News
Y&R's Michelle Stafford chats, "I think the "Phickers" will be very excited"!

Photo Credit: JPI Studios
Late last week, On-Air On-Soaps attended the 38th anniversary on set celebration of The Young and the Restless on the series soundstage at CBS. Many of your Genoa City favorites were in attendance. We caught up with Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) to find out her thoughts on her time with the series, a preview of what’s next for Phyllis. and if there is hope for “Phick” fans. Plus, what the talented two-time Daytime Emmy winner submitted for contention for a nomination for this year’s race. Here is our ” quickie’ conversation with Michelle!
Do you like what Phyllis has been up to on-air lately? Will viewers get to see her drive her own story soon?
MICHELLE: I think what she is going to start doing soon will be very fun, and I am very excited about it. I am an honest girl, there are ebbs and flows. You are on a show for thirteen years and you do a big storyline, and then you sort of pull back to prepare for other things. So, being on a soap there are definitely ebbs and flows all the time.
Joshua Morrow (Nick) told On-Air On-Soaps in a recent interview there was hope for “Phick” fans. What would you say to that?
MICHELLE: Oh yes, there is a lot of hope for them. And, I think the “Phickers” will be very excited middle to late April. Phyllis and Nick are a good coupling. You think of them being together, so that is good storytelling on the writer’s part.
Of your thirteen years on Y&R, what has been your favorite storyline?
MICHELLE: The affair with Nick was awesome, which is the only affair Phyllis has had, really. When you look at these two characters on paper you would think no way would they be together, so that was really great. I loved the Tim Reid material, her shrink! That was so much fun to play.
You are pre-nominated in the Lead Actress category for the Daytime Emmys. What episode or reel did you go with to submit for the final round of voting?
MICHELLE: I submitted the episode where Phyllis kicks Nick to the curb! I had two montages in there that slowed it down, but it is what it is.
What is one observation you have, when you look at the entire cast gathered here today for the series 38th anniversary celebration?
MICHELLE: Everyone on this show is very pretty. I have to tell you a funny story. People will set me up on dates, and I will say, “What does he look like?” And, they will say, “Oh he’s gorgeous.” Then, I will see a picture and go, “Oh” and that is because, look at this cast we look at every day! It’s warped my judgment of the male human race. (Laughs)
General Hospital
Kelly Sullivan Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’s’ Maura West Recalling When Ava Shot Connie (Exclusive)

It was just over 13 years ago on General Hospital when Ava Jerome (Maura West) shot and killed Kate Howard/Connie Falconeri (Kelly Sullivan) in an effort to keep her quiet from revealing that Derek Wells was actually Ava’s back-from-the-dead brother, Julian Jerome (William deVry). It’s a crime that somehow Ava never has quite paid for either.
The episode back aired on August 13, 2013 and viewers had to say goodbye to Kelly Sullivan who played Kate and her alter, Connie. In the story, just before she died, Kate/Connie scrawled the letters AJ in her own blood, initially making the PCPD and Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) think that it was AJ Quatermaine (Sean Kanan) who did the deed.
Now, Sullivan recalled sharing scenes with the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning West, during a live conversation on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel. Kelly was the special guest talking about her recent return to the soaps in her new role as The Bold and the Beautiful’s Darcy Dylan.

Photo: JPI
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF MAURA WEST
Speaking of her final GH scenes and working with Maura West, Sullivan gave her then GH co-star major props. “If you’re going to be shot by somebody (on the soaps), you want to be shot by Maura West, c’mon!”
Maura West debuted back in May 2013 as Ava, and Sullivan remembered when the As the World Turns favorite began on GH. “I remember when Maura West first arrived at GH. She walked in with this cute little bob (hairdo) and she’s just delicious,” shared Sullivan.
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Kelly revealed more about Maura, adding “I think she’s amazing! I remember right before I left the show, someone suggested, and I would still love to do this with her, if she ever want to, but someone suggested that they wanted to direct the stage play A Streetcar Named Desire with Maura and I, where I would play Stella and she would play Blanche! Wouldn’t that be great?”
Speaking of the Ava/Connie showdown scenes, Sullivan expressed, “On television and on General Hospital specifically, Maura West is able to play a character who does the most horrendous things and you still care about her and that’s the mark of a really great actor. In other words, you’re able to be liked in the midst of the most horrendous things, and as a performer not shying away from that, and to just have the courage to do what’s on the page (in the script).”

