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Y&R’s Melody Thomas Scott Pens Guest Column on the ‘Trust’ and ‘Stability’ Viewers Share with Daytime Drama & Why the Genre Will Continue on

By Michael Fairman

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Photo: JPI

The Young and the Restless star, Melody Thomas Scott, just celebrated her 45th anniversary as Nikki Newman on the CBS soap opera back in February.

Now in March, she has written a guest column for Deadline on the present, past and future of daytime dramas and why they continue to survive, although many have said they would not.

The actress spoke on the ‘curveball’ that changed the landscape of daytime forever, when back in 1995, a famous trial dominated all network and cable programming. Back then, people were seeing a real-life courtroom drama playing out in real-time, while the soaps were preempted. Melody noted, “Unfortunately, all of the soaps lost a significant amount of their audiences when viewing habits were broken. However, the experience reminded the genre of the importance of being at the top of their game in both production and promotion.”

Photo: JPI

Taking the positive out of that as Thomas Scott detailed, soaps were put on notice and had to up their game to survive. In her column, Melody pays homage to the late great William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, (co-creators of Y&R and B&B) and how it was Bill Bell that created her character of Nikki.

Photo: JPI

Melody closed her column with this important message,” The relationship that a viewer forms with the characters of a daytime drama is unparalleled to any other medium. This bond between the audience and the show lends to Y&R being able to entertain and educate its audience while exploring relevant social issues such as substance abuse and mental health. The trust and stability a viewer shares with a daytime drama is the reason they will not only survive but thrive for years to come.”

What did you think about Melody’s words as she spoke on why daytime drama remains vital and important to television, to its fans, and that they will live on for years to come? Share your thoughts in the comment section, And, if case you missed it, you can check our interview with Melody when she visited the Michael Fairman Channel last month below.

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Agreed! That OJ trial also opened the door to far too much reality programming in general.

This industry has played the game of blaming a black man for long enough. No one takes responsibility for stale storytelling and failing upward, with musical chairs shifting the same uninspired staff from one show to another. If soaps weren’t captivating the masses anymore, then it was time to look inward. But they’re determined to bypass fan input, to this day. OJ isn’t the reason why viewers are sick of the characters who monopolize #GH in 2024. The shows are written and produced with contempt for intelligent people, period.

Amen

Yes, THIS. I’ve heard the same tired point made dozens of times now: Soap viewers didn’t come back after the OJ trial. I’ve never seen any soap (or other) journalist follow that observation up with: But why not? There had been similar pre-emptions of the soaps before OJ (during Watergate, for example), but once the interruptions were over, viewership returned to the levels before they started. Why was OJ different? Nobody wants to ask that question, probably because the answer would be so displeasing to TPTB. Well, I can sure answer it for them: People didn’t come back because in 1994, when they left, they found out just how easily they could do without the soaps, which were no longer giving them what they once had been. When the OJ trial was over, it wasn’t “OMG, thank goodness, I can watch my soaps again finally!” it was more like “Enh. So what. Haven’t really missed my soaps.” So many of them didn’t come back. And the blame for it is on TPTB for their bad decision making and meddling the genre to death.

Thank you, @Holden Stenbeck, for saying so. I spend so much time feeling gaslighted because nobody says the obvious, and I’m really grateful to you for reminding me that no, I’m not the one who’s insane here.

The major difference between OJ and Watergate disruptions was the vast expansion of choices viewers had after OJ. With Watergate, you had the three major networks, maybe a fledgling public television station or a local independent playing sitcom reruns.

The 90s had cable television at its height with subscribers able to switch away from the trial if they weren’t into it.

The Simpson trial also showcased real-life drama that surpassed a lot of what was being shown on daytime. That said, the 90s did have some high quality stories (GH in particular) that showcased the genre.

I love melody

I love Melody—she’s been stealing the show, as it were. Non pareil performance!!

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TUNE-IN: ‘R. J. Decker’ Season 2 Premiere: Y&R and DAYS Alum Lucas Adams Guest Stars

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Lucas Adams, R.J. Decker

Tonight on September 15, R. J. Decker’s returns for its second season immediately following the season 35 premiere of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.  In the season premiere, as previously reported Lucas Adams (ex-Noah Newman, The Young and the Restless, and ex-Tripp Dalton, Days of our Lives) is one of the guest stars.

The season 2 premiere will also server as a crossover event with cameos from Dancing with the Stars pros Jenna Johnson and Val Chmerkovskiy, as well as The Bachelor’s Joey Graziadei, who won the Mirror Ball Trophy in season 33.

In the logline for tonight’s episode pf R.J. Decker (10 pm ET/PT) entitled, The Point of Us Breaking, a reunion with an old prison acquaintance pulls R.J. into a string of daring bank heists as the fallout from Victor Ochoa’s death deepens.

Photo: ABC

WHO IS LUCAS ADAMS PLAYING ON R.J. DECKER?

Taking to his Instagram story from the set of R. J. Decker, Lucas Adams, in what looks like prison garb, explains a bit about the character he plays in the crime series. ‘What’s up? It’s Lucas Adams, and I play Liam Jansen. I’ve got myself into a sticky situation, hopefully me and my little dog can get out of there safely!”

R.J, Decker stars Scott Speedman in the leading role as the private investigator. The series is inspired by Carl Hiaasen’s 1987 novel Double Whammy, the popular, comedic ABC crime drama follows disgraced newspaper photographer and ex-con R.J. Decker as he reinvents himself as a P.I. in South Florida.

Noah and Sienna

Photo: JPI

HOW DID NOAH NEWMAN LEAVE GENOA CITY?

