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Mara McCaffrey Joins the Cast of The Young and the Restless!

By Michael Fairman

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Photo Credit: Ross Ferguson

Photo Credit: Ross Ferguson

Kevin’s (Greg Rikaart) hacker friend is about to join him in Genoa City!  Casting news out of CBS Soaps In Depth has that actress Mara McCaffrey has been cast in the recurring role of Natalie, formerly known during the casting call as “Isla”.

Natalie is described as “a tech wiz with a passion for cyber life.”   And this week on Y&R, Mariah (Camyrn Grimes) tried to find out more about the female hacker Kevin met in Switzerland, while Billy (Burgess Jenkins) overheard Kevin telling Mariah about his new idea to enable computers to be hacker-proof.   In addition, Noah (Robert Adamson) had asked Kevin to dig up dirt on the Santori family.  So, it would seem the appearance of Natalie would tie-in perfectly with these story set-ups.

Look for McCaffrey to first appear on Y&R on the January 15th episode of the number one soap opera.   

Will Natalie give Mariah a run for the money for the heart of Kevin? Will two computers whizzes find love? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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My initial thought was that she looks A LOT like Elizabeth Hendrickson, especially in that picture.

That’s who I thought it was.

I told my husband that she looks like Chloe (Elizabeth Hendrickson).

Oh my God—the resemblance is so uncanny!!!

Great, just what Y&R needs is another useless character with no links to Genoa City.

Amen, Mateo!!

I agree, Mateo, albeit I must admit the girl is gorgeous. Her face beautifully sculpted. But, I do not think she resembles Elizabeth H one bit…sorry, guys. I was hoping they were bringing Mackenzie back. I thought it would be she. I am so sick of the mystery and stupid suspense of this Spanish family with an Italian name. Sick of these cyber games with dilettantes trying to infiltrate corporate espionage. Give me my soap back.

Cee, I agree, WHO GAF! I love Kevin but he gets some of the silliest stories EVER! Mac would be great to have back! The Chancelor name is gone! Why dont they stop with all these nickel and dimers and bring back Mac, Phillip, Tucker, ect and make the Chanclelor name relevant again? I so agree with you on Marissa and her greasy lover who needs a major haircut. WHY are they even on the show? Because of Noah? Noah works at a bar, he can meet a chick every night! Well, maybe not, they have about as many people in that place as a Sears, at this point! Later my luv!

She is only recurring and she is useful because of the computer hack story and to make Mariah jealous.

Don’t you feel like saying, “Whoopee-doo!!”, Timmm? Who cares, really!? It will only makes a stupid storyline stupider. Why couldn’t they have made her Mackenzie? ……would have been so much more interesting; with a real, honest-to-goodness story to tell. I know you want a meatier story as much as I do, my Timmmbo. Bye.

a triangle involving kevin, mariah and a newbie!?
pratt needs to bring back austin somehow because maraih/ austin/ summer was really hot!
summer needs to be on more and her and mariah have a natural distaste for eachother.
austin was gorgeous and his death was unnecesary, as was his off the screen romance with abby.considering how anticlimatic the cabin mystery played out.
romances involving kevin are usually more comedic relief . janna was really the only believable love intrest of his

Not knocking your opinion but you are in the minority when it comes to Summer being on the show. It has been an early Christmas present not having her on! Every scene shes in she has a sour look on her face like someone just, well you know! I did like Austin but he is dead! Now if this was GH Austin would reappear just like that!

OMG How I agree nooooo don’t bring back Summer. She was snooze time and was so out of the league for a Nick/Phyllis daughter. Actually when I first saw this new girl with this beautiful face and tiny features I thought “why could they not have made her Summer”?

I am enjoying the Summer-free soap and dont miss her a bit, but
you would think someone (Phyllis maybe?) would at least reference
her absence in some way, and Kyle, too, actually. Unless I just missed it.

