Believe it or not, it’s been about three years since The Young and the Restless’ Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) had a real romance, with her last relationship being with Jack (Peter Bergman), who ultimately chose to be with Diane (Susan Walters). In this time, she’s had flirty moments with exes Danny (Michael Damian) and Nick (Joshua Morrow), but those moments amounted to nothing. So it just seems to us as if Phyllis is due a little love in her life. After all, we’re talking about the soaps here.
Following along these lines, we took it upon ourselves to look at the current landscape of the show to see if there is some possibility among good men of Genoa City, and we came up with three names. First up is returning resident, Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn).
So yes, Cane so far has made it abundantly clear that he wants to reunite with Lily (Christel Khalil). However, presently, Lily wants nothing to do with her ex-husband. Heck, she doesn’t even want him in town.
On the other hand, Cane has been working rather closely with Phyllis as he gets the pieces in place to launch his plan for a Genoa City takeover, and she’s managed to ingratiate herself in his life. It’s not hard to picture the more time the two spend together, the more he starts to look at Phyllis with googly eyes. In return, she may start to see Cane as more than just her boss and ticket to revive her career.
Second up in our matchmaking wishlist is Billy (Jason Thompson). Although we prefer her with the older Abbott brother, Jack, Phyllis and Billy have history, and they’re likely to continue being drawn to each other as they both work with Cane. Currently, Phyllis may be working to sabotage Billy’s chances to team up with Cane because she’s fed up with the number of times Billy betrayed her. But in daytime, someone can loathe a person one second and make out with them the next.
Oh, and for all those wondering about Sally (Courtney Hope). When #Silly became an official couple, we suspected there was an expiration date for the romance in the very near future. We guessed that either Sally would grow tired of Billy’s obsession over Chancellor and his vendettas with Victor (Eric Braeden) and Adam (Mark Grossman), or Billy would eventually gravitate toward Victoria (Amelia Heinle) (the latter can happen especially now with Cole [J. Eddie Peck] out of the picture). All in all, we don’t see longevity for Sally and Billy.
Our last guess for Phyllis’ future romantic partner happens to be the one and only Bill Spencer (Don Diamont). Bill is not currently in Genoa City or even on The Young and the Restless for that matter. He’s in LA and on the sister soap, The Bold and the Beautiful.
However, we said it before and we’ll say it again, Phyllis and Bill could actually prove to be quite the ideal soap couple. She could add some much-needed spice and romance to his life, and he could provide Phyllis with the right level of playboy antics and assertiveness she’s not had in a while. Plus, can you imagine the hint of jealousy all of Phyllis’s exes may get knowing she is with Bill? Heck, Bill’s ex Katie (Heather Tom) clashing with Phyllis could provide some must-watch shady moments and drama for an episode or two.
Now, for a Phyllis and Bill relationship to work, one of them would have to hop soaps for a while. This has been done before, as longtime viewers can recall Ashley (Eileen Davidson) spending time on The Bold and the Beautiful. With Phyllis working with Cane at the moment, perhaps it’s time to ship Bill to Genoa City.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus the next day.