I've been holding off writing this as I was shocked and saddened over Kristoff St. John's death on February 3, 2019. I was sitting at work, and opened my "home page", and it was one of the headlines. Without knowing who it was, I said to myself, "please not Kristoff", and it was. That day wasn't one where I could focus on my work for obvious reasons.
This past week, "The Young and the Restless" allowed Neil to die, and on April 29, 2019 (on the US airing) the show honored Kristoff by having a tribute episode in a similar format to what was done for Jeanne Cooper (Katherine). The Talk did more than one segment, (this was with Shemar Moore, Victoria Rowell, Bryton James, and Christel Khalil - aka his Y&R family) and closer to Kristoff's death, "Steve" did a couple of segments about Kristoff (showing an un-aired segment) and then they interviewed Victoria Rowell and Doug Davidson on camera. The video montage that aired at Kristoff's real live service also was available on Vimeo. That was so beautiful and sad.
Neil died off screen, for obvious reasons. They made it that Devon found his father, and went back to his supper club. (Following Neil's footsteps of having restaurant with music.) Devon told Lily, and it was silent with just music in the background. The next days were Genoa City finding out, and then the service, and the family and friends going back to the penthouse to talk about Neil. We even got some flashbacks. There was music and laughter, and tears throughout. (I'm not sure if I am talking about those of us viewing the episode or the people involved with Y&R or both.) Shemar's speech on screen as Malcolm, seemed more about Kristoff and Shemar's real relationship than Neil and Malcolm's as obviously the reality didn't have the complications of the fiction.
The real life tribute on Y&R was great. I wanted more, no surprise. I did appreciate that they did smaller groups, and that the program released footage that didn't make the episode due to time on YouTube. Bringing back Victoria Rowell, and showing clips of Neil and Dru's first meeting. Well thank goodness for that. Due to the negative things that happened behind the scenes, I'm glad that Y&R actually allowed us to see this material and didn't ignore the most significant romantic relationship Neil had on the show, along with his most enduring acting onscreen partnership that wasn't his brother or one of his children.
I'm still a little numb from all of this, but I appreciated that Y&R did something. It may have taken a few months to happen, but it was worth the wait.
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