Hairy Times in Genoa City - August 29, 2011

Before I begin my primary thoughts of today’s entry, I have to retract one of my theories from yesterday’s. Much as it feels like stepping onto ice of unknown hardness, I will say that I’m now about 99% sure that Diane is, indeed, dead.

One of Y&R’s biggest plot give-aways has always been their cast credits, both opening and closing.

Remember a couple of years back when Nick left GC on the company jet and it went down into water and he was presumed dead (and he ended up stranded on an island with the McGyver of beautiful women)? I kept telling my mother (another loooong-time Y&R watcher) that Nick had to be alive, because they removed him neither from the opening nor the closing cast credits—a sure sign that Joshua Morrow was probably taking HIS summer vacation, but would certainly be back at some point. She didn’t believe me, but I turned out to be right. You can’t ignore the credits.

Well, the week after Diane’s murder, Maura West no longer appeared on the ending cast credits AND they have taken her picture out of the still shots they show during commercial breaks. She seems really to be gone.

The only thing that makes me a little nervous is that, as I noted yesterday, people DO have a tendency to come back from the dead on this show. Remember how Skye was supposed to have been murdered by David Chow and buried in Victor’s horse stables? (By the way, what kind of name was Chow for an Anglo guy??) She was not on the show for some time after that, but then she magically resurfaced to join forces with Adam to create the Newman fund. (They never did explain whose body had actually been buried in the stables, but it wasn’t germane to the plot at hand…so I guess they just skipped over that part.) My point is that dead isn’t always REALLY dead on this show. But for now, Diane does appear to be gone.

And now, on to the business at hand.

First of all, WHAT IS UP with Daniel’s hair??? I’ve never understood why the producers have always allowed Michael Graziadei to look so unkempt and shaggy. I can sort of see them wanting him to look kind of Bohemian and artist-y and all, but really, it is NOT attractive…and it’s definitely not in keeping with the usual metrosexuality of most male soap actors. 

TODAY, however, Daniel looked like (and I’m dating myself here) John Belushi when he was playing the Samurai character on Saturday Night Live—that bushy little ponytail was hilarious! And it’s hard to take seriously a love interest who looks comical. (BTW, do you remember the couple of episodes when he had bleached his hair light blond? THAT was hysterical, too. Again, it’s hard to focus on the character when the ACTOR distracts you so much.)

If you look closely, you can see that Graziadei, while not devastatingly handsome, is not a BAD looking guy and actually has great cheekbones. And during the “blond” episodes, his hair was parted on the side and a bit shorter and—except for the extreme color—didn’t look half bad. He should have stuck with some form of that style. I just can’t believe that the producers can’t require an actor—especially in a business so highly competitive—to adopt a look more in keeping with that of the rest of the characters—or at least to be less distractingly strange-looking.

And speaking of hair, I’ve always been a little mystified by Amelia Heinle’s hair, too.  If anyone can relate to having unmanageable hair, I certainly can (I often joke that I am having a bad hair life). But with all the gorgeously styled manes on the show—from Nikki to Abby to Lauren—why does Victoria almost always look so bedraggled? She is a beautiful woman, but she looks like one of those brunettes who highlights her hair, decides she doesn’t want to continue with it, and then has hair in which the ends are much lighter than the top half. And why are the ends of her hair always so fly-away and, frankly, split-looking? I’ve seen her at times when they’ve tried to rein her hair in, and it’s always lovely. But most of the time, she just looks disheveled. And if there’s one thing a girl with half a billion dollars to her name ought to be able to afford, it’s nice-looking hair. Hey, Vicki, it’s time for a trim!

One last word about hair: Why is Avery Bailey Clark a blonde? Shouldn’t Phyllis’s sister be a redhead, too?

Well, the hour is late (I often don’t get to watch the day’s episode until late in the evening—and then  I want to get my thoughts down before they melt away!), so I will close this entry. But topics soon up for discussion will be:

·         The opening credits—who makes the cut, who doesn’t, and why.  And why don’t they update them more often??

