‘The Young And The Restless’ Interview: Michael E. Knight Discusses Dr. Neville’s Storylines And Possible Love Interests

“The Young and the Restless” star Michael E. Knight sat down with Soap Central and talked about how long he’ll be on the canvas, social media, his love for Kristoff St. John, and his favorite pick for a romance possibility. He said that he had learned not to underestimate the powers that soap fans have on the storylines.

After a five-year break, Michael E. Knight returned to daytime TV, after considering never acting again. He said, “Oh, God one thing daytime is excellent for is steady work- really one of the only sources of steady acting work. In Hollywood, you always assume your last job was just that- your last job. There’s an old soap opera saying that says, old soap opera actors don’t die they just change jobs.”

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Michael revealed that he would be staying around longer than he originally thought. He noted, “Initially, it wasn’t even a storyline. I was just a character was going to help out Neil with the character Hilary… They called, and said, He’s kind of an eccentric guy, and what I figured, or rather what I heard when I got the call, was it was going to be character work. And now that I’m of an age, I figured, Yeah, sure. That’s something I could do. It’s like falling off a log Initially, they said they needed a character who was eccentric, someone who could basically have one foot in the medical industry, one foot out, and somebody who could sort of be surreptitious, and it was logical that he knew what he was doing, and I said, Yeah, yeah, sounds good. And Jill came over and gave me a hug and said, would you like to see this go somewhere? And at that point, I was like, you know, I’ll sort of believe it when I see it. I think that’s just the way it goes in this business, but sure enough, they came to me and said, look; we have an idea. There are a couple of people we would like to put you with, that we can see you working with, and she named both. Well, actually there were three, but two of them stood out, and I said, I would really, really like that to happen. So I agreed to it.”

Soap Central asked Michael E. Knight if he really connected with these three mystery characters, if that meant Dr. Neville could stick around long-term in Genoa City. Michael replied, “I see it lasting into the New Year, but I’m not sure if it has legs for [permanency]… but then again, in soaps, you never really know! You don’t know what’s going to hit. They have a full roster at Y&R. They’ve been doing this a long time. And they’ve done a really good job of keeping it, the Abbotts and the Newman’s, that ongoing story that they have.”

Knight admitted that before he took the role, he was terrified of embarking on another soap journey. He said that soaps had a rapid turnover rate- characters are often killed, ran out of town, or turn up missing.  “For me, to walk into Y&R and start from scratch was [intimidating]. I knew intellectually that I wouldn’t have that to fall back on. I mean, I’ve known Kristoff for years. I met Kristoff back in 1985 for the first time, when the world was still cooling. However, the idea of working together with a brand-new character, I felt a little rusty. I’ll admit; I was kind of nervous. And still, I have to say, I’m a little creaky. I’ve been out of practice for a while.”

Soap Central revealed that the one-person everyone seemed to adore on the “Y&R” set is Kristoff St. John. Apparently, Cady McClain stated that she wanted to share scenes with him because he is so warming and a true class act. Michael agreed that he was extremely lucky with being able to work with St. John one-on-one. He explained, “Neil as a character has a dark past, and he’s a very complex character, and it’s a very drama-driven story. It really is. However, Kristoff as a person is hysterical… and he nailed me. It was like coming home.”

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Michael mentioned the possibility of a romance with a leading lady, and if he had his pick, he had a definite person in mind. He explained, “I would want to be at the top of my game, let’s put it that way. And then Eileen [Davidson, Ashley Abbott]! I still remember Eileen doing five characters over on [Days of our Lives]. They don’t get any better than her. And I’ve known Gina Tognoni for so long. I mean, there’s just so many people. Some I have a history with, some, I don’t have a history with. However, they’re all great. I’m really lucky just to be there.”

Knight said that you could never underestimate the power of the soap audience. He dished, “They’re the greatest audience in the world. And I think also… daytime is a harder sell for younger audiences because they have grown up with other media, other media sources. Most of the time they’re attached to their phone. And there’s an entire generation of people who still feel very, very strongly about daytime television, and in that, there’s an appeal. You could think of [the veterans] as the all-stars; they’re known, there’s a market for them, there’s an audience which grew up watching these people and have a warm appreciation about seeing these people on their shows for decades. So, yeah, I’m extremely fortunate to be a part of that phenomenon as well.”He said times have really changed since he was on a soap because now social media puts you in the driver’s seat of your own press releases. He recalled a moment when the publicity team told him, “Michael, do us a favor and don’t say anything on Twitter because we would like to be responsible for the reveal.”  Knight also said he told them that’s not an issue because he was not currently on Twitter- social media scares him.

Knight added, “Christian LeBlanc [Michael Baldwin] tried to explain it to me, and he’s actually really good at doing it. He said, Remember, Michael, in the old days, when we were starting out, we hired publicists for several thousand dollars a month to make sure our names were out there? Well, now you can completely cut out the middleman. You are your own publicist. And I said, wow, I don’t want that responsibility. I have a hard enough time just being an actor!

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