December 31, 2008
Though I've complained about her earlier, I'm getting more and more sick of Olivia on YOUNG AND RESTLESS to the point where I'm literally yelling at the screen for her to shut up. As I've wondered before, WHY is she so obsessed with getting Tyra and Neil together? Just because she "senses" that they share some chemistry? Yes, Tyra has made it clear that she's interested in him, but she's gone out of her way to be respectful of Neil and Karen's relationship. Yet during the lead-up to their wedding, Liv continuously pushed and pushed Tyra into telling Neil that she has feelings for him (Tyra has kept her mouth shut, so far). Meanwhile, Neil really hasn't given any indication that he returns the same feelings for Tyra. As he prepared for his nuptials, he was positively gushing to his kids about how much he loves Karen. Just to make things clear, I have no problems with Neil being torn between the two women — heck, triangles are one of soaps' foundations. I could even buy a storyline where Liv was attracted to Neil and was using Tyra as a buffer because she wanted to honor Dru's memory. However, I hate the idea of Liv being turned into a nosy buttinsky simply as a means to bring two characters together. Both she and her talented portrayer Tonya Lee Williams, deserve so much better than this.

December 24, 2008
I understand that soaps depend on advertising to survive. Heck, we wouldn't even have the name "soap opera" if they weren't originally sponsored by certain products. However, I'm finding the V8 "commercials" that YOUNG AND RESTLESS is including in the episodes to be extremely distracting. Twice now, Jana was seen hawking V8 at Crimson Lights as she ran a holiday fundraiser. In today's episode, she went on and on about how some families don't get enough nutritious food, but drinks like V8 can help! She's in a coffeehouse — couldn't she have just poured the beverage, giving them some SUBTLE advertising? I can't speak for most viewers, but I know that having a mini-commercial interrupt the story flow in my show doesn't make me want to buy the product; if anything, it makes me want to purposely avoid it. So Y&R, please find a more organic way to promote your sponsors — and leave the commercials for well, the commercial breaks.

December 17, 2008
Poor Billy on YOUNG AND RESTLESS. It seems that no matter what he does, he's angering a family member. Jill's upset with him for helping Jack with the Jabot takeover. Jack suspects that his little bro isn't loyal to him. And Ashley, who's angry with Jack, doesn't want Billy working with him. It's a big mess and I really felt Billy's pain today as he tried to explain this all to his mom. Portrayer Billy Miller has such a great rapport with Jess Walton (Jill) and Peter Bergman (Jack) that it's easy to believe that they're family — and that he'd really be caught in the middle of such an ugly situation.

December 10, 2008
I was impressed with the scenes that aired on today's YOUNG AND RESTLESS where Phyllis confessed to Nick that she caught him kissing Sharon in Paris, and Jack and Sharon informed Noah that they were no longer together. In both cases, the couples acted like adults about the situations, despite the fact that all of the parties involved were hurting. When confronting Nick, Phyllis didn't resort to histrionics; she tried to have an honest talk with him about his feelings for her versus Sharon. Meanwhile, Jack apologized to Noah for letting him down and told the teen that he was honored to be a part of his life. All of the scenes were quiet and didn't have much action — but they both broke my heart.

December 3, 2008
I'm not usually a big fan of business storylines, but the Abbott's takeover of Jabot on Y&R was riveting. Jill was shocked when Gloria stated that she was going to be Jabot's new CEO, but then Billy stepped in and announced that he was taking over. Ashley eventually took the reigns, but the damage was already done as Billy squared off with his furious brother Cane and broke Jill's heart. Meanwhile, Billy, torn between his loyalty to his mom and the Abbotts, couldn't decide whether he should also be upset or celebrate along with Jack. The most chilling moment, though, came when Jack reminded his little bro that Billy now "owes" him. Given Jack's misdeeds over the past year, Billy may soon be paying a big price — but you can guarantee that I'll be tuning in.