The best place to start this week's column is to congratulate Christian LeBlanc on 30 wonderful years on The Young and the Restless -- and hopefully many more to come.
I can't say I'm a fan of stand-alone episodes, but in this case, I loved seeing the clips from past episodes. They brought back a lot of wonderful memories. I have always enjoyed Michael's stories, but over the last couple of years, I feel he has been greatly underused.
Michael's stand-alone episode was to celebrate Christian Jules LeBlanc's 30th anniversary in his role as Michael Baldwin, a role he has played since 1991. Michael went from being a bad boy to a well-respected lawyer in Genoa City.
Christian LeBlanc was nominated eight times for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and he won three times. He was also nominated four times for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Aside from his acting talents, he is also an accomplished, self-taught artist. Putting his art skills to use, he has been developing animal characters for children's books. He can certainly be described as a man of many talents.
I would love to see Michael Baldwin in a more prominent role with his wife, Lauren. I'm not talking about romantic episodes with Lauren, but a more day-to-day involvement, like perhaps a little courtroom drama, investigations, or mysteries to solve involving corporate matters. The one thing I would hate to see happen is for Michael and Lauren to split or drift off into the sunset.
They have been a happily married couple for many years, and I would love for them to stay that way. It seems that as soon as a couple is happy, the writers decide it's time to split them up; for example, Kyle and Lola. Those two were married for a nanosecond and, poof, the marriage was over. I really hope that doesn't happen to Michael and Lauren. It would be nice to see a marriage stand the test of time. Christian LeBlanc and Tracy Bregman are two of the many great actors on this soap, and I feel they should be utilized more often with their own storylines. I don't want to see Michael or Lauren just appear once or twice on my screen every two or three months. I would love to see them in more prominent and juicy storylines together, as well as apart.
On a sad note, we will be saying goodbye to a character favorite, Richard Burgi, a.k.a. Ashland Locke, in the near future. Richard has always been one of my favorite actors, and I hate to see him leave the show. Ashland Locke has been an interesting character, and as a bonus, he made Victoria more animated. The role of Ashland Locke has been recast with Robert Newman. He will make his first appearance in February.
Farewell to Richard Burgi. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors. He will certainly be missed, but welcome to Robert Newman. I'm sure he will fit nicely into those big shoes Richard Burgi leaves behind. We wish Robert all the best in his new role.
On a happy note, congratulations to Camryn Grimes and Brock Powell on their engagement. Brock Powell put a ring on it!
Many of us have watched Camryn grow up on our television screens. Camryn began as Cassie when she was approximately five years old. We saw her as she lost her baby teeth, as she grew into a teenager, and then as she developed into a young woman. Camryn has been amazing throughout the years, and she has become a fabulous actress. A long and happy life together for Camryn and Brock. May all your troubles be little ones.
My goodness, so much going on in our fair little town of Genoa City. Let's start with Devon. I believe that most of us are tired or fed up with this never-ending baby storyline. It has become uninteresting. Like many fans, I have always loved Devon -- however, not so much lately. When did he become the oracle of who was a fit parent, or who was a liability to a business? Who proclaimed that Devon was a fit parent? Devon has been through some devastating traumas in his life, and everyone in Devon's circle helped him overcome his trauma. Devon isn't giving Chance the same opportunity, and he has become extremely judgmental. I wonder if Amanda's influence has brought out this side of Devon?
Let's go back to the beginning of this surrogacy saga. Devon, Mariah, and Abby discussed every detail possible regarding their involvement in creating a child for Abby and Chance, then the contract was drawn up by Amanda. The contract included what rights the donor had regarding visitation, as well as the rights of the surrogate, prior to beginning the process of creating a child. Everyone agreed to the terms and conditions. They all signed the contract, fully aware of the terms and conditions.
Somewhere along the line, Devon has decided that Chance wasn't a fit father for Devon's son. Yes, Devon is technically the father because of his donation, but he lost all rights to call Dominic his son once he signed the contract (and in Wisconsin, a sperm donor has no rights if a licensed doctor performs the procedure). That was one of the conditions in the contract he'd signed. He knew the rules. No one asked Devon to be the donor; he offered because he wanted to help Abby and Chance have the baby they were longing for. Since Devon helped bring Dominic into the world and spent a little time with him, Devon decided he wants shared custody because he needs to protect Dominic. Who or what does Dominic need protection from? Dominic's legal parents are Chance and Abby. They get to protect Dominic, not Devon.
