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The Sarah Brown Interview – The Bold and the Beautiful

Sarah Brown

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In another great casting coup for the Daytime Emmy Award winning drama, The Bold and the Beautiful, last month Sarah Brown joined the cast as the mysterious Sandy Sommers, who is the surrogate to Nick and Bridget’s baby.  Sarah, no stranger to winning awards, (she has won three Emmys herself for her role as Carly on General Hospital) is firmly planted in a top secret storyline that insiders say is beyond spectacular.  As more time plays out viewers will learn what is really going on with Sandy and her connection to others on the B&B canvas.  In this revealing TV SOAP Australia interview, the actress talks about landing the new role, the beginning of Sandy’s unraveling, and gives a glimpse to how she is crafting the physical and emotional life of her new character.

A true acting chameleon, Sarah had just finished up her second time in her soap career on General Hospital as the psychotic Claudia Zacchara.  During November on US television, one day Sarah got clubbed to death as a mafia princess, and the next day she was in a trailer park playing a seemingly down-trodden young woman on B&B.  It’s all in a day’s work for this dynamic and fearless talent.

This TV SOAP Australia feature will appear an upcoming issue of the publication.  If you want to see more TV SOAP Australia interviews click here!

MICHAEL:

How did this come to pass that you ended up on B&B?

SARAH:

My contract with General Hospital was going to be up in January 2010 but they had written my character of Claudia out.   When they told me that the character was going to be exiting, someone heard that Brad Bell was interested in contacting me!  It was literally 48 hours at the most.  I was honored and flattered.  I was like, “Yeah, I want to talk to Brad Bell!”  I think there was an initial thought, “Will she talk or think about doing another soap?” and they said, “Brad Bell wants to talk to you.”  My mom had been a Y&R fan growing up.  So I saw the show and am familiar with the Bell legacy and the family’s work and thought, “This is really cool!”  I think I was watching Y&R one day when I went, “I want to do that,” and I remember watching Heather Tom when I was very young playing Victoria Newman.   I remember thinking, “I can do what she does.  I want to do that.”

MICHAEL:

So then did you always know you wanted to become an actress?

Sandy and Whip

© JPI Studios

SARAH:

I really didn’t, but a lot of my friends in the 7th grade were getting into it, and it was until the 9th grade where I could take an elective and I thought, “Well, a lot of my other friends are taking drama,” and thought that was cool.  I was a gymnast and very sports oriented and doing that after school.  So, I thought I would give it a try.  I gravitated to it, and my teacher said, “I should look into it, and you are really good at it.”  She told me of The High School of Performing Arts. People were responding to me in that way and I could make them laugh.  I liked experiencing that, and I could remember all the lines of everyone in the cast!  This is something I did not know I could do.  It was easy for me to improv, too, and I went home to my Mom and said, “This is really cool.”

MICHAEL:

“Sandy Sommers” was an interesting choice of name for your character, but then we learn her real name is “Agnes Jones”.  What did you think of these first names for your new character?

SARAH:

It was in Brad Bell’s head that I was going to be called Sandy Sommers and he was gracious and wonderful about it and brought me into the process.  That name was not as locked down as the ideas for the character were.  He was offering me different names, “Agnes” as well.  But I really like the name Agnes.  I remember Bob Guza (head writer, GH) saying to me, “What did you think of the name Claudia?” and I said, “I love it.   It’s sexy!”  So names are important to a character.

MICHAEL:

On GH you played both Carly and Claudia… a tough as nails woman.

SARAH:

She is a broad, not a woman.  I am a broad. There is something in me that people pick up on and put me in those roles, and I am happy in those roles. Whenever I am given the opportunity to play the girl next door they don’t come to me for that.  They come to me for, “Yes, I have a problem when I come to the door, and even if I look like the girl next door there is something else going on.”  I don’t know what this is about. Maybe it’s because I was a gymnast and played football when I was a kid, and there was fighting spirit that comes through in me. Sandy is not a fighter.

