Near the end of the Monday, August 14 episode of The Young and the Restless, Jack Abbott (Three-time Emmy winner Peter Bergman) arrived in Georgia to visit his fiance Phyllis Summers Newman. Well, they were engaged a year ago when Phyllis tumbled down a flight of stairs and went into a coma, and before he fell in love with Kelly Andrews (Two-time Emmy winner Cady McClain). But a lot has changed over the past 12 months, and he's come to tell his comatose love that he's moving on. This wasn't the same Phyllis that left Y&R after a reunion with Jack; Michelle Stafford has moved on to General Hospital, where she's giving a fascinating performance as Nina Clay (coincidentally another character that recently came out of a coma). As Jack settled in next to the woman he has loved on and off for years, viewers heard the voice of Jessica Collins (Avery) say in that old school soap opera way, "The role of Phyllis Newman is now being played by Gina Tognoni," and saw her face. The two-time Emmy Award-winning Tognoni had finally made her first appearance on daytime's top-rated drama.
Just before Jack took Phyllis' hand, he said, "It's good to see you, Red."
Yes, it was!
The Young and the Restless has made a habit of miscasting good (and great) actors in the wrong roles in recent years but based on Tognoni's dynamic portrayal of Dinah Marler on former CBS soap opera Guiding Light, the show may have finally chosen the perfect actor for just the right part. Time will tell, and the quality of the writing for this new incarnation of Phyllis will be critical to her long-term success, but on paper it's a match made in heaven.
Fans watching the show live on Monday took to Twitter posting mostly upbeat and excited messages welcoming Tognoni to the cast, which is not always the case when a new actor replaces a former fan favorite.
Now that Tognoni is in place it's only a matter of time before Phyllis wakes up from the coma. Will Jack find himself in love with two women?
A feisty Phyllis might be just what the doctor ordered for a show that has desperately needed a character to stir the pot. Since her romance with Jack took off, Kelly has become more of a female version of the sappy and romantic modern day Jack Abbott than the character with a bit of an edge and so much potential that was first introduced last year, played at the time by Finding Carter star Cynthia Watros. There's a chance the return of "Red" could revive some of the layers of Kelly that haven't been seen in recent months. If the writing team gives Bergman, Tognoni and McClain a powerful story to play, they are all capable of creating magic.
Perhaps we are placing too much importance on the return of Phyllis but this feels like one of those watershed moments that come along once in a while for a daytime soap opera. Those opportunities can be seized upon and a show that has been suffering creatively suddenly becomes relevant again, or they can be wasted, keeping a series mired in mediocrity, further eroding just enough of even the most loyal audience to damage a soap's future.
After several years of inconsistent storytelling, with some fantastic moments sprinkled in with a whole lot of average, now is the time for The Young and the Restless to makes a grand turnaround to become the glamorous top-notch soap opera that the late William J. Bell created, one deserving of its top Nielsen ranking. The show has been showing signs of life creatively of late, especially with the addition of sexy Detective Mark Harding (Chris McKenna), and the forbidden romance of Hilary (Mishael Morgan) and Devon (Bryton James), the son of Hilary's new husband, Neil (Kristoff St. John).
The building blocks are in place for The Young and the Restless to once again become must-see-TV. A talented cast and 41 years of rich history ready to be mined provide a dream come true canvas for a visionary writer and producer (like the Mr. Bell) who know how to keep an audience invested and engaged. It's now up to current Y&R executive producer Jill Farren Phelps, and a writing staff headed by Shelly Altman and Jean Passanante, to raise their game.
"It's the writers' medium," Mr. Bell said in 1997 about daytime dramas. "Without the words, without the script, you don't have anything. There's just no getting around it. You can have the best producer in the world, but unless you've got the scripts and characters, you're not going to make it."
No one may be capable of matching the standard of consistency and excellence set by Mr. Bell but this show, the masterpiece of his brilliant career, deserves an inspired attempt to try.
Watch today's episode of The Young and the Restless at CBS.com.
Share your thoughts on Y&R and Tognoni's debut in the Comments section below.
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