Just How Desperate is The Young and the Restless?
Jersey Shore is a cultural phenomenon. It has made Snooki, The Situation and Pauly D household names. The show has inspired countless spoofs and knockoffs and now The Young and the Restless has fallen under its drunken spell. On October 31, American Idol runner up Diana DeGarmo makes her debut as Angelina, a character being compared in various articles and interviews to Jersey Shore’s Snooki. However, every time I read something about the new character I find myself asking myself why, just why?
Regardless of who portrayed the character—because I have absolutely nothing against DeGarmo—why does Y&R need yet another big name stunt cast? Remember Sean Young's Meggie? Of late, Y&R hasn't even written well for soap icons like Tristan Rogers, Eden Riegel and Genie Francis. Why is the brass focusing on something like this when this show desperately needs to get back to once made it the fine wine of soaps? I realize soaps are trying to draw younger viewers and the real-life Snooki is definitely popular with that demo, but what's the purpose of wasting time creating a Snooki-lite, when the show currenty has a bloated cast, starring in half a dozen lackluster stories with no emotional resonance or pay off?
It was one thing when Y&R introduced a SORASED Abby (Marcy Rylan) as the Naked Heiress, a blatant celebutante rip off. Abby is a member of two of Genoa City's core families and her obsession with becoming famous simply for being famous was a sharp observation of just how wrong pop culture could go. I'm sorry, but the old "if you can't beat 'em, stunt cast 'em" thing is growing old on this soap and the ratings seem to reflect that. It's time for Y&R to get back to telling character driven, sexy, fun stories for the characters fans know and love.
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3 July 2008
25 min 35 sec
I would love to hear what MAB has to say about the current state of her show, about the fan reactions and all those ridiculous castings.
For me, at that point it's out of question that they want Y&R to fall in ratings to cancel it in two or three years.
I really tried to understand for the longest time what might get on in TPTB's heads until I couldn't make even try to make an attempt for excuses. They must know by now that viewers are turning their back on that show because of the storylines. It's not about the genre. It's not that all soaps suffer ... it's about this hideous storylines and the assassination of various characters that people don't wanna see anymore.
NONE of them is trying to save this show or tries to use a popcultre phenomenon like "Jersey Shore" to make this show more likable. In the end it just scares the longtime viewers they have left and they start turning out. Some stupid stunt like this doesn't bring them any new and young viewers...
And the aware of that. These people know that they can't bring new viewers to the show if the writing sucks and everyone talks badly about that show.
They are destroying Y&R and they are well aware of it, because it's what they want.
I'm just glad that Bill Bell isn't with us anymore to see that...
As for this new mob boss princess ... it's another crazy attempt. Nothing more. MAB will be bored with the character within the next three to six months and the storyline will get more unbelievable by the hour.
22 January 2011
31 min 21 sec
Luke, I know you guys don’t normally do single-issue podcasts, but I would love it if the gang did one that’s dedicated to Y&R and how this once mighty show has fallen so hard and so fast. I had to actually quit watching this soap two months ago because it was breaking my soap-loving heart on a daily basis.
3 July 2008
25 min 35 sec
Oh yes, I agree with SoapArmageddon. Would love to hear a podcast about the golden standard that has fallen so hard.
I guess it's a little bit depressing to do it, but it would be nice to have you all heard.
20 August 2009
1 hour 55 sec
I have a dream. A dream where I wake up and nobody has ever heard of Snooki and her friends. A world where people have better things to do with their time than watch a bunch of skanky, horrible people do stupid and obnoxious things....
maybe it is just me.
30 March 2009
6 hours 44 min
For the love of Bill Bell....................... I got out of the habit of watching Y&R during the whole Melody Thomas Scott contract dispute/debacle or whatever you want to call it. Since the announcement that she resigned I've been trying to get back in the groove of watching it and it's just not working. Maria is asleep at the wheel and it's apparent. Hogan, Scott and Maria have turned this show into a complete mess. There's no rhyme or reason for this "Angelina" girl to come on. I hear she's going to be involved with the Devon singing mess.....seriously why just why? Singing on Y&R ain't been good since the 80s when Danny, Tracy, and Lauren would do the concerts.