Photo: JPI
KELLY SULLIVAN PARTING THOUGHTS AS SHE LEFT GENERAL HOSPITAL
Kelly also shared her sentiments when she walked off the set of General Hospital after her run back in August of 2013. “I really was honored. Every day I would go to work and I would say a little prayer, which is I want to do justice for my character, explained Kelly. “It’s between me and my character. I get to walk this path with her and to leave the show on that note, which is, I left every out there. I just gave it my all and again what an honor it was to play Kate/Connie.”
You can catch the full conversation with Kelly where she talks about her time on General Hospital, The Young and the Restless where she played Sage Warner and now The Bold and the Beautiful below.
So, do you remember the Ava and Connie scenes where Ava shot and killed her? What did you think of Kelly Sullivan’s sentiments about Maura West? Share your thoughts via the comment section. But first, watch the reveal where Ava recalls murdering Connie below!
General Hospital
Steve Burton Reportedly Signs Three-Year Contract with ‘General Hospital’

The question of will Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) stay awhile at General Hospital after his recent extended hiatus from the show earlier this year, has reportedly been answered.
TMZ via court documents obtained in Burton’s ongoing legal battle with his ex-wife Sheree Gustin, shared that Steve actually inked a new three year deal with the ABC soap opera back in June.
That is significant because it was June when Burton returned back to work as Jason. In addition, the court filing confirmed that Burton had already moved back to California from Tennessee.

Photo: ABC
STEVE’S HIATUS AND HIS RETURN TO PORT CHARLES
GH fans will recall, it was back in February of 2026, that Burton announced via his Instagram that he was stepping away from his role of Jason Morgan for short break and pointed to wanting to spend quality time with his new wife, Michelle Lundstrom Burton with whom he tied the knot back on May 17, 2025.
Steve expressed at that time, “I’m newly married and looking forward to spending some quality time with my family.” It was back on March 25 that viewers saw Jason carted away by the WSB after taking the fall for Rocco Falconeri (Finn Carr) who shot then WSB Director Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes).
Burton returned to work on June 1, and due to General Hospital taping roughly six weeks ahead of air, made his on-screen comeback on the July 13 episode.
GOING FOR GOLD AT THE UPCOMING DAYTIME EMMYS
Then, Steve and his enduring fans got an extra special treat on the same day, when it was revealed on Extra that he was nominated for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series category.
Steve previously won in the Supporting Actor category for his work as General Hospital’s Jason in 1998 and as The Young and the Restless’ Dylan McAvoy in 2018.
Now with Jason and Britt’s (Kelly Thiebaud) relationship seemingly hitting the skids, plus Jason’s commitment to staying out of mob life to focus on being present for his son Danny Morgan (Asher Antonyzyn), what does the future hold for the fan favorite character? Stay tuned.
So, happy to hear that Steve Burton signed a new three year deal with General Hospital? Knowing that, what storyline would you like to see Jason get involved and with who? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section.
News
Jess Walton Memoir ‘The Young and the Rest of Us’ Set for Release in 2027

The Young and the Restless enduring favorite and two-time Daytime Emmy-winning actress, Jess Walton (Jill Foster Abbott) is set to release her memoir!
Kensington Publishing has revealed on their website that Walton’s book The Young and the Rest of Us is now available for pre-order while listing an April 27, 2027 release date. In addition, in June of 2027, Walton will mark her 40th anniversary with The Young and the Restless and her debut as Jill.
The official log lines for the memoir share, “Emmy Award-winning actress Jess Walton, known to millions as the iconic Jill Abbott on the #1 soap opera The Young and the Restless, shares her extraordinary journey to stardom, sobriety, true love, and self-discovery in this startingly candid, intimate, and star-studded memoir.”

