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THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: Neil’s Loved Ones Mourn

Photo: CBS

What viewers saw on Thursday’s and Friday’s episodes of The Young and the Restless was in essence beloved castmates and friends going through cathartic moments themselves as the lines blurred between reality and fiction, and how could it not.   Y&R lost Kristoff St. John back in February and promised the audience that it would honor the character of Neil, and his portrayer in fitting tributes for all he has meant to the daytime drama series.

Neil’s memorial service aired on Thursday.  In it, St John’s longtime friend, Stan Shaw, presided over the service as the reverend.  One by one the key characters in Neil Winters life gave their eulogies and paid tribute to this man.

As Lily (Christel Khalil) tries to get up to speak, she breaks down as she cannot bring herself to address those in attendance.  So, Malcolm (Shemar Moore) steps up and reflects on how different his brother was then him, and brings up their rocky relationship.  Malcolm wishes he could tell his brother how much he helped him become the man he is today. As he cries, he tells Neil he misses him, loves him, and prays to God that he knew.

Photo CBS

Then, it was Victor Newman’s (Eric Braeden) turn.  He struggles to contain his emotions and hold back the tears, but it’s no use.  Victor loved Neil and respected him.  He saw him as a son, and said that Neil was one of the few men he trusted.  Victor said that Neil was a good man, a good friend, and member of the family.  With tears streaming down his face, Victor says. “I shall miss you my friend.”   Next, it’s Jack’s (Peter Bergman) turn to speak and he talks about the lives Neil saved which included his own.

When Devon (Bryton James) takes to the podium he poignantly says that Neil was his father, the one he never had, and was also his best friend.  Devon reminisced how when he came to Genoa City he had a chip on his shoulder, but Neil never gave up on him and it meant everything in the world to him.  In heartbreak, Devon says he doesn’t carry Neil’s DNA, but he can hear Neil’s voice calling him “My man.”  When he finishes, he turns to Neil’s picture and casket and signs “I love you” to him.

When Lily still cannot get up to speak, she asks Cane (Daniel Goddard) to please go up to the podium.  Cane speaks to his regret for the times he let Neil and Lily down more than once, Neil was a role model for Cane on how to be a father, he confesses. Cane brings up Neil’s strength when he lost the love of his life, Drucilla.  He says Neil passed that spirit and strength to Lily.  Cane encourages Lily to speak.  Lily finds the strength through her tears, as she cries, she says how she has now lost both her parents and she feels so alone.  Lily cries that Neil should have had more time on this earth.   She looks to all Neil’s friends and family and says they all have to be there for each other now to honor him, and that they owe him that.  She turns to his casket in tears and tells her father she loves him.  As the service ends, Devon thanks everyone for coming.  At the end of the episode, Lily and Devon hold hands and look at the portrait of their father.

On Friday, Neil’s family and friends gathered at Devon’s penthouse and try to lighten the mood through their tears to celebrate Neil’s life.  Ana sang, everyone joined in, jazz records (Neil’s favorites) were played, Malcolm toasts his brother, and Sofia mourns the father of her child.  Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) tried to figure out how she will go on without her good friend, who shared her addiction and understood her.  Jack embraces Malcolm and says “We both lost our best friend.”  As friends exit the penthouse, it eventually ends up just being the family. Malcolm sets up a photo with everyone as a family memento with Neil’s photo in a frame with them.  Sofia (Julia Pace Mitchell) and Malcolm announce they need to head to the airport to get on their flights, but before he leaves Malcolm hugs Devon, then Lily.  Later, back at her home with Cane, Lily tells Cane that she is ending their relationship, while Devon is sitting and crying at the penthouse when Elena (Brytni Sarpy) arrives.  He breaks down.  The episode featured retrospective clips of characters illustrating the traits of Neil featuring St. John.

Y&R brought all of its viewers to tears with his send-off for Neil Winters; which in turn honors Kristoff.  The eulogies delivered with such emotion, sadness and heart by Eric Braeden, Bryton James, Christel Khalil, Daniel Goddard, Peter Bergman, and Shemar Moore were heartbreaking.  As we watched Genoa City mourn, we mourned.   Neil was such a part of our viewing life, as much as Kristoff was part of so many of our personal and professional lives.