I give the character a good six months and she will be gone. Maybe they are just using her to take up space while Marcy Rylan is on maternity leave.
Sigh I miss the old days of my favorite soap...le sigh
12 February 2010
1 day 2 hours
Y&R sucks. I have been avoiding being so blunt b/c I have an emotional attachment to this show that goes back 18 years. But the truth is the truth.
Everyone is either a.) boring, b.) stupid, c.) bitchy, d.) one-dimensional or e.)offscreen!!
I can't take it anymore. These days, it seems like the TV is watching ME during Y&R's time slot instead of the other way around.
And Maria Bell is a LAME, foolish heifer if ever I have seen one......willing to throw ANY garbage against the wall to see if it sticks. She will seriously sink to ANY lengths for a little bit of shock value, even the lowest common denominator. It's disgusting. She is like a rabid animal that needs to be stopped. I hate to sound so graphic, but I can't put it any clearer.
3 July 2008
25 min 35 sec
Oh alstonboy you speak right from your heart and I totally agree. This woman needs to be stopped. In my eyes, she's just a housewife who tries to use Y&R as a hobby to impress her friends. She isn't taken that seriously nor is she having the interests of her late father-in-law in her mind.
I wish that someone would stop her, but who still cares? Besides that she's the boss's wife I don't think that CBS has an interest at keeping that show going anymore. Otherwise they should have reacted by now. At least bring in someone who can assist her and maybe fire her co-heads.
14 June 2009
2 days 13 hours
Maria and those blond bimettes that write the show are Beverly Hills housewives. so why shouldn't they write about bimbos and hookers? Hogan is just a bad writer all the way around. He never did deserve his reputation.
Why not just let them go and do whatever they want. We can change the channel. If Sony and Bell Productions ever want to save the show, they can fire the lot of them and get some good writers to fix the mess. Fortunately somehow the show has managed to keep most of its good cast. They just need to fire the most recent hirings and give the rest a good story. The problem with the show right now is just in the writing. Fortunately it has good production values and a great core cast. (well it did when I last watched it in June anyway. I have been boycotting since the murder. Not that I cared that they murdered Diane. But when I saw the voice over and everyone in bed looking suspicious and the montage of different suspects, I knew it was truly time to stop watching this drivel. People who didn't do anything wrong do not lay alone in their bed looking guilty of murder. And not everyone in GC could have killed the woman.)
30 October 2008
7 hours 1 min
Terrible.
12 December 2008
1 week 1 day
Y&R died in 2006. Once Barbara Bloom got her filthy hands on it the regime that Bill Bell hand picked to take over the reigns were let go. No one since has been able to capture the magic that made it the crown jewel of daytime. Maria Bell and Hogan Sheffer are jokes! The fact that they arrogantly continue down a path that is loathed by soap critics and viewers alike is mind boggling. They seem to not care that the show has dropped anywhere from 500,000 to 800,000 viewers on any given week. Their infractions as show head writers are so numerous I don't even know how to start fixing it. It's an unfortunate shame!
5 August 2011
1 year 3 weeks
For the first time, in my 30 plus years of watching Y&R, I did not watch a single episode from last week. I went online to read what the episodes were about, and promptly deleted them from my dvr. They just weren't worth even attempting to watch. There are no words adequate to describe the state of my once favorite soap. Seriously, is there not anyone in the Bell family that even has just a shred of a conscious to step up and save Y&R? It is criminal what has been allowed to happen....
26 July 2011
4 days 19 hours
I agree with all the other post, Maria Bell is a hot ass mess, WTF is she doing? She takes the cake, the flour, the eggs, the butter for being the queen of hackery!
It sad how we couldn't stand LML, but I loathe this woman, and all her stunt casting. There is way too many characters on this show, and the storylines don't flow at all. The once golden standard is a piece of shit due to MAB. Too bad there no protester on the CBS lot with a sign
"Occupy New Writers for YR" -im just sayin
7 November 2009
4 days 3 hours
MAB and her picks for stories just gets worse and worse. That deadbeat Angelo and that stupid mutt he carried around was disgusting and a horrible story and now this no talent American Idol Dingbat. Give us a break here. Quit hiring these idiots and write for the old timers. As usual Alstonboy is right on along with the others that feel like AB and I do. Hire some decent story tellers.
