential stuff. I saw a scene where Jack was informing Phyllis that her hotel in Washington (???) couldn't be built because they broke ground and there were on "ancient ruins" (???).

 

Just. WHAT?

[Vee]

The only stories women have besides men are babies and cancer. Prove me wrong!

 

Ancient ruins?? Why is Phyllis' hotel in Washington? Why does she have a hotel?? She is a digital maven!

[Darn]

 

Forgive me, "ancient fossils".

 

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[ranger1rg]

I get it that you hate the show and think it’s too boring and that you’re not coming back.

 

Still, I’m betting we haven’t heard the last from you. You’ll be back to tell us how you watched 4 minutes of an episode, got bored, and turned it off. I do admit that throwing in that it’s worse than GL was at the end is something new, so you’re keeping your posts interesting.

 

i also enjoy posts from many others — who want to pretty much change all the characters and all the actors. Yeah, that’ll happen. Can’t wait to see it.

[Vee]

My dude, you've been here the better part of 15 years angrily telling us how good these shows are as they each get cancelled and fall into further disrepair. They keep dying but without fail month after month, show after show you're still saying they're all great and we're super unfair. It's literally all you talk about, it's your favorite topic. What's the common denominator?

 

We all care about these shows, but it's because we care about them that we can acknowledge failures and the fundamentally broken machine of daytime soap opera which has barely been evolved in two decades. Maybe you should ask yourself why the larger American audience doesn't listen to you and keep watching these wonderful underappreciated shows. Because if it was "just us" feeling this way, this genre would not be all but fùcking dead.

Edited August 12, 2020 by Vee

[Chatty Cakes]

At least Devon and his lady look natural.

Everyone else looks ridiculous! Chance taking a seat was so awkward. 
The awful mother daughter team look very odd as well.

 

Where is Lola? I hope she is still on the show.

Chelsea in a romper harassing poor Victor.

 

 

[Chatty Cakes]

Chelsea looked better in the shorter haircut.

[LondonScribe]

I watched today’s episode last night (thank you internet) simply because I knew this was the first (in-canon) episode specifically filmed after lockdown...

and goodness me, it looked very awkward.

 

Only the real life couple (I think I read they are) were in close proximity on screen.

[Chatty Cakes]

Phyllis and Nick should not let Snowflake date a creep like Kyle who used her for parts. 

[Faulkner]

Just passed through: is this the 2020 version of “Winters Wednesday”?

 

Everyone looks a bit sweaty and greasy.