Y&R December 2021 Discussion Thread

[Forever8]

They need to write him off either by death or divorce. 

[FrenchBug82]

I think she has had health troubles, no?

Also, Esther was never the most used/interesting of character even in her heyday - she was mostly a foil for Katherine so it is not surprising that for a writer who can't even use his layered interesting characters properly, they wouldn't know what to do with her. Her remaining ties are Jill - who is off the canvas 85% of the year - and Chloe - who is played as supporting of supporting characters and does not have much story of her own.
I am all for her popping up from time to time but I can't imagine we will ever see her much more than that, even when (I am an incorrigible optimist) we finally switch to a better writing team.

[Khan]

Frankly, Esther no longer serves a purpose on this show and needs to go.

Same goes for about 2/3rds of the entire cast.

[Faulkner]

I could not agree more, but it feels like the remaining mostly older audience is sticking around because they enjoy the familiarity. I feel like Y&R’s cast of characters is beyond played out. The Newman family could not be more boring to me.

[Faulkner]

I don’t buy MS’s Phyllis and Amanda as friends *at all*.

[janea4old]

Gina's Phyllis and Mishael's Hillary were awesome together.
I miss that so much.

[Forever8]

I don't either. I prefer Mishael and Gina's chemistry as friends. 

 

Even though I think Mal Young was the wrong person for this show. He had the right idea by getting rid of Chelsea, Kevin, and Chloe. Though I'm still cross at him for getting rid of Mishael Morgan. 

[Faulkner]

 

GT’s Phyllis and Hilary bonded over being outcasts (and their shared connection to Jack) so it made total sense. MS’s Phyllis and Amanda feels like a weak attempt to recreate that without any of those underpinnings, and Amanda is a totally bland, underwritten character. Plus, they use Amanda to try to bring out Phyllis’s cuddly side, when we know Phyllis is more like GH’s Carly. As the ladies on RHONY would say, she’s not a girl’s girl.

Edited December 10, 2021 by Faulkner

[Antoyne]

Ugh it was my favorite friendship on the show.

[David_Vickers]

Nope, Y&R needs to write more for him.   Sharon & Rey splitting up would mean Sharon & Nick back together for the umpteenth time or with Adam, which is a sickening thought. 

I think Phyllis & Amanda's friendship is as good as it was with Gina Tognoni.  Sounds like someone's hate of Michelle Stafford is effecting them, but to each their own.  I feel the same about Sharon Case lol.  SC only seems interested in scenes with real life lover Mark Grossman(Adam) and Sharon dresses like she's stealing Faith's clothes lately. 

[FrenchBug82]

That's where I am at. Rey/Sharon is deadly boring BUT in the scheme of things it is good for the character of Sharon that we are taking her away from a Newman relative or associate. It won't last anyway but it is healthy for the character - just like Nikki's few marriages to random characters were good for the character to stand on her own two feet even if they are forgotten now.
 

MM is wonderful but you can't recapture lightning in a bottle twice. The mistake was to kill Hillary off - if they wanted to write her out for whatever reason, they should have done it in a way that left the door open.
I know that because we root for MM, it is hard to accept but Amanda just is not working. It is mostly the writing, sure. But the Phyllis thing shows that it is also that certain things that work with a character don't with a different character even when everything else is the same. 
Lookalike characters to try and recapture what was lost when an actor left the first time never work. Soaps should stop trying.

[ranger1rg]

The problem with 5nis show is not the cast. It’s the writing.

We get an occasional strong, emotional scene, but for the most part, there’s no story. It’s calm people talking calmly., and it’s IMMENSELY boring.

Josh Griffith thinks that Sally walking into Adam’s office unannounced a few times a week is high drama  I don’t know what to say to that.

And now Noah is laid back and sullen. Chance is laid back and sullen. Nick is laid back and sullen, but oh, Nick gets the drama — returning a box of Phyllis’ things to her WHILE THEY SIT IN A HOTEL LOBBY.

Depressing as f u c k.

[Faulkner]

JG’s show is anti-entertainment for sure, but a lot of these characters have felt burnt out for a larger part of a decade if not more: Billy, Sharon, Phyllis, Victor, Nikki, Nick, Victoria, Adam, Lily, Jack, Abby, Ashley, the list goes on. They all felt very stale even before JG came back. Some of that burnout stems from bad storytelling and characters somewhat written into corners.  Most people are sort of apathetic that Nikki has no real role on the show in spite of her longevity and MTS’s stardom. She doesn’t excite people and hasn’t in years. Some of it is casting. Ordway in no way should be a leading lady on any soap.

Even though I wasn’t much of a fan of them, I understood why the show relied so heavily on Summer and Kyle, who had *some* potential but were victims of timid, inconsistent, bland writing. Y&R had no interest in investing in Finn and Ana, in spite of the charisma and talent of their actors. They don’t seem to be investing in Nate, Elena, or Imani, even though they’re all played by appealing performers (and we can talk ad nauseum about the show’s longstanding racism). The show stupidly killed off the one new character who had taken off in the past 7-8 years: Hilary. A lot of bad management got us here. And that’s not even going into the ABCifcation/strip mining of the show, which is probably the root of all of it. Y&R’s characters were conceived as mythic, and the show has felt very small for the better part of 20 years. Some of it is budgetary reality; a lot of is a sensibility/corporate vision that’s just a poor fit for the show.

At the end of the day, it’s 2021 and none of these soaps are killing it. But if they can’t be good, they can at least be watchable.

P.S. One huge problem is that the show doesn’t know how to tell stories outside the Newman vortex. Literally everyone is entangled in this boring family’s drama. If they’re not, they don’t matter.

Edited December 11, 2021 by Faulkner

[Soapsuds]

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[Faulkner]

Bryton on Maurice Benard’s YouTube show:

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The conversation about Kristoff gets pretty heavy.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Faulkner