Lucas Adams departed The Young and the Restless on-screen back on the August 3, 2026 episode when Noah and Sienna Bacall (Tamara Braun) decided to leave Genoa City and head back to Los Angeles to get away from Matt Clark (Roger Howarth).

Adams had portrayed Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Sharon’s (Sharon Case) son for a little under a year having debuted on November 4, 2025. Previously, Adams played Tripp Dalton on Days of Our Lives from 2017-2024 with multiple runs on the soap opera.

R.J. Decker airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC and be released on Hulu the following day with some major rebroadcasts of new episodes including tonight’s which can also be seen next Sunday on September 20 at 8pm ET.

So, will you be checking out Lucas Adams in the season two premiere of R.J. Decker? Let us know via the comment section below.

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General Hospital

‘General Hospital’ Alum Kelly Monaco Reveals She’s Six Months Sober

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Kelly Monaco

Longtime General Hospital favorite, Kelly Monaco (ex-Sam McCall), took to her Instagram on Tuesday, September 15 and shared that she is six months, seven days sober from alcohol. Monaco played Sam for 21 years on the ABC soap opera.

Accompanied by a screenshot from the I Am Sober app that tracks the progress of anyone struggling with or trying to not drink, Monaco wrote, “Now the whole 6/7 thing makes sense! #duces.”

Monaco has kept a very low profile since her final episode on General Hospital aired back on October 30, 2024, when Sam had a shocking heart attack and died. It was later revealed that Daytime Emmy nominee, Jeff Kober (ex-Cyrus Renault) injected Sam’s IV with a fatal dose of digitalis.

Photo: JPI

KELLY MONACO HAS KEPT MORE TO HERSELF SINCE LEAVING GH

This year, Kelly has posted on her Instagram account a total of four times, most recently to celebrate her mother, Carmina’s birthday, who turned 70 just four days ago.

Jumping into the comment thread on Kelly announcing her sobriety were several of her former GH co-stars including Brandon Barash (ex-Johnny, GH) who shared, “Love this. Congrats! 👏👏👏,” Ingo Rademacher (ex-Jax, GH) who just posted the hands up and heart emojis, and Lexi Ainsworth (ex-Kristina, GH) who wrote, “So proud of you 👏 badass.”

Kelly Monaco, Dancing with the Stars

Photo: ABC

DANCING WITH THE STARS BEGINS NEW SEASON; KELLY WAS THE SEASON ONE CHAMP

With this season’s Dancing with the Stars about to kick-off tonight, in which Kelly was the first-ever celebrity winner in season one and returned for an All-Star version, might we hear from her on her picks or thoughts on this year’s batch of contestants?

One thing has remained a constant with Kelly’s unwavering fan base, they want her back on General Hospital, because as we know in the soaps, many characters somehow come back from the dead, so why couldn’t Sam?

Share your thoughts for Kelly and her six months of sobriety via the comment section below and if you would still like to see her back on General Hospital or even another soap opera within the next few years. 

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A post shared by Kelly Monaco (@kelly_m23)

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Breaking News

Soap Alums Remembered During In Memoriam Segment at 78th Emmy Awards; Patrick Muldoon Omitted

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In Memoriam Emmys 2026

During last night’s 78th annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony, as it does every year, the television academy paid tribute to those in the industry that they’ve lost over the last year; since the previous Emmys held each year in September.

Starting with an emotional tribute to the late Catherine O’Hara by three of her co-stars, Schitt’s Creek’s Annie Murphy and Dan Levy and Home Alone’s Macaulay Culkin, the segment then dovetailed into Noah Kahan performing “Bridge over Troubled Water” as the faces and the names of those being remembered were shown on the screen.

Daytime soap alums, who either stayed in the genre for the majority of their career, or went on to primetime success as well, were honored including: Anthony Geary (Luke, GH), Hayden Panettiere (Sarah, OLTL, Lizzie, GL, Juliette, Nashville), James Van Der Beek, (Dawson, Dawson’s Creek, and Stephen, ATWT), Gil Gerard (Alan, The Doctors), June Lockhart (Mariah, GH), Patricia Crowley (Mary, Port Charles and GH), Randolph Mantooth (Clay/Alex, Loving and The City, and Richard, GH) and Jon Cypher (Alex, ATWT and Arthur, Santa Barbara).

Photo: TVAcademy

THOSE HONORED AND THOSE WHO WERE NOT

However, in a glaring omission, the producers of the In Memoriam failed to include Days of our Lives beloved star, Patrick Muldoon who played the OG Austin Reed and also Richard Hart on Melrose Place. Muldoon passed away in April of this year at 57.

After Kahan concluded his performance, a special tribute to Rob Reiner began with Jamie Lee Curtis taking to the stage to share some warm words about her late friend.

In a ironic and sad twist, Curtis shared ,“Last week, Robbie won an Emmy for guest actor in a comedy series for his beautiful work on The Bear, and he now holds the record of 48 years for the longest gap between acting Emmys, which was previously held by his father Carl Reiner, at 37 years.”

Reiner, who along with his wife, Michele Reiner were killed by their son, Nick Reiner, is currently awaiting a decision if he will stand trial. Prosecutors on Tuesday, shared they will not seek the death penalty if he is convicted at trial, but instead life in prison. Curtis said of Rob, “He was generous and kind and funny as hell, and a friend to all. We all miss Rob and Michele and all those we lost this year.” The Emmys then faded to black and went to commercial break.

So, were you happy to see those who you know from their work in soap operas included in the 2026 In Memoriam tribute at the Primetime Emmys? Share your thoughts in the comment section. But first, in case you missed it, you can watch it below.

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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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