Another YR return

[FrenchBug82]

Lord knows I completely agree with you there but a Devil's advocate would point out that the rabid Tess/Mariah fans have more or less locked the writers into not doing much with her until they can figure out how to break her out of it without fury.
They broke Lily out of Cane so they can do it but until they grow a pair, we can't count on Mariah having the kind of stories Camryn Grimes can and should be carrying.

 

[Vee]

Tessa and Mariah's fanbase only really hit full flow recently, AFAIC. They'll survive. Y&R can do whatever it wants, it chooses not to here for ulterior motive, as it has for a couple years now.

As a gay fan I'll say, as I've said before, that I think the entire, shitty purpose of pairing Mariah with a tertiary, unpopular (for most of her run, anyway) woman in the first place was to section Camryn Grimes off from any leading frontburner story with men the show and/or network had earmarked for female leads they found more conventionally desirable. They think she's too ordinary for Kyle or Devon but it's fine to throw this chick at her. Ugly to say, but I absolutely think that's the toxic mindset and we've seen it before in daytime with lots of str8 characters. And in doing it this way they were able to claim it was progressive and forward-thinking.

There's nothing wrong with Mariah being bi, and you can play drama with her and Tessa or any number of other more interesting women in the future. You can do it right now with her and any woman, not just men, and take time away from Abby or Victoria! But AFAIC they want to keep her where she is to keep her away from leading story with the rest of the show. That is an admittedly ugly perspective. Sadly, as a gay viewer who has seen this happen both with gay characters and with attractive leads of any orientation who do not fit into a proscribed box, I also think it is 100% the truth.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Vee

[FrenchBug82]

I have read you mention that analysis before and let me tell you: I fully 1000% agree that this is exactly what happened. No question in my mind that you are absolutely right.
And that the Tessa/Mariah fanbase thing is a convenient excuse. But just like DG proved a convenient excuse can last a long time when TPTB don't want to do something.
It will take a writer who comes in and sees the potential to rip the bandaid and, hopefully give Mariah a chance.

There is still so much that could be done with this cast of characters more broadly. You don't need a big budget if you know how to write. I just watched clips over several weeks of Diane agonizing over whether to take Victor's divorce settlement or hold out for more money and various character pitching in.
It is as low-stakes drama as can be on the merits and yet those scenes have so much weight, so many layers for every character that gives their opinion based on their thoughts on Diane and on Victor and I wasn't bored at all twenty five years later. And it only takes a couple of living rooms, a decent script and a bunch of good actors. 

It is not easy but it should not be that hard.

[Vee]

I would 100% write a ripped from the headlines story where Abby or Victoria goes full Elizabeth Holmes - Steve Jobs turtlenecks and all - and begins running a Theranos-style scam venture for over a year. That doesn't take a ton of money to do, and people would watch and seethe and wait for whoever the character is to get taken down. But those stories don't get told anymore.

[MichaelGL]

Has any light been shed on Mariah's life before she came to Genoa City? Her childhood, etc? 

[Ponds]

Camryn Grimes doesn't have that skinny ass size 1 body, but they dress her in the most atrocious clothes that make her look larger than she actually is.  She's a beautiful woman and deserves better!

[janea4old]

Mariah and Cassie were twins.

Backstory that came out when Nick Newman dug into Mariah's past:  Sharon was a pregnant teenager, and she and her mother tried to keep this secret from the public. They went to some secret medical place when she delivered.  Sharon was never told she was pregnant with twins. (They didn't have much money so she probably didn't have prenatal checkups).   Sharon was sedated when she gave birth. A clinic employee (or someone pretending to be an employee?) took one of the twins, and Sharon never knew.  Sharon and her mother knew only about one child, Cassie, whom she gave immediately up for adoption.  Alice Johnson adopted Cassie.  Sharon didn't know who adopted Cassie until Grace Turner tracked her down in 1997.

Remember the storyline from decades ago that Nikki Reed (later Nikki Newman) was in a cult? When it first aired, the cult was run by a woman.  It was later retconned that the cult was run by a man named Ian Ward. Some nonsense that began in 2014 to explain that Nikki and Paul had sex during their time at the cult and Nikki gave birth to Dylan who was adopted by the McAvoy family (Dylan was played as an adult by Steve Burton).  While investigating all of this, the character of Ian Ward was introduced to the Y&R canvas.

