C’mon Y&R: Volume 1
In case anyone was wondering where the hell the daily recaps went, well, this is for you. See, the original plan was for us to take the daily recaps to weekly. Unfortunately, the time we decided to start doing this happened to be when they kicked off this bullshit storyline about killing off Colleen. Because that totally makes sense, MAB. She’s Traci ABBOTT’s only child and could’ve moved back to New York with her until the role was recast but, as my mother says, that would be too much like right.
None of us recappers are happy about this, and I daresay none of you are either. Even if you were never a big CC fan I would hope that you’d understand why we’re all baffled at this. It’s bringing us down, man! Before, we were able to watch Y&R because, on some level, we loved to hate it. Now it’s hard to watch the show because we’re starting to genuinely hate it. It’s hard to drum up interest, or try to be funny when you really don’t enjoy the product anymore.
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“When Newbies Run Amok!!”
“When Newbies Run Amok!!”
In continuing with my series of articles answering the question, “why are soaps on the decline,” I’d like to now turn my attention to the problem of the Newbie. It is an ever present problem that has only increased over time as many writing teams, instead of giving the existing character something new and inventive to do, much rather bring a newbie on to “spice” things up. Usually, this has led to disaster. Newbies are being used as band aids to the bleeding wounds that are caused by numerous plot points, dead end reveals, and unimaginative storylines.
In looking at the problems associated with too many newbies (or the overuse of a few newbies) I would like to focus on the Young and the Restless. Sure, many soaps do it, but Y&R in the last eight months has so declined in ratings and quality that they need some serious help. Newbies running amok isn’t its only problem (it has many) but it is a definite offender when it comes to the newbies at the moment. Y&R in the last eight months has been on a steady decline in the ratings and the storylines have left MUCH to be desired. They’ve also, at many times in the past eight months, left me pissed off, disillusioned, and overall- bored. So excuse me if my article comes off a bit bitter. I do apologize (read: not really). (more…)
5 Things I’ve Learned About “Love” from Y&R, but Wish I Hadn’t!
I have watched Y&R on and off now for about 20 years, and after 20 years I’ll admit that my memories of plot twists and certain events are rather sketchy. Yet for better or worse — mainly worse– my first recollections of Nicole Reed (aka Nikki Newman) are etched firmly in my mind.
My very first memory of Nikki was watching her weep mournfully before Jack, her then husband, about her addiction to alcohol. I remember thinking, “am I supposed to feel sorry for this character?” If I was, I didn’t! I felt that Jack was much too good for her and could not understand why she was so completely obsessed with a man (one Victor Newman) who did not seem to genuinely love or respect her. But what did I know about “love” at 15? Clearly nothing! According to the Y&R “Bible,” Victor and Nikki are the loves of each other’s lives. They are soulmates; the representation, par excellence, of “real love” in Soapdom.
Sadly, after finding myself enjoying Nikki Newman as a character for the first time in almost 20 years — due to her honest and refreshing relationship with Paul Williams — this past week Y&R has, once again, inveterated why I generally dislike Nikki and loath her relationship with Victor.
On the eve of Nikki’s marriage to a kind, faithful, honest, strong, patient, loving and attractive man — a man that has brought out the best in her — Nikki has decided to throw her hat back into Victor’s ring. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, Victor Newman, a rich, powerful, manipulative, emotionally abusive, narcissistic, vindictive, cruel and disrespectful man, continues to be held up by Y&R’s head writers as the kind of man we women should want and desire. Really writers? Is this what you want to convey to your viewers? (more…)
On Breaking the Fourth Wall
ON BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL
by Moni
This past week, news of Chris Engen’s sudden departure from Y&R, during one of his best performances and storylines, left me reeling in a way that surprised me. I haven’t been a fan of the actor or his “Adumb” character as I like to call him, but when several in the soap press rushed with few facts or statements from principals in the case, to implicitly and explicitly label Chris Engen a “homophobe,” given the light speed of hiring of his replacement, I was left ambivalent about the role of the modern “soap press” and their long term impact on the genre.
Historically, Breaking the fourth wall, was a reference to an actor breaking character, passing through the invisible fourth wall that exists between the theatre stage, and the audience. Today, it is used more liberally to refer to action that breaks the boundary between fiction and reality, compromising the audience’s ability to suspend disbelief. My observation, is that the fourth wall is a boundary more sacred in the soap genre than any other acting genre, because of the numerous impressions that serial drama stars make in the same character, and the increased necessity to suspend disbelief with soaps. The new cyber soap press with inside information, provides more opportunities for those in this genre to break the fourth wall, both willingly, and increasingly against their will.
The bottom line for me as a soap fan however, is whether this inside information is compromising my ability to enjoy soaps and the characters I love. I find myself wanting less and less to know spoilers, or inside information. The following tidbits had me really wishing I could put the genie back in the bottle as a soap fan:
What I Learned from Loving Soaps’ Worst Writer
So, at a very tender age, I became an ABC soap fan, until breaking the habit in college. After accepting a job in charming, if not exciting suburban Indiana, I came back to soaps, but converted to CBS when I realized none of my friends watched my beloved General hospital! So I acquired a taste for the slower, but more character driven Young and the Restless.
I didn’t really have to add that extra hour to my TV schedule, but I think of soaps a little like a Quentin Tarantino movie…although I love Pulp Fiction, I liked talking about it, a lot more than I liked watching it. So the best part of the soaps for me, has always been after the episode ends.
If only message boards existed back then; I could have stayed with GH and I never would have come to the realization, that I too, a decades long soap fan, just like so many writers, whom I have grown to despise, (the type who long to do more “relevant” work for Indie films or HBO or primetime drama, while treating soap fans with disdain)…hate soaps. (more…)
Diversity Campaign? What Diversity Campaign?
This was going to start out as a very straightforward and simple explanation of why I think soaps are on the decline.
This is easier said than done.
In going over what I wanted my points to cover I realized that the ratings decline of soaps can not be attributed to one particular thing. The fact that soaps are declining is due to an all encompassing happening that the soap world has, for some years now, struggled to keep up with.
That, my delusional reader, is CHANGE, and their inability to deal with it in a balanced way.
What kind of change you say?
Take your pick.
I would pick the change of the times, the change of the viewer, and the change of television overall to name a few.
To try and write an article dealing with all these topics would be too long. And well, with the new age of media and gadgets- my attention span is too short. And I bet- so is yours. So let’s take it piece by piece shall we?
First up- The Diversity Campaign or Lack Thereof (more…)
