Y&R July 2021 Discussion Thread

[Faulkner]

This show had, what, seven months to come up with some conflict for the Abby story, and this is the best they could muster?

At least they seem to be making good on a Victor connection to the Amanda story, but they’ve already botched it.

[Forever8]

They're clearly throwing things to see what sticks and about 90% it still doesn't. 

[Paul Raven]

Instead of marrying Abby and Chance off so quickly and diving into the surrogacy plot, why not bring Stitch back earlier and provide some conflict as to whether Abby and Chance would make it.

Or delay the wedding because Chance has to take off and instead of everyone falling at his feet and proclaiming him the hero, Abby could be pissed and turn to Stitch.

[FrenchBug82]

Heck, if they still wanted him to be the hero, they can combine the story they seem to hint at where Stitch is up to no good and have Chance "rescue" Abby if/when she gets in too deep.

Not that I'd be fascinated by that story either but at least it would be a full-fledged narrative. I have given them plenty of charitable patience that what happened with Chance and having to write him out was a last-minute call they needed a bit of time to pivot from. But boy it has been MONTHS. They should have found a more solid storyline by now and dare I say that considering how fraught and convoluted the whole surrogacy story could be on paper - with lots of potential organic drama between the characters - choosing to paint it as a tedious lovefest and instead bringing a villain ex machina to be the conflict is dumb.

[ranger1rg]

And I still can’t get past the “Mariah hasn’t texted” crap — as if any sane person would just text and not make phone calls.

And yes, I know that today they said they left voicemails, but my point is that they should have been mega-concerned before this.

[Paul Raven]

Another on going pet peeve for me is the uneccessary and blatant depiction of mega wealth and privelege when nothing about the production or visuals  supports this. In a lot of instances no mention needs to be made at all but it seems we are supposed to be impressed as if by saying it, then it is believable.

Usually it garners an eye roll.

In recent eps

'Summer can say at the company apartment apartment in Milan' Why not just say that Marcetti has arranged an apartment for her?

'Ask MD has had 10 million hits' Just say Ask MD is gaining traction. Have we ever seen Nathan do anything for that website?

'Summer has been offered the Creative Director at Angelina Marcetti, a top Italian Design firm' Much more believable if the said she'd been offered a position at Marcetti an up and coming label.

'Thanks for organising the Jabot Jet' Just booking a private jet would be more believable and socially responsible.Or better yet,just travelling business class, Or say nothing at all.

Anyone else annoyed by this or other examples?

 

[Forever8]

That makes too much sense!!!

[FrenchBug82]

I always go back to the fact "Dallas" bombed in Japan because Japanese viewers couldn't get past the fact the Ewings were supposed to be insanely wealthy and yet drove their own cars.

 

[Ponds]

I'd like to know how Tessa is going to make a living playing the guitar with those NEW nails.  I just wish she'd go on tour and never come back!

[Paul Raven]

Of course, Tessa is a fantastically successful musician and Fenmore's has branches all over the world.

Change of topic...

How would you feel about the Ashland character coming on instead as Brooks Prentiss? 

Most of the story could play as is and we might get Janice Lynde as Leslie to appear. Victor would have more at stake due to his past history with Lorie and Prentiss Industries. They could say that Lance has died.

A great way to tie past to present.

[ranger1rg]

I agree on all of this, Paul. If the overall writing was good, or even better, I would ignore some of these things. It’s not, though, so the talk about wealth that we never see stands out.

I hated it when they said Summer would be Creative Director. I mean, come ON. Tara has a shoe line? We’ve never seen even ONE thing that would make that believable. There’s not even a fake portfolio that she carries around.

Billy and Lilly’s new place is embarrassingly tight with an efficiency apt. kitchen. The ranch set is too small. I hope they’re done with Adam’s penthouse, because that place is ragged.

Nick had a big new place, but we haven’t seen it in forever. Since Ashland is moving in with Billy, will he be happy in her cramped dollhouse? Amanda and Phyllis stay in the hotel from Blandsville. Lauren and Michael have no home and no offices, so they hold all their meetings at Society or in the lobby at the GP. Just UGH to all of it.

I hate the Chancellor Park set, where kids apparently play and rough-house a few feet from sidewalks and concrete benches. 
 

The Chancellor living room will forever be underwhelming and a reminder of what it used to be. ChanceComm is now a tiny shell of what Dark Horse was. Devon’s workplace? The billionaire has none. Remember his office, or even years ago when he had a recording studio for 5 minutes?

And how about Victoria and Ashland streaming their merger — from her office laptop. She had a frickin ring light. Wow. 
 

But even though Ashland has a media company, there was NO tech support there — no one for set-up, no one with cue cards, no one for emergencies. So we got a merger of companies worth hundreds of billions streaming sh it like this???

Every episode is another day of multiple examples of this crap.

[Liberty City]

Their new place is just a slightly re-designed working of Phyllis' old apartment that she shared with Billy. I would've preferred the one used right before the last one (from when Michelle Stafford was in the role and housing Daisy).

I miss Nick's set. I loved how it looked and felt. The attempt at making the Grand Phoenix the new GCAC is backfiring, because it does not house the same feeling. You have ONE seating area, while the GCAC had several tables. It's a missed mark.

The original remodel of the Ranch was quite nice. Shame they don't use it any longer.

The original Dark Horse offices were very architechual, in my opinion, and to see them diminished like they are is disappointing. It's clear Anthony Morina and Josh Griffith are using their budget to pay for actors they could probably cut and bring back greater production value.

I don't hate the Chancellor set as much as I feel like I should; changing the view of which we see the room, for me, made it feel bigger and more spacious than it felt in the final years the front-on view was available to us. I'm just happy the Abbott living room hasn't been dismantled into nothing like it could have been.

It gives me this kind of vibe from Victoria:

Please register in order to view this content

Hate to say it... but the casting for Tessa is wrong for me. I would've cast someone else in the role, and really dug into developing the role... because, I feel like her origins are just ignored now.

[Faulkner]

What’s the point of Nikki right now? She’s the matriarch of the show’s leading dynasty, which actually has big story, and she’s basically “the help.”

We see MTS quite a bit; they just aren’t giving her anything substantial to do.

[Faulkner]

Is Camryn Grimes on leave? Is that why we don’t see Mariah squirming, bound and gagged or tied to some bed with Stitch as her masked caretaker, in some abandoned cabin somewhere? JG might be overestimating how much we’re invested in these “reveals.” He’d be better off showing his hand.

[Forever8]

They might've filmed this when Camryn was vacationing in Ireland (According to her IG) I know she was there visiting with Hayley Erin (ex Abby and ex Kiki - GH) who is staying there with her husband.