Y&R turning 50

[Daniel Avery]

When the decision was made to expand Y&R to an hour (against Bill Bell's wishes), they did something similar to what you are suggesting. The show had revolved around the Brookses (especially the sisters) and the Fosters up to that point. Bell realized that an hour-long show would need a lot of newly-minted characters with less "baggage" if he was going to write twice as much material. So the Brooks sisters and most of the Fosters were jettisoned in favor of the Abbotts, the Williamses, and eventually the Newmans. But I don't think such a revamp could be done by the lesser talents in charge at Y&R right now. Such an attempt would require a lot of patience on the part of the network AND fans, neither of which are known for their patience or understanding.

When Eric Braeden decides to retire or "otherwise departs," they have Peter Bergman practically drooling over the prospect of becoming the 'town patriarch'. They'd likely pair him with Melody Thomas Scott's Nikki, since they worked wonderfully well in the past.

 

[DallasFanForever]

Would they ever consider putting the show back to a half hour now? Is it even possible? Would they consider it or does it have to stay this way due to the ratings still being viable? I know it would unfortunately put a lot of people out of work and no one wants that but perhaps a “smaller” show could be the answer from a storyline and writing standpoint? Just a thought.

 

[Rove]

but perhaps a “smaller” show could be the answer from a storyline and writing standpoint? Just a thought.

Sounds good in theory but clearly this isn't working for B&B. Once upon a time B&B use to take advantage of that 30 minute time frame as the dialogue was zippy and plots evolved/moved quickly. Sons & Daughters took great advantage of this half hour format. But the last time I watched a few episodes of B&B back to back the first 15 minutes of the next episode was regurgitating what was said in the previous episode.

 

[Monzo]

I've looked through the soap ratings by season and am amazed that although Y&R has been no 1 for over 30 years, it was most successful in 1979-1980 and 1983-1984 with an 8.8 rating, which meant 3rd place behind GH and AMC at the time. Actually, Y&R only became No. 1 because the two ABC hits lost a lot of power, while Y&R remained relatively stable. The strongest season as no 1 was Y&R 1987-1988 when a tie with GH was: 8.7 rating. In 1993-1994, Y&R had an 8.6 rating on top, while GH and AMC were already two points behind.

Y&R had a blatant crash for years after the turn of the millennium. From 1999-2000 to 2004-2005 the ratings developed like this: 6.8-6.0-5.0-4.7-4.4-4.2. Other soaps also lost viewers, but not to the same extent. Was there a reason for the large decline in ratings for Y&R at the time?

 

[Daniel Avery]

It may have just been that Y&R had further to fall than the others since it had the highest rating. I don't recall an especially loud amount of complaints about the storylines of that era. Maybe if you pulled up a list of who was in charge. The show continued to be vague about Bill Bell's continued input in this period as a way of allowing the Bells to keep his health problems out of the press (he had developed Alzheimer's and died in 2005). I can't recall when John Smith and Kay Alden left (or were asked to) and when Lynn Marie Latham and her entourage arrived, for instance. I know a lot of people were upset that Bill Bell's protegee Kay Alden was shown the door so unceremoniously, but I can't recall if this occurred in the early 2000s or later on.

 

[cijimccashin]

Y&R was never my soap but Granny watched it every day so I saw more of it than I plan to. What I do remember was a decent depiction of a black family in the Winters/barber clan, Shemar Moore and Don Diamont confirming that I am gay every time they step on the screen lol. I loved the way they wrote the fathers on the show, a lot of them had great sensitivity without becoming wimps, Victor Newman was a special breed you could show a clip of him to any straight red-blooded man and they're intrigued to watch more.

William Bell did Triangles and Quads better than most IMO. And this was the show to watch for business storylines, Shiela Carter had one of the most exciting psycho sagas I have ever witnessed,

I had the pleasure of watching a lot of early Y&R and I must say my favorite character is Lorie Brooks. I enjoyed the Brooks family as a whole.

Some gripes I had with the show were some stories could move too slowly, and they had too much rape in it's early years.

 

[cijimccashin]

I'm not surprised by those numbers. Those age brackets only have an interest in The Kadashounds and all the other wall to wall reality garbage posing as soap when in fact the majority of it is loosely scripted. That said I happened to catch an episode of Y&R a few days ago and it's little wonder the youth are turned off. It was a scene between Nic and Victor and once again they had the character of Victor seated, presumably it was set in Victor's house. The actor Eric Braeden looked half comatose. The majority of the scene showed Eric looking down and making little eye contact with Joshua Morrow. Is it possible Eric is now reading his lines from a clipboard sitting on his lap? What ever the case this typical Victor Newman scene being shown as the all powerful man about town has grown tired and in fact casts a dull cloud over the soap and prevents other characters to shine.

