Y&R September 2021 Discussion Thread

[Vee]

I think "we" can make up our own minds as individuals of whether we want to keep propping up bad shows with our continued support and daily viewership vs. being contented with the better years and advocating for better soaps and reinvention of the genre. You can do whatever you want.

[kalbir]

Would we rather witness budget cuts, shrinking sets, hack writers, or have a show that we all love to end properly with some semblance of dignity?

Edited September 17, 2021 by kalbir

[FrenchBug82]

I understand what you are saying but I think history has proven that once soaps die, they don't come back. It is not like they will launch another better one in replacement.
So I don't want to root for them to be cancelled rather than hope they get better.
In any case it would all be a moot point if Y&R was doing better creatively. It is very sad it isn't.

[Errol]

Curious. Is there not a large enough following of "Y&R" on the SON Community or is the show just not worth talking about right now? Only six pages of discussion on the actual show so far this month with most of the month gone.

[Faulkner]

Not a lot to talk about tbh. But I’m assuming that if speculation comes true…

Please register in order to view this content

 

…we’ll see a short-lived spike in chatter. But in general, no. B&B is comparable, but a half-hour show. It’s sad. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Faulkner

[BoldRestless]

I feel like this is the case on most internet forums and social media. Y&R and B&B, despite having the highest ratings, don't have as much online activity as GH and DAYS. Maybe the audience skews older.

[FrenchBug82]

The latter point definitely plays.

But B&B still manages to get peaks here and there. Sheila's return created a lot of buzz for a week or so. I do see talk of the cuckold story even if it is mostly in the WTF type.

Y&R online activity is dead because Y&R is creatively in a prolonged coma. Nothing is happening. It is not even bad enough to be angry at. It is just flatlining and has been for a while. It is astonishing.
I don't recall any soap ever having such a long period of completely unremarkable nothingness. Usually when a show is poorly written there are islands of in-your-face awfulness to go along with the boring parts and people talk about how awful they are. Here it is just nothing.

[KMan101]

I see buzz (moreso making fun of) for B&B on Twitter. Not so much for Y&R. The occasional stan war pops up for the latter. 

 

DAYS feels like it gets the most and GH is right up there.

 

Y&R is just treading water, not very interesting, and when I try to watch, the dialogue feels stilted and forced (often awkward as well) and many actors seem bored. 

 

It comes off as the writers trying to fill in the blanks and pull off an episode while Griffith offers up plot points (barely) and nothing in between.

Edited September 19, 2021 by KMan101

[Faulkner]

And yet the show seems to be rating “well,” or at least keeping its head above water, even in the demos? I guess people were enthralled by the Summer/Tara/Kyle “intrigue” and the Mariah kidnapping stories? Maybe there’s a silent offline majority who feels like the show is decent? 

[Vee]

I think for a lot of older folks it's habit plain and simple.

[FrenchBug82]

It is a mystery to me indeed and I have to consider the possibility.
But I think it is also a matter of habit. People watch the show and, in truth, there is nothing that would make you so angry that you'd want to turn off the TV.
Mediocre but passable is easy enough to keep on if you are a creature of habit, which would be the case with Y&R older demographics. Maybe Y&R are more inelastic than other shows?
I am just speculating. Maybe there are indeed people who think this is fine.

[DRW50]

I see some activity on Twitter for Y&R,  but it's mostly been Mariah/Tessa fans. I don't know if that's as true lately. 

[Faulkner]

Totally. And for some us “young’uns” under 50 too. I mean, I still watch, so I can’t act all high and mighty. And time slot wise, it’s the easiest show to make time for (lunch time for me at least). And the show has a lot of familiar faces who aren’t really doing much of anything (like trotting out MTS to be imperious but having zero story of her own). I suppose that’s comforting.

 

I think Y&R has a lot of structural advantages that other shows don’t (one being a TPIR lead-in in many markets). But it’s sad to see the show vibrating at such a low frequency without any hope of change (what huge incentive do they have to make any when the show’s doing pretty well?). There’s actually potential here and money left on the table: we all see interesting stories that they could’ve done but didn’t do.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Faulkner

[DramatistDreamer]

What I have noticed on this board, in particular, is that resignations, firings and some type of casting or production shakeup seems to get more discussion than actual storylines.

For me personally, I used to drop in more often for discussion about general and random topics, the kind that I didn't need to watch the actual show in order to discuss but, now I find myself venturing more into the classic threads. There's nothing of interest pertaining to this show, not even for random chitchat now.

 

[Ponds]

The stories move so slowly that there is really nothing to discuss on a daily basis.  I still watch the show, but don't feel it's entertaining right now.