29 August 2010
1 week 21 hours
What a mess this show has become. It's embarrassing.
4 May 2009
1 hour 4 min
Amen Samanthadelayed!
I have never seen an episode of JS and I never will.
4 May 2009
1 hour 4 min
I stopped watching weeks ago.
It turned into the same issue I had with As The World Turns: full of love for the cast but I can't watch the stories they have to perform.
Makes me sad. Really.
When MTS comes back, I will give it a try.
13 February 2009
5 weeks 5 days
I'm standing on my chair applauding. Bell has no clue about the difference between character and plot driven writing. She hires someone because...she saw them in another venue... and then she has to figure out how to use them, and then begins creating a character for that actor. There was no reason for this. I can't roll my eyes enough at this. Besides, today was my first day to be Y&R free- no Tristan. Big ugly stinking mistake, Bell. Sony better fix this.
5 January 2009
5 days 22 hours
Welcome to Daytime! Miss Degarmo... Get ready for the Knives and Flames... Cause theyre being thrown your way...lol
Im actually looking forward to this because Y&R is making LIGHT of the Mob Wives/Jersey Shore era of TV and bringing it to the Soaps.. Reality TV is just a Realistic Soap opera anyway.. Good Luck Diana!
26 February 2009
13 weeks 4 days
And that's just backstage.
6 December 2009
1 hour 28 min
This is laughable going into a cry....I want to come home and MAB is killing the soap before I can return. I refused to watch and haven't and losing the routine of watching rather live or by DVR. I'm completely out the habit now. But I refused to watch this happening to my beloved CBS soap. I watched my whole daytime lineup on CBS to be extinguished by Mooves and Angela over the last 5 yrs. Ratings our out and the only bright spot Y&R was down by 12k people but still down. They had 1 good week (last week) but have been down for many weeks...Maria's contract has to be reaching close to renewal. She's been there now for over 2 maybe closer to three. I'm sure Sony has a directive if the ratings fall below a certain point Sony can step to make changes...I hope so and the reason for doing some shuffling in EP and writers. I feel this could be happening (wishful thinking) and Noel Maxam is coming home please sweet Jesus....if so I hope Noel is sharping the blade of the guillotine...Off with their heads.
14 May 2009
1 hour 58 min
I'm not watching until Sony/CBS fire Hackarena Hell. She's the worst thing that ever happened to Y&R, worse than LML!
12 April 2009
3 weeks 4 days
Y&R will never be the great soap it once was until there is an entirely new writing staff hired. I have no idea how new writers can take over as long as a Bell is at the helm. This family gives new meaning to the word nepotism. MAB is a no talent housewife trying to play the part of a soap writer and she is failing miserably and taking the #1 soap down with her.
20 December 2009
4 days 11 hours
All of this new stuff is part and parcel as to why I'm so angry with MAB's (lack of) writing and producing style. (BTW, are we viewers cursed with this chick forever because of her married name, despite the fact that she's done nothing for this show?!) She's starting NEW storylines with Ronan and Phyllis, Ricky and Heather, the Mafia dude and his daughter, and Billy and Cane.
Remember a few weeks ago when Avery stepped in as Daisy's council and we had one or two days of "you must take your child to see Daisy in jail!"? Yeah, neither do I, because it was immediately dropped. It seems like every d*mn time this chick comes up with a story that MIGHT BE INTERESTING she pulls it and starts with something else. All this and the Diane crap has STILL not been tied up and Nicki will be coming back and that will open up even more storylines.
16 June 2010
4 hours 5 min
Maybe it is limited run. The problem with these characters is that they run its course. I think the "naked heiress" has run its course. Whether she is part of main family or not, she is annoying. I like Marcy R but I think her character needs to mature. I have seen that lately though. In real life the stars who act out passed a certain age actually have a mental problem which is not so funny.