The Young and the Restless may be aware that that which never changes… stagnates. Co-creator William J. Bell certainly knew it; you’ll recall that in 1980, he traded out the Brooks and Foster families for the Abbotts and Williamses. Now, all these years later, the show may be on the verge of adding another new clan.
Recently, Audra has mentioned her estranged relatives — repeatedly. If that isn’t a sign that they are bound for Genoa City, we don’t know what is. And we’ve gotta admit, we’re intrigued by the prospect of meeting them. How much light would they shed on the corporate shark who tends to lead with her head, not her heart!
Of course, having her family in town could prove disastrous for Audra. She’s trying so hard to keep her eyes on the prize, and here they’d come dropping off a whole mess of emotional baggage at her doorstep. How off-kilter would their presence throw her as they attempted to mend fences and reestablish contact? And what, exactly, prompted contact to be broken off in the first place?
We know that Audra’s father is an alcoholic. Maybe his drinking problem shattered the family. And maybe by now, he’s in recovery. And maybe, just maybe, he becomes Nikki’s new sponsor — a dicey situation if the two of them are tempted to replace the numbing effect of alcohol with the distraction of a love affair.
We know, we know — Nikki would never cheat on Victor. Mm-hmm, except if she was at her wit’s end, desperate to curb her desire to drink. Audra’s father wouldn’t want to betray his wife, either. But he could convince himself that it wasn’t really two-timing, that there were no feelings involved, that he was, in fact, protecting his family by not taking a drink.
How long would the secret lovers be able to kid themselves that they hadn’t caught feelings? And how would Audra deal with the fallout when her former boss is revealed to be her dad’s mistress? We’d watch the hell out of that storyline — especially if Pop was cast with a daytime MVP like Joe Lando (Jake, One Life to Live) or A Martinez (Cruz, Santa Barbara).