Back to the Mariah storyline: The nefarious person had secretly stolen the newborn twin Mariah from Sharon.  Mariah was raised by a woman named Helen Copeland.  Helen belonged to a cult run by the villain Ian Ward.  So basically Mariah was raised in the cult.  Mariah later left the cult and became a grifter.

Later on, Victor Newman noticed this young woman Mariah who bore an uncanny resemblance to Cassie - and Victor hired her to come to Genoa City to pretend to be the ghost of dead Cassie and haunt Sharon Newman's cottage.  Victor wanted to harm Sharon for one of his plots. That is how Mariah ended up in Genoa City. Mariah had no idea that the woman she was gaslighting (Sharon) was her biological mother.     It was later on that Nick researched it and learned that Mariah was actually Cassie's twin, which nobody had known, not even Victor.

There's more convoluted nonsense plot relating to Ian Ward.  Ian resented the Newmans because Victor married Ian's former cult member Nikki, so Ian tried to wreak havoc on the Newmans. He kidnapped adult Mariah from Genoa City with the intent to marry her - I forget how she escaped that.  It's an entire mess that I don't like to remember.  It was very gross because, as the cult leader, Ian had been a father figure to child Mariah, and then we learned that he wanted her as his bride.

Mariah was raised in a cult and later became a grifter.  Tessa was raised in her real family who were apparently abusive, and she later became a grifter. Hence neither woman judging the other for their pasts.

Edited March 26, 2022 by janea4old

[MichaelGL]

Thanks, I had blocked out that horrid Ian Ward storyline and his connection to Mariah. 

[Sapounopera]

The story sounds crazy. Mariah Copeland is so not a Y&R name. They should just call her Lesbian Cassie.

Killing off Cassie in order for Nick and Sharon to stay young was a horrible idea. The beginning of the horrible pairing with Phyllis

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[Paul Raven]

Agree.

This mindset goes back to Cassie being killed in the first place.

Here was a beloved character that had grown up in real time and who naturally would become the next generation without the crazy SORASING. But Camryn wasn't the stock pretty teen so she was seen as dispensable.

Edited March 26, 2022 by Paul Raven

[Faulkner]

I was thinking Sally would be a good candidate too. They’re already playing her as sort of a scammer who wants to skip steps on the ladder to the top. It would actually give Genoa City a *legitimate* reason to hate her. And Adam could be her Sunny Balwani.

[DramatistDreamer]

I will say this of GH, that, at least they didn't permanently off Robin Scorpio, that would've been dumb.

[Vee]

That works, and Courtney Hope (who as a gamer I admittedly love from Control) can certainly play it. The IRL Shultz family conflict is also straight out of soaps, but can be even more salacious on daytime.

[janea4old]

I made a typo when I first wrote this.  I had written "That is how Cassie ended up in Genoa City". 
Of course I meant to say "That is how Mariah ended up in Genoa City".  I have since fixed my post.

---
Child Cassie ended up in Genoa City 25 years ago when Grace Turner found her.
Cassie's full name at adoption was Cassidy Johnson.  (adopted by Alice Johnson who was played by Tamara Clatterbuck).  Alice wasn't taking care of Cassidy so Alice's elderly mother had been trying to raise her, but it was a bit much for her.  Grace went on a search for the child Sharon had given up, and found Cassidy Johnson.   Later on she was returned to Sharon, and the courts ruled that Nick and Sharon could have custody and be her legal parents. So then she became Cassidy Newman.  Cassidy had the nickname Cassie.

[janea4old]

Back to the original topic:
Michael Mealor returning:

Editing later. .. the tweet has disappeared.

The tweet showed a gif from JT's instagram story,
of Mealor backstage in wardrobe looking good.

(As someone mentioned, Mealor shaved his head after he left Y&R. 
The since-deleted gif showed that that his hair has now grown out).

Edited April 14, 2022 by janea4old