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Billy (Jason Thompson) interacts differently with Phyllis (Gina Tognoni) than he does with Vickie (Amelia Heinle) on ‘The Young and the Restless’. Hopefully, that’s based on more than the differences between both women. Progressive Y&R viewers want the seemingly developing Billy character to be written more like a real man and less like a straw man.
There have been many post-child incarnations of Billy, as played by David Tom, Billy Miller, Tom again, Burgess Jenkins and now, Thompson. Starting with Miller’s run, Billy was the cad and Vickie was his perpetual victim. Discerning viewers, who are also honest rejected the old-fashioned sexist stereotype.
Related; WATCH: The Young and The Restless Preview Video Friday, May 5
No, all men aren’t bad, or in need of redemption by the opposite sex. That invented view of reality isn’t meant to create equal footing between the two genders, instead it’s meant to shift condescension. A form of scale-evening for real, exaggerated and invented situations. This weighty theme is also clearly implied in many soap opera storylines, including the so-called relationship that evil Billy had with Saint Victoria on Y&R.
The not-so-hidden agenda plays to woe-is-me thoughts that place all women as easily manipulated by Bohemian males who drag their knuckles out of the same cave. Yes, the initially stunning emergence of ‘Philly’, which took root under Jenkins’ tenure, wasn’t an ideal starting point for Billy’s evolution. However, ‘Philly’s’ continuance and now full injection into the plot is encouraging.
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Billy and Phyllis behave like a couplet in love. Billy and Vickie, Parts I through umpteen cemented Mr. Abbott as the high school boy and Miss Newman as his teacher. That loop was so B-movie.
Michelle Stafford’s brilliant, multiple Daytime Emmy Award-winning version of Phyllis was explosive, but Tognoni’s softer version also shines as proven by her 2017 Daytime Emmy Award. That’s why Thompson’s edition of Billy is working with today’s Phyllis. Whether this couple can endure depends on Sally Sussman. But that solid Y&R employee and her writing team are shifting Genoa City’s landscape through their efforts. So optimism exists in the minds of hardcore viewers.
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