As the universe of soap opera viewers continues to contract, the few remaining daytime dramas are pulling out all the stops, not only to gain an advantage on the competition, but also to prolong their individual television existence. For long-time top dog "The Young and The Restless," those survival tactics have prominently featured significant casting turnover during the last few years, and the churn shows no signs of abating. The latest victim in CBS's attempts to stay at the top, and to stay alive, is Tristan Rogers, who has played Colin Atkinson for less than a year and will exit before the snow starts to fly this winter.
Colin was first introduced to the Genoa City crowd in December of 2010 as the estranged biological father of the controversial Cane Ashby (Daniel Goddard). Fresh off a prison stint in Australia for mob activity, Colin came to the United States apparently to reunite with and torment his son. But, as is generally the case in these situations, Colin soon found himself in the quagmire of love, specifically falling in with Cane's adoptive mother Jill Abbott Fenmore (Jess Walton). The rest of their story reads like, well, a soap opera: Jill and Colin got hitched; Cane was shot and killed; Colin's real wife showed up to nullify his new nuptials; Cane was resurrected; Colin went into hiding; and, finally, Colin and Jill were brought back together.
Colin has certainly been a busy lad since arriving in Genoa City, and he has brought a new vim and vigor to Jill's character. Many die-hard fans have been encouraged by the expanded coverage of these two crazy kids at a time when favorite Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) has been left in limbo. Now that Rogers is about to exit, those same viewers fear that Jill may be relegated to the back burner and eventually phased out of the show. With the arrival of several new leading-lady faces over the past several months, the storylines are certainly fighting for air time, so it wouldn't be shocking to see less of Walton, at least in the near term.
As actors, and their characters, continue to come and go on "The Young and the Restless," fans are being asked to become increasingly more active in choosing what they like and what they don't. Networks like CBS have thrived for years on the rapid changes inherent to the soap opera genre, but the shrinking market and the cancellation of daytime dramas has considerably accelerated that pace. The good news is that if you don't like what's happening in Genoa City right now, just hold on for a few days. The situation is bound to change, for better or for worse.
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