Yeah, if you needed to recast Chloe this girl looks like a ringer! Anyhow, yeah, this is cool. She is cute and it makes sense to start a love triangle to make Mariah jealous. I only ask two things and one is that she can act and two, yes, I’ll take ANYONE on the screen thats not Summer, Kyle, Stitch, Lilly, Hillary, Neal or Devon!

hey Timmm..
I have coded my PC to automatically FF ; Devon, Hillary, Sharon, Neal and Summer and Phyllis when she is being a freakout harsh .
And I gotta tell you- it has been great, absolutely great !

(I have been contemplating adding Dylan to the auto list if he doesn’t shape up into someone interesting, he is sorta a blob.)

I blew through Thursday’s show and for the fun of it read the recap and I fell asleep!

No, no, no, Timmm!!!!First of all, this girl looks young enough to be Chloe’s daughter. Secondly, the features are all wrong. Both pretty, but this girl beats Elizabeth by a mile. I think it’s only the guys that have this same thought. I bet not the women…..All of you need to be smacked upside the head. Lol. Forgive me?

ok, well.

It is the ”young” and restless..

There is near zero young lol and very little young restlessness..

there are grandmas & grandpas and people pushing 50, so yeh they do to bring n younger ones or change the title .. LOL 🙂

Anyways, after she has served her purpose she will be let go ..

CeeCee, young IS the NEW young! Dont you know! No, but from first glance I thought it was Liz but this young sweetie, her hair is much longer. Like I said, i just hope she can act. I like that it will cause Mariah to be possessive of the Silver Squirrel!

I agree Cee Cee…

This girl LOOKS MUCH too young to play a love interest of Kevin… as pretty as she is….I hope they don’t go there…

Y&R is family power..
If a character is not of the Abbots or Newman’s or connected through marriage, they are disposable characters.

The Newmans & Abbotts, whichever ones, dominate the screen day after day, they are upfront in some manner, it is their soap..

I totally agree with this.

Why not bring in the pretty young girl for Noah, he seems to always be losing his love interests and they need a good storyline for him.

You said exactly what I was going to say. Noah needs a love interest! I think this girl is going to cause love triangles EVERYWHERE! First between Mariah and Kevin and then between Kevin & Noah.

Where I live if there is a news breaking event the Y and R is cut. I still am unclear why Billy is so blamed for whatever happened with Paragon because there was news for a couple of days. I am trying to get old Billy out of my mind and recognize that someone else is going to appear. By the way, Jenkins seems to be coming alive as he prepares to depart.

Mariah, however, has been the only person with any “smarts” in my mind; hope they don’t make her stupid. Her instinct and perception are almost the only interesting things right now. That’s a bit of an overstatement, but not by much. Every time I feel something interesting coming, it evolves into a fast forward. The new actress, if presented as competition, worries me or interests me; different types of intelligence.

Still, I watch, but less and less watch with more and more fast forward.

I am so over Kevin and Mariah or Kevin with anyone as far as that is concerned. Mariah needs a strong storyline. She has the talent. So why not give her a juicy storyline that is believable. Kevin and Mariah simply do not fit. Jack also need to be transformed. Too much is happening to him. It’s time for Jack to come up and show us that flavor we all miss and loved about him. And while you are at it, please give Phyllis something to do. I am so over Jack getting snowed by Victor. Life just does not work that way even in a soap. So stop the madness because we, the viewers, deserve so much more. I hope this new Billy is the last Billy and can make it work. If he is given the right storyline he can make it. Burgess never had a chance. They made him whimpy and whiny and spineless and let Victor walk all over him. Every man needs to hold his own. When you take that away you take away the man. If the writers cannot make this show work without always letting Victor win and taking away the dignity of women and men and killing children and having them switched at birth. Then you get writers who can do the things of long ago. Make it work without using the same old scenario over and over again. Sharon has already had Faith taken away from her. Now they are doing the same thing to Sage. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wize Ole Owl… Thank you! I could not have said it any better! Geesh, enough of the same ole thing already!!!