Photo; Kensington Books
CAKE FIGHTS AND CORPORATE INTRIGUE
The book description for The Young and the Rest of Us adds, “In June 1987, Jess Walton walked through the artists’ entrance at CBS for her first day on The Young and the Restless,where she had just been hired to play the recast role of Jill Abbott. Two Emmy awards, four decades, and countless onscreen affairs, marriages, corporate takeovers, and cake fights later, she’s a beloved icon with an astonishing tale to tell.”
“In her refreshingly candid style, Jess shares her journey as a young actress from Toronto theaters to Los Angeles, where she found herself at the center of a Laurel Canyon circle that included the likes of Neil Young, David Geffen, Laura Nyro, and Joni Mitchell. Landing a Universal contract and a steady stream of guest starring roles, Jess embraced everything 1970s L.A. had to offer—including Hollywood parties fueled by limitless booze and drugs, and trysts with stars. She recounts with candor and gratitude the surprising path that eventually led her to sobriety, true love—and ultimately, to fictional Genoa City, Wisconsin, and the role of a lifetime.”
“Brimming with behind-the-scenes drama and celebrity cameos to delight fans, The Young and the Rest of Us is also rich in personal, relatable truths about marriage, motherhood, empty-nesting, self-discovery, and finding the courage to start over—as often as it takes. In a voice as fearless and frank as Jill’s, but with, humor and grace all her own, Jess Walton looks back on a life as unpredictable, and adventure filled as anything she has portrayed on screen.”
WHO ELSE PLAYED JILL FOSER ABBOTT?
Fans of The Young and the Restless know that Walton became the fourth actress to take on the role of Katherine Chancellor’s original nemesis Jill Foster back in 1987. The OG Jill was played by Brenda Dickson, also Deborah Adair, Bond Gideon and Melinda O. Fee played the part.
This year, Days of our Lives star Lauren Koslow (Kate Roberts) filled-in for several episodes for Walton who was unavailable to travel from her home in Oregon to Los Angeles where Y&R was taped. Walton is still with the long-running soap opera as Jill.
So, excited to learn of Jess Walton’s upcoming memoir, ‘The Young and the Rest of Us?’ Will it be it a must-read for you? Drop a comment below.
-
General Hospital1 week ago‘General Hospital’ to Rebroadcast Special Episode in Tribute to Anthony Geary
-
General Hospital1 week ago‘General Hospital’s’ Tabyana Ali Song ‘Pray’ Now Available on Major Streaming Platforms with Music Video Forthcoming
-
General Hospital1 week ago‘General Hospital’ Icon Genie Francis to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at the 53rd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards
-

News7 days agoVivica A. Fox Exits ‘The Young and the Restless’ For Now to Film Netflix’s ‘Women Like Us’
-

News1 day agoJess Walton Memoir ‘The Young and the Rest of Us’ Set for Release in 2027
-

General Hospital6 days ago‘General Hospital’s’ Braedyn Bruner Reveals Her Daytime Emmy-Nominated Scenes and How Emma is Getting Her ‘Edge’ Back
-

General Hospital5 days ago‘General Hospital’s’ Bluesy Burke Marks 1 Year as Charlotte Cassadine: ‘It’s The Best Gift I’ve Ever Received’
-

News4 days ago‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ Drops First Look 40th Anniversary Opening Title Sequence