Devon doesn't want things to get nasty during this process. Is he kidding? Of course, things are going to get nasty. He is basically saying that Chance isn't a fit parent because of the trauma he went through in Spain. How does Devon know that Chance is incapable of being a good parent while he works through his trauma? Chance told Devon he was uncertain he was a good father to Dominic, but that was due to his uncertainty because of the trauma he'd suffered. Devon should have known that, since he's been through trauma himself. While recovering, Devon knew how uncertain things could appear. Such is the case with Chance. Everything looks uncertain to him, but he has taken steps to remedy that by taking an indefinite leave of absence from the force so that he can connect with his family.
What's the matter with the people around Devon, like Nate, Amanda, and even Lily who had her twins, Mattie and Charlie, through surrogacy? Amanda drew up the contract to be ironclad, yet she has found a small loophole and is encouraging Devon to fight for shared custody. Nate should have kept his nose out of it completely. Lily! I'm shocked she has encouraged Devon to go for shared custody, especially since she knew all the pitfalls with surrogacy. Lily was lucky with Mac as her surrogate. Lily's situation was a little different, since it was Lily's egg and Cain's donation that created the twins. Nevertheless, Devon signed off all his rights to Abby and Chance's child.
Devon has been given open-ended visitation with Dominic, with the exception of spending the night with Devon at the penthouse, but that doesn't seem to be enough for him. He claims visitation is on Chance and Abby's terms. Well, yes, their child, their terms. They set the rules. Devon needs to drop this. What makes Devon think he has the right to interfere or even believe that he is a fit parent? He was never told that he was unfit for anything while he recovered from his own traumas. What gives him the right to judge Chance? If he wants to be a parent so badly, perhaps he and Amanda could create their own little bambino.
Devon the Perfect, is also standing in judgment of Billy. He told Lily that Billy was a liability to her in business. How does Devon know that? Is he judging Billy on what happened with ChancComm? I agree with Lily that what happened at ChancComm wasn't Billy's fault. He was set up by Adam and Victor, and he paid the price. Billy has good instincts in business; however, from time to time, he tends to become obsessive about something, and that's what gets him into trouble sometimes. For the most part, Lily has been able to rein him in.
My opinion of Devon has plummeted. What happened to the caring and nice guy he used to be? Did he fall out of bed, hit his head, and appoint himself judge and jury? Until now, Devon has been a live and let live kind of guy, but not anymore. I'm not happy with what the writers have done to him.
Nick's birthday party was mostly a snoozefest. Did anyone notice the visual exchanges between Sharon and Nick? Holy cow -- in my opinion, there was more chemistry in the glances that Nick and Sharon exchanged than Sharon has ever had with Rey in any given scene. I wonder how much longer we will have to wait before this couple reunites, if that's where they are heading. It seems to me that Rey is paying too much attention to Chelsea, so I have to wonder how long Sharon and Rey's marriage is going to last. We might see two weddings (no funeral) in the not-too-distant future.
Sharon has become aware that Noah seems to be pining for Tessa. She's seen the woeful look on Noah's face whenever he looks at Tessa. I wonder...if things don't go too smoothly between Tessa and Mariah with this adoption process, will they wind up splitting up, leaving the door open for a Noah and Tessa reunion. Hmm, that might be an interesting road to travel. Noah can't seem to let go of the London girlfriend, and Tessa might just be the one to help him through that.
Nick seems to have resolved his daddy issues, and he is moving on with his life without needing daddy's approval. Go Nick! He appears to be much happier with his new resolve.
I was right all along about Chelsea and Sally, two very arrogant, aggressive, and dominant woman who want to be top dog -- and both are after the same man. There is going to be a volcanic eruption between these two.
