The Surprising Gift Young & Restless’ Ashland Left Behind for Tucker
Sunday, October 16th, 2022
Open it at once.
The return of The Young and the Restless’ Tucker has so set the show on fire that it’s a wonder alarms haven’t gone off. But to keep those flames rising, the powers that be are going to have to take care — and learn from the mistakes that were made with previous power player Ashland.
You’ll recall that, before we met Victoria’s future husband, we were told that he was big and bad, the scary Locke Ness Monster. But on screen, he was at worst conniving and cranky (at least until he went around the bend at the tail end of Robert Newman’s stint in the role). As a result, what should have been a thrilling and fearsome villain wound up being… meh, an interesting enough character who never quite lived up to the hype.
However, Ashland, in a way, left behind a gift for Tucker: almost a blueprint for how not to write an antagonist. Young & Restless should know, thanks to its missteps with Ashland, that it can’t go halfway with the part that Trevor St. John inherited from Stephen Nichols (Steve, Days of Our Lives). It has to go all in. If Tucker is going to be a Machiavellian rat bastard, let ’im be full-on rotten.
That’s not to say that Tucker should be one-dimensional. But if he’s gonna be bad, make him bad in all capital letters. Make him remorseful after the fact, sure. Make him so charming that it’s hard to write him off as rotten to the core. But if you’re giving us a villain, Young & Restless, he had damn well better be villainous. Painting Ashland in too bland a shade of gray stymied his potential; let Tucker be the character that Ashland was supposed to be… but never was.
Review Tucker’s checkered past in the photo gallery below.
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
1/26
<p>While on a business trip, Jill Foster crossed paths with a guy she mistakenly believed to be a bartender. Rather than give him a good tip, she spent the night with him. Only later would it be revealed that he was, in fact, industrialist Tucker McCall (played very briefly by William Russ, as seen here). </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
2/26
<p>Remember decades ago when Katherine Chancellor briefly believed longtime nemesis Jill to be the child she’d given up for adoption? It seems there were a few things wrong with that theory… including the sex of the baby! Only several years later would Kay discover that she’d actually had a son, who’d grown up to be Tucker (now Stephen Nichols, aka <em>Days of Our Lives</em>‘ Steve). </p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
3/26
<p>As you can imagine, Jill was shocked to discover that her new lover was Katherine’s secret son. As you can also imagine, she was relieved to learn she’d slept not with a rando bartender but a very, very rich man! </p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
4/26
<p>Did we mention that Tucker got his start as the manager of a rock band which hit it big in the ’70s? Because that will be important later. </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
5/26
<p>When not plotting to take over one local company (Chancellor Industries) or another (Jabot Cosmetics), Tucker found time for the occasional good deed… like helping Victoria Newman’s ex, J.T. Hellstrom, get custody of their son Reed. Of course, everything he did came at a price. </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
6/26
<p>Ashley Abbott had strong reservations about working for Tucker… which as you can see, she got over. They first slept together while on a business trip to Japan. Feeling guilty, she was all set to tell beau Neil Winters about the tryst… until he made things a lot easier by saying, “Let’s be friends.” </p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
7/26
<p>As you can tell by the cock of his head, Tucker was intrigued by Diane Jenkins (then Maura West, <em>General Hospital</em> vamp Ava now). In fact, he was so intrigued that he offered her a job and they sealed the deal with a romp in his hotel room. (Seriously, this dude was an HR nightmare!) </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
8/26
<p>Obviously, Tucker and The Great Victor Newman would eventually butt heads. What Tucker couldn’t have foreseen was mom Kay joining forces with The Mustache in order to prevent her son from taking over Newman Enterprises! </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
9/26
<p>Fully aware that Tucker — now engaged to Ashley — had cheated on her mom, Abby Newman (then Emme Rylan) was determined to expose his tryst with Diane. Unfortunately, Abby’s drunken scheming resulted in her plowing down Tucker with a car and mom Ashley claming responsibility to protect her! </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
10/26
<p>Because Tucker had a living will stipulating that no special means be used to keep him alive, he was taken off the ventilator over Katherine’s objections. Though he was expected to die, Katherine essentially willed her son back to life! </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
11/26
<p>Ashley and Tucker eventually married in his hospital room, with her taking over his company in order to prevent the world from realizing just how scrambled his brain had been by the accident. </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
12/26
<p>Like most of Genoa City, Tucker was a suspect when Diane turned up dead. We’d get into all the literally gory details, but given that the whole thing was a fake-out, what’s the point? </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
13/26
<p>Remember earlier, we said that Tucker’s past as a music promoter would be important? Wanting to get back in the biz, he eventually hired Devon Hamilton Winters as a record producer, completely unaware that the young man was his son via a long-ago fling with groupie Yolanda “Candy Cane” Hamilton! </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
14/26
<p>Yolanda eventually showed up in Genoa City, now going by the name Harmony, to apologize to Devon for not being a better mom and confront Tucker about their past. </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
15/26
<p>Ashley and Tucker’s second wedding was interrupted in the best way possible when Devon — who had been estranged from his dad for a while — showed up, ready to give him a second chance. </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
16/26
<p>Looking to punish Adam Newman (then Michael Muhney) for his past sins against Ashley, Tucker tried setting him up with the SEC. Sharon, however, stepped in to prevent Adam from being framed for a crime he hadn’t committed (but was certainly about to). </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
17/26
<p>Despite being estranged from his biodad yet again, Devon was convinced to let Tucker pay for cochlear implant surgery. This not only changed Devon’s life significantly but led to the father and son once again finding common ground on which to bond. </p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
18/26
<p>After finding Harmony and Tucker in bed, Ashley dumped her husband. Although he tried to win his wife back — and Ashley could not deny that she loved him — the pair still divorced after Ash declared that sometimes “Love just isn’t enough.” </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
19/26
<p>It was deja vu all over again for soap lovers when Tucker was reunited with ex-lover Genevieve Atkinson. After all, portrayers Nichols and Genie Francis had created magic on <em>General Hospital </em>as Stefan and Laura. </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
20/26
<p>The only thing crazier than Sharon marrying former father-in-law Victor? Her trying to dash down the aisle with Tucker five minutes after she had Victor declared dead… only to have him show up and say, “Not so fast, young lady!” </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
21/26
<p>Before departing for Hong Kong, Tucker visited Kay to forgive her for having given him up as a baby. Unable to articulate her thoughts thanks to health issues, Katherine hugged her son and broke down in tears after he left. </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
22/26
<p>The moment Trevor St. John as cast as a mystery man, viewers began speculating that he would be playing not only someone connected to Diane but, specifically, Tucker. And sure enough, they were right. </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
23/26
<p>Even before arriving in Genoa City, Tucker had been using Diane to feed him updates on Ashley. Before long, the formerly-wed pair were engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse, each wanting something from the other… even as pesky emotions threatened to get in the way of their individual plots.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
24/26
<p>Devon was receptive to Tucker upon his return… until he uncovered his latest scheme. Afterward, despite drowning in personal problems, Devon wanted nothing to do with his wanting-to-make-amends father. In fact, when Tucker made it clear he would be sticking around, Devon responded by thanking him for the head’s up, adding, “I will make sure not to be anywhere that you are.” Ouch! </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
25/26
<p>As Tucker continued trying to carve out a place for himself in Genoa City, perhaps the most intriguing of his interactions were with Phyllis, who seems intrigued by him… despite herself. </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
26/26