MICHAEL:

Sandy seems, at this point, almost afraid of her own shadow.

SARAH:

She is very timid to me, and even has food delivered to her trailer where the grass does not grow.  She is not trying to get anywhere with her life and that is what is really sad.

Sandy with stuffed animals

© JPI Studios

MICHAEL:

You went from mafia princess to a trailer park?

SARAH:

Hey, I am an actress, I live for this.  I like to change.  I cannot be the mafia princess for many, many years.  I know that. I know the fans of mine know me better than to think I would do something beyond the point where I got stale.

MICHAEL:

Sandy
had this array of stuffed animals all over her trailer when you first started on the show.  What was that about?

SARAH:

I don’t know why there were so many stuffed animals in the trailer.  I remember on my first day that the character has to evolve, and so if you don’t have the luxury of rehearsal time to go over things with your director or your producers it’s all by the seat of your pants.  So, it’s not something that was not addressed, but by the time we arrived on set there was a lot to do. I felt that it wasn’t something that I had any information about so I let it be.  For all I knew it’s going to come up in further stories.   Brad wrote it and planned it.  I stepped in and was the actor with the words, and so I did not see the need for that many stuffed animals, I will be honest.  I think it was overlooked, to be honest.  (She laughs)   I would say, “Can we remove this? This is destroying my mojo!”  I mean there were canned foods placed in certain areas of the trailer that just did not seem realistic to me. (Laughs)

MICHAEL:

Agnes/Sandy’s story involves being the surrogate for Nick and Bridget’s baby.  Did you do research for the role surrounding surrogacy?

SARAH:

I always do research, and there is a good book on the subject.  I have met people who have gone through this and Michelle Stafford (Phyllis, “Y&R”) is expecting a baby via surrogacy this month.

Christmas group

© JPI Studios

MICHAEL:

How is working with Nick and Bridget, Jack Wagner and Ashley Jones?

SARAH:

These two are great!  I have got to say, it’s a wonderful group of actors to work with, and it’s different.  It’s not a mafia or Sopranos-type of show, and it’s not a crime show.  There is not a lot of crime, but there is a lot of heartbreak and dealing with families who have very complicated relationships with each other. That is fascinating and interesting. I know that Bridget and Nick have been together on again and off again a really long time, and I have a great time with them.  I feel that the plot thickens and I think we make a good group, the four of us, which includes Rick Hearst (Whip) too.  I think the current story is fun for me, and when I watch actors who are challenged and pulled in different directions, the audience likes that.  They think, “My actor is being challenged. Let’s see if they can do it.  Can they pull it off?  “

MICHAEL:

So much was made of two daytime dynamos, Susan Flannery (Stephanie) and Sarah Brown on the same show.  Will there be a Stephanie/Sandy smackdown anytime soon?

SARAH:

There will be no smackdown in the immediate future, but they definitely put us in proximity, and you will see that. You will be so excited and happy.  I work with her and I see her daily.  Susan is the Queen Bee and I am floored by her.  My first day of working with her was awesome!  She is revered and a wonderful actress.  I love Alley Mills (Pam) too.  I have been a fan of hers since “Wonder Years”.  It did not dawn on me till I had the best night with Alley.  I was hanging out with her at the International Women’s Courage and Journalism Awards, and we yapped and I loved her.  I come to work the next day, and I say, “Alley, why do I feel like you are my mom?  I feel like I know you forever!” Then it occurred to me, “Were you the mom on Wonder Years?  OMG!”

MICHAEL:

So will the audience want to root for Sandy?

SARAH:

She is an enigma.  I totally think people are going to root for her. And, it’s not like root for her like she is this victim.  She is definitely coming forward with some things in short order that are potentially very jarring for all parties involved.  It’s been a great month playing that material.

Nick and Bridget and Sandy

© JPI Studios

MICHAEL:

Sandy is at a photo shoot of Owen and Jackie’s and when flashbulbs go off and just by being there, something happens to her….