So, what did you think of the funeral episode and its aftermath on The Young and the Restless?  Were you moved to tears and then some? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.

 

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Okay, I have really enjoyed these tear-jerking episodes, but one critical observation…

There was no scenery left after Shemar Moore’s performance: he chewed it ALL up!

Jamesj75
He was great. I swear, this man gets better and better. Do you watch him on S.W.A.T? It’s a really good show. When not in “cop” mode, it shows his loving and compassionate side that Malcolm was known for.

Hi Violet: I haven’t seen him in S.W.A.T., but I do know what a great actor he is. One thing I will never forget about him: He is the one who presented/announced the Emmy Award to Susan Lucci for her lone win, and he was so classy and so enthusiastic for Lucci.

Having watched Thursday’s funeral episode, where I’m sure I’m not the only one that cried my eyes out and then watching Friday’s episode where I couldn’t help but remember all the times and stories of all things Neil, I was grateful that Y&R did this.
These shows were much more difficult to watch and get through, more so than when Jeanne Cooper died.

Here’s what I’m really hoping: that Y&R will submit these episodes for Outstanding Drama Series Emmy next year. While these episodes are not typically what a show would submit when going for a Daytime Drama Emmy award, these episodes were so well done from the writing, to the camera work, the directing, the producing and lastly, the acting, which was something that the cast didn’t have to work hard at when these shows were taped. They were so eloquently done and sublime, something you rarely see on TV anymore.

Kristoff got his start in this business when he was a young boy from being on ‘Roots: The Next Generation’ to ‘Bad News Bears’, a show that I vividly remember watching back in the 1970’s (as a side note, I remember a conversation that I had with Kristoff years ago when I had a twitter account and I told him that I remember him from that show), to his many other roles on TV and in movies to his breakout role on NBC’s ‘Generations’ to the role on Y&R as Neil Winters that really catapulted him to fame. A role that won him two Emmy’s and numerous NAACP Image Awards. But those accolades almost didn’t come to fruition after he and Victoria Rowell (Drucilla) made a huge statement and stink about there needing to be more diversity on daytime television. His and Victoria’s stance could have easily destroyed their careers but it didn’t. It actually helped the industry to become more diverse on camera as well as behind the camera.

I remember when Shemar Moore came on to Y&R as Malcolm as an absolute unknown having only been in the modeling industry before starting his acting career. I truly believe that Kristoff made him understand that being humble along with understanding that respect is earned, not given. With that sage advise, it propelled Shemar into a movie and primetime career having starred on CBS’s ‘Criminal Minds’ and currently on ‘SWAT’. Shemar has no ego and I believe that Kristoff had a role in shaping who Shemar is as a human being and as an actor today. Shemar made that clear in the two episodes he appeared in this past week.

Kristoff is well respected in this industry and you certainly saw that with the many tributes that came in after he passed away. But most importantly, Kristoff was a husband, brother, uncle, friend but more importantly, he was a father to Lola and Paris as well as his late son Julian. Kristoff was never able to get over the loss of Julian when the demons of mental illness took a hold of Julian.

I am certain that Kristoff is running through the lily fields laughing, joking and smiling with his son Julian.

As Kristoff as Neil would say, ‘My man’, be at peace and run with Julian. You will be remembered fondly and you will be sorely missed. Rest well, my friend, rest well.

Thank you Michael. Your review is so kind and well received!

Very well said Michael…LOVED all the shows featuring Kristoff…

General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Nina Confronts Ava for Sabotaging Her Relationship With Sonny and Signs the Divorce Papers

Looks like Nina (Cynthia Watros) and Ava (Maura West) are back to be each other’s sworn enemy number one. By the end of the Monday, April 22nd episode of General Hospital, the women know where they stand with each other after Nina goes in on Ava accusing her of wanting Sonny (Maurice Benard) all to herself, while her marriage has been on the rocks.

In story, at Nina’s office, Ava shows up to see Nina and says she is sorry about what happened with Sonny and that he reacted the way he did, acknowledging that is was over the top, even for Sonny. Ava says she’ll smooth things over, but Nina says she now understands how manipulative and transparent Ava really is.

