‘The Young and the Restless’ Opinion: Y&R Writers Changed “Phyllis Summers” From Savvy Hard Women To Flower Picking Victim – History Rewritten

“Young and the Restless” decided to cast Gina Tognoni in the role of Phyllis Summers after Michelle Stafford decided to leave the role after portraying her for over 17 years. It was a complete shock to most fans that Stafford would want to leave “Y&R.” She was the perfect Phyllis, and fans knew finding a replacement would be nearly impossible.

Gina Tognoni debuted as Phyllis a little over a year ago now. She has portrayed Phyllis in a much softer and sometimes lighter way. Phyllis was always sexy, cut-throat, business savvy, and someone you should love to hate. She is not warm and fuzzy nor would you describe her as caring. The head scribe, Chuck Pratt, Jr. doesn’t seem to understand Phyllis’ personality.

So fans are supposed to believe that after she tried to kill at least three people, survived a HUGE fall, survived jail, but she can easily be tricked into allowing slime ball Ian Ward (Ray Wise) into the cabin for a quiet dinner without her husband Jack. Come on, writer, not even the resident crazy Genoa City Resident, Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) would do something like that. Instead of heading up the graphic arts department at Jabot, she has resorted to frolicking in the woods, picking flowers?

When Phyllis arrived back into town, they suggested the treatment that Victor authorized may have changed her personality. She came across as mean and hostile most of the time. They tried to soften her character somewhat, and they went overboard. Now, she’s been violated daily for months on end by Marco (Jack Bergman), and Ian Ward is her new BFF.

The writing team needs to sit down and study the show. They could start by watching past years of “Young and the Restless.” They need to get to know their characters and write them correctly. Neil and Phyllis are acting so out of character that it is turning the most loyal fan away from the show. Phyllis should be in the mix with Jack and Victor- instead she’s picking flowers in the woods and befriending the man who terrorized her daughter, Summer (Hunter King)?

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