NO to Phick! Omg I swear if they re-re-re-re commit again I will turn the channel!
I don’t like or never did like Phick. I still don’t.
I love Phack!!! they are awesome together.
Thank you so much for the interview. I love Phick! Michelle and Joshua are amazing!
Phyllis and Nick are my all time favorite couple. Thank you for the interview.
YUCK! I can NOT stomach another pairing of this ICKY duo! I will NOT watch a redo of PUKE part 2!
Ashley you said it perfectly! A phick reunion will be the final straw for me watching Y&R. I will officially be done.
Later, kids! I can’t wait for a re-pair! Jack and Phyllis are such a bore. Give me hot sex over chemistry any day!
We will miss you. 🙂
Unfortunately for “phickers”, that couple will never last because Nick will always want Sharon when he is with Phyllis 🙂 Shick = true love. Phick = just sex.
i love nick and phyllis a lot i can wait tell they come back togther with their daugter and family they are the best couple on the show ever can see i it is better than nick and diane
go Phick you rule
OMG this is the most exciting of news, I cannot wait to see them once again grace my screen, how I have missed this coupling, first Josh and now Michelle has given this fan hope. I will once again become glued to my set. Phick fan signing in and up
Am I dreaming? I have been longing and waiting for them to come back to us and it looks like there is a definite start coming.
This show is about to explode from all that Phick chemistry being released again.
Great interview
YES!!!!!!!! I am an ABSOLUTELY GENUINE PHICK fan!!!!!!!! Never a Phyllis or Nick fan in the past until they were paired up!!!!!!! Give me my Josh – Michelle MAGIC, I can’t say anything to describe what I am feeling right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO MICHELLE, GO JOSH, GO PHICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BLOW UP THE SCREEN!!!!! STEAM UP THE SHOW!!!!!!!!! After all, you are the best thing that happened to it!!!!!
Personally I’m one of those “Phickers” who is thrilled to hear that Phick may not be over! They are the ONLY reason I watch Y&R & the day they broke Phick up is the day I stopped watching the show. I look forward to Michelle & Joshua bringing their one of a kind chemistry back to Y&R. It’s definitely needed!
Thank you Michelle!!
Ewwww NO MORE PHICK!!!! They are disgusting together!
I want to see a re-pairing of PHICK only because I want to see Phyllis pulverize the new Diane. It’s been too long coming, and once Stafford’s Phyllis realizes that Nick has Diane-Skank on him she’s going to freakin’ lose it on her!
Yes I’m Soooooooo Excited love Phick !!!!!!!
No to Phick it was awful to watch for years!
I might take a hiatus of some sort, same old same old is not working for me!
Phick was the hottest couple in daytime ever! YES! YES ! YES! to nick and phyllis burning up the screen again! I stopped watching because of their breakup but hopefully the writers will fix that mistake. PHICK 4 EVER.
Yea!! I love Phick!! Such a terrific couple! Can’t wait!
GROSS!!!! phICK is the most nasty couple in daytime history. SHICK is the best!!
Dear Michael,
As usual another great interview. After Joshua’s interview I remember asking you to go get one from Michelle and so you did!! So thank you very much. And as usual Michelle NEVER EVER DISAPPOINTS. She is such a great lady who obviously loves Y&R very much and especially her FANS.
This is what Y&R needs right now some major BUZZ that only Phick do so well more than any other couple on the show. And the irony is they weren’t even supposed to be long-term and here we are 6 years later and they are still going strong and still have that buzz about them. Already your own board has been lit up with responses and so have others apparently. It does not matter whether people love Phick, like Phick, hate Phick, or dislike Phick..the simple and indisputable fact is that whenever Joshua or Michelle mention the slightest positive thing about Phick or talk about Phick in general, soap cyberspace goes crazy. Some people get excited or happy and some pull out their claws LOL. I LOVE IT!! Either way if I were Maria Bell, CBS & Sony I would pay attention because the soap genre really needs something to keep it alive. They can’t always live on the “we used to do it like this in the past”, they need to mix it up old & new.
And for Y&R nothing gets more buzzworthy than just the mere mention of Phick LOL!! And heavens know, this show needs some oxygen..I can’t believe I am watching CNN in the daytime vs. Y&R when all I want to do for an hour of the day is escape from reality.
Very well said… on all accounts! You rock!
Summed it up perfectly..I love reading your responses and takes. Phick fan now and always
Phick was great. They destroyed them. Phyllis deserves a real man. Not JerkNick!!!
Love, love, LOVE Phick and Michelle Stafford. Can’t wait to see what April has in store for the best couple on daytime. Its about time Phick finds their way back to one another.
Thanks for the great interview!