·         The cosine wave (or maybe it's hyperbolic) of episode content from Monday to Friday

·         Clothes on Y&R—remember the green-striped muumuu Ashley wore for several days running right after Diane was murdered? Yikes!! It was a bad wardrobe choice that made even wraith-thin Ashley look fat!

·         Phyllis’s annoying habit of repeating her lines

·         Why can’t they bring back Thad Luckinbill?

·         Why do characters disappear? Anybody remember Paul’s one-time love interest, Detective Maggie Sullivan?

·         The most realistic characters on the show--and the least believable

Would love to hear what YOU’D like to talk about. Drop me a line, Genoa City Fans! Write me at lisalea10@yahoo.com

Texas Missy, the 35-Year Fan

Post 1 - Whodunit and Other Imponderables

To begin a blog on The Young and the Restless now, as the show is in the midst of a murder investigation, Jill and Colin are still in the midst of a breakup, and Kay is still in the midst of dismantling Tucker’s corporation, is truly beginning in medeas res (as we used to say in my Lit classes). Where to begin commenting? Probably at the places ripest for speculation…so let’s get started!

Who in the Sam Hill killed Diane Jenkins Abbott Newman? Could’ve been anyone, really—as detective Malloy so aptly points out, at least nine people had means and motive (heavy on the motive—there wasn’t anybody Diane hadn’t p****d off). Me, I’m waiting for the big surprise—like the one they pulled when it was revealed that Jana was the one who had really killed Carmen Mesta in a fit of brain-tumor-induced mania. Who would ever have thought of Jana and Carmen? But of course, that was the point—total surprise.

I mean, the most obvious suspects are really too obvious, aren’t they? Adam—the ultimate sociopathic double-crosser? Victor—Mr. “You’ll Regret Messing With Me”? What a letdown if either of them had really done it. What’s the mystery or shock in that?

Jack? Nicholas? I’m sorry…those guys are lovers, not fighters. Probably not even Tucker. So far, his bark has been much worse than his bite. In the world of cut-throat business tycoons, Tucker doesn’t seem to be even the same league with Victor. He’s having trouble doing battle with his mother! As for protecting Abby from Diane, I think we will find, if we haven’t already, that Tucker will have no trouble hanging Abby out to dry if Ashley refuses to patch up their marriage; he would not have killed Diane over spoiled little Abby.

In addition to the fact that Abby was probably too bombed out of her mind to have aimed and hit Diane repeatedly, she is so tiny that Diane would simply have had to hold Abby’s head at arm’s length while Abby swung at empty air until she collapsed from drunkenness or exhaustion or both. And Ashley, sweet, will o’ the wisp Ashley, could she really hurt a fly, much less bludgeon a person to death?

So, whence cometh the surprise of Diane’s murderer(ess?) revealed? To pick the minds of the writers, one really has to think outside the soapbox and ask who DIDN’T have motive? Or means?

My personal pick is Billy. Now, I realize that all the actors have to take a vacation at some point (why else has Nikki spent all summer in rehab?), but I thought it was pretty fishy that Billy was flying out of Genoa City just as they are fishing Diane’s corpse out of the creek in Town Park. He probably had means, but what would his motive have been? Anybody have any ideas? I’m all eyes!

Of course, there’s also Deacon—who certainly seems to have a lot of inside information. If he was in the park and “saw what Phyllis did,” then he also had the opportunity to steal the mounted camera pointed at the crime scene, as well as to find Ashley’s phone with the incriminating message from Nick. But he knew Diane and, it would seem, liked her, as one shark likes another. Did he have motive to kill Diane? Yes, Diane had some goods on Nikki and Victor, but would Deacon be protective enough of Nikki to kill Diane over that? Naaah. Then again, if he WAS at the park and he DIDN’T kill Diane, why didn’t he rescue her when someone else was in the process?

Phyllis, I think, would be too proud to kill Diane over mere jealousy of her relationship with Nick. Paul is the perennial good guy; he couldn’t have done it. (Right? I mean, cops don’t commit crimes, do they?) Michael was her friend, so he’s out, right?