SARAH:

She has a panic attack and storms out of the room, and potentially losing Nick and Bridget’s confidence because it’s such a shocker, because she is pregnant with their child. They rush out of the shoot wanting to talk about maternity wear, and lets hangout, and have lunch, and Bridget wants to get to know her, the way that a woman would want to know somebody that is carrying their child.  It’s got to be so nerve-wracking!  In this situation you are carrying someone else’s child and the other woman has complete lack of control.

MICHAEL:

I see a triangle coming between Nick, Bridget and Sandy.

SARAH:

With a pregnant woman?  Let’s see…. maybe.

MICHAEL:

You won three Daytime Emmys as Carly Corinthos on General Hospital.  Where do you keep those?

Sarah and Jordan

© JPI Studios

SARAH:

My Emmys – I have a grand piano in the middle of my living room and there is a big book shelf there, and funny enough it’s the same book shelf that is in Susan Flannery’s office.  I have them where I can see them from the piano.  I like to look at them, but at the same time, you know I won these for Carly and that was such a long time ago that it might be good for my own psyche just to put them in my own bookcase.  Keep them out but out of the way, so I can aspire to new heights all the time.

MICHAEL:

Of all your victory nights, was there one that was most memorable?

SARAH:

Yes.  I thought I was going to deliver my daughter right on stage.  I thought my water broke right on stage.  I was 8 months pregnant so flying from LA to NY was a big deal and I walked the red carpet, and it was extensively long and it was hot and humid.  I remember thinking, “Oh my God. I am going to pass out right here on stage.”

MICHAEL:

On GH, when you came back as Claudia and worked opposite of Laura Wright, the new Carly was that strange?

SARAH:

Yes for sure. There were funny moments when I first met Carly on camera and I go, “You look really familiar?” (Laughs)  I have to say when I came in Laura Wright had already been there for four years and she knows her Carly.  And I am so far away from Carly now.  People say, “I would love to see Sarah Brown come back to play Carly,” but they wouldn’t see the same Carly.  I am a completing different woman now than Carly. I have no regrets giving up the role.

MICHAEL:

You went from dark hair when you started on B&B, then went to your blonde hair again. What is the story behind the color change?

Sarah Brown

© JPI Studios

SARAH:

I came to B&B with dark hair because I was shooting both shows at the same time.  So there was an overlap, and so Brad figured out a tricky way to do this.  So I changed my hair color after I was done with GH.  Brad wanted her to have this Sandy blonde color.   I went to my hair stylist/artist and he did it up for me.  I love the color now.

MICHAEL:

Have you ever ventured to Australia?

SARAH:

Yes.  I have been to Sydney for two weeks, when I was pregnant with my daughter Jordan.  I went on a month vacation from GH and I went there in 1997 and stayed at a beautiful hotel right on the Sydney Harbor directly across from the Opera House.  I went to the zoo in Sydney, and I went to the Blue Mountains.  I took a helicopter ride where you touch down in the mountains.  You see all in these woods and this gorgeous territory and land everywhere.  I saw different animals and wild life. There was a moment when I was sure we were going down because helicopters and heights are not my favorite thing.  It was an incredible trip to Australia.  It’s so much like LA but backwards on the time. When you first arrive you are knocked out from the long travel distance.  I saw Kool and the Gang in Australia. They were playing in the hotel, and it was awesome.  Coolest thing ever!  I would go back.  It’s fabulous and a great place to visit.