Great gobs of gag-me! Phick sucked then and they suck now. It is gross to see an elderly woman like MS with a baby-faced wuss like JM. The affair between Nick and Phyllis destroyed this show. It has never been the same. It was all about porn and nothing about love. Nick and Sharon had depth and were all about the sort of overall love and tenderness that made y and r the great show it was. Frankly I wish you would stop interviewing MS and trying to encourage a regrouping of a couple that was the worst pairing ever on this show. In an interview AFTER this one, JM said that there is no more Phick…that he has turned a page on that relationship. So I wish that MS and JM would get their stories straight.
Wow. You’re mean.
OK… I have to ask.. are you completely forgetting Sharon’s deeds while Nick was with Phyllis? Your 2.0 version of Cricket “the Paragon of Virtue” was out shoplifting and sleeping with any man who would have her! Don’t got hating….. just sayin!
Phyllis isn’t old by any means, but when paired with Nick the age difference does show.
How dare you be so CRUEL! You must be a miserable person. Instead of spending your time watching this show you need to spend it on a couch. MS is a REAL person with REAL feeling … what is wrong with you?
Shick is the gross couple ewwwwww! Sharon has slept with his brother and tried to bang his daddy so revolting. Whooooohooooooooo!!!!! to phick the only woman who has never betrayed him is phyllis and they have crazy chemistry can’t wait for this!.
Oh and one more thing…I have to snicker at the way MS wants to be with JM. Laugh at the notion that she thought the affair with Nick was ‘awesome.’ In more than one interview she ‘pretended’ to realize that breaking up a marriage is hardly awesome. And here she is spewing out her genuine feelnigs. Hooray! Lets break up another marriage!
You take things wayyy too seriously. It’s a TV show, honey.
This is a TV show, and maybe Michelle realized that she did enjoy the coupling, maybe it took her years to admit it, I am not sure why a realization about the fun she had acting with her acting partner is something to snicker about. And Nick or Phyllis is not married to anyone, they are both free.
I am not even going to go into a back and forth, what I am happy to see is that my two fave actors from my fave show, loves my fave reel couple.
YESssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss! Can’t wait
I liked your short interview with Michelle. I don’t know if I want to see her with Nick, though. I think she needs a new man on the scene now. The show is getting a bit stale for me now. They need a really good shake-up. I wish her luck on the Emmy’s, but don’t think she is deserving of it. We shall see….
Finally some hope for phick fans! 🙂 It’s long overdue. This was such a fantastic interview. I love MS. And I love what phick did for Y&R. Before phick I would only watch Y&R causally. But when phick started it really breathed some new life into the show and I just could not miss an episode. Shick was so over and done by then. Phick came in at the right time to make everyone take notice. I hope it can do that again real soon. Y&R is not the same without phick together.
I love Nick & Phyllis they need to be together because they are best couple in daytime history and I want to watch them on t.v.
Go phick forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love you Michelle
Good Lord! I’m so sick of all the Phick pimping, because truth be told I think they were THE WORST coupling in Y&R history. I’m sick to my stomach to think that Phick will reunite after only 1 year, while the fans of one of the best couples in Y&R history, Shick, created by the master himself, Bill Bell, will be teased and jerked around even longer. Wow. I guess I really have ZERO reason to tune back in to watching. Nick and Phyllis should NEVER reunite. They are contrived and just not believable in any shape or form. They literally make me ill.
Go lie down you’ll be okay … lol!
I agree Karlie!!! Phick is NASTY! They’ll never last because Sharon and Nick are soulmates. Shick fans have been waiting for years and yet its phick that gets questioned all the time. Who cares about phick – WHAT ABOUT SHICK?
I am so excited that we will be getting some Phick soon. Breaking them up and making Nick pin after Sharon, a woman he wasn’t even all that gaga about during the last years of their marriage was ludicrous. Nick and Phyllis are phenomenal together and sizzle up the screen together, there’s a reason TV Guide named them the most popular couple in Y&R history and why they were voted the best supercouple on the Y&R 35th anniversary site despite the fact that were going head to head with Y&R’s royalty supercouple, Victor and Nikki. It’s t9ime they were reunited and given a storyline about them and not saving Sharon, who actually sizzles with Adam surprisingly enough. Let’s get back to the heat, intrigue, fun-loving, steamy Phick that so many viewers fell in love with and stop wasting the palpable chemistry between Michelle Stafford and Joshua Morrow but pairing them with others that only produce lukewarm results. With Billy and Victoria going strong, Sharon and Adam’s wrong but right romance, and the probability of Nick and Phyllis reuniting, I just may have reason to actual tune in to the whole show again.
Nick and phyllis move faster then marcus allen.