Whats your take on current YR

[Mysterio]

What's your take on YR now. I have watched from 1984 till 1999 and took a break and then came back in 2003 till now.

I think that YR is in a bad state of writing. No one really has anything major to do. The Vets have nothing to play with. The new characters have no charm. Good characters like Rey/Chance are sidelined. So what can be done. Will switching out Head writers/Producers do anything to bring back the intricate writing that YR once had?

What do you all think should be done to turn YR around creatively?. I look at Days and all the characters for the most part have something to do. They have strong motivations. When I watch YR. Nick/Phyllis seem aimless. Jack has lost his edge. Victor and Nikki look bored. Lauren/Micheal have no Zest. No Paul/Chance around. Devon even seems to be sleepwalking if anything happens to him storywise. Tara/Sally always feel like they can be written off. I do like Ashland Locke, but even he looks to be temporary.

I just pray to the Soap Gods that YR can turn the stories and bring back classic characters. 10 yrs ago. YR was great.

[moonlight20]

Yes, I agreed with you writers botched Sally’s storylines badly. Phyllis is living her daughter’s life. Tara lost everything, that is so nonsense!

[Kosi]

But, I enjoyed the episode today - friday. I also liked the action between sommer and kyle. made me feel some emotion.

[Theresa_Fan]

It's in a bad state. I would rank it an F, but I will give it a D due to the talented actors and actresses.

It needs new direction
- What I mean by this is new leadership and anew headwriter. It's time to give someone the pen who has never been hired or fired. You have a lot of characters who are floating in-between scenes without any purpose what so ever.

New sets
- The Grand Phoenix has to go. Characters need homes not hotels, bring in Gloworm and do more outside scenes.

New couples
- Couples we have never had before! An affair that shakes up the show (Like Carter/Quinn). Rey/Sharon, Nick/Phyllis, Billy/Lily, Amanda/Devon are not working. There is no buzz, lack of interest and they are boring. Shey is probably the worst couple. Sharon looks bored with him, Nick looks bored with Phyllis, Billy and Lily look bored with each other too. Have a soapy affair that causes drama like Nick/Sally or Nick/Sharon, test Amanda/Billy, and maybe have Adam meet Sally or something.

New storylines
- The current stories are a total snooze. More business stories, more veteran storylines and new romance stories.

Returning legacy characters
- Time to bring back Noah, Fen, Scott, Ana, revive Colleen and go from there.

It's hard to watch an entire episode without getting bored. I watch as a loyal viewer who wants to give the show ratings. I've seen many soaps I love get cancelled - AMC, OLTL, ATWT, GL, Passions for example.

[taramartin]

A very sad state of affairs. Poor sl. They invested too much in Summer and Kyle as a couple, they started them out in a whirlwind breakup of Kyle's marriage to the nicest person in town. Summer and Kyle spent most of their time unhappy, Summer pouting. Now both actors want to leave, I am all for that but it leaves the show with a gap.
They were lucky to get CH, Sally but have done nothing but mess up her character. I suppose they are trying to make her look bad to make Summer look good by comparison but it isn't working.

[Mermaid777]

Lola was judgmental with Kyle. She wouldn’t let him be himself. Could never last. But yes, she was nice to everyone else. They just weren’t a match long term. And I have faith that Sally will be written better. All of her scheming etc right now can lead to her turning her life and attitude around and it would be all the sweeter after a long time of her being the bad girl.

[Sara_in_BC]

Kyle shouldn't be himself, hes spoiled and entitled and he needs to start having some compassion for others. The way he went after Sslly with Summer was disgusting. In my opinion those two are not anyone I would root for. Everything has been handed to them. Did Summer ever get a degree in anything?

[cat_woman]

I want character driven stories, but we are mostly getting plot driven. Also, the plot needs to fit the characters, not the other way around. Too often people are acting out of character simply to move the story in a direction the writers want it to go.

For example, Kyle and especially Jack being so easily conned by Tara. Jack should have suspected she was up to no good from the start. Instead, I think it was done this way so Phyllis could come to the rescue of "my daughter!!!" And be more involved in the story.

Abby is another example. How could smothering Abby suddenly be ok with Mariah disappearing, and accepting she just needed time alone? Even if she believed those texts, it still was far from the way I'd expect micromanager Abby to react.

I expect characters to act as I'd expect them to most of the time, and if they don't, as a viewer being able to come up with a reasonable explanation for their behavior.

Another point is I think this show desperately needs some balance. Every soap has one or two front burners, but do we need to see these stories every day? Three times a week perhaps, while other stories percolating in the background can be developed on the other days. And it gives viewers a chance to see their favorite characters on somewhat regular basis and keeps actors working regularly.

Whatever happened to cliffhangers? The Friday episode closing that made you so anxious for Monday to come around to see what happens next? Where is the suspense in the kyle/ Tara etc story that is on almost every day, when we know, or basically know, what the outcome will be? A good drama keeps you guessing.

That may be one reason why the Quinn and Carter affair on Bold has been so popular. Many didn't see it coming. And it didn't hurt that their chemistry is off the charts. ??

I realize sometimes we can't wait for episodes even when we know how it's going to end. Many Skyle fans can't wait for Phyllis to take down Tara and Sally. That's totally different. I'm referring to plots with predictable outcomes, or stories so dull the viewer doesn't really care.

The Amanda story brought in a host of new characters we'd never seen before and had no emotional investment in. It would have been so much better if Amanda had found Naya and Imani, from there it could start out very adversial, and over time they develop a good relationship. Thats character driven stuff I enjoy. Instead, we got a convoluted murder mystery that was difficult to follow and hard to care about when even the central character in the story was relatively new.