MICHAEL:

You are huge on Twitter!  Are you addicted to tweeting? (Laughs)

Sarah and Maurice

Courtesy/ABC

SARAH:

Yes, I love Twitter.  I think it’s really fun.  I see the benefits in Twitter and I like the idea of everyone being connected. Twitter is like the matrix and the fact that you can reach out with a typed sentence. You can reach out to people all over the world and they get back to you. It’s information traveling that freely and quickly.  I went one by one to my cast members at GH and said, “People like this. They want to hear from you.   They want to be in touch with you.”  In a way, it’s funny how the paparazzi have harassed the celebrities and this is a way that celebrities take the fun out of that, because they are the ones dropping their own gossip about their own lives instead of letting someone take them away from their private moments. They can put their private moments out there, and create their own image, which is with personal and private moments with the fans.  You can share bits and pieces with them and share your own pictures.  So maybe now they won’t be stalked by their “Stalkerazzi’s.”  It would not be such an issue in the future.     It desensitizes celebrity life a bit.   I am a really digital person and have been working in digital editing for 9 or 10 years.  I like being able to snap my finger and have an immediate connection.

MICHAEL:

When you were leaving GH to come to B&B, what did your cast mates say?

SARAH:

Everybody was wonderful and gracious going, “You are going over to a rival show! What are you doing?” (Laughs) No, everyone was congratulating me and happy I had a place to go.

MICHAEL:

Will you miss working with former GH leading man, Maurice Benard (Sonny)?

Sarah Brown

© JPI Studios

SARAH:

I will miss Maurice, but I have other projects and endeavors that I look forward to bringing him into in the future that I have talked to him about, outside of GH and into eternity.

MICHAEL:

In closing, if we could tease the viewers what can we say? Sandy is going to be….

SARAH:

She is going to be up a creek very soon.  She is going to have her back-up against the wall in a scene that comes up really quickly here.  She already does with Whip, and she is going through a lot chaos and the audience is going to get a very quick Agnes/Sandy 101 in the coming weeks!

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I just love her I think she is so great at everything she does
Great interveiw I still love her best as Carly

love her I still think shes the best Carly too!!! Love the interveiw wonder what project shes talking to Maurice about??

love her/ will miss her but she will be great at anything she does
love the interveiw

Sarah Brown really gave a great interview. Michael, you always have such great rapport with your actors. She alwys gives and gives in her performances. That’s why she is always in demand. I believe she should be on a night time series. I have seen her guest starring a couple of times. Michael, your new site is exciting and very attractive. Carry on…..

I’m excited about Sarah’s new character and love seeing her do something different.

Loved Sarah as Claudia she really did one awesome job with such a complicated character. Sandy looks like she could be just as complicated… Sweet.. Sandy just needs more airtime.

I don’t understand for the life of me why interviewers have such difficulty remembering to ask Sarah about RICK HEARST! I mean COME ON! That to me was the greatest link/surprise for me when I found out that she was coming to B&B, the chance to get back into that fantastic working relationship she has with Rick. I’m glad that she so graciously remembered to add his name in herself.

Too bad that Sarah/Rick are portraying cousins, because I would have loved to see that relationship explored.

Ah well, the rest of the interview was good, and I’m really loving Sandy’s mysteriousness. Rock on Sarah!

I love Sarah Joy Brown she is an awesome actress and she really inspires me to do better in my life. I pray that I get the chance to meet her someday! I miss my girl Claudia but I will be her #1 fan rooting her on at all she does. Love ya SJB!!! 🙂

I would have really liked to see Rick Heart and Sarah Joy Brown’s charcters on B&B be love interest. I think that GH missed the boat big time when they decided not to make their characters really love interests. Iam however excited to see these two back onscreen together. I think they have such great chemistry together as actors. Iam looking forward to watching Whip and Agnes relationship devolope even if its not a romantic one.

Sarah is amazing!!! Enjoying her s/l better on B&B!!! I think it’s a much more enjoyable show in general.

Good interview Michael 🙂 She’s doing great on B&B, her and Rick have a great dynamic.

Sarah is so awesome! She seems soo nice and she can take on any challenge anyone give her! love her! Miss Claudia always will haha

I adore sarah but her character on the show is lack luster 🙁

I will miss DOOL’s Madison, played by her, when the character leaves the show. Brady is her soulmate!

