CBS
Young and Restless is using the 30th anniversary of Sharon Case to do a spotlight episode on her very popular character, Sharon, this Friday, September 27, and it will be an episode you don’t want to miss. The actress previewed the milestone hour in an interview with TV Insider.
To Sharon, With Love
“I don’t want to spoil it for, people, but it was a long day,” Case told the online site — no surprise there, since the show centers around her character. She revealed that it was shot during a time when she was heavily featured in story outside of that big episode, so memorizing even more seemed a bit daunting to the actress. “My stage manager, Fritz [Brekeller], and my director, Sally McDonald, really were key in getting me through that and making it so that I could accomplish that show,” she praised. It was a big show, so thank you to them.”
Marking three decades in Genoa City is quite a feat, so expect lots of flashbacks to help make the actress’s milestone even more special. The scenes will tie into the current story of Sharon’s struggle to deal with the pain of her daughter Cassie’s death after a car accident in 2005 — an accident that had young teen Cassie driving because Daniel had been drinking. “It is a Sharon-centric episode, but it isn’t a one-off or a separate day,” hints Case.
The actress has been thrown the challenging story of Sharon, a trained therapist, going off her bipolar medication and spiraling out of control. This has included conjuring up Cameron Kirsten — a man she killed last year after he tormented her and her daughter, Faith — to represent her darker impulses. It was an accident with Faith, in which Daniel’s daughter Lucy was also involved, that brought all of that grief back to the surface for Sharon. The scenes have given the Daytime Emmy winner some incredible material to sink her teeth into.
Y&R’s executive producer/headwriter, Josh Griffith, earlier told Soap Opera Digest that the story was crafted specifically to honor Case’s three decades of exemplary work. “The character of Sharon has such a rich history on the show,” Griffith noted. “As her anniversary approached, it seemed like the perfect time to not only tell the next chapter of her story but to bring in such major touchstones from her past such as Cameron and Cassie’s death.”
Griffith was dazzled by the performance Case gave in the special episode, enthusing to Digest, “Sharon’s work in her standalone episode is outstanding and a true showcase of why both Sharon Case and Sharon Collins Newman have been such an important character on Y&R for three decades.”
And to hear Case tell it, she may well stay for 30 more! “For me, playing Sharon becomes more interesting all the time. Not less,” she marveled.