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts.

Theresa_Fan Great points, especially about the sets. I'm so sick of the GP, and most plots taking place in the lobby there, or at Society.

[cat_woman]

A very sad state of affairs. Poor sl. They invested too much in Summer and Kyle as a couple, they started them out in a whirlwind breakup of Kyle's marriage to the nicest person in town. Summer and Kyle spent most of their time unhappy, Summer pouting. Now both actors want to leave, I am all for that but it leaves the show with a gap.
They were lucky to get CH, Sally but have done nothing but mess up her character. I suppose they are trying to make her look bad to make Summer look good by comparison but it isn't working.

That's one of the problems with a single story dominating almost every single day. Once it wraps up, there will be huge holes to fill.

[taramartin]

Anyone know how the ratings have been?

[cyclone55]

just meh,they've been hovering in low 3 mil range,not that long ago they were nearing 5 million,have lost a lot of viewers over past 4-5 years

[WorldTurner]

Ratings have stabilized and are up a bit.

From mydaytimetrauma on ratings for YR "The last four weeks of episodes are all among the top five weeks since before the Y&R return from shutdown."

Nothing on network television is where it used to be.

[cyclone55]

show in very poor shape
sets are abysmal,no way should everyone be living in a hotel,i am sick to death of Grand Phoenix
pairings are stale and have no spark
and by far the biggest issue writing is terrible,show is so boring,where is the rmance,where is the drama,where are the affairs this is soap for crying out loud

[WatchingSince76]

Once the baby is born where will everyone live that’s currently at the chancellor house? maybe Sharon can turn the oatio at CL i to a couple bedrooms or a homeless shelter!

[Mermaid777]

I’m enjoying the Tara and Sally storylines. I find them suspenseful and I like Phyllis’ involvement big time. She’s been on fire. I like Victoria and Ashland. Bringing him on has been intriguing and love his charisma. I’d like not so much the Grand Phoenix and more home sets, though. The Abby storyline got interesting when Mariah was kidnapped. Interesting twist. So anyway, I’m still overall loving the show.

[janesBydiction]

Every single Phyllis scene has been incredible. Michelle has been knocking it out of the park. I've been glued to my seat for this show, since around July 9th. The Phick scenes have also been incredible and better than ever.

Stitch kidnapping Mariah (maybe) is kind of interesting. But the story has to be at its peak for me to care. So far, nobody but poor Tessa seems to give a damn.

Otherwise...meh.

I'm going to be completely honest and say, that as long as Phyllis' writing is good, I'm good. I've given up on the show as a whole about a year ago.

When Phyllis' writing sucked or when she was barely on, I simply stopped watching the show. I didn't post here, I didn't complain, I didn't hate-watch, I just quit cold turkey. And I will do it again if Phyllis' writing ever falls off like that again.

[Smithey]

It needs new direction
- Not only a new head writer and executive producer, but TPTB need to allow more creative control with two people (HW and EP) who know how to write and produce soap operas.

New sets
- The new sets are terrible. They are boring and stale. No character in them whatsoever. The ratings decline over the past two years have crippled the set department. We tried to warn them.

New couples
- There needs to be romance, romance, romance. PASSION! Not just romantic passion, but a desire between partners. There isn't any right now... nor has there been in over two years.

New storylines
- Goes back to who is steering the ship. So far, they have hit one boring iceberg after another.

Returning legacy characters
- There are many to choose from. Time to lose the new ones and bring back legacy characters (including Lauren full time).

My prediction: Y&R will continue for a while longer, all the while being destroyed little by little by declining ratings. The show will go out with a whimper just like GL and ATWT. At least ABC had the stones to write somewhat satisfactory endings for AMC and OLTL.

[Theresa_Fan]

I think they stopped showing ratings reports, which is always a bad sign.

[WorldTurner]

The ratings report is published weekly still.

[Mysterio]

Look at Days and they seem to be able to mix Vets with the new characters. Even if you took all the Vets away on Days. I think Days would be in great hands with the generation from Sami/Brady/Nicole on down. YR not so much. Sidelining the Vets on YR does not make it better.

I would have Fen and Heather for Micheal/Lauren/Paul to interact with. Jack is going to need a new Kyle. I would maybe bring Keemo back to romance VictoriaHeather and then kill him off and do a Murder mystery. Even have Paul be the one to discover the body and have Heather be the one found unconscious with the Murder weapon and the State want to go for the Death Penalty.

Keemo could be a big businessman and bring his company to put capital into Jabot, but screwed over Lauren to do it. Lots of stuff that YR can do.

[PassingThrough]

I think the writers need to play up the Vick--Ashland pairing, along with their business dealings. Bring more of Newman Enterprises and Jabot back into the spotlight, along with some dynamic co-workers written along Ryan McNeal-Neal Winters-Brad Carlton lines.

Vicki and Ashland have great chemistry. I wish all the couples on YR were as dynamic and watchable as those two.

[joan of arc]

I have been watching since 1980 and in 2020 the writing team have no clue on an interesting storyline.
1* Phyliss, Sally and Tara storyline is just a waste of time because when te truth comes out nothing will change for Phyliss because Summer will not come back.
2* Mariah missing is another storyline that is going down hill , if a woman was carrying by child I would do anything to know where she is, Sharon daughter is missing and she do not seem worried what a bunch the only one with a brain is Mariah girlfriend.
3* Victoria falling in love with Ashland they only been together for a few weeks and now he ask her to marry her, he should wait and live with her children before asking her to marr him.