Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Judith Chapman: "I Have No Idea When or If Gloria Will Be Back" on 'The Young and the Restless'

Judith Chapman posted a message Monday on Facebook telling fans she does not know if she will appear on CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless again. She has played Gloria Bardwell on the soap since 2005, when she replaced Joan Van Ark in the roll.

"I have no idea when or if GLORIA will be back on Y and Restless....," Chapman wrote. "If they never call.. It looks like no... Such is the nature of Soap Operas.. C'est La vie... A shame for those who loved, loving GLORIA.. AND those who loved hating, her...... And a shame for me.. Who loved playing her..."

Chapman crossed the character of Gloria over to sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful last fall. Perhaps she will make her way to Los Angeles again at some point.

During her career, Chapman has also starred in As the World Turns (as Natalie), Ryan's Hope (Charlotte), General Hospital (Ginny), One Life to Live (Sandra) and Days of our Lives (Anjelica). She's also very active in the theater, and recently appeared in the indie film Saugatuck Cures with Glee's Max Adler.

Also missing in action at Y&R is Beth Maitland, who hasn't been seen since Chuck Pratt took over as head writer and executive producer. "Maybe I'll be back one of these days," Maitland tweeted to We Love Soaps earlier today.

RELATED:
- INTERVIEW: Night of the Iguana with Judith Chapman

16 comments:

  1. They're not young, thin and blonde( which is how UpChuck Pratt likes his women...Abby, Summer, Sag.) Haven't seen Jill (Jess Walton) in forever and Tristan Rogers was dropped from contract status. Things don't bode well for the older characters, save Jack, Victor, Nikki.
    Kate Linder has appeared three times all year.

    I love JC as Gloria, and would love to see her move to B&B in a story with Eric, as for Maitland, she is the heart of the Abbott family. Ghost John is the conscience, but Traci is the tie that binds the Abbotts. Ashley's quicky tumor was ridiculous, and her chasing her daughters' pet ****buddy is just something Ashley would never do.

    Pratt has been wrecking one character after another. It's insulting to the fans, disrespectful to those who wrote before him(starting with Bill Bell), and sad for the fantastic cast, doing what they can with what they are given. As for the actor's not being used, like JC,BM, and JW, I hope to see them back, but don't want to see what Pratt would have their characters do.

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    1. Beth Maitland's Traci is my fave, and has been since she started on the show. I've wanted to see more of her for a long time because she IS the heart of the show, as you said, and Maitland is a great actress and could play anything if given the chance. The previous writing team created a boring show but at least we saw more of Traci. There has to be some middle ground between the shallow Y&R on crack we have now versus total boredom from 2014. I honestly don't care about Abby, Summer, Sage and even Sharon, if she's going to be an off-her-meds bad girl. Y&R was built on multi-dimensional, fascinating female characters like Jill Foster and Lorie Brooks, and now it's just shallow, cheap sex, with stories written for shock value.

      As for Ashley, I think I despise her relationship with Victor more than anything. They had a special bond that has completely been trashed.

      Y&R is an amazing television franchise and deserves so much better than what it's become. It's not too late to shift it back to being a stylish, classy show with depth but there needs to be a creative overhaul, and it will probably CBS daytime exec Angelica McDaniel stepping up and demanding it, because Sony doesn't seem to get it.

      I wasn't the biggest Gloria fan in the world but I'm mostly disturbed about the trend with the treatment of certain female characters/actresses on this show, and the fact that a female EP and female network exec allow it to happen.

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    2. I have watched from day one. I have never seen Y&R this bad. I hope to see it be the Grande Dame again someday, but I won't hold my breath as long as JFP and Pratt are in control of what we see on our screens. What really surprises (and concerns) me is how quickly and easily some viewers accept this illogical drivel as "good writing" and "interesting stories". That does not bode well for the genre or the future of soaps. If all it takes to get viewers and ratings is what Pratt is pooping out, then the other US soaps (esp Days and B&B) are trying "too hard"! JMO

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  2. What's going on at Y&R? First Traci disappears, then Jill, then Gloria. Esther is barely scene. She is a supporting player but has never been missing like this. None of the young actresses do anything for me except Camryn Grimes.

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  3. So how can GH take advantage of this and work Ginny Blake back into the story?

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  4. GH needs to concentrate on saving its own bacon. The show is suffering as it is from an identity crisis from ott writing and recasts/miscasts from Y&R as it were . . . The new HWs need to concentrate on getting the show up in ratings/demos as quickly as possible. No time for side trips, not even day trips! Saving GH should be these writers top priority.

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  5. BTW I miss Glo. She was great in small doses. JC is a great performer and a soap legend in my opinion. I wish soap icons were treasured as they age, but we live in a youth culture that does see the real worth of being experienced (it's that way in most aspects of life, sadly.) There was a time when the elders were valued, maybe someday it'll be that way again because everyone should be valued. I wish JC could find a new outlet for her talents. She deserves so much better than the nothing she's being handed by Y&R.

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    1. Daytime's older supporting characters added SO much to my enjoyment of the soaps as a kid. It gave the show's a multi-generational aspect that I loved, and still do, even though it's missing much of the time. On Y&R, Victor and Jack are still the leading me in their 60s and 70s. There's no older talk-to, or person to go to for advice, other than Ghost John occasionally. That's why having Beth Maitland off the canvas hurts so much.