Just mentioned perhaps Natalie could end up liking Mariah, could be a good story and something different for Young and Restless

Looking forward to Natalie . . . hoping for some surpises, twists and plot.

Kevin and Mariah belong together !!!!!

Kevin and Mariah should be together with no interference from the hacker

I think Noah will wind up falling in love with her.

Could Natalie end up liking Mariah!Heck it’s 2016!. MARIAH has really good friendship with Kevin,but it hasn’t gone anywhere! Food for thought.

Please just tell me the NAME AND BRAND OF MARA’s EYE GLASSES !!!!! Thank you so much !! Greatly appreciated!!
Sincerely,
Anne

I have watched Y & R since day one and have not missed an episode !! Taped it and then DVR’d it !! Please come thru with Mara’s eye glass frames BRAND AND NAME OF FRAMES !!!
Thanks !
Anne

I too would like Natalie’s (Mara’s) eye glass frames Band And Name of Frames. Love them and would like to get a pair like it!
Thanks,
Linda

I would like to know too. They look great!

Hey Ashlee, did you ever get the info for Mara’s eye glass frames brand and name of frames. If so, would love to know.

I too want the eyeglass info. Who can give us an answer???

The computer geek is going to end up being Victor Newman’s daughter. She will be a bigger character than chloe. Hate Luca. Fast forward anything Colin or Jill.

General Hospital

‘General Hospital’s’ Dominic Zamprogna Shares He Was ‘Happy to Hear’ of The Triangle Storyline Developing Between Dante/Elizabeth/Ric

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Dominic Zamprogna

General Hospital’s Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri) opened up about the burgeoning love triangle forming between his Port Charles alter-go, Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) and Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) after recently aired scenes, plus his hopes for the future of a Dante and Liz pairing, during his appearance on the Sunday, April 23 edition of the That’s Awesome podcast with Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli).

On last week’s episodes of GH, Ric has made the decision that he wanted to propose to his ex-wife, only when he showed up at Elizabeth’s front door, he misread the scenario he walked in with Liz tending to Dante’s injured leg from the softball game. From there, the legal eagle’s jealous streak is reemerging which may cause him to act out and do something unforgivable, or will he take the high road? Stay tuned.

Speaking with Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson about where Elizabeth stands in the annals of the long-running soap, Zamprogna said, “She’s up there with Steve and Maurice (Maurice Benard) as one of the most legacy-filled people on the show.”

Courtesy/ABC

HOW DANTE AND ELIZABETH CAME ABOUT

Dominic jokes it’s a far cry for where Dante and Elizabeth previously, recalling, “We had some scenes together years ago and we were both laughing. Becky’s like, ‘Well, I guess we’re not going be paired up anytime soon.’ I remember we laughed immediately after they yelled ‘cut,”‘and said to each other, ‘Well, so much for that!'”

Fast-forward to early 2025 and as Zamprogna remembered it, “Elizabeth Korte (co-head writer, GH) came up to me at the General Hospital Christmas party, and I think it was a year and a half ago and she said, ‘We’re going to have you in scenes with Elizabeth,’ My internal monologue is going, ‘I’m not with Lulu (Alexa Havins) anymore and Sam’s (Kelly Monaco) gone, so maybe they want to see if this works.’ I didn’t want to get scenes with Becky and try to find the chemistry. I just wanted to play whatever honestly was written and came across for both of us and hope it was what people liked, and I don’t know if it is … or not.”

Knowing how beloved Elizabeth is to the GH faithfuls, Zamprogna added, “She got a big fan base with Ric … and a big fan base with with Jason … and you know, you’re going to piss somebody off. But, didn’t Ric drug Elizabeth and put Carly in a panic room?”

Dom and Liz

Photo: ABC

DANTE AND ELIZABETH PAIRING COULD STIR UP STORY FOR OTHERS IN PORT CHARLES

In closing, Dominic felt that the wide-reaching tentacles of a Dante and Elizabeth relationship is something he is 100% down for. “The triangle thing; I was happy to hear it was with Ric and her, because I felt it’s important to have her the top of it as opposed to Dante, Lulu and Elizabeth.”

