-- Giving Black characters a life-threatening diseases is not exactly denigrating those characters, at least not in these cases.

-- I'd accept an Olivia recast, but Josh Griffith wouldn't give her anything. She'd be used like Amy.

-- Absolute no to a Malcolm recast. It won't work any better than it did with DM when they cast against type thinking they could subvert expectations.

-- Stephanie's story about her husband Jerry and not contacting Malcolm was wonky, but all of this is much better than the other stories we've been tortured with.

-- Age alert: Shemar Moore is 55. Nathan Owens is 42. Both look great for their age, but Owens looks especially good.

-- The Crimson Lights lack of extras is a problem. The place always looks like it should be closing.

-- I enjoyed Cane taking down Phyllis today. So glad to hear him destroy her and tell her she did nothing to earn what she has.

-- Michelle Stafford is back to repeating her lines, sometimes a third time. Ugh.

-- Cane and Lily belong together. CK and BF have chemistry.

Stafford went to the Bart Simpson school of television acting: "Repetition is my job. My job. Repetiveness is my job."

Stephanie telling Malcolm, 'I heard you were dead, I grieved you and moved on, etc.' was kinda funny. VF deadpan delivery of such a soapy thing was spot-on.

I bet the lack of extras in CL had to do with SM/VF filming schedule because the GC Club scenes during the same days had plenty of extras. SM/VF have such presence that extras aren't worthy or necessary.

Even if the history was bent, both the Damian and Holden paternity stories are anchored by legacy Y&R characters. It's too bad SEM retired from acting, but VP has done a great job as Amy. I hope we see her soon. Since Tonya isn't coming back, Amy can serve as the de facto maternal figure the Winters clan.

I'm looking forward to the Winters clan finding out about Holden.

BF has made Cane a lot more interesting than I imagined. I do enjoy MS/BF bantering.

26 minutes ago, edgeofnik said:

I bet the lack of extras in CL had to do with SM/VF filming schedule because the GC Club scenes during the same days had plenty of extras. SM/VF have such presence that extras aren't worthy or necessary.

But this is an ongoing problem. CL is lucky if there's one customer and a staff member endlessly wiping tables.

Bringing back Amy was pointless as they decided to kill off her son. Now Nate and Holden can compare stories on finding out they have half siblings.

They would have been better recasting Olivia. Although in Josh's world she would have to give up medicine to become a businesswoman.

Just thinking how Josh is using illness as a plot device. Cole, Amy and now Malcolm.

54 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

-- Cane and Lily belong together. CK and BF have chemistry.

If only they hadn't saddled BF as Cane. Way too much story baggage. BF could have been a new character not weighed down by 3 unseen children, dead twin brother and sister, horrible parents, cheating behaviour, criminal connections etc.

4 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Does every CBS daytime soap now have to have a Black character facing a life-threatening disease?

They just can't WAIT to kill us off.

10 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

I'd be OK with some Olivia appearances - a good recast would be fine.

And she could work on a recurring basis too. She can have scenes with Nate/Lily/Devon and when Eileen Davidson feels like it, we can get some meaningful Olivia/Ashley scenes too.

My choices for an Olivia recast which needs to be happen soon... I hope.

Amelia Marshall

Cassandra Creech

Vanessa Estelle Williams

Dawnn Lewis

Kellita Smith

11 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Does every CBS daytime soap now have to have a Black character facing a life-threatening disease?

I don't think Carter, Daphne or Zende are facing any disease on B&B.

Another day focussed on Malcolm/Stephanie/Lily/Holden with an added dollop of Traci doing Traci.

It feels like a proper soap and not some pale imitative mish mash.

Am I missing Billy, Victor, Jack and Patty, Nick the druggie etc ?NO!

On 4/6/2026 at 2:36 AM, Paul Raven said:

I would love to know what the actors really think of today's Y&R.

Of course, they are professional and talk things up but those who remember the old days must shake their heads when they get a script.

Remember when Sally Sussman/Kay Alden returned and a few castmembers subtly dissed the previous writer, hoping things might turn around with someone from the Bell days at the helm. That was not to be, but it was telling in it's own way.

Based on past cast promos, I'm under the assumption they think it's a good show because it's still the number one soap. I'm sure they probably figure things changed after Bill Bell died, but I'm not sure if they're aware of many longtime fans cite 2005 to be the last time the show was good.

Y&R is my favorite soap, but it's currently the least creative product on the air. I question if they know it's that bad.

12 hours ago, Spoon said:

Stafford went to the Bart Simpson school of television acting: "Repetition is my job. My job. Repetiveness is my job."

Stafford used to be such a good actress but something has gone off the rails in recent years. And she's not the only one. I'll chalk it up to the weak material.

As for acting I am enjoying, only Shemar Moore and Vivica A. Fox could get me to watch two full episodes of Y&R. The backstory of Stephanie not telling Malcolm that he didn't have a son doesn't hold much water. He's never been an outright bad guy and deserved the courtesy of being told. That was undersold in the scenes and papered over. It came off like a shrug.

But here we are and I loved Vivica's energy and camp. Put her in more scenes with Audrey please.

As for the extras in the scenes, it felt like there were only two customers at the restaurant lol.

6 hours ago, Khan said:

Y&R tried to recast Malcolm with Darius "Sandwich King" McCrary. It didn't work.

See I feel like Malcolm would've been easy to recast, the failure for that goes entirely on the Casting Director at a time. Why would you cast a sitcom actor who looks nothing like Shemar Moore and can't embody his leading man vibes? I actually don't think Darius was a bad dramatic actor but that was just shocking. I also think better options were available.

Now in 2026, after a failed recast, I'd just keep using Shemar in guest spots when available. When it comes to Olivia, I do think she makes sense to recast and would be easy to recast (Vanessa Williams or Amelia Marshall come to mind) but I can't see them doing anything with the character which is most likely why they haven't bothered.