Tomorrow on Wednesday, November 11 will mark the airing og the highly-anticipated first material and script from the new co-head writing team at The Young and the Restless, Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor.

The scribes will mark a turning point on Y&R after Josh Griffith was head writing the show since 2019. Now, they shared a look into their storyline plans with TV Insider ahead of the big day!

Let’s walk you through some of their thoughts on the key characters and their future in Genoa City.

Photo: JPI

First, the steamy romance of Victoria and Kyle 

Jamey Giddens explained, “This show has such a great history of these larger-than-life dynasties that are intertwined, and we also inherited this amazingly juicy, salacious story with Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Kyle’s (Michael Mealor) affair. One of the things we wanted to look at is, ‘Well, how do we deepen those stakes?’ They are in the throes of this fun, frolicky, romp, but this could really be bad for these two if his uncle (Billy), who was her ex-husband, finds out about this.”

He continued, “We really wanted to harken back a little bit to the fact that Victoria experienced these things with Nikki and Cole (J. Eddie Peck). They battled over a man, and it’s like history repeating itself. And even though Claire (Hayley Erin) and Kyle are not currently romantically involved, no young woman’s going to want to find out that her mother is with her first love.” O’Connor added, “And Claire will be justified in having an opinion about that.”

Speaking of Claire, look for her and Audra (Zuleyka Silver) to go at it in the old-school style of Katherine and Jill!

Giddens shared, “They are kind of giving us our young adult Kay versus Jill rivalry. Seeing what Josh Griffith had set up, we were like, ‘Ooh, we like this.’ So, we really ratchet up the tension of these two women goading each other until one of them goads the other one a little too far, and it becomes a full-blown war that will cross from the boardrooms to their bedrooms. We see them as a really good next-generation Young and the Restless rivalry.”

Photo: JPI

Next, Sharon, Nick, Matt, Phyllis 

“Matt Clark (Roger Howarth) has traumatized this trio in very different ways,” shared Giddens. “By the time we started writing it, the audience doesn’t know what Nick (Joshua Morrow) did to neutralize that threat. And the mystery of that is really going to unite Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) and Sharon (Sharon Case) in a way that they’ve never been united before. There’s going to be a reckoning of sorts in terms of how Phyllis realizes just what Matt put Sharon through all of those years ago, and it’s going to reset the tone of the story a little bit.”

Dan O’Connor added that it appears Phyllis and Sharon might be Thelma and Louise-ing it? “Phyllis and Sharon are on a quest together, and the ultimate destination of that quest leads to a lot of surprises and maybe a few familiar faces popping by.”

Photo: JPI

Then, Billy, Sally Spectra, Adam, Chelsea 

O’Connor stated, “Ever since Adam helped deliver Sally’s baby, it has reignited the connection that the two of them have. But at the same time, Adam and Chelsea are in the throes of another corporate battle at Newman Media that’s going to have a surprising player mixed into it. And Sally is in the midst of figuring out how to deal with Billy’s hunger for Chancellor Industries. He promised that he would table all of this until after the baby was born, but now, the baby is born. And where does that leave their relationship and their marriage now that Billy is back on the hunt?”

Photo: JPI

Newbie, Dr. Andrew Bishop

“He’s a bit Dr. House-esque in terms of his bedside manner and any fantasy Nate (Sean Dominic) had of returning to medicine, and it’s going to be easy, think again, shared Giddens. Apparently, “Dr. Bishop (Fareed Ward) is here to thwart those dreams.

Photo: JPI

Changes ahead for Abby, Roxanne and Devon

We already know something is wrong health-wise with Abby Newman, but what? Meanwhile, Devon’s first love, Roxanne come back to Genoa City! Giddens teased, “We’re excited about this new actor, Tetona Jackson. She’s amazing. Dan came up with the idea to bring Roxanne back, and I fell in love with it immediately. Devon dumped her because he thought she was a gold digger because he had just inherited Katherine’s money. So, what if that inspired her to go become a self-made woman?”

Roxanne’s arrival complicates the relationship with Devon, but also will open up more drama between Jack and Victor. “Another little wrinkle to this is we really wanted to weave Abby back into the fabric in that she’s a Newman and an Abbott. And that was something that Mr. Bergman and Mr. Braeden, when they spoke to us, they were like, ‘We really would love to play more with Abby. She’s connected to both families.”

Photo: JPI

Abbott Sisters

Could we be getting some Eileen Davidson in story? Dan O’Connor shared, “Ashley’s history of working in the Jabot lab is going to play a pivotal role in a storyline coming up very soon.” Meanwhile, Daytime Emmy winner, Beth Maitland (Traci) will have a story that, “returns Traci to her writer roots,

Big Event Planned for New Year’s Eve

Dan O’Connor offered up “As we go into 2027, there’s going to be a big event on New Year’s Eve that’ll bring the entire town together and it will kick off a bunch of different stories for everybody on the canvas. And we’re so excited for you to see what Sally McDonald (EP, Y&R) and our amazing directors and team put together.”

