2 hours ago, Soaplovers said:

Jane Elliot would have been all wrong for Samantha.

I agree!!

4 hours ago, Vee said:

I don't even know what The Soul Survivors is. More fool me.

As @DRW50 and @Franko have said, TSS was the brand-new soap Douglas Marland was working on at the time of his death (although, it was just in the bible stages, it hadn't been sold to any network or sponsor).  Supposedly, it was to be set in a coal mining town in PA.  Also, Marland appeared to have learned a few lessons from LOVING, telling SOD that he planned to focus initially on just 6-8 characters, believing that it would do no good to bombard new viewers with characters they don't know and don't care about yet.

I wish a copy of that bible was available, because I'd LOVE to read it and see what kind of vision he had had for his last creation.

21 hours ago, AlexGrimaldi said:

That's true. Nina drove many storylines after Phillip's death (1989). But after David Kimble's death and the end of Kay-Jill-Rex triangle (1991), Jeanne Cooper was left without anything considerable to do on the show. Kay was happily married to rex, Jill was trying to tie the knot with Victor (eventually he rejected her and she resumed her relationship with John, that led to a new wedding and Billy's birth) and Nina was having great sex with hot Ryan McNeil (they eventually became a couple and got married).

In 1993 Jeanne Cooper was about to leave YR and move to ATWT, but Douglas Marland's sudden death changed her plans.

When Kay Alden became headwriter in 1998, things improved for Kay and Jill. They had again something in common. The feud about the ownership of the mansion and then about Billy and Mac's love. 

Yeah, its crazy that Katherine was without major storyline from around 1992-1997. At least Kay consistently had story from 1998-2013. Unfortunately those years were filled numerous nonsensical RETCONS

Bad Move by Well Regarded William J Bell: Killing of Rex Sterling. Why? The show didn't benefit from this at all. We barely got flashbacks of Kay and Rex in the years following. Katherine still pined over Philip despite Rex being a considerably better husband. 

Another bad move: Killing off Cassandra. Even if she was written off the show at the time she could have came back in the future. She was really an old Hollywood beauty and the character could have been explored more.

Edited December 12, 20241 yr by Planet Soap

8 hours ago, Maxim said:

This reminds me of a scene... where Ridge told Stephanie what an amazing woman she is bla bla bla and she told him - In moments like these I'm sorry you are my son. This was in 1987... then they played it off like a joke. And who can forget Brooke telling Stephanie this exact thing in 1989.

Taylor and Jackie also pointed out Stephanie's creepy obsession with Ridge and his lovelife. (And also got slapped for it)

On 12/8/2024 at 12:15 PM, kalbir said:

Nikki was the OG ho turned housewife that became snooty lady of the manor. In the 1990s she really needed to be knocked down a peg or two.

Some of her most disgusting moments were trying to force Miguel to make her drinks, when she was in denial about her alcoholism. Seen here:

Nikki later attempted to fire Miguel, and Jack rehired him. She was also verbally condescending to the "maid"  Veronica "Sarah" Landers 

What's also interesting about this scene is Neil pulling Dru away from Victor. At first she was this wild girl talking in the white writer's attempt to do slang, lol. In another episode, I think it was the masquerade ball, Neil apologizes to Victor for Drucilla's "english" to which Victor replies its delightful. 

Neil came off as a square black guy in corporate America seeking white approval. He loosened up a bit in the mid '90s though.

I always thought he and Olivia should have been together since they were both the same kind of character. Malcolm and Drucilla would have been interesting for a while.

Edited December 13, 20241 yr by Planet Soap

5 minutes ago, Planet Soap said:

Neil came off as a square black guy in corporate America seeking white approval. He loosened up a bit in the mid '90s though.

I always thought he and Olivia should have been together since they were both the same kind of character. Malcolm and Drucilla would have been interesting for a while.

The show seemed to be going down that path in the mid '90s but they had already poisoned the well with Malcolm raping Dru. I also didn't think Olivia and Neil had much chemistry.

I always thought Neil looked down on Dru. One of many examples of self-righteous men on Y&R who just put me off. Ryan was another in that age group.

