Young and the Restless: 5 Worst Plots on Y&R Right Now – Victor Vendetta, Awful Alan & Bad Romance!
Young and the Restless sees the five worst storylines going on at the moment. Today, I want to talk about some of the messy plots on the CBS soap right now that have viewers ready to fast forward, tune out, or both. Stuff with Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), Summer Newman (Allison Lanier), Martin, and more.
The Young and the Restless: Awkward Award?
Despite the mediocre and repetitive material that we are watching, in case you didn’t know it, Y&R recently won the WGA writing award for daytime drama. It seems hard to imagine, but I dug into the judging because I was curious how it worked because it seemed crazy that they would win this award.
So, the judging is done by other writers in the guild, and they only judge based on certain scenes that are submitted rather than the totality of them actually watching the soap operas like soap fans do.
They submitted Jack Abbott’s (Peter Bergman) intervention with the pills and stuff to get Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) to rehab, which was good stuff, and Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) hallucinating Cameron Kirsten (Linden Ashby), which started out pretty good. So, I can see that.
The Young and the Restless: Where is the Logic?
Just to give you some perspective, the four years before that, Days of Our Lives won the award four years straight, and Ron Carlivati’s writing over on Days is so cheesy that sometimes it feels like you’re watching a soap parody skit on SNL. That being said, I love Days, I love Y&R, I love all my soaps, but we’re going to talk about five plots that really, really need improving on Y&R.
The Young and the Restless: Unpacking the Alan/Martin Storyline Mess
First off is this mindless Alan/Martin mess. This feels like some fever dream the writers pulled out of their backsides for no apparent reason. Sharon was kidnapped by Cameron, then she was kidnapped by Jordan Howard (Colleen Zenk), and then kidnapped by fake Alan Laurent (Christopher Cousins), with Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) thrown in the mix as a bonus.
Poor Traci Abbott (Beth Maitland)’s fallen for the guy, and the premise is just wonky from the start because we’re supposed to believe that this is Martin who fell off the balcony in Paris with Alan but survived. The guys went over the railing wearing two different outfits, so how could they fall, and then Martin slips into his dead twin’s clothes and runs back up? It’s just sloppy and unmanageable as a premise from the start.
The Young and the Restless: Alan admits He is Martin
This week, Alan admitted he is Martin and was arrested, and if that’s the end of it, that is one of the lamest ways to end a storyline, and they better have him break out of prison and go on some kind of killing spree, some last hurrah. Otherwise, it is the most lackluster beginning and end to a storyline ever. Plus, it was just random for him to target Sharon and Phyllis. It’s poorly written all around, and of course, now we have a devastated Traci who deserves better, and fans who deserve better as well.
Victor Newman’s Endless Vendetta: Why Y&R Fans Are Tuning Out
The second thing I have issue with is Victor Newman’s (Eric Braeden) endless anti-Abbott vendetta. His grudge against Jack is everlasting, and it’s just so tired at this point. And now it’s not just about Jack or Billy (Jason Thompson) Boy Abbott, but also we got Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) in the mix now.
As you know, Victor’s feud with Jack has been going on for literally decades, but right now Victor is doubling down because he’s salty about the night of debauchery when Jack saved Nikki by downing pills to scare Nikki into rehab. That’s a whole year ago, crazy. It was an extreme tactic, but it worked, and the entire Newman family, including Nikki, thinks Jack is a hero, all except Victor.
The Young and the Restless: Victor’s Vendetta
It made him hate Jack even more because I think Jack helped Nikki when Victor couldn’t get through. Victor didn’t even try. Victor still had the bar cart in the house fully stocked when Nikki came back after the vodka IV, terrible husbanding. But here we are again with Victor targeting Jabot, trying to take down Jack, trying to split up Kyle and Claire Grace Newman (Hayley Erin), and just making everybody’s lives miserable.
Michael Baldwin (Christian Leblanc) doesn’t like this vendetta, neither does Lauren Fenmore (Tracey Bregman), Nikki, or any of Victor’s kids, and by the way, fans don’t like it either. I’m not sure who told Josh Griffith that doing this plot for the 39th time was a bright idea, but it’s not. Let’s end it soon.