Interviews

The Young and the Restless’ Michael Damian On Christine/Danny/Phyllis: “It’s a Fun Triangle Story That They’re Having Us Do, Because It’s Very Retro”

This week on The Young and the Restless, while Danny (Michael Damian) and Christine (Lauralee Bell) hit the sheets, and Phyllis (Michele Stafford) sets off an alarm as payback (literally!), the top-rated CBS soap opera continues to weave the tale of these three characters decades later, finding themselves in very familiar territory with each other.

We know that Christine and Phyllis are basically, mortal enemies, while Danny, who has been the man in the middle, has had a past with both women. However, it is Christine who has been, for all intent and purposes the love of his life.  But, will Phyllis’ machinations make it near to impossible for Danny and Christine to be together? Stay tuned.

Last week, Michael and his real-life wife, Janeen Damian visited the Michael Fairman Channel promoting their #1 streaming film on Netflix, Irish Wish starring Lindsay Lohan. The film was produced by the Damians, while Janeen directed it and co-wrote the romantic story. Michael is featured on the Irish Wish soundtrack performing his track, Wild Irish Heart.

Photo: Netflix

During the conversation, Michael shared what it has been like revisiting the Christine/Danny/Phyllis triangle years later. Damian addressed the fans on the livestream, who inquired. “It’s a fun triangle story that they’re having us do, because it’s very retro. And I think it’s fun to bring that nostalgia, retro thing back.”

Photo: JPI

Recalling a tender moment between Danny on the piano alone with Christine (during the standalone episode which honored Lauralee Bell’s 40th anniversary with Y&R), Michael expressed, “I think what they’re doing is so smart, and they’re reconnecting a lot of the fans to a lot of the story. I mean, we’re talking years and years of story.”

Photo: JPI

The longtime Y&R fan favorite, added, “I’m really glad they did the thing on the piano because people have been asking, ‘Why are you not doing any music? Why are you not singing? Where’s your band?’ You know what I mean? Janeen is asking the same thing, ‘Why aren’t you singing something on the show?’ The last time I sang on the show was when we thought Phyllis was dead. So, you know, that didn’t count. (Laughs)

One of the funniest moment in the revisiting of the triangle occurred when Phyllis and Christine were arguing over Danny, and he was right there in the room with them. The two women got so engrossed in their fight, they forgot he was there, and thus he walked out of the room.

Photo: JPI

Michael revealed, he liked that scene too! “They’re fighting. They’re arguing and Danny’s like, ‘Listen, I’m over here. Please stop it.” And then they don’t stop,” Damian recalled. “And so Danny just grabs his coat, picks up his sheet music, because he was working on a song. He goes to the door. In the scene, I even look back to see if they are even noticing me leave, and then I just left. That one was pretty funny. I’ll be honest. I was laughing out in the hallway when I left. I was thinking, ‘Should I slam the door? But then if I slam the door, they still have dialogue.’ They’re still talking and they would’ve turned, and then it would’ve ruined it. So, I just gently closed the door and left.

Photo: JPI

During the livestream, Damian teased he has some upcoming scenes with longtime Y&R co-star Beth Maitland (Traci), “I just worked with Beth Maitland actually the other day, and that was really fun. I can’t wait for people to see that show.”

Check out the the Michael Fairman Channel chat with Michael and Janeen Damian below.

Now, let us know, are you rooting for Danny and Christine? Do you think Phyllis will continue to be a disruptor in this relationship and somehow worm her way back into Dannys good graces? Share your thoughts in the comment section. But first check out this sneak peek for this week’s Y&R featuring the trio.

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Days Of Our Lives

Days of our Lives Star Blake Berris Chats On the Everett Lynch/Bobby Stein Mystery, Working with His New Co-Stars, and the Last Christmas Episode with Bill Hayes

On Days of our Lives, the return of Blake Berris is making for some very intriguing drama, with the audience guessing just which way the story will go.

