Y&R: Actor Returning?

[Liberty City]

Two hours ago, Rory Gibson (Noah) posted on his IG Stories outside of Television Studios. Could Noah be on his way home to Genoa City for a visit?

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[AmandainNC28655]

With everything that has gone on with his family lately, it would be about the right time for him to visit.  Unless he plays into the Jordan storyline somehow?

[Darn]

Crazy that the alleged next generation of Newmans has been window dressing for 15 years. They've done so little with him that he might as well have aged in real time. Has Noah ever had a memorable storyline?

[DRW50]

That's what happens when Victoria and Nick are never allowed to grow up.

The only thing I remember about Noah is when some fans thought they might make him gay.

[Darn]

And they only begrudgingly allowed 70 year Jack to have an adult son a few years ago. It often feels like the characters are stuck in status from where they between 1995-2005. It's downright bizarre that Victoria has no adult children (before whatever this thing is with Claire is) to interact with.

Is the fear that if someone turns on the show and doesn't immediately recognize everyone as they were 20 years ago so paramount that they're not building for the future at all? Daniel, Mariah, Kyle, etc. should be driving story and they all could, they're played by talented actors who seem in it for the long haul. Why is Sony not demanding a true investment in them?

[John]

its sad that they do not use Noah, Reed and etc

If Bill Bell were alive he would be mixing all generations in correctly

That was the rumored plan when Kevin Schmidt was playing Noah

[DramatistDreamer]

Despite the fact that I have taken numerous breaks from watching this show, I still doubt that anyone will be able to answer that question in the affirmative. 
This show has kept a certain over 50s generation in a state of arrested development, which has put the next generations of characters on the margins with no chance to flourish or even lead memorable stories, which has kept the series basically stagnant. Add to the likes of Noah, Moses and Faith. I understand why these shows don’t really want babies beyond a source of conflict but they SORAS them, supposedly to be able to expand storytelling, but then use them briefly and then quickly shuttle them off. Now, here is Daniel’s daughter Lucy who has no peers and will seemingly only ever hang out with her parents. Very odd.

It feels like the last developed generation of young adult were the Glow By Jabot kids. I thought that reliquary story was awful but at least a case could be made for Colleen and JT being two of the leading characters in that story, not to mention their parts in other larger stories.

Noah has had nothing on that scale.

[Khan]

Well, like we always say, it's called THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS for a reason.  Bill Bell wanted his show to be about how the youth adapts to the challenges of their times.  But that's a little hard to do when there's hardly any youth around, and those that are around stand on the sidelines while their parents and grandparents still act as if they're in their twenties and thirties.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Khan

[Faulkner]

This show survives (and likely stays No. 1) by being nostalgic comfort food for an aging audience (no shade) who’ll rage if Victor isn’t played enough (whipped into further fury on social media by Eric Braeden, one of soaps’ few remaining superstars). In an era when you can’t afford to accommodate a sprawling cast, there’s no room for a young group to flourish, especially if they need a few young non-legacy characters in the mix for romantic purposes. They aren’t going to let Bergman, Stafford, Case, Morrow, Heinle, or Thompson go or take a backseat to their kids, especially with the salaries they command. It’s a huge bottleneck.

The tried-and-true wins, with soaps becoming more risk-averse about unloading popular expensive stars whose time may have come and gone. Newbies are halfheartedy introduced, then jettisoned to refocus on the older stars with a proven track record who command more viewer loyalty. 

I’m curious how Claire will be integrated. Will she be thrown at Kyle or something? Is a Victoria/Nate/Claire triangle a possibility? This show just feels stuck even when it’s “making moves.”

[BoldRestless]

IMO a lot of this has to do with actors looking and acting much younger than in the past (including the way they dress, speak, and are styled). Michael Graziadei is old enough to be Lucy's father, given she was born on screen and only lightly SORASed, but he looks young, and an artist like him would be more likely to be starting his family at his age rather than raising teenagers (as Graziadei himself has young twins). I'd rather see him as a younger leading man than disciplining a wayward teen. Don't get me started on Christel Khalil being given college age twins who looked the same age as her. Her onscreen kids must be in her 20s now which means she'd be potentially playing a grandma the way soaps marry off characters so young. 

I'm all for de SORAS whenever possible. Like Heather.

 

[janea4old]

Well maybe (? ? ? ) they slowed down the SORAS because they just said onscreen that Mattie(Matilda) is still in college so I can *hope* that they'll keep Charlie and Mattie under 21 for a while. But yeah they marry the characters off way too young now, so who knows.

Edited December 15, 2023 by janea4old

[Faulkner]

Yeah, and like you said, people are waiting longer to have kids these days, yet these soaps always go back to sticking characters with babies for short-term stories and live to regret it. Why saddle Teriah with a kid so soon, for instance? Partially because they can’t or don’t want to tell the other kinds of stories for a young (same-sex) couple. 

[janea4old]

The show released supposedly heartwarming family photos 
(BTS) spoiler pics for Christmas. 
I put them on the December spoiler thread at this post:
https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/65542-bbyr-upcoming-december-2023-spoilers/?do=findComment&comment=1884073

I went on a few long rants there about the lack of children and young adults in those photos, which goes along with the above discussion.

Edited December 15, 2023 by janea4old

[DramatistDreamer]

They don’t seem to know how to write for even middle schoolers, let alone teens and young adults. MCE and JT are old enough to have the kids they have and yet, the show still can’t write for them. Phyllis and Daniel strained incredulity in regards to their ages, yet that didn’t seem to stop Daniel from getting at least one memorable story when he was supposedly a young adult. The writing is just totally absent for all but the core I.e. older Newman and Abbott characters.

[janea4old]

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Kellen Enriquez (Kyle's son Harrison) was taping on December 14.