The Young and the Restless spoilers tease major casting news regarding a fan-favorite character – Adam Newman – and that Michael Muhney (Adam Newman) won’t be returning to Y&R to play Adam Newman, according to Jamey Giddens, a reliable source who claims to be in the know. If this proposed information proves true, the current regime is searching for someone without daytime experience to assume the role Justin Hartley departed last summer.
It’s hard to know how large or small the contingent of fans is that continues to support Muhney’s return to the cast. Polls on CDL have typically shown over an 80% approval rate for Michael Muhney to return as Adam Newman but naturally there is a self-selection factor at play here – people who tend to read posts about Muhney are already fans and so the poll results might be skewed in his favor.
Muhney has also recently chimed in on apparently developing matters to recast Adam Newman by offering his Twitter followers the social media addresses of various members of TPTB club at Y&R. Hollywood is notoriously fickle. So with whatever current thinking is held inside Y&R’s inner sanctum, which might include thoughts that Muhney is a no-go, confirmation of this type of information is almost always impossible to obtain.
Connected individuals within the industry are often used as surrogates to float trial balloons to a wanting public. In today’s internet age, the use of social media to gauge response ahead of time should also not be underestimated. Yes, games are played.
Said surrogates value their place in the food chain and sometimes develop cottage industries in order to ply their trade. That’s a form of capitalism, where information tidbits can be digitally converted to cash. On other words, while Jamey Giddens can be relied upon to report the truth, as he hears it, what he hears is not necessarily tantamount to signed, sealed and delivered fact.
However, neither should this sourced information should not be rejected simply because a certain audience segment wants Michael Muhney back. He wasn’t rehired in mid-2014 after he’d been axed in December 2013. Former executive producer Jill Farren Phelps handled those calls, whereas current executive producer Mal Young and co-executive producer and head writer Sally Sussman are now in charge.
If Young and Sussman hire anyone other than Muhney to play Adam, the chances of him ever returning would seem to decline dramatically. Politics and reputation have and are surely impacting matters in this instance. But that’s true in any industry, as all savvy CDL readers surely know.
Asking the fans to accept yet another Adam Newman isn’t the only point Y&R must be considering. Creating a believable write-back must also be achievable.
Hartley proved that a post-Muhney Adam is possible, just as Gina Tognoni (Phyllis) has nicely followed Michelle Stafford’s legacy. But it’s hard to know if another super hire can take place. A fail would be excoriated by passionate soap fans, or by those who claim to be so but are actually just fond of bashing whatever transpires on any of the four remaining steamers within this great genre. CDL is a leading source for everything linked to The Young and the Restless. Check back regularly for Y&R spoilers and news!