When Berris arrived back on Days of our Lives, after previously playing Nick Fallon, he was taking on the new role of Everett Lynch, who has a past with Stephanie Johnson (Abigail Klein) and Jada Hunter (Elia Cantu). Only, as it has been revealed, the past he had with Jada was under the name “Bobby Stein,” who from what we can tell was far from a nice guy.

Blake visited the Michael Fairman Channel for a livestream interview this week, where fans in the live chat were weighing-on what could be the truth about the guy – is he a split personality suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder? Did the accident that cost him a year of his life in a coma, never happen? Recently, someone set fire to the beloved Horton house. Fans are suspecting it would have been “Bobby” who is working for Clyde Weston (James Read). Others believe that Everett/Bobby could actually be Clyde’s son. With upcoming therapy sessions with Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) about to start, things are about to get more juicy in Salem.

Photo: JPI

Here are just a few excerpts from our conversation with Blake on a myriad of Everett/Bobby subjects. Make sure to check out the full interview for more.

Did you know that they were going to make Everett Lynch a Jewish character? This is only the second time in the history of the show that they have even had a Jewish character on the canvas. Didn’t they reveal this at the Horton family Christmas episode?

BLAKE: No, they never asked me. I am half-Jewish on my dad’s side. There was never like, ‘You’re Jewish, right? We can call you Jewish on the show?’ At the Horton Christmas, “They made a real point of it, yeah.”

And now the new ‘character’ is “Bobby Stein” …

BLAKE: “Right, and that suggests more Jewish, and then Lynch must be coming from somewhere else, maybe the mother. I was so curious because I think the show has been historically, I’m gonna say, Catholic more than like Wasps. With the Bradys there’s this sort of Irish influence, and then the DiMeras, that’s Italian. So, we’ve got Catholics sort of on both sides that are dominant. Now I, “represent”.

Photo: JPI

What has it been like working with Abigail Klein?

BLAKE: I think she is extraordinary. We start off sort of frosty, or she’s frosty with me, like she doesn’t want to let me in. And then, for a while things are going really well. I just could not adore Abigail more. She’s such a good actor. I could always rely on her to bring me back into a scene and be there in this emotionally, supportive way.

Photo: JPI

Everett and Chad seemed to be becoming friend-ish, when all went awry when at the PCPD interrogation room, Everett let him know about Elia and Bobby Stein, and Chad let him have it for worming his way back in to Stephanie’s life.

BLAKE: Billy would call us the ‘disgusting brothers’ and that’s a reference from Succession, because all of a sudden they’re just so chummy with each other. It’s like all of a sudden we just had this like ‘Bernstein and Woodward’, sort of dynamic duo. I think that Everett really started to think of Chad as a friend and feels sort of disappointed, and he feels, “Oh, it’s that easy? I just needed to have some other identity and now you’re a fair-weather friend?”‘

Photo: JPI

In recent scenes, Jada sees Bobby Stein for the first time, and we see you and Elia Cantu share scenes with each other for the first time. What is it like working with Elia?

BLAKE: She’s fire, man. She comes in hot and she tells you the way it’s going to be. I think early on, we were trying to suss each other out and the more we worked together, the more comfortable you get with somebody. I think actors do this sometimes with each other; if there’s spice on screen, you like to keep some of what you have on-screen in your (real-life) interactions because it helps … it helps the work.  Eventually, we just sort of wore each other down and we’re like, ‘I actually totally get you, and you’re great.'”

Did you know that they were going to make Everett Lynch a Jewish character? This is only the second time in the history of the show that they have even had a Jewish character and didn’t they reveal this at the Horton family Christmas episode?

BLAKE: No, they never asked me. I am half-Jewish on my dad’s side. There was never like, ‘You’re Jewish, right? We can call you Jewish on the show?’ At the Horton Christmas, “They made a real point of it, yeah.”