As I continued watching the episode and the never ending dull conversations occurring between characters , I wondered, "Why are people still watching this dribble?" The above rating numbers suggest many have found other means of entertainment. I've advocated for some time a soap like Y&R and others needs a bloody good shake up. It's time to kill off the Newman family, stop recasting core characters and introduce new blood. Of course long time viewers and @Daniel Avery will offer me a bitch slap that would put Dominque Deveraux bitch slap to Alexis to shame.

They will argue that shaking up a soap could possibly alienate their core audience. What audience are they playing to? 70 year olds? Watching this episode of Y&R and there was nothing in it to reflect what is happening in the world today or nothing I could relate to. Once upon a time soaps were regarded as escapism from the drudgery of our own boring lives but when Y&R is just as boring to watch why would others consider wasting precious time on fictional characters.

I agree with this 100 percent. It's been time.

 

[AndyB2008]

It may have just been that Y&R had further to fall than the others since it had the highest rating. I don't recall an especially loud amount of complaints about the storylines of that era. Maybe if you pulled up a list of who was in charge. The show continued to be vague about Bill Bell's continued input in this period as a way of allowing the Bells to keep his health problems out of the press (he had developed Alzheimer's and died in 2005). I can't recall when John Smith and Kay Alden left (or were asked to) and when Lynn Marie Latham and her entourage arrived, for instance. I know a lot of people were upset that Bill Bell's protegee Kay Alden was shown the door so unceremoniously, but I can't recall if this occurred in the early 2000s or later on.

Mal Young (yes, that Mal Young of UK soaps fame) was executive producer of Y&R at one point, and he went down like a lead balloon.

 

[Monzo]

As the 50th anniversary season wraps up, here's a snippet of the big spring interview with Josh Griffith, in which he announced what fans could look forward to:

"We’d been kind of treating the 50th as the whole season ... The support from the production team and the support from the network has been just unprecedented ... 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 ... I hope that we’re using the 50th in a way to get back to the core of what makes Y&R work. My hope is that it completely embraces Bell's vision of these core families with story driven by characters, by relationships, by family and by business. I’ve always said the show is a clash of the titans. It’s business titans, it’s familial titans, and I feel like we’re set to carry that legacy forward in a very dramatic way ... I’m very optimistic that the audience will feel rewarded and excited by what we’re bringing together for this momentous, amazing milestone."

Was Josh Griffith able to live up to his expectations? Not for me. Season 50 wasn't what it should have been. Although some familiar faces returned for a few episodes, they didn't give the show any real impetus. It's true that there were business clashes, but now there are so many companies on the show that it no longer matters who works where, because next month at least two characters will be working somewhere else again.

To me the only really good story in season 50 was Cameron Kirsten's return. The timing of the story was spot on, although I think Linden Ashby needs to be credited for this and not Josh Griffith. Linden Ashby was obviously only willing to return for a very limited time, and so Cameron's story never got boring.

 

[Alexis]

I wish they would do what The Bold and The Beautiful have done and start putting up episodes on YouTube from the early years. I realise that they don't have every episode on tape. But they have the first, and they have selected ones from each year I think from that. And at some point I guess in the early to mid 1980s they have the majority of the shows episodes. The Young and The Restless is a show I would love to see play out. Especially from the start or as near as possible.

It may be easier for TB&TB as TB&TB is a half hour show, with the episodes being probably 20mins long.

 

[Alexis]

Mal Young (yes, that Mal Young of UK soaps fame) was executive producer of Y&R at one point, and he went down like a lead balloon.

Wasn't this only a couple of years ago though?

 

[Daniel Avery]

It may be easier for TB&TB as TB&TB is a half hour show, with the episodes being probably 20mins long.

Y&R was a half hour soap until 1980. If Bill Bell had had his way, it would have remained half an hour, too.

PlutoTV has a chunk of Y&R and B&B episodes from the 2017-2020 era playing on one of their sub-channels, which would include a lot of Mal Young's Y&R tenure.

 

[Alexis]

Y&R was a half hour soap until 1980. If Bill Bell had had his way, it would have remained half an hour, too.

PlutoTV has a chunk of Y&R and B&B episodes from the 2017-2020 era playing on one of their sub-channels, which would include a lot of Mal Young's Y&R tenure.

I saw that Amazon Prime has a good chunk of early episodes, like the first and then selected ones from each year, but they aren't available in my area. Though there is probably a way around that.
It's the earlier stuff I am more interested in. I mean stuff actually happened then. Now when I see recent bits of TB&TB it's just people dragging out a sentence or statement for episodes and episodes and then a cutaway just as anything is about to happen. It's not suspenseful it's just stalling.