Zamprogna added, “When you get into relationships on a soap, things seem to fizzle out a little bit, The buildup is what’s the fun part, and the getting to know each other, and the people who are affected by this coming together. When with this case it’s going to affect: Ric, Sonny, Lulu. There’s so much more story here. To me, it’s going to be a fun story to play.”

You can check out Dominic’s visit to That’s Awesome with Steve and Bradford below.

Now weigh-in: Are you rooting for Dante and Liz, or Dante and Ric at this juncture of the story, or neither guy  for Elizabeth? Let us know your thoughts and picks via the comment section.

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Beyond the Gates

‘Beyond the Gates’ Star Mike Manning Lands Role in Indie Horror Feature ‘Deify’

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Mike Manning

While Smitty tries to hold the fort down in his marriage to congressman Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon)  and their two teenaged children, Samantha (Najah Jackson) and Tyrell (Jaden Lucas Miller) on Beyond the Gates, Emmy-winner Mike Manning has also landed another feature film role.

According to Deadline, Manning has joined the cast of Deify with 6 other new cast members for the indie psychological horror film starring Neal McDonough and Skeet Ulrich, which was previously announced last week.

Joining Manning as the latest cast addition are: Dennis Haysbert, Ashley Greene,  Casey Harnett, Kirk Avecdo, Anji White, anf Nicholas Chimera who’s directing the pic also has a part in the film.

WHAT’S THE STORY OF DEIFY?

Taking to his Instagram with the news of his casting, Manning shared, “A movie about a cult? What could possibly go wrong? Come for the enlightenment. Stay because they won’t let you leave. DEIFY is coming…”

The movie is currently shooting in Chicago and in story, “a cult leader is put on trial after causing his devoted followers to be burned alive. The film is inspired in part by events surrounding the 1993 Waco, Texas, standoff between members of the Branch Davidians church and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, one of the largest civilian firefights ever recorded on American soil.”

MIKE MANNING IS A DAYTIME EMMY NOMINEE

In addition, the multi-talented Manning is a producer on the feature. Previously, Mike was nominated last month in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards. He previously won an Emmy for his role on The Bay and for being a producer on the digital drama.

Mike’s previous credits include the role of Charlie Dale on Days of Our Lives and the Manny on This Is Us, plus various primetime and screen credits.

So intrigued to find what role Mike will play in the upcoming horror/cult film, Deify? Enjoying him as Smitty on Beyond the Gates? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.

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General Hospital

GH and OLTL Alum Patrick J. Gibbons Reveals the Story Behind Writing Trina’s Song on ‘General Hospital’ (Exclusive)

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Patrick J. Gibbons

At the conclusion of today’s August 21 episode of General Hospital, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) sings a lullaby to baby Dez, that went into a montage to close out the episode as her father Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) reports to Pentonville and winds up in his jail cell.

However, in a fun fact, the song entitled, “A Lonely Heart To Give” was actually written by none other than former One Life to Live and General Hospital actor, Patrick J. Gibbons.

Daytime fans first met Gibbons as Sam Manning on One Life to Live. At the time, when he started on the soap, he was just 5-years-old. Gibbons played the part from 2010-2013 on ABC and Prospect Park’s editions of the show. Fast-forward to 2018, Gibbons shows up on General Hospital as Wyatt Hoover, the scout who seemed always be injured, but in the thick of the drama. Patrick had appeared on GH multiple times as Wyatt including: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023.

Photo: ABC

FROM HIS GRANDMOTHER’S DEATH CAME THE INSPIRATION FOR HIS SONG

Now in 2026, General Hospital fans are getting to learn about another side of Gibbons’ talent as a songwriter and guitar player after “A Lonely Heart to Give” debuted today! Michael Fairman TV caught up with Patrick, who is now a senior at Penn State entering his final year as a finance major, to get the back-story of how his song wound up on GH!

