Y&R July 2021 Discussion Thread

[Chatty Cakes]

I don’t like her either but you are right . Things are falling flat with the storyline.
I’m guessing Summer will be back. Kyle likes getting engaged and married so I’m predicting he will ask Tara. I see Summer walking into the ceremony a la Phyllis style and stopping the wedding.

 

[ranger1rg]

Michael is the D.A. and does work and holds meetings with Rey at Society? No one has a workplace office on this show, and it’s nuts. The set problem at YR is worse than it is on the other three soaps.

[Vee]

Reminds me of Bob Woods on OLTL cackling about countless scenes set in the hospital lounge. Why? "Because the set is up!"

[Paul Raven]

i still don't understand why a set can be  presented for Harrison's bedroom, Ashland/Victoria NYC hotel room and Nick's hotel room in Milan but no office set for anyone.

Even Angelina Marchetti got a small set for her phone calls. Couldntr something similar be used for Michael/Rey etc for a few scenes? Just keep the camera tight on the characters

There's an EON episode from the 60's online where the characters are supposed to be in a cocktail lounge but all we see is a booth and there is background noise of music and chatter and it works.

Y&R ,,,,try harder!!

[Cat]

The sets issue lowkey reminds me of GL, just before the show went rogue in Peapack. They had literally two sets up and one of them was the third-floor landing of the Beacon where all the characters would run into each other.

Y&R is a corporate intrigue kind of show, and the fact that people are conducting business in the lobby of whichever new hotel Y&R is 'launching' this week says to me that CBS/Sony must have slashed Y&R's budget much more seriously than realized.

 

[FrenchBug82]

I think we would be forgiving if the corporate sets were basically the same room just with the furniture rearranged slightly in between scenes and different paintings on the wall. We might recognize it is the same set but it'd be less jarring than their current choice of not even trying.

[Broderick]

"Edge" figured out they could erect a fake brick wall, shove a table in front of it with a red-and-white-checkered table cloth and create the illusion of a busy diner for a total price of about $5.   For the next scene, they'd take down the fake brick wall, slap up a midnight blue backdrop, put a white table cloth on the table, upgrade the serving utensils, and create a fine dining establishment for $6.50.   Every bit of it works, because they'd tape in tight shots and have a few extras clomp past between the camera and the table.    Y&R is too lazy (or too set in their ways) to even attempt anything out of the box.  

Edited July 14, 2021 by Broderick

[victoria foxton]

 

   

[Cat]

Back in Y&R's first decade, this was exactly what was going on over there, too. Sure, Y&R had a bigger budget than EON for clothes and furnishings, but that set was lit so dark with one spotlight that they might as well stuck a table against a wall and put on a background soundtrack of diners talking and clinking their silverware! And not for one moment were the viewers side-tracked from the story that was occurring on-screen.

[Broderick]

Ha!  Yep, in Y&R's first decade, if you got bored with a particular scene, you could entertain yourself by getting closer to the TV, squinting, and seeing if you could discern anything about the (darkened) sets.   I remember doing that a lot with the Chancellor set ("Looks like she might have a couple of orange Cheshire cats over there.  What's that a painting of?") and the Prentiss lakehouse set ("Is that a SHIP over there on that nautical-themed table in the corner?")  lol.  

[ranger1rg]

Take a look at Billy and Lily’s new place. When they’re in the “living room,” one character sits in the chair — which is so close to the entrance door it’s ridiculous. This is how wealthy people live? That set is a piecemeal dump.

Also hilarious? The Chancellor Park set. I’m sure the Abbott back yard is a lot bigger for that kid. You know, Harrison — the one they tell us is so great but that we haven’t seen evidence of.

[Cat]

Or the Brooks house entranceway, which was capacious, but where someone steps out of the pitch-black night-time outside into a dimly-lit lobby. It was literally like Dark Shadows in there!

The whole point of the dim lighting and spotlight was to highlight the close-ups and reaction shots which dominated every scene. Weirdly, I never found them OTT or out of place. John Conboy who was EP at the time really used them to great advantage because they fit Bill Bell's writing perfectly. When Wes Kenney came in in 1982 and the budget got bigger, he tended to flood those big sets with light and do more wide-shots sweeping over an office or living room. And Edward J. Scott tt too. Man, what I would give to see a visual genius like Ed Scott back at the helm! He made even the Days sets look lush.

Alternatively (if budgets are low) -- let's get the creepy background music back in and go the extreme-close-up Conboy/EON route. Of course, what Y&R really needs is to zhuzh up the writing to make those reaction shots pop!

[Broderick]

Couldn't agree more.  If they can't afford to put up decent sets or to make them look presentable, they need to turn down that garish lighting, which is only highlighting their cheapness.  

[Liberty City]

The hotel Nick & Phyllis stayed in is far better than the rooms of the Grand Phoenix.

[Antoyne]

We’re clearly not supposed to trust Stitch right?