On 12/11/2024 at 4:17 PM, titan1978 said:

I think Jane has addressed it. She wanted more money with her new contract and Gloria balked, and called her professionalism in doubt for even asking. And Jane would not stand for that. Gloria’s secretary called Jane about the Emmy nominations and she came to the studio and nominated herself, and won, mostly out of spite after she was already gone.

The interesting thing is that Jane won some kind of soap award (maybe digest) during the transition from Monty to Riche, and she actually accepted the award and in her speech spoke about Gloria with the highest of respect, possibly not likening how ABC handled things. I saw it when falling in a YouTube hole recently.

I agree with Jane too- I think Tracy would be pro-choice. Especially because of her old money background.

As far as Stephanie goes, I wonder if Flannery moved the character into what he was reaching for in the first place. SSH has warmth and glamour, and Jane has a grit and snooty attitude down pat. But Flannery, when B&B began, brought the cerebral quality Bell loved. She would play the Oedipal, psycho-sexual themes surrounding her over- involvement with Ridge as actual subtext. 

In her first few episodes, the show dressed Stephanie up to be more matronly..especially in her debut episode.  This was thankfully rectified and after a few episodes was dressed more glamorous and confident.

Not only did B&B play up the odd Stephanie/Ridge subtext...the show also played up her jealousy of her daughter Kristen and viewed her as competition for Eric.

Was there an Eric/Kristen subtext..or just projection on Stephanie's part. 

I think Bill Bell not addressing Eric and Stephanie's Oedupus and Elecktra complexes was a mistake.

On 12/11/2024 at 4:57 PM, Liberty City said:

 

I don't think it was meant to be a full-time thing; if I recall, Jeanne Cooper was meant to brought into the storyline with Terry Lester. It was going to be a limited-run casting, and then she'd return to The Young and the Restless. But, when Marland passed, the storyline changed entirely.

What might have made sense is Cooper playing Lucinda and Royce's mother in flashbacks.

10 hours ago, P.J. said:

What might have made sense is Cooper playing Lucinda and Royce's mother in flashbacks.

Well, the plans were to "age" Cooper with makeup and prosthetic, which would have worked. But, with Marland's passing, we'll never know how it would have gone.

On 12/11/2024 at 11:26 PM, Planet Soap said:

Yeah, its crazy that Katherine was without major storyline from around 1992-1997. At least Kay consistently had story from 1998-2013. Unfortunately those years were filled numerous nonsensical RETCONS

Bad Move by Well Regarded William J Bell: Killing of Rex Sterling. Why? The show didn't benefit from this at all. We barely got flashbacks of Kay and Rex in the years following. Katherine still pined over Philip despite Rex being a considerably better husband. 

Another bad move: Killing off Cassandra. Even if she was written off the show at the time she could have came back in the future. She was really an old Hollywood beauty and the character could have been explored more.

Oh, wow...I never heard the rumor that JC was considering leaving the show for ATWT. Was there any speculation on what character she would play?

It's a shame that Jeanne Cooper was left without much to do for years....

Just now, 1974mdp said:

Was there any speculation on what character she would play?

Lucinda Walsh's mother, Gloria Keller.

49 minutes ago, Liberty City said:

Lucinda Walsh's mother, Gloria Keller.

I doubt that, considering that Jeanne Cooper and Elizabeth Hubbard were only 5 years apart in age.

7 minutes ago, kalbir said:

I doubt that, considering that Jeanne Cooper and Elizabeth Hubbard were only 5 years apart in age.

As I previously posted, the plan was to age Cooper, via makeup and prosthetics. But, when Marland died, the plans were scrapped.

@Liberty City I missed that, thank you for the additional info.

6 hours ago, kalbir said:

@Liberty City I missed that, thank you for the additional info.

What ended up airing was Liz Hubbard playing Gloria. The age difference between Cooper and Hubbard wouldn't have mattered, as they were flashbacks.

What I can't recall is if Hubbard also played "young Lucinda" or that she just wanted to in those same flashbacks.

15 hours ago, P.J. said:

What I can't recall is if Hubbard also played "young Lucinda" or that she just wanted to in those same flashbacks.

I know one of the actors from "The Baby-Sitters' Club" (the '90's TV series, not the movie or the other series that came later) played young Lucinda in some scenes, but maybe Hubbard played her in some scenes as well?