Given their horrible history, Nina goes in on Ava and how she should never have trusted her. Nina wants to know how long has Ava had this agenda dating all the way back to telling Nina to turn Carly (Laura Wright) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) into the SEC. Ava says she never told her do to that, but Nina wants to know how long Ava has been playing her for a fool.

Courtesy/ABC

Ava says she moved in with Sonny to keep Avery safe and she wants to be on good terms with Avery’s father, Sonny. Nina thinks she likes being in Sonny’s inner circle. Ava tells Nina if she goes to him about her advising Nina to call the SEC on Carly and Drew, it won’t work.  Sonny still considers Nina a traitor and he will think she’s lying because she’s so desperate to win him back. Ava says if Nina would stop blaming everyone else that maybe Sonny would respect her.  Nina says “like he does you?” Ava says Sonny not only respects her, but he also counts on her.

From there, Ava launches into why she and Sonny understand each other, after all, Sonny is a powerful, turbulent, and sometimes violent man. She goes so far to say if Nina wanted someone to just sit by the fire with and play with their grandchildren, she’s got the wrong guy.  Ava then talks about Mike from Nixon Falls (Sonny with amnesia) and how Sonny hid the darkest parts of himself from Nina back then, whereas with Ava they are the same similar creatures, so he doesn’t have to hide anything.

Courtesy/ABC

Nina wants to know just what Ava wants with Sonny? What is her end game? Ava responds that they understand each other, in ways she can’t with Sonny. Nina tells Ava she can go ahead and have it all and signs Sonny’s divorce papers. Ava walks out with the documents, while Nina in tears at her desk, takes off her wedding rings and has her assistant come in so she can messenger the rings back to Sonny’s address.

The episode and these scenes featured great performances by Cynthia Watros and Maura West. You can check some of the scenes below.

Now, let us know, what is Ava’s next move? Is she going to become Mrs. Sonny Corinthos? Do you like Ava and Nina as enemies? Comment below.

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AEW

AEW Dynasty: Swerve Strickland Becomes AEW World Heavyweight Champion, Jack Perry Returns, Will Ospreay Retires Move After Scary Finish

There is no doubt now, who’s house it is in AEW? It’s “Swerve’s House” after his strong showing on Sunday nights AEW Dynasty pay-per-view. In the main event, Swerve Strickland captured the AEW World Heavyweight Championship defeating Samoa Joe in a career-defining moment.

Strickland becomes the first ever Black AEW World Heavyweight Champion in the organizations history.  And it was not loss on Strickland, who spoke about it in the post-Dynasty media scrum, but also knew the moment was upon him from the moment he was going to make his ring entrance in front of a sold-out crowd in St. Louis and those watching around the world on cable outlets or via Bleacher Report.

Swerve Strickland ring entrance showed that he was dressed to impress, in a mask and black and gold spandex attire. As fans caught on , Swerve was paying tribute to the character of Kilmonger, the antagonist of 2018’s Black Panther film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But that was not all, Prince Nana, Strickland’s manager/sidekick covered Strickland with a robe that belonged to Jimmy Rave. Rave was part of Ring of Honor during the company’s early days and was part of Nana’s stable The Embassy. He has three shots at the ROH title but never won the big prize.

Photo: AEW

AEW Dynasty had three major matches back-to-back to conclude the three hours show.  Strickland in the main event defeating Samoa Joe, and before that The Young Bucks (Matthew and Nicholas Jackson) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) for the AEW World Tag Team Championships in a brutal ladder match.

Courtesy/AEW

In the deciding moment of the match after Harwood goes to climb up the ladder to reach  for the titles, a masked man runs in and knocks over the ladder. It’s revealed to be none other than the previously suspended, Jack Perry (son of the late 90210 star, Luke Perry). Perry throws up the Elite symbol as security escorts him away. Nicholas Jackson looks pleased by the interference and uses it to take advantage and climb the ladder to get control of the title belts and The Young Bucks become the new AEW tag champs, once again.

