Y&R: January 2024 Discussion Thread

[1974mdp]

Sharon and her new "corporation." Snore. As if this show needed to talk about one more vague company that does zilch for the story. The show's obsession with these takeovers/mergers/CEOs is a head scratcher. It's ZERO interesting to hear the characters drone on and on about this company or that company. And, they seem determined to put EVERYONE in that "world." Chance leaves being a cop to do what??? To do some vague office job...why? Now, Abby wants in on the action, too, at Lily and Devon's ill-defined company. Soon, every single character (I wouldn't be surprised if Esther does next, too!) will work at one of these "companies." What is the story in any of this???

Viewers should really start doing a bingo game while watching. Squares could contain words such as...takeover, merger, CEO, COO, acquire, company, etc...

[MichaelGL]

Josh Griffith is writing Y&R with very little understanding about what made Y&R, well Y&R. Yes the show was at times about business takeovers and etc., but it was detailed, there were high stakes involved, and often it was the backdrop of a much bigger story playing out. Josh is just lazily writing what he thinks is corporate intrigue in the 21st century, with very little detail, and boring scripts that lead to nowhere including buzzwords such as "merger", "take over", "CEO, CFO, etc". It's as if ChatGPT is writing the script with the direction to pen business stories on a soap. So bland, uninspiring, and lacking any depth. 

Edited January 30, 2024 by MichaelGL

[janea4old]

Esther actually did work as a receptionist for Chancellor-Winters starting in October 2022. Devon said he hired her because Katherine considered Esther family. 

Esther worked there until sometime in 2023 when Sharon hired her to manage Crimson Lights.

--
Recap of 8/23/2023 from soapcentral
https://www.soapcentral.com/young-and-restless/recaps/2023/230821.php#wed

At Crimson Lights, Sharon met with Esther. Sharon told Esther that she, Nick, and Adam were going to run a media company. Sharon admitted she would be very busy, and she asked if Esther would manage the coffeehouse for her because she wasn't ready to let it go. Sharon hoped it would be a good fit for Esther, but she also knew what being at Chancellor-Winters meant to Esther.

Esther told Sharon that since she'd been at Chancellor-Winters for a while, there were things she didn't like. She explained that when she'd accepted the job at Chancellor-Winters, she'd thought she would be talking to a lot of people, like employees and clients arriving for meetings. She claimed that was no longer the case, since meetings were via video conferences, text messages, and cell phones, and working from home had become the current thing. Esther admitted she wanted more human interaction.

Esther remembered how much she'd liked working at the coffeehouse previously. To Sharon's delight, Esther accepted the job. She told Sharon she should be able to start fairly soon, but she wanted to make sure Devon and Lily had someone to cover for her on the days she worked at the coffeehouse.
 

--- LOL at what I bolded.

Edited January 30, 2024 by janea4old

[Vee]

How does Sharon have a company??

[janea4old]

How did she obtain it?
Cameron Kirsten left it to her in his will. It's a tech company.  She renamed it from Kirsten Incorporated to Cassidy First Technology (after Cassie).

How is she able to run it?

There were scenes of her looking at corporate reports and such with paperwork on Crimson Lights tables, as she was learning about the company after inheriting it.

She first consulted with Adam, with Nick, and with Victor for business advice and there were the usual Y&R endless convos of potential mergers with Newman subsidiaries, and who would be CEO and CFO etc etc.
Finally Sharon said *NO* to all of that, and walked away from Newman and any possible mergers, and walked away from  Adam and Victor.  She kept Nick on as an advisor for a short while.

But then Sharon decided to do it all on her own, as by this time she had apparently been working with a staff we've never seen. And all along she has had Mariah as her righthand person but I'm not sure what Mariah's title is.

Edited January 30, 2024 by janea4old

[Khan]

My vote's for the latter.

A question for the ages!

But seriously.  Sharon working as CEO of some vague outfit that she inherited from her one-time stalker and abuser does not make sense to me (and y'all know how big I am on things making sense to me, lol).  If anything, she should be focusing her time and energy on running that non-profit that she and Nick had set up after Cassie's death to educate young adults on the dangers of underaged drinking and driving.

Now here is where you would need an "Eve Harrington" type, someone who shows up in Sharon's life under the pretense of acclimating her to life as a CEO, but who systematically isolates Sharon from everyone, including Mariah.  Then, taking advantage of Sharon's naivete and history of mental illness, they end up framing her for embezzlement or some other white collar crime as part of some overall, nefarious agenda; and Sharon, facing prison time, must ally herself with someone like Phyllis in order to prove her innocence.

Edited January 30, 2024 by Khan

[janea4old]

Sharon announced at her launch party on Jan. 15 that a good portion of the profits of her Cassidy First Technology company would go to that nonprofit and other foundations that educate on that very theme.

Edited January 30, 2024 by janea4old

[Khan]

 

Well, I'm glad they remembered that foundation.  I'd hate to think we suffered all those years ago through that special musical performance from Jewel for nothing, lol.

Edited January 30, 2024 by Khan

[Beachstorm]

They did a minor remodel not that long ago. They put in a lovely glass pastry display case at the cash register and got rid of the cringey fringe-edged table tops.