And now the new ‘character’ is “Bobby Stein” …

BLAKE: “Right, and that suggests more Jewish, and then Lynch must be coming from somewhere else, maybe the mother. I was so curious because I think the show has been historically, I’m gonna say, Catholic more than like Wasps. With the Bradys there’s this sort of Irish influence, and then the DiMeras, that’s Italian. So we’ve got Catholics sort of on both sides that are dominant. Now I, “represent”.

Photo: JPI

You were on set and in the annual Horton Christmas episode which sadly marked the last for Days of our Lives legendary Bill Hayes, who passed away in January of this year.  What do you recall of that tape day?

BLAKE: It was the Christmas episode when we were watching Susan (Julie) and Bill, say ‘Merry Christmas.’  And there was something about it that just felt like it could be the last time. I mean, it wrecked us all on set. Bill gets so choked up and there was something really profound about the moment. They kiss each other as they have so many times before on the show. It was just beautiful. It felt beautiful to be there for that last Christmas. He’s just such an icon. Every time I’d see him, he was so with it … he knew my name, he knew his lines. What an incredible, incredible man.

Photo: JPI

Fans will get to see Everett in therapy sessions with Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall)? Would you say she is helping the guy?

BLAKE: Deidre’s always making jokes about Marlena, ‘She’s the worst therapist in the world’ (Laughs) I remember in the first therapy session, we almost couldn’t get through the scenes because it’s just so clear that Everett has a litany of very profound psychological issues that he is going to have to work through. He’ll keep coming back. This guy’s gonna pay the bills!

Photo: JPI

Viewers are waiting to see how they mystery of Everett Lynch/Bobby Stein plays out. What can you say as a tease for what’s to come?

BLAKE: As far as a tease, I would say, you have all these characters sort of, trying to wake up the ‘sleeping giant’ in a way. I think it’s safe to say that like if you poke a bear, the bear might wake up.

Watch the livestream chat with Blake in full below.

Now let us know, what do you think is going with Everett/Bobby? What has happened to him in his past? Share your theories in the comment section below, and make sure to catch Days of our Lives next week on Peacock for more to his story.

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Interviews

Y&R’s Melody Thomas Scott Talks on 45 Years as Nikki Newman, the Keys to Playing Drunk, And Those Genoa City Relationships

February is ‘Nikki Newman Month’ in soapland as the The Young and the Restless iconic Melody Thomas Scott celebrates her 45th anniversary in her leading role.

My how time flies! Nikki has had numerous marriages, and some to the same man, battled her addiction to alcohol too many times to count (and we loved it all), and faced so much heartache in the process.

Currently, on all-new episodes of the top-rated CBS daytime drama series, Nikki can’t quite get a grip as Jordan (Colleen Zenk) is out there and in the middle of her next master plot to make Nikki suffer, all the while Nikki is drinking again. Thanks to the heinous plot concocted by Jordan and Claire (Hayley Erin) that revealed itself last November.

Photo: JPI

In a special conversation for You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel, Melody shared her thoughts on a myriad of subjects including: her current story, those long tape days at Victor and Nikki’s weddings, why she plays drunk better than anyone on television, plus we take a mini-deep dive into Nikki’s past.

Y&R fans were stunned when the powers-that-be had Nikki kidnapped and then hooked her up to an IV of booze. Just how much did Melody know of the story going in? She elaborated, “I knew Nikki would be terrorized. That’s all that I knew. I thought that sounded like great fun. I didn’t know for a little bit that she was going to fall off the wagon in the process of it. And then when I heard how it would happen, I was thrilled to bits. I did kind of want to have a little leader (or crawl) down at the bottom of the screen saying, ‘Hey, people don’t put an IV with vodka in your arm because that will kill you.’ But, poetic license, I suppose.”

Photo: JPI

Melody also weighed-in on if she thinks Nikki will stop drinking anytime soon, expressing, “She just can’t get out of this. Then of course, Jordan’s not letting her out very easily. Just when Nikki thinks she is mentally strong enough to never take another drink, well, of course she does, because something else happens. I think it’s also a learning point for people who are watching the show who may have an addiction problem. Now, I could be wrong, but I think it’d be highly unusual for somebody to be just mentally strong to be able to stop.”

