Viewers of The Young and the Restless were left in disbelief with the arrival of Aunt Jordan, who schemed to have recovering alcoholic, Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) kidnapped with an IV drip of booze flowing through her veins (and that’s just for starters).

When As the World Turns favorite Colleen Zenk was cast on Y&R, to portray the revenge-filled Aunt Jordan, the top-rated soap got a bit of a spring back into its step.  Zenk spoke this week with CBS San Francisco affiliate KPIX on her return to daytime and how she is getting along with the cast and crew at the CBS daytime drama.

In speaking with KPIX anchor, Gianna Franco, Colleen expressed: “Tthe fact that they welcomed me with such open arms and love, it really freed me up, because of how they received me and made me feel incredibly welcome, and not just the cast. I mean, the entire production, the crew, the staff, the directors, the writers … everybody from the top down.”

Photo: JPI

Hard to believe, but as Colleen shared, throughout her years in daytime she had never spoken with Y&R’s iconic star, Melody Thomas Scott, who she now has a budding on-screen rivalry with. Things have certainly changed.

Colleen added, “My relationship with Melody Thomas Scott has just been incredible since I got here.  She and I had never had a conversation before until the day I walked on the set. It’s just been fabulous. I can’t tell you how much I’m enjoying that.”

Photo: CBS

And walk in she did! Zenk shared that her casting had been kept top-secret at the show. No one really knew she was on the call sheet or the cast list at the time. To keep it mum, Colleen revealed, “My name was not anywhere. They did not have “Colleen Zenk” in print. So, when I finally did show up on November 17th (on-air) it was shock.”

Check out the segment where Colleen speaks on her Y&R adventure thus far below.

Are you looking forward to seeing … Nikki get her revenge on Aunt Jordan for all she put her through? More scenes between Colleen and Melody?  Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Guiding Light alum Matt Bomer (ex-Ben Reade) is currently receiving rave reviews for his performance in Showtime’s Fellow Travelers and the motion picture Maestro.

However, on the December 6th episode of The Tonight Show, Bomer revealed more intel on why he decided to pass on an opportunity to appear in the summer blockbuster Barbie. Matt was in heavy consideration to play a Ken in Greta Gerwig’s smash hit starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie.

The in-demand star told Jimmy Fallon,”I had some projects in development, and I wasn’t sure if they were gonna happen or when they were gonna happen. So, I auditioned. I mean, I dressed up like Malibu Ken. I dressed up like Business Suit Ken. I had like four different looks going on. I have pictures of this.” Bomer shared that, “he really got into it.”

Photo: Warner Bros/Mattel

In the end, the timing just wasn’t right for Bomer who shares three sons with his husband, Simon Halls.  Matt expressed, “I was talking with Greta, I was looking forward to doing it and then the things in development came to fruition, and I would have been away from my family for a year, which was just too much time away.”

As for how the cast shook out for Barbie, Bomer gave a thumbs up, “I think they made a perfect movie, and it was cast perfectly.”

Photo: AP

Bomer does not regret his decision because in the end he “got to do Fellow Travelers and Maestro and spend time with my family.” In Fellow Travelers, Matt stars in what he deemed on The Tonight Show as ‘the gay The Way We Were.”  Bomer plays opposite Jonathan Bailey in the series.  In Maestro, Bomer plays clarinettist David Oppenheim, who was one of Leonard Bernstein’s lovers.

Photo: CBS

On Guiding Light, daytime soap fans remember that Bomer played Ben Reade for two years from 2001-2003. The character was revealed to be a male prostitute and a serial killer before his death. Matt had told the producers before he exited, “Just throw the kitchen sink at me, and they did.”

Watch Matt’s segment on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon below.  Now let us know, do you wish he would have played a Ken in the Barbie movie? Have you caught his performances in ‘Fellow Travelers’ and soon Maestro?  What do you recall about his work as GL’s troubled Ben Reade? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Ellen Holly, who portrayed Carla Gray on ABC’s One Life to Live, had died at the age of 92.  Her death was confirmed by her cousin Grant Shipp via his Facebook page. The groundbreaking actress passed away on December 5th.

Holly appeared on One Life from October 1968 through December 1980, and from May 1983 through December 1985.  In his post, Shipp related of Holly, “She was a pioneer in daytime television. Starring on One Life to live for 20 years. Playing Lawrence Fishburns mother on the show. She appeared in several movies, and performed on stage with the greatest black actors of her generation. Sidney Poitier, Harry Beafonte, Cicely Tyson, Robert Hooks, James Earl Jones to name a few. You had One Life to Live and it was amazing Life. You were simply one of the best. Now you know the secret. God rest your soul.”

Following several theatre roles, Holly came to One Life to Live and took on the role of Carla Benari. Secretly, she was born Clara Gray, and eventually went by the name of Carla Gray. Agnes Nixon, iconic creator of the soap opera, wanted to tell an important social issue of the times, when in story, Carla was passing herself as white, in order to get a job. This was also an issue Holly faced in real-life and shared publicly in an essay she wrote for the New York Times, “How Black Do You Have To Be?”

Photo: ABC

In story for the first five months, the audience thought Carla was white. However, in a landmark moment, Carla came face-to-face with her mother, Sadie (Lillian Hayman) who was a housekeeper. Her mother felt she betrayed her race. Carla was embroiled in an interracial relationship with a white doctor, Jim Craig (Nat Polen), who was her boss at the hospital. Caral also was involved with another resident Prince who was Black. After breaking it off with Jim, Carla came clean about her race.

Eventually, Holly would star opposite Daytime Emmy-winner, Al Freeman Jr., and the love story of Carla and Ed Hall, became a fan favorite in the soaps earlier years.  The couple adopted a teenaged son, Joshua played by now motion picture star, Laurence Fishburne. When Ed and Carla’s relationship fell apart, she eventually remarried Dr. Jack Scott played by Arthur Burghardt.

Photo: ABC

Holly said in a 1979 interview with Ebony magazine, “There are enormous stretches in this country where they don’t know anything about Black people…Our viewers tend to regard us as neighbors. People at the supermarket, total strangers, will throw their arms around you and treat you as a neighbor…My mother on the show has been a domestic and is now head of the housekeeping staff at the hospital; my ex-husband on the show is a policeman, and Arthur [Burghardt] plays a brilliant heart surgeon…I think we’ve opened up our viewers’ heads a little bit more to the variety that exists in the Black race. And the more that happens, the slower somebody will be — when they’re confronted with any given Black person — to jump to conclusions about who and what that person is.”

After Holly departed the show in 1980, she later returned to Llanview in 1983, at that time, Carla was now an assistant district attorney. She also was reunited with Ed Hall. Ellen last played the role in 1985.

Share your remembrances for One Life to Live’s Ellen Holly via the comment section and make sure to check out Holly speaking on the importance of her early storyline with the Television Academy below.