I'm not a Sally fan. The lies just flow so smoothly out of her mouth. She is too aggressive, too arrogant, and a conniver to boot. Sally never seems to have a moment when she isn't concocting some scheme or lying. Chelsea is on her radar now, and Sally is determined to come out on top. Sally lied to Chelsea about her conversation with Adam, and she lied to Chloe about not being interested in Adam. If she wasn't interested in him, why did she invited Adam to join her on her trip to New York? That doesn't sound like she isn't interested in Adam!
Since Chelsea tried to frame Adam for attempted murder, I felt that Chelsea and Adam should have gone their separate ways, but now I'm not so sure. Chelsea had a brain injury. She wasn't in her right mind when she set up Adam for attempted murder. With therapy, Chelsea has recovered, but Adam claims he was the cause of Chelsea's brain injury, and it seems he will never forgive himself for that. Chelsea feels things would be different this time.
I have to say I really felt sorry for Chelsea when she tried to convince Adam to reconcile and give them another chance to be a family, but Adam refused. In a way, Adam was right. Every time they have reconciled, things have fallen apart, and the last time, things blew up. In the end, I almost cried with Chelsea when she overheard Adam tell Chance the love wasn't there for him anymore. When Chelsea rushed out of the coffeehouse, you could see that Rey was very concerned about her. I know I'm not wearing rose-colored glasses when I see the way Rey has been looking at Chelsea. I honestly believe that down the road, Rey and Chelsea will become a couple.
I'm still on the fence about Adam and Chelsea reconciling; however, I would rather see them together than Adam with Sally. If Adam has changed and really wants to be a better person, then he should stay away from Sally, because she will undo Adam's progress in his attempts at becoming a better person.
I really can't blame Chelsea for not wanting Sally around. Sally strikes me as someone who feels she is so much better than those around her. She is not endearing herself to anyone, and she doesn't have any friends.
Since marrying Ashland, Victoria has appeared very happy and very much in love, more so than I have ever seen her with any of her exes. However, she, too, has become too aggressive and arrogant, and she's on an enormous power trip. She told Ashland she knew how to handle her father and Adam. After Victor turned her down about buying Newman Media, you know she's going to come up with a scheme to acquire it, anyway. You could have knocked me over with a feather when Victoria told Nikki that it bugged her that there was a company out there with her name on it that wasn't part of her empire.
Her empire? Do we bow to her royal highness now, or do we kiss her royal highness' ring? She then had the audacity to tell Nikki that things were about to move rather quickly. Victoria is absolutely certain that Victor will sell Newman Media to her. I want someone to knock her off that mighty high pedestal she has built for herself. It's time for Victoria to be knocked on her royal keester.
She lied to Victor about the reason Billy revealed his scheme to decimate Newman Media to Adam. She told Victor that once Billy realized she'd discovered his plot, Billy backed down because she'd threatened to go to Victor. However, that wasn't quite the way it happened. Once Victoria discovered Billy's plan, she'd seen a way to use Billy and his plan to acquire Newman Media. She asked if Billy wanted her to stay silent while he set a trap for her father, yet she had no qualms taking over Billy's scheme herself and dictating the terms in order to get her hand on Newman Media. She was furious when Billy revealed his plan to Adam because she had to find another way of acquiring Newman Media
Billy finally realized he had to do the right thing and dropped his plan for revenge when Victoria threw herself into the mix. Suddenly, it was her scheme that would be to her benefit. She is now in the process of trying to manipulate Victor. Good luck with that one, honey.
Adam isn't happy at all that Newman Locke acquired ChancComm. He immediately jumped to the conclusion that Billy and Lily had talked Jill into selling the company to Victoria and Ashland. Adam claims he has changed, but that's the old Adam surfacing. Adam still doesn't take responsibility for his actions. He certainly didn't like what Billy said about him, because Adam knew that everything Billy said hit home. Adam has told Victor, Lily, and Sally that Billy had run off at the mouth. Adam claimed that Billy had spewed a lot of garbage, but deep inside, Adam knows that every word Billy said to him was true. I don't believe Adam will ever change for the better. Take Newman Media away from him and watch what happens; he will revert to the old chaotic Adam.
I hope you've enjoyed my thoughts and views on the recent machinations in Genoa City. Perhaps you would like to offer up some of your own thoughts or views. In the meantime, stay safe!
Nel
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