So after reviewing Jamey and Dan’s plans for some of the character on the Y&R canvas, what are your thoughts? Are you encouraged by what’s to come? What piques your interest the most? Let us know in the comment section.

On Tuesday, November 10, Matt Cohen (Detective Burrow, The Young and the Restless, and formerly Dr. Griffin Munro, General Hospital) stars in a new holiday rom-com alongside soap alum Brittany Underwood (ex-Langston Wilde, One Life to Live) in Christmas at the Zoo.

The holiday movie streams beginning today on Tubi. In story, an entrepreneur brokering a sponsorship for a zoo’s new Humboldt penguin habitat finds herself caught between business and romance after falling for a compassionate zookeeper during the holidays.

Cohen visited ABC 7 Chicago’s Windy City Weekend and chatted with hosts, Josh McBride and Val Wilmer about his role in the story which was filmed in Chicago at the famed Brookfield Zoo.

Courtesy/Tubi

FALLING FOR THE PENGUINS

“There are not a lot of rom-coms that have been told like this, almost entirely about the Brookfield Zoo,” explained Cohen. “And if you know anything about Chicago, the Brookfield Zoo holds it down. This is a zoo that truly cares about the animals. The caretakers are amazing. And this movie’s going to make you cry. It’s going to make you laugh.”

Matt expressed he was touched by the animals during the filming, especially the penguins! “I’m in the mix of a lot of penguins and I knew them all by name,” the actor shared proudly. “I’ve got a real way with the penguins that would surprise you. I became like a real zookeeper during this thing. It was wild. I got passionate about it.”

Photo: Tubi

DOES THIS ZOOKEEPER FIND LOVE?

Explaining the epicenter of the story, Cohen shared, “The premise is very simple, It’s a man that works at the zoo. He care very much about these animals. The female lead comes in, wants to change things for the animals to make more money, make more profit. That hurts my heart. I can’t let that happen. I got to protect them during that process. Maybe we fall in love or maybe we don’t. I don’t want to spoil this Christmas movie. But, it feels good because the animals are the center of this thing. ”

At the end of the day, the rom-com is all about love for the animals, and if his character finds love! “It’s the center of this love story. It’s about helping them, not ourselves,” explained Cohen. “So, if were you an animal lover before this movie? I am a dog lover, a cat lover. I never knew I was a penguin man. I am a penguin man. I love giraffes. I love people. Go to the zoo. It feels good.”

You can catch Matt’s conversation on Windy City Weekend below and the trailer for Christmas at the Zoo.

Now let us know, will you be checking the movie out and would you like to see Matt have a more prominent role in Genoa City under the new head writing regime at Y&R, or if not, join another soap? Weigh-in via the comment section.

 

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The Young and the Restless has remained the top-rated daytime drama for 37 consecutive years and soon to be 38 as of the end of December. So, it’s no small order to be named the head writers of the soap with the pedigree of its legendary co-creator and head writer, William J. Bell. 

Now with Josh Griffith’s final stories playing out, new head writers Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor’s scripts and material begin to air this Wednesday, November 11. As with any head writing regime, it takes time to get out of the previous regimes stories and on to yours, but the two gentlemen with a vast love of soap operas are patient and excited about their plans for Genoa City in the very near future.

Giddens, who was an double Emmy-nominee this year for his work on the writing teams of Beyond the Gates and Days of our Lives, and O’Connor who spent a number of years on the One Life to Live writing team, which eventually led him to a co-head writer position at General Hospital and later a stint at Days of our Lives, sat down for their first major interview with TV Insider to share some of their goals their vision for Genoa City.

Photo: JPI

GET CHARACTERS OUT AND ABOUT

First order of business is they want the town to have a more community feel and characters to mix and mingle with others more.

Giddens explained, “Sometimes when new regimes come in, it’s such a jarring change. We wanted to lean into some of the stories that we really gravitated to and write the next chapters. We wanted to bring a community feel to the show and cross some characters that might not have been playing together, and make it feel like a town, get these characters out and about.” That sentiment was echoed by O’Connor who added,  “Make Genoa City feel like a real place.”

THE YOUNG, RESTLESS, AND THE  MODERN

Key to Jamey and Dan’s storytelling will be to give the show a modern feel, while still harkening back to the classic storytelling of Bill Bell. Giddens shared, “We want to really pay homage to what Mr. Bell did with a contemporary feel for this modern era that we live in and to keep these stories fresh and sexy and young and restless for many generations to come.”

But will Jamey and Dan’s Y&R be high camp? Tension-filled? Romantic with lots of danger and intrigue? Plenty of Big returns and new characters? Stay tuned.

The head scribes did explain, “We want people to be able to just escape for one hour a day into this fantastical world that you also can relate to. We want to bring it back to heightened escapism and a mixture of grounded reality. “

So, Y&R and soap fans, excited to hear Jamey and Dan’s story perspective as the number one soap moves forward in the coming months? What story would you love to see being told with any of the characters currently on the canvas that ids? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.