If you wondered if Melody enjoys playing a drunk Nikki, look no more, “I do. That’s simply for selfish reasons,” she shared. “That’s for my enjoyment. I take great pleasure in it. It’s fun for me, and just the process of pretending to be drunk. I love the end result. I try not to do too much because there’s nothing worse when an actor is overplaying drunk. So you have to kind of keep it a little bit underneath (the surface). However, sometimes because of Jordan, Nikki does get much sloppier than I normally would play it.”

Photo: JPI

In recent episodes, it seems that Jack (Peter Bergman) and Nikki are gravitating more to each other, as both are drawn together through their shared experiences with addiction. Victor (Eric Braeden) is not happy that his arch-nemesis is helping Nikki try to stay sober. Could Melody see Jack and Nikki becoming romantic again? “I love Peter. I mean, Peter was my second favorite husband on Y&R. It would be wonderful, but I don’t know if the fans would go for that,” she explained. “They’re so invested in Niktor that I think they would really be upset about that unless Victor did something really crummy, then I could buy that.”

Photo: JPI

One of the more ‘out there’ stories during Melody’s 45-year run, was when Nikki was paired with Crazy Edward, and he took her home to meet his mother … who was in an urn! You would think maybe Melody didn’t like the story .. but think again! “Bill Bell (co-creator, Y&R) was writing the show in those days, and Bill kept that information pretty tight. I don’t remember us knowing even a week in advance. Maybe, we would get our scripts, three or four days in advance and that was it. You knew nothing about future story, but I loved the story,” she raved. “It was almost Hitchcockian, shall we say. The actor who played Crazy Edward, Paul Tulley was so magnificent and such a sweetheart. We loved working with each other so much, but man, when that red light came on the camera, he scared the you-know-what out of me. He was absolutely terrifying. But then, the minute the scene was over, we’re fooling around and laughing and everything. He was so good. So good!”

Photo: JPI

According to Melody, the pairing of Victor and Nikki was not something she, nor Eric Braeden, initially thought would made sense: “I was a little terrified when I heard that he and I would be doing scenes. I thought, ‘What, what?’ He also wondered, ‘What am I going to be doing working with that young kid, that snotty kid?’ We had no idea what Bill Bell saw. He had a vision with us and somehow knew that we would have chemistry. It didn’t take Bill long to show us in the scripts why he put us together. Then, we started to see it. Although, it was hard to imagine at first, certainly we knew it worked by the time Nikki had baby number one during the ‘Who’s the father?’ storyline. Nikki and Victor weren’t even married yet. So, we did figure it out pretty early on.”

Photo: JPI

From her early years as Nikki Reed, Melody reflected back on some major story points in her character’s history, relating, “I actually did like her in the very beginning when she was just a little brat living with her sister and her father, who of course ended up trying to rape her…  and she had hit him over the head with a lamp … and he died. I did not care for the stripping storyline at all. Only because I knew that I didn’t have the natural dancing ability. I wasn’t fluid enough to really look good up there stripping. I know they hired wonderful choreographers and everything for me, but I just didn’t feel worthy of being up there … I guess is what it was. Of course, now I look back on it and I think, ‘Oh, I guess it wasn’t too bad.’ Later, there was a strip she did in the Colonnade Room. At the time, she was married to Jack. Victor’s sitting there with some other woman and she’s drunk. I saw that scene recently, and I thought it was great. I didn’t at the time, but looking back, I thought, ‘Wow, that was good.'”

Photo: CBS

Watch the full 45th anniversary conversation with Melody below.

Now let us know, are you enjoying Nikki being back on the bottle? Would you want to see Jack and Nikki try their relationship one more time? What has been your favorite storyline of Melody’s over the last 45 years on Y&R.  Let us know in the comment section.

 

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