Y&R June 2021 Discussion Thread

[ChickenNuggetz92]

 

The dragging out back in the day would have worked largely because there was a much larger cast that allowed for 8-10 stories being told at once with characters circles mainly in their own bubbles which allowed for more time to cycle between stories, so the storytelling was very spaced out but didn't feel repetitive. These days Y&R only tells like 3.5 stories at best (usually about Adam, if not, then Billy) where most of the characters are intertwined, and a lot of the scenes are repetitive. The other problem that has plagued Y&R for years is that the storytelling has been very imbalanced in favor of certain characters (I'm going to use Skyle as an example for this) whereas back then, there were enough characters on the canvas to address different points of views on certain characters that would validate a large variety of users. Where Skyle is concerned, everyone is dogpiling on Sally when nobody else beyond her on the canvas would call Skyle out on how spoon fed their lives have been. Back in the day, Bell would write 2 or 3 more characters that also had an axe to grind with them.

 

Another problem is that Kyle and Summer suffer from Michael Corinthos syndrome where they are still written as if they're 18-19, particularly with the heavy involvement of their parents in their stories. They're not characters that stand well on their own and should have been established by now given how long they've been on the show for.

Edited June 7, 2021 by ChickenNuggetz92

[BoldRestless]

 

Not only that, but this is true for Abby too and she's over 35!

[Paul Raven]

Not sure why the week's episodes were all on the one day but as discussed above, it didn't make for good viewing. It made some of the story beats in the Kyle/tara saga seem rushed.

There didn't seem to be any sense of progression throughout the day. People just randomly showed up at places. Nikki was at Society twice,the first time for seemingly no reason as later she met Victoria there for her birthday. Maybe this is an editing issue as perhaps she was supposed to be at Society to meet Victoria but then  there was scene in between where she visited Victor so why was she at Society the first time? 

 Summer was  at Crimson Lights, episodes apart.

 Jack just turned up at Society to talk to Ashland.

And all these places are EMPTY.

 Only Victor and Adam were shown at work, although for some reason they earlier met at the Grey Pimple Everyone else was at home or visiting each other.

In the Bell days, there would be an Abbott breakfast scene and then people would be at work, maybe lunching out and so on till the evening.

I know sets are limited but something needs to be done.

 

 

 

[ranger1rg]

I agree with Paul on the location and sets issues. When you notice them, it’s bad.

 

Speaking of sets, why was Jack looking up in the air as he surveyed Lily and Billy’s new apartment? What was on the damn ceiling? Because he looked at it — all around the cramped room — for a long time. Glad Jack wore his suit there, though.

 

And Chance Comm....How desperate is this media company when Billy has no stories except about his own family?

[Faulkner]

Why? Why all of this hullabaloo over the on-off-on-off Skyle wedding? No one gives a sh!t at this point. Even their stans are bored, I’m sure.

 

This Amanda story doesn’t work at all. Everything is off screen. Sutton needed to be more involved with this story.

[Chatty Cakes]

I noticed Jack admiring the air or whatever. I felt like they were trying to make viewers feel like the apartment has gorgeous high ceilings that we can’t see. Probably to make us forget that tiny kitchen that we did get a glimpse of. 
I also noticed at the small Society Bar where Abby and Summer sat, there was a dish of olives on the bar. I’ve not been to a bar where they put out a communal dish of olives. A vase with uncut lemons would look a little better.

[lucaslesann23]

I miss Pratt.

[slick jones]

You are the only one.  No one needs quarterly hostage situations at Phyllis's Grand Penis er Phoenix.

 

The show definitely needs much better stories  (Billy's interrogation of Jack over dinner was beyond  cringeworthy). Pratt and Mal Young's visions of the show went against everything the show had been.

 

Elizabeth Leiner would be fine if her story was just in Kyle's orbit.  They appear to want more from Tara.  A stronger actress (or one with more daytime/theater experience for her to go toe to toe with Peter Bergman, the Staff, etc.

 

Looks like Elena may be on her way out.  I could think of five ways to keep her in story...

[Paul Raven]

So Harrison gets a bedroom set but no one else does??

 

Victoria meets with Nikki at Society and then goes back there for dinner with Harrison?

 

If they're going to have these meeting places then there needs to be at least one other choice.

 

Has Lily made any references to her children or past marriages, or are we to treat her like a new character?

[Faulkner]

I want stories, but definitely not so far gone that Pratt or Mal or MAB would be a step up. Yet the writing is… puzzling, both on a longterm story and a day-to-day script level. I would love be a fly on the wall in BTS meetings or story pitches. 
 

Y&R hasn’t been able to find that balance. It’s either the batsh!t-crazy sensationalism of Pratt or the wheel-spinning of late.

 

CBS continues to promote the show as an unfunny sitcom, which is telling. It also doesn’t feel like a show for adults. Like I know Y&R aspired to be more ABC-ish in the past couple of decades, but it’s beyond that. The tone feels like some cheap, chirpy Canadian soap opera that got cancelled in the mid-‘90s and no one remembers.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Faulkner

[Forever8]

I think Lily mentioned Charlie is in film school in New York and Mattie was still in college. Though I wouldn't mind if they had de-aged them to be teens since their adolescence wasn't shown properly on screen. i.e. better stories not written from a 1985 sitcom. 

[Forever8]

Like I also said on Twitter this weekend when I first saw that promo with Summer/Kyle/Jack/Phyllis/Nick. Is this Bill and Lee Phillip Bell's The Young and The Restless. Or a Nicholl Ross West production? 

 

This show is unbalanced in terms of drama which is bad. Not to mention most of the genesis of these stories took place off-screen. Such as Amanda's bio father who used to work at Newman 30 years ago, who was looking for her, and Victor knowing him. We know what Victor was doing 30 years ago, which was being married to Ashley, dealing with a brashy Victoria, and fighting his feelings for Nikki who was drinking, 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

If characters can be SORASed and be accepted, fans should definitely accept the possibility of de-aged characters to right/write the ship, so to speak. My only concern is that some rabid fan base would try to use it to weasel in, well...you know who, back to the show and nobody needs that. I'm not watching Y&R and even I don't want to see that, lol.

[Forever8]

The walking stick don't never need to darken the grounds of CBS Television Studios ever again!!! 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

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