Gibbons explained he wrote the song in honor of his grandmother who passed away a few years ago with whom he was, very, very close with. “Randomly, my grandmother had a downfall and passed away during the second semester of my sophomore year. I was in my dorm a lot and I was just playing with my guitar. And at the time, I was really into finger-style playing. I wrote the lyric and music to it (with a little help from my guitar teacher Lou), and my mom showed the rough demo to Frank Valentini (EP, General Hospital). He’s like an uncle to me. Frank loved it so much he said, “Finish that up. I want to hear the whole thing, and I want it on the show.”

MAKING MUSIC FOR GENERAL HOSPITAL

Gibbons and his parents took the next steps! “So now, all we needed was a female voice, because I thought that would fit the song well,” Patrick shared. “At the golf club we go to my parents were at a dinner. They liked the singer that was performing and spoke to her about the song, and she says she would like to bring it to her ‘boss’ who ended up being Eric Bazilian of the Hooters fame!” (Bazilian also wrote the smash hit song “One of Us” for Joan Osborne).

Next, “We went in the studio and recorded it and the song came together and it was beautiful. We loved it. They loved it at General Hospital and now they’re putting it the show and they are coming in with a piano, instead of a guitar. Paul Glass, the GH musical director, has been keeping us updated over the last six months of how it was coming along, and when it would air, and how GH put their own arrangement to it. I can’t wait to see and hear what they did with it.”

Photo: JPI

PATRICK’S ONE LIFE TO LIVE FAMILY

Everyone knows that the One Life to Live extended family share a very tight bond, and Patrick said he does stay in touch with a few of his former One Life to Live co-stars, especially those from the Manning family! “I stayed in touch with Kassie DePaiva (ex-Blair) and sent her little videos here and there. She was like my second mom for five years. We keep in contact with Kristen Alderson (ex-Starr) over X the most, and she can’t believe how big I’ve gotten. Like, none of them can! (laughs). I also loved working with Roger Howarth (ex-Todd) and Trevor St. John (ex-Todd and Victor Jr.), and to me since I was so young, they were just my friends, ‘Roger and Trevor,’ not Todd Manning or Victor Jr.”

It was a trip to California and a visit to Port Charles that ultimately led to Gibbons second soap role of Wyatt Hoover. Patrick explains, “In 2016, Frank Valentini invited us out to Los Angeles to visit the set of General Hospital. I think he heard me say, ‘This is so much fun. I miss being on the set.’ He goes, ‘You should come out. I’ll bring you on the show. We can make you a character.'”

A few years later, Patrick’s dream became a reality! “Then, by the summer of 2018, I was playing Wyatt, the scout, and shared scenes with Wes Ramsey (Peter August), and the best was when I shared a scene with Roger Howarth and Michael Easton (ex-John, OLTL and ex-Silas, Finn et al, GH), it was like chemistry from the old days.”

Photo: PGibbons

IT’S ALL IN THE NUMBERS

As to his future aspirations, it’s a career in the finance game that has piqued Gibbons’ real-life interest. But never say never to a return to acting. Patrick explained, “I’ve always enjoyed numbers. And on top of that, one of the biggest parts of finance is being personable and outgoing.”

He continued, “That’s one of the greatest skills I developed growing up. I really love the markets. I’m super interested. I’m never going to close the door to acting. I’m always open to that because I just love it so much. It’s such a great art.”

Take note! If there are any investment bankers or private equity folks among the GH faithful looking for a young analyst next year, Patrick’s DMs are open. You can find him on X at @PatrickJGibbons.

So, what did you think of the song sung by Trina on today’s GH that was written by Patrick J. Gibbons? Did you enjoy Patrick’s performances as One Life’s Sam and GH’s Wyatt? Would you like to see him back on GH at some point? Let us know via the comment section.

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