Friday, August 7, 2009

Y&R's Kristoff St. John Speaks Out About Y&R and Daytime

Kristoff St. John, who plays Neil on the top-rated THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, was a guest on "BuzzWorthy Radio" last night and spoke openly about his soap role, the storyline he would like to see, and how humor helps the actors get through the week. A cute moment occured when his six-year-old daughter, Lola, interrupted the interview and he asked her if she watched Y&R and she said, "No. It's boring."

St. John loved the Lynn Marie Latham era.

I really enjoyed the Lynn Marie Latham year and a half that she was there. Never did I work more. We were starting to get back to the roots of my character and my family. One thing that's mising in the Winter's family is the clan itself, and black culture. Lynn and I talked about that for quite some time. Let's put some church into it, some God, not too much, we don't want to ram it down anyone's throat, but you want to get something there. We need to be on par with the Newmans and Abbotts.

St. John also had a lot to say about what is wrong with the storytelling in daytime (stories aren't current and topical) and specifically brought up the Adam/Rafe story on Y&R.

If you look at the storyline on our show with Adam and Rafe. That whole thing peted out and turned out to be such a crock. And forgive me for going there with it, but if you're giong to do a gay storyline on the show, then do something topical and current. And what could be more topical than Proposition 8 in California but doing a same sex marriage thing. You don't have to go there with that character whose going through so many things - being blind, screwing over Victor, doing the thing with Mary Jane, the baby with Ashley - man, come on. Don't cheat the audience out of a really hot, good storyline that would reflect what is actually happening out there in our world and in our nation. That's the kind of stuff that bugs me. Maybe Hogan Sheffer wants to write comical stuff with chipmunks and all that. If I get my head handed to me on a platter for saying this then so be it. We need to get more family-oriented, get back to the old school stuff, what originally made this show what it is before I got there.

St. John didn't make the statements with a negative tone. He was being open and honest and speaking as someone who really cares about the genre.

Listen to the full interview interview here.

4 comments:

  1. Good for him! He hit the nail right on the head. I agree. The Winter clan should be on par with the Abbotts and Newmans.

    When he mentioned about getting back to family oriented and old school stuff, he sounded just like Harding Lemay when he said, soaps should be about character driven storylines, not plot driven.

    Also what he said about the Adam/Rafe storyline was right on point.

    Since OLTL is doing a great storyline with Fish and Kyle, maybe they can take on the Prop 8 issue.

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  2. Congratulations to Kristoff. I hope his interview doesn't hurt him with TIIC at Y&R.

    The current Y&R regime is clueless with handling it's minority characters, both people of color and gays.

    Winters: Other than Lily, the Winters only appear once or twice a week.

    Neil's a CEO who lives in dump. He's head of Chancellor and thus Jack's boss. Where's the interaction?

    Devon: Suddenly develops a crush on his aunt? Eew!! Faux incest.

    Tyra: A horribly introduced character who exists only in the segregated lives of the Winters. Why isn't she interacting with other characters her age like the Scooby gang?

    Olivia: Relegated to the best-friend, caretaker role.

    Rafe: A two dimensional character who's just a MacGuffin to move along Adam's story.

    Adam: Depraved bisexual stereotype.

    Phillip: Deadbeat dad

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  3. For all of LML's faults, she at least put the Winters on the front burner and integrated them into the show.

    MAB & Co. have done a HORRIBLE job with the Winters (with the exception of Lily). Firing Nia Peeples was ridiculous.

    Y&R needs to get its act together and re-hire Victoria Rowell.

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  4. ITA SoapFan78...bring back Dru & show Tyra the door, she's dreadful!

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