Y&R June 2021 Discussion Thread

[ranger1rg]

Hunter King is killing it as Summer, though I hate this writing that has her keeping secret what Tara said to her. It makes no sense.

 

Tired of Jack’s sanctimony as he talks about fatherhood to Kyle. He was a rotten and absent father, and now he walks around the park (on a shitty set) in a suit so he can brag about his grandson playing ball — you know, the cute kid who looks like he’s as quiet as a church mouse and who doesn’t get dirty.

 

Very nice that Ashland Victoria could meet with Nikki and Victor in the Grand Phoenix lobby, which they had all to themselves.

[Chatty Cakes]

I was glad to finally see the stoic Tara come out as a bitch.  You are right about Summer and Kyle as the make believe adults, they can’t do a damn thing without Jacks guidance. Summer is back to being the weak whimpering idiot who needs Kyle to rescue her. 

[FrenchBug82]

Hunter King has plenty of talent but Summer has always been and is written horribly.

One minute she is a raging scheming spoiled B, the next she is the ingenue we are supposed to feel sorry for. She is a villain a minute, a whimpering victim the next.
Some consistency in the characterization (which is the writers' fault) would at least a character that is so far unsympathetic to the hilt because whether she is nice or naughty, she behaves in an unlikeable manner. And we are not talking about the character changing (she "used" to be spoiled but now... or something). She literally switches from one to the other depending on the need of the storyline and there is no thoroughline that explains why she would. Seriously after some of the plotting she's done, the whining she is engaging in regarding Tara is ridiculous. The Summer that handled Lola and slept with Billy would not take this lying down. The Summer who plotted with her mother to take down Sally - for barely a coherent reason - just a couple months ago should not be feeling sorry for herself. And she certainly should not be written as if we should feel sorry for her.
The show cannot have it both ways re: Summer. And they are trying to have it four or five different ways IMO.

 

But my overall point was that both Kyle and Summer come off that they are both too young, too immature, too inconsistently characterized for all their storylines to be so "adult-y". High-powered executives? Marriage? A previously unknown child? They BOTH look and act as if they should be in college partying but the show makes them play house. 
So my point was that at least having some characters mock the disconnect would go some way towards acknowledging the problem. But they have invested in those two as the "leads of the next generation" and I don't think it is working, no matter how attractive and decent actors they both are.

The characters as presented right now suck - and that's before we get to the plots they are given which suck even more.

Edited June 19, 2021 by FrenchBug82

[Faulkner]

I think Y&R would be better off letting the audience in on the schemes of characters like Tara earlier on instead of doing it as a reveal. (Not that Y&R hasn’t hinted that Tara had claws previously, but most of her scenes just completely flatlined and didn’t have enough real subtext.) The show’s not engaging enough in the day-to-day for viewers to sit around to see if the story’s going somewhere. At this point, I’m too annoyed to care that Tara’s openly threatening and manipulating Summer. It’s not like Lucy Coe the mousy librarian being revealed as the vamp.
 

With Y&R’s best villains, we were given their points of view (true to Bill Bell’s obsession with psychology), which made them all the more impactful and disturbing. Even if, say, Cricket knew Phyllis was a bit off, she had no clue about the depth of Phyllis’s evil. But we did. In the past, the audience knew how bad the baddies were long before the other characters did, which added a lot of tension and suspense.

Edited June 19, 2021 by Faulkner

[sheilaforever]

Not watching the show these days, but this silliness warmed my heart:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQPvDdVnD73/?utm_medium=copy_link

[YRfan23]

So not that this is surprising news or anything but apparently CLB finally confirmed during an interview with Maurice Bernard he’s gay and has been with his husband for about 10 years. 

[Faulkner]

 

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CLB looks SO much better with the beard btw. Dude does NOT look 63.

 

He talks about being a gay man and the legacy of Stonewall 20 minutes in, mentioning his husband and how he doesn’t hold his hand in public.

 

Really good interview. I like Maurice Benard’s series a lot. He gets people to open up.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Faulkner

[kalbir]

20+ years of speculation has finally been put to an end. 

[YRfan23]

He's not my favorite, but still  good for him though. 

[Vee]

Def keep the beard.

 

It's about time the soap industry's longstanding glass closet began to break - first Rikaart and guys like Tuc Watkins, Lachlan Buchanan or Nic Robuck (after they left their respective soaps, although Tuc was on OLTL 2013 following publicly coming out), now this. Not sure I can remember who else; Beth Ann Bonner was after she left OLTL, though Clementine Ford was on Y&R at the same time. I'm not sure Susan Flannery ever publicly came out. I still feel Y&R should weave both Fisher brothers' bisexuality into the story, a la Todd Haynes' Far from Heaven.

Edited June 21, 2021 by Vee

[kalbir]

Based on their Instagram, Ian Buchanan.

 

The speculation about Susan Flannery is also 20+ years, but at this point in her life (retired and turning 82 next month) she may not feel the need to be open publicly, but for all we know she could be open among her family/friends.

Edited June 21, 2021 by kalbir

[Vee]

Oh, has Ian Buchanan finally come out publicly? Good for him.

 

I'm sure they're all quietly out in private life, that's no secret. What makes me take notice at this point is when they make a point to let the world know despite the cloistered daytime transparent shield.

[Paul Raven]

Well someone like Susan, who grew up in a different era and had to spend most of her working life in the closet (there were no out actresses in the 60's, 70's etc probably has a different mindset about revealing anything personal and understandably so.

Susan's daughter lived in Australia at one point.

Did she ever mention having a daughter? The first I knew was when Bold was taping in Oz and in an interview she said it was a chance to spend time with her daughter who was studying there.

 

Back to Y&R no to Kevin or Michael discovering they are bi.

 

The lack of sets and extras continues to drag the show down.

This daytimes #1 soap FGS.

Slick Jones lists GH's cast additions and every week there are 5 or 6 u/5's or day players listed. Are the other shows down to such limited sets?

In the past few weeks all we've seen are

1.Abbott living room

2. Crimson Lights

3.Society

4. Gross Phantom

5. Chancellor Park

6. Chelsea's room

7. Victoria's office

8. Adam's office

9. The hotel'suite' several characters use.

10. Billy/Lily apartment

Crimson Lights must have Genoa City's cleanest tables as the lone employee is continually wiping them for non existent customers. And the directors keep using wide shots that show empty restaurants.

Edited June 21, 2021 by Paul Raven

[Vee]

I'm not judging Flannery; I understand the mindset. I just think it's important this keep happening in this particular subset of the industry, before the actors retire.

[Cat]

I applaud CLB and others for coming out, because even in this day and age, that takes courage. It's not like we didn't 'know,' of course, and it makes me sad that CLB doesn't hold his husband's hand in public. I am confident that CLB's general popularity among Y&R fans will mean he will get a lot of support on his social media.

 

As for Susan Flannery, it is entirely up to her whether she decides to come out publicly or not. She's got to do what's comfortable for her. She seems a private person generally.