Amelia Heinle

Like the title and video says, Victor is definately being vindictive.

Victor (Eric Braeden) ticks off his namesake daughter Victoria (Amelia Heinle) next week on Young and the Restless when he brings his latest distraction Sabrina (Raya Meddine) to Baby Reed's christening. Bree Bree tries to make up for playing connect-the-freckles with her BFF's daddy by purchasing a snazzy rattle for the soon-to-be Church-sanctioned kiddo, but Victoria is having none of that. 

While I understand Victoria being a bit skeeved out by knowing that her homegirl knows whether her pop likes boxers or briefs, isn't Vicki being a bit of a hypocrite? Her current husband JT is the first love of her former stepdaughter Colleen. Her most-recent former husband Brad was engaged to her mother for years. And then there was Victoria's second hubby Cole Howard, who to envoke AC/DC, shook her mama Nikki all night long before ever hooking up with Victoria. Even though I first sympathized with Vicki's plight, I have since decided it's time Princess Newman grew up. Now if her problem with the relationship was the very valid fear that her father might die of boredom from this craptastical pairing, I would totally understand.

Okay, anyone who listens to the CBS/Days edition of the Daytime Confidential podcasts realizes what a HUGE fan I am of Heather Tom's work on Young and the Restless as the "real" Victoria Newman (Am I the only one who got a kick out of ABC's PR stunt?). Amelia Heinle is a reasonable actress and has a tragic, Jane Eyre-esque beauty about her, but she is miscast as Victoria Newman. 

Granted a lot of my gripes about Victoria during Heinle's time on the show have been storyline-based. I hated seeing the very daughter who was cut from Victor's aggressive, business first, cloth transform into a whimpering, wilting lily who gave long, boring soliliquies about the importance of art and run down buildings.
 
It was also painful to watch the 30-something Victoria gushing and gigling and pulling her hair behind her ears whenever JT showed up, like some 12-year-old texting LOL's on her cellphone. I get that Heinle and Helstrom were falling in love both in real and reel life, but my Victoria didn't gush and giggle! She looked down her snobby nose at any and everyone she felt was beneath her just like her former pole-twisting Mama Nikki did and she ran one hell of a cosmetics firm, much like her father! THAT's the Vicki fans want to see and...Bold and the Beautiful has her! Which brings me to my offer to Brad Bell, can Y&R trade you Heinle for Tom (complete with blonde hair thank you very much)?

Y&R fans applaud Bell for rescuing the shamefully discarded stars who have been unceremoniously booted or ran off from his late father's once unbeatable soap over the years, but now with Y&R in a regrowth period, it would be so nice to see Tom's Victoria home where she belongs. I admit I am beginning to enjoy her as snarky, bowling league fanatic Katie Logan on B&B, but let's face it, having this Emmy-winning actress serve as a comedic talk-to, babysitter and shrink  for her sisters, niece and their beaux is almost criminal. Tom's Victoria needs to be back in Genoa City telling Victor Jr. or Adam or whoever the heck he's calling himself this week just exactly how the cow at the cabbage! Meanwhile, couldn't Heinle work as Katie? Just a thought.

If you'd like we'll even encourage Y&R to give you Christian Le Blanc and Tracey Bregman's Michael and Lauren (This fantasy exec stuff is SO much fun!) This talented pair has been wasted beyond belief as supporting characters in the I Love Gloria and Kevin Show. I am so sick of seeing the maddeningly brilliant LeBlanc basically playing Ricky Ricardo to Gloria's Lucy. 

In LA Michael could go to work for the delightfully dysfunctional Forrester clan as their consigliere. Can you picture Michael acting as a buffer between the horny, hateful Forresters and Logans? It would be like daytime's version of  Dirty, Sexy, Money! 

BUT... if we arrange for you to get Michael and Lauren Mr. Bell, you will  not only have to give Y&R back Tom, but also Eileen Davidson's Ashley Abbott.  Now, now, don't be that way! You're show already has one breathtaking, ageless, ethereal blonde in Katherine Kelly Lang, don't be a glutton.
 
Y&R just isn't the same without Ashley. Jack needs his conscience, especially since Sharon is now going along giddily with his schemes and Victor needs his beautiful "Ashley Abbott" by his side at the Ranch. Wouldn't that just drive Nikki back to drinking and popping pills?

I am sorry, but that new love interest they have for Victor, what's her name? Ramona, Desdemona? Whoever she is, she just ain't cutting it! We need Ashley back pronto, so that Victor and Ashley's love affair can finally be explored fully. Just think about it Mr. Bell. Have your people call my people. I'm sure we can work something out!

What did she possibly do to deserve this?

All My Children alum and Heather Tom-lookalike Carrie Genzel has been cast opposite rapper-turned-reality TV lothario Flava Flav ( of  VH1's sadly popular televised trainwreck Flavor of Love) in a My Network TV sitcom set to premiere this April.

In the sitcom entitled Under One Roof, Flav will play an ex-con who comes to live with his wealthy brother (Kelly Perine) who is in an interracial marriage with a snotty socialite played by Genzel. 

For those of you who may not remember Genzel, she played Skye Chandler during the evil Dr. Jonathan Kinder (Michael Sabatino) storyline which saw Adam (David Canary)'s daughter bond with Erica (Susan Lucci) and Janet Green (Robin Mattson) to bury the wicked doctor alive! Genzel's Skye was also obsessed with Edmund Grey (John Callahan) and therefore despised his then cheating wife Dr. Maria Santos (Eva La Rue).
 
While long term AMC fans never really warmed to Genzel in the role (to them Robin Christopher was and still is the only Skye), as a newee viewer to the show, I enjoyed Genzel's take Skye, especially her friendship with Erica and Janet and her rivalry with Hayley (Kelly Ripa).

I have rooted for Genzel several times when the role of Victoria Newman has come up for grabs over at Y&R. Genzel's name always seems to be mentioned, due to her striking resemblance to Heather Tom and the fact that she isn't a half bad actress, but for some reason, when recasting Victoria, they always go with actresses who look nothing like Tom nor possess her bite or range, no offense to Amelia Henlie.

 Hopefully Genzel's reputation survives being attached to Flav and My Network TV, which has basically been known up until this point for those ridiculous Americanized telenovelas!