      I really loved Liz Foster. I'll save my frequent "Jill is still a Foster" rant for another time but it would be so amazing to have someone like that on the show. Julianna McCarthy (Liz) and Robert Colbert (Stuart Brooks) are both still alive and well.

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  6. Roger, I agree. Older supporting characters like Gloria (and others) are no longer featured in soaps as they were in the past. One of the few things that Y&R is doing right is keeping the older leading characters (Nikki, Victor and Jack) in front of the cameras and driving story (just wish the stories were better!) I really think the writers could do a lot with a character like Traci, but they have to be willing to. Traci's personality is warm and bubbling, she could liven things up even as a supporting player (much as Glo did). I loved having Tricia Cast back, even for a short time. Oh well, all we can do is wish, I suppose.

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    1. Nina and Jill was all set up to be the next Kay and Jill, complete with having a another Phillip Chancellor death and a young baby to fight. Somewhere along the line they lost that plot. It could have gone on for years and years. If Bill Bell could have lived forever I think he would have kept inventing reasons for them to hate each other. Then Y&R finally brings on Nina's long-lost baby and the story is a bust. It's too bad. I think you have to be young, blonde, or really sexy (to the producers, not the world) to fit on Y&R these days.

      I'm grateful Victor and Nikki are still around but they are unrecognizable to me. These aren't the characters I fell in love with. Victor has become another Stefano instead of a really complex character impacted by being abandoned as a child.

      Did you ever watch AMC? Characters like Myra were gold. Taylor Miller once told me the older actors taught her everything. That is another thing that doesn't happen, the great older supporter players aren't around to teach the newbies how it's done, including how to act like a profession (see some recent Twitter meltdowns).

      In today's soap history column there's a Y&R scene from 1991 where writer Traci helps Brad with a Jabot campaign ad when he's stumped. She could easily fit into the business story in the marketing department.

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    2. Roger, you're right about the whole set up for the PC4 story. They even had Kay hold that huge "Everything Chancellor" gala where she wanted Nina to bring young Phillip, so that he could begin to learn about his legacy and heritage, with Nina refusing to do so. (This was also the big party that Jill crashed to announce her lawsuit to sue for half the Chancellor estate, so that angle was being played as well.)

      This was all Kay Alden who, of course, knew how much history could be played among Kay, Jill, and Nina over Phillip's son, PC4. Soon after, they hired Penn Badgley to play teenage Phillip, so there was obviously a plan afoot.

      But I think they "lost the plot' because, unfortunately, Tricia Cast opted to leave the show in 2001, with Nina taking her son with her. And without her around the story would have been missing a big chunk, so it got dropped. - jmho

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  7. Funny you mentioned Myra. I did watch AMC in the 1970s through the 1980s. Myra was who I thought of earlier when I was posting about supporting players that added a lot to a show just by their personality and presence. I agree Traci could easily fit into a business storyline, except there really is none on Y&R these days and hasn't been since LML (most hated her, I liked some things she did). I don't think Victor hiring a look-alike to pose as Jack is a legitimate business SL. The attempts by the previous writers to create actual business SLs, like Jill taking over Chancellor Industries, were dropped by Pratt pronto once he took over. The SL where Traci and Victoria were creating children's books was dropped even earlier (that may have been a bit ill-conceived because it's unclear if the writers had a plan to develop that into a SL that could work). I would love to see Jill, Traci, Nina and Gloria back, but the direction Y&R is taking right now makes it less likely they'll ever be back full-time. Maybe we can be treated to visits from these characters on occasion, but with Michael "battling" cancer (what a messed up SL!) and Gloria not being seen to support and console her eldest son, I'm not too hopeful. Still, it is a soap and anything can happen. You only have to watch Y&R these days to know that! (LOL Sorry, but if we lose our sense of humor, it will be all the more tragic.)

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    1. Yes, we have to laugh at this or we'll cry that Bill Bell's masterpiece is kind of a joke now. In that vein, I announced yesterday on Twitter that I'm putting Y&R on recurring status in my life for a while. ;)

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    2. I'm wondering how long I can continue to watch. It's little more than background noise for me now. I feel like I'm wasting an hour each day so I usually try to find things to do while it's on. I am enjoying the UK soaps: Corrie. Eastenders, Hollyoaks. I am trying to get into Emmerdale. I loved classic Aussie soaps Neighbours and Home & Away, and am beginning to enjoy the new episodes. It helps having good soaps to watch. I'm watching Sons & Daughters from the beginning. Prisoner is my weekend guilty pleasure. I love SLs with a good payoff, lately Y&R has been esp anti-climatic. Under Pratt, Y&R is Melrose Place 2.0 - and that's just not good enough. I'm glad some viewers are enjoying it, but like you I am not.

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  8. Judith Chapman's Gloria is a delicious daytime character. I hate that the current writing regime are ignoring her talent the character's history. Same is true of Maitland, who has history going back decades. Sad.

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  9. There are several older supporting characters that are required. It goes back to what Ken Corday said that he watched the show and didn't know who anyone was anymore. So many years later, and we still ignore that basic lesson from Doug Marland. The story can add young characters, but they need to be attached to someone we know and care about until we care about them. Why has Gloria not been around for Michael's cancer treatment? Where is Traci in the fight between Jack and Ashley and to support Billy? Where is Philip?! One would think that after being thought dead, his loved ones would want to see him? How about him making Jill a grandmother through in vitro with his husband (since he has been gone so long, we can give him a husband)? We don't need the stupid look-a-like stories. There is plenty to play out with the emerging generations.

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