But that jukebox, creepy eyeballs and puppet dude need to be put into storage pronto.

I still can't figure why Mishael Morgan is coming back for her short stint. Will she be here to assist Sharon in legal dealings? Certainly Amanda isn't going to interact with Devon and Abby at CW, is she? Will she come back to help her friend Phyllis? I just don't get why they would bring her back at all.

[janea4old]

Josh Griffith interview, March 2023, about how he's writing the 50th anniv of Y&R and beyond.
https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/icymi-josh-griffith-interview-1723920/

Griffith: "We’ve created three arenas of storytelling on the show, the Newman arena, the Abbott arena and the Chancellor-Winters arena. Everything falls within those three and there’s some crossover, but it falls within those three."
<snip>
Digest: "What are your feelings about how you’ve positioned Y&R for 2023?"

Griffith: "I’m feeling excited and really energized. I feel I’ve gotten all of the pieces in place for an explosion of story going into the summer and then into the fall. I think we’re really in a strong place with the cast and with the character dynamics and having really solidified these three arenas that I previously mentioned. I hope that we’re using the 50th in a way to get back to the core of what makes Y&R work."

--------
Also, in parts of the interview that I didn't quote, about the returning characters, he mentions how they fit into the framework of "these three arenas" that he focuses on.  Mamie with corporation stuff, etc. 

Really he still writes everything about the families doing corporate businesses. 

The only non-business storylines for the year:

• Several months of Phyllis faking her death to frame Diane.  But the only fallout from that was the Kyle/Summer split. 
• Shortterm storyline of a few weeks: Cameron Kirsten being creepy, killing Faith's cat, and tying a bomb to Faith's body, and Sharon knifing him to save the day.
• The Jordan/Claire/Eve stuff.

And then somehow Griffith put the Cameron Kirsten stuff into his "three families and their corporations" framework, by having Kristen's will bequeath Sharon his corporation. and then the Y&R writing was trying to rope Sharon into a media conglomerate with the Newmans.
 

I wonder who got Griffith to pivot Sharon to be out on her own?  And to actually put some of Sharon's individual character personality jnto her company - by making it give donations to underage drinking education, and  showing her warmth at her company's launch.  And in today's (Jan. 30th) episode when she tells her employees over Zoom that they need to focus on service.  I was like wow, Sharon is being written as a person and not the usual Y&R interchangeable executive.

Edited January 30, 2024 by janea4old

[BetterForgotten]

Even Griffith’s brief descriptions put me to sleep…

Why is this fool still employed and given more power after all these years and after repeatedly failing at this show during multiple stints? Are Sony/CBS really that blind or do they just not care anymore? 

[janea4old]

Ashley seems to be being gaslit by Tucker.  Or is she?

Does this explain why the two recent New Year's classic reruns were about Kevin setting Gina's on fire?  Because those episodes included Ashley's mental breakdown after the death of her stillborn son Robert Carlton.  

Are they revisiting Adam gaslighting Ashley, only this time with Tucker?
Or is Tucker telling the truth, and Ashley is having a mental breakdown for an unexplained reason?

I don't like Tucker at all.  TSJ's portrayal is so smug.

I hope they write Ashley as strong and intelligent here.  I'm glad Traci is supportive.

Edited January 30, 2024 by janea4old

[janea4old]

Griffith has revisited a lot of old storylines in the past 10 months for the 50th anniversary and beyond. For example: Mamie/Jill, Victor/Eve, Victoria/Cole,  Devon/Harmony/Tucker, Cameron Kirsten, Daniel/Lily, the horrid Christine/Danny/Phyllis triangle, etc. and now Ashley feeling gaslit.
And one-or-two-day tributes of the Winters remembering Neil and the Abbotts remembering John.

Some of these storyline revisits worked, and some were bad, and some were merely checking off boxes.

As I mentioned in an above post:

"I wonder who got Griffith to pivot Sharon to be out on her own?  And to actually put some of Sharon's individual character personality jnto her company - by making it give donations to underage drinking education, and  showing her warmth at her company's launch.  And in today's (Jan. 30th) episode when she tells her employees over Zoom that they need to focus on service.  I was like wow, Sharon is being written as a person and not the usual Y&R interchangeable executive."

They keep showing Nick admiring Sharon for what she's doing with her company.  First at her Jan. 15 launch party.  And now today Jan. 30 Nick stands in the background observing her doing her Zoom meeting with her employees. 

Well, upon pondering this further, my random speculation is that Griffith feels he has to revisit Shick and is checking off that box. 

But it doesn't feel that organic to me.

[ranger1rg]

I'm going to be the outlier here -- I really have no problem with the Crimson Lights set, including the jukebox, eyeballs, and puppet. I'd miss that set if they ended it or drastically changed it.

But why not change that side area. That makes no sense unless you're just a fan of having a space where ONLY cast characters can talk privately.

But Sharon holding her zoom meeting from CL? No. Just no. That's really just an in-your-face reminder of the sets problem on this show. If they cared about Cassidy First, they'd turn that side area into an office for Sharon.

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

This infernal issue with sets and budgets, there’s a dignified solution in there somewhere. I’m fascinated by it despite no longer being a regular viewer.

Question: Does Sharon still have a house? Could there be space for a home office? People do work from those..