The most highly-anticipated match of the night was between two of the greatest wrestlers to ever do it – Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay and after more than a half-hour of back and forth with high flying moves, technical precision and punches and kicks, Ospreay was able to get the pin, but unfortunately in the last few minutes of the match, Danielson went down after Ospreay delivered the Storm Driver ’91 move. Next, the referee called for medical to check out Danielson, while Will was unaware of that and continued to finish the match.

Photo: AEW

At the post-Dynasty media scrum, an upset Ospreay began by addressing reporters and sharing, “I’m super glad that everybody enjoyed the match. A little bit of a dampener on how it’s all kind of the dust has settled now. I’ve reviewed the footage myself. Seeing Bryan got hurt on the Storm Driver, and I didn’t see the referee call for the doctor and I didn’t see it. So I want to apologize on that.So even though like 90% of the time that moves been absolutely fine, seeing the damage that it’s kind of done, I’m going to retire using the Storm Driver ’91. I don’t think it’s right for me to continue using it after seeing what it did to Bryan, someone that I’ve got huge amounts of respect for, this was kind of my dream match. This is something I’ve wanted since I was a kid. Although I’m happy when everyone enjoyed the match, I’m kind of disappointed in myself. So once again, I apologize to Bryan probably apologize to AEW medics, I apologize to Tony (Khan, CEO/GM AEW).

In one of the best matches in the card, and in the opening bout, for the AEW Continental Championship Match, “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada defeated “The Bastard” PAC to retain his title. Meanwhile, Willow Nightingale became the Women’s TBS Champion defeating Julia Hart, only to have Mercedes Mone come to the ring to challenge Willow at Double or Nothing in Vegas at the end of May.

So, what do you think of Swerve Strickland becoming AEW World Champ? Jack Perry’s return? Will Ospreay’s match-up with Bryan Danielson and its ending? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Recaps

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Lauren Gives Deacon an Earful About Sugar

On Friday’s April 19th episode of The Bold and the Beautiful, Lauren (Tracey E. Bregman) and Deacon (Sean Kanan) make a stunning realization, and viewers of the CBS soap opera can also give themselves a round of applause for figuring out the mystery surrounding (Kimberlin Brown) Sheila’s ‘death’, or at least a part of it.

At Il Giardino, Lauren and Deacon are getting into a heated exchange over Sheila. Going over the events that transpired with Lauren, Deacon tells her what he saw in the crematorium when the sheet lifted up revealing that the deceased person had ten toes, not nine as Sheila had.

Then, Deacon asks a freaked out Lauren, what she knows about Sugar? He reveals, “Sheila was texting with her before she went to Steffy’s.” Deacon begs Lauren to tell him. Lauren says the Sugar she knows couldn’t possibly be texting Sheila or anyone else for that matter because she’s in jail.

Photo: JPI

A reluctant Lauren finally tells Deacon what she knows about the sordid backstory of Sheila and Sugar. Lauren begins, “Sheila met her in prison. She was her warden.” She then goes into how they resurfaced in Genoa City and how Sheila was locked up in a mental ward. Confused and trying to follow along, Deacon looks shocked.  That’s when Lauren says he will be blown away by the rest of the story.

As they sit, Lauren explains that all that time she thought it was Sheila who was locked up, she learned that it wasn’t her in the mental institution. That is when we are treated to a flashback. It was there that Sheila admits to Lauren that when she and Sugar escaped the prison, they fled to South America, where Sugar sacrificed her face. Sugar thought she was going in for a facelift, but Sheila was able to buy off corrupt doctors to have Sugar’s face altered to look exactly like Sheila.

Courtesy/CBS

Deacon gulps, “What are you telling me, Lauren?” Lauren says, “That there’s someone out there who looks exactly like Sheila. Someone with ten toes.” Vindicated, Deacon shouts, “I was right. It wasn’t Sheila who got cremated. She’s alive! My, God! Sheila’s alive!”

So, the search will be for Sheila starting with next week’s episodes of B&B. Do you think somehow Sheila will wind up in the orbit of Lauren if she has been in hiding since Steffy ‘killed” her in self-defense?  Is Sheila kidnapped somewhere? Share your thoughts via the comment section, but first, look at the set-up of Deacon learning about Sheila and Sugar’s past from Lauren.

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