..and Faith should be a major character driving story right about now. She’s in her early 20s by now I’d assume, she’s a Newman. There’s plenty they could and SHOULD be doing with her!

Instead they’re writing stories for Victor and Nikki that would be more suitable for the younger set. Why would we care that Nikki might leave Victor for the millionth time.

Y&R should stop showing classic episodes, because they just remind us of how much this show has fallen.

-- Yes, today's repeat gave us the 1,745th play on A Christmas Carol, but at least it was well done. A lot of the cast was included, former characters returned, and the play on Scrooge was spot on. I didn't even mind Victor again ranting "I was raised in an orphanage!"

-- Seeing Billy Miller made me sad.

-- The big problem? We know that Victor never changed. He hasn't grown at all since this or any other classic episode. We get these huge statement episodes that essentially mean nothing. Still, at least the classic was well done.

-- Yesterday's show was beyond lazy.

-- Devoid of characters, devoid of family, devoid of energy, devoid of any holiday feeling.

-- I've already mentioned the terrible excuses for characters who weren't present. The Abbotts were especially embarrassing. Seeing them all together was a common thing. Yesterday, NO ONE was there except for Jack and Diane.

-- Even worse? Jack throws in dialogue mentioning "family." Are you kidding me with this?

-- And yes, Courtney Hope was given Emmy bait with Sally's scene about her sad childhood. But do any of us care? We saw NONE of that, which is typical Josh Griffith. And Sally's talking to Victoria? Why?

-- Katie and Johnny were good, but as I've said, we won't see them again, so why should I care? The stuff with that sad tree was pathetic, and just shows what a terrible parent Billy is. None of it was cute, including the stupid popcorn stringing.

-- We used to get scenes showing the rich taking care of the poor on this show. Not this year. Instead, we got mentions of Max Factor and Coco Chanel -- followed by Nikki and Diane getting garish and expensive necklaces, as if that makes up for this show being so broke ass. None of it was touching or emotional.

-- I'm actually holding back in the spirit of Christmas, because I could rip on this show even harder. It's gone to complete sh_it.

Oh wow. Mark Grossman and Courtney Hope in scenes together? When’s the last time that happened? I know these two dated IRL but I wonder how serious it actually got between them and how awkward doing these scenes were to do

The Christmas Day repeat makes me want to say Come Back Maria Arena Bell. All is forgiven!

I sat down and watched an episode for the first time in years, I must say, the acting quality and the direction of this show is really not the Y&R I remember, it’s really declined over the years 😢

11 minutes ago, Janet Green said:

I sat down and watched an episode for the first time in years, I must say, the acting quality and the direction of this show is really not the Y&R I remember, it’s really declined over the years 😢

The actors are having to deal with limited rehearsal and scripts that are recycling past stories. It must be difficult to bring something new to scenes that are repeats of past events eg Sharon being tormented, Victor vowing revenge, Phyllis trying to gain power, Jack under threat, Kyle professing his undying love to a new woman etc

The direction is now pretty much 2 people talking at a restaurant table-no movement, group scenes.

19 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

The direction is now pretty much 2 people talking at a restaurant table-no movement, group scenes.

Yep. Even Mal Young's Y&R wasn't so depressing to watch.

On 12/26/2025 at 3:08 PM, TEdgeofNight said:

The Christmas Day repeat makes me want to say Come Back Maria Arena Bell. All is forgiven!

It was the same trash then as it is now.

16 hours ago, DRW50 said:

It was the same trash then as it is now.

Not even close. The show was better. It really was starting to decline a lot by that time but atleast there were stories and a budget. The stories sucked, sure.. but atleast we got to see the action unfold. We just have to take characters words for it when they say something happened off screen while they sit and drink coffee and chat. BORING.

I’ll take MAB’s Y&R over this horse sh*t any day.

MAB’s stories at least had high emotional stakes. And she did it with a massive budget cut (compared to what they had before) around 2009.

I was interested in her show until around spring 2012.

25 minutes ago, Ryanc2 said:

Not even close. The show was better. It really was starting to decline a lot by that time but atleast there were stories and a budget. The stories sucked, sure.. but atleast we got to see the action unfold. We just have to take characters words for it when they say something happened off screen while they sit and drink coffee and chat. BORING.

It's tough for me to choose between bad stories on a higher budget and nonexistent stories on a lower budget, but if some enjoyed that time more I'm glad for them.

53 minutes ago, Ryanc2 said:

I’ll take MAB’s Y&R over this horse sh*t any day.

SAME.

The show has never been worse than it is right now. Never.

1 hour ago, Ryanc2 said:

I’ll take MAB’s Y&R over this horse sh*t any day.

I completely agree. At least MAB wrote real storylines. Not just characters standing around talking. And when MAB was in charge, the show still seemed like Y&R. Today it's like a different show, with weak plots and absolutely no romance. How the Hell can somebody write a soap opera for years, and refuse to write romance? Plus -- romantic plots on soaps practically write themselves, and they can be effectively performed with a very low budget. Griffith is simply refusing to write romantic plots. He should be smarter than that.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Tisy-Lish