Think, people, think!

Well, you know what’s most likely, don’t you? Actually, I think two scenarios are equally likely:

1.       A completely new character will be introduced with some heretofore unknown connection to Diane who was secretly in Genoa City, following her around, waiting for the opportunity to off her and finding it in Town Park after every other enemy Diane has ever had has come to see her. That’s why everyone else has to look guilty right now—and think that everyone else is guilty and needs to be protected by all these intertwining alibis—so that when this previously unknown assailant comes to light, it really will have been a mystery solved. Otherwise, almost everybody else is just too obvious, ya know?

2.       I don’t even want to tell you my second theory because, if it turns out to be correct, I will be SO MAD! Here it is: Diane isn’t really dead. And the only reason I can put it forth as a plausible possibility is that Y&R is so bad about bringing dead people back to life! I am so tired of watching funerals and memorial services for people who aren’t really dead, I could just scream. I wouldn’t even be surprised to find out that Skye Lockhart is still alive (and maybe she will turn up and save Sharon from life in prison…but I digress).

But think about it: Adam and Diane were plotting to fake her death and, somehow, Diane thought it would be cool to involve everyone she knew—perhaps it was her intention to make everyone look potentially guilty. But obviously, someone as narcissistic as she never actually intended to die—especially not in her $400 dress! (I could write more on the implausibility of that given the tackiness of the dress, but that is old news…)

So, did the deception actually take place? WERE Diane and Adam successful in faking her death? If so, whose body was that floating in the stream (and where did they find a matching $400 dress for her that tacky)? One of those previously unknown twins that soaps are fond of concocting after years of knowing a character as an only child? (Think Cane.) Was it the twin who was actually killed by Adam and Diane in order to frame Victor—and everyone else in town? Gosh, the more I write about it, the more plausible it becomes! That’s the tragedy of soaps—that their plot twists are so predictable AND stretch too far our suspension of disbelief. 

Which brings up another question: if Diane is alive, where is she? And why hasn’t she tried to contact Kyle in Switzerland. No…she must really be dead…right? Please tell me she’s really dead. And that she’ll stay dead. Can anyone promise me that?

So, I’m watching with bated breath. Can’t wait to find out whodunit. And it’s nice to have Ronan Malloy back in town, getting the skewering from his family he so rightly deserves as he employs his considerable talents at sleuthing. But if they have Heather fall back into his arms, I will have to barf. Where did they find that replacement for the original Heather?? The original was SO much prettier and SUCH a better actress. (Always wondered the same thing about why they replaced the original Adam. Perhaps the Powers That Be thought he was too cute to play the evil sadist that Adam was to become. (Or maybe the Original didn’t want to play the gay scenes that took place so soon after his departure.)

In fact, I’d like to do an installment in which I speculate about some of the characters who have come and gone (and in some cases, come back again) over the years. That could take a while.

In the meantime, keep watching, keep guessing and write me about your questions. What makes you watch, day after day? Do you watch during the day when it comes on at its regular time? Do you DVR your Y&R? Do watch on SoapNet at night? All fodder for discussion!

And who will turn out to be Tucker’s long-lost son? A new character, or someone we already know? I thought it was going to be Sam, but I think he’s probably too old, based on the time frame they’re talking about for his conception. Another intriguing question: will Nikki turn out to be the mother of the child who gave him up for adoption before she met Victor as a stripper?

And what is the shameful secret in Phyllis’s past? (I mean, besides trapping Danny Romalotti into marriage and fatherhood?)

Will Lily and Cane reconcile? Seems obvious, since she’ll also break Danny’s heart in the process.

Will Chloe fall for Ronan again, only to have Chance arrive back from the Middle East to break them up again? Will Chance rip out Ronan’s liver? (Just kidding; Chance is too much of a Boy Scout to do that.)

I know you have questions, too! Drop me a line, Genoa City Fans! Write me at lisalea10@yahoo.com

Texas Missy, the 35-Year Fan