Aristotle Dumas: Is This Mysterious Y&R Character Worth the Wait?
All right, the third problematic plot is mystery man Aristotle Dumas. They’ve been talking about this guy for so long, so, so long to the extent that viewers are already tired of Dumas before we’ve ever seen the guy.
We’ve lost interest. The name is dumb. The endless literary references are like sitting in a 101 college lit class. We watch soaps for intrigue and romance, not cheesy references to a crusty book from the 1800s. It’s a good book, but it’s a crusty book. This is not what we want for our daytime drama.
The Young and the Restless: Dumas Drama Letdown?
You know, unless Dumas is going to come to town, destroy Victor, bang Phyllis into a better attitude, and slap Billy straight, nobody cares at this point. After all this buildup, this Duma storyline needs to be huge and well-written and not the usual humdrum, and I doubt that it’s going to be.
After all this anticipation, it’s probably going to fall flat. I mean, I hope it doesn’t, as again, I love my soaps, but whether it’s Tucker McCall (Trevor St. John) or that other insane rumor that I don’t think holds water, Cane Ashby, or the new role for Billy Flynn, they’ve already beaten this Dumas thing into the ground. I won’t say it’s a doomass plot, but you know, you get what I’m saying.
Summer’s Drama: Why Y&R Fans Are Over Her Obsession with Kyle
The fourth plot to talk about is just a hot mess, anything and everything to do with Summer. If she’s in a plot, it’s a problem. The pouting, the petulance, the whiny stuff about Kyle choosing Claire over her.
Let’s be clear, Kyle dumped Summer for lying about Phyllis’s fake death. Then Kyle ran and banged Audra Charles (Zuleyka Silver) for a few months, and then later he began dating Claire. With Summer’s fixation on a man who doesn’t want her and her entitled attitude, she is behaving like Phyllis Jr., beyond irritating. Chance Chancellor (Conner Floyd) is lucky to be free of her.
The Young and the Restless: Summer’s Bet with Kyle
I even liked the version of Summer better when she made a bet with Kyle back in the Hunter King days and then did her mom dirty by boinking Billy right before he went to rehab. That was still a better Summer.
Her interest in Kyle is just aggravating to fans. It’s aggravating to Kyle. Claire didn’t steal him. Summer screwed up and lost him. Let’s ship her back to Italy or find her a new man to get under so she can get over Kyle, because most fans are over Summer.
Failing Romantic Pairings and Missed Opportunities on The Young and the Restless
The last plot to discuss that’s bothering fans is actually kind of a catchall. Number five on our list of bad stuff on Y&R right now is some romantic pairings that are just not working.
Young and the Restless reuniting Chelsea Lawson Newman (Melissa Claire Egan) and Adam Newman (Mark Grossman) feels forced, and like they just kind of fell back onto each other for lack of anything else.
Poor Sally Spectra (Courtney Hope)’s playing a fool’s game with Billy, who is useless and will inevitably betray her. Just throw him at Phyllis, call it done. Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow)’s been loveless for what, two years?
One of Y&R’s hottest hunks just friend-zoned Sharon, and he hasn’t had a date in a millennia either. Put Nick back with Sally, or why have him reject Sharon? Surely they’re not going to plague him with Phyllis again.
The Young and the Restless:
Chance is at loose ends. They could toss him back to Sharon or go wild, put her with Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) because that would torment Phyllis. And while they’re at it, put Audra in a throuple with Nate Hastings (Sean Dominic) and Holden Novak (Nathan Owens), at least that would be something new and fresh and hot.
Beyond the Gates, by the way, has a thropple going on with Chelsea dating a married couple, so why not? As for Traci, oh my goodness, why would Josh Griffith torment the nicest character in Genoa City with a post-menopausal failed romance with a psycho doppelganger?
You know who’s worse than fake Alan and Martin? Josh Griffith. I’m not sure how he has held on to the head writer job for so long at Y&R. I do give him credit, he’s still better than Mal Young, who tried his darndest to ruin Young and the Restless completely, but come on, let’s do better.