Tis the season to be thankful! But right now I’m in a contrary mood, thinking of what I’m NOT thankful for. Like the recent soap preemptions, with more inevitably on the way.
Having to watch alternative programming recently — instead of my favorite daytime dramas — reminds me I’m also unthankful for quite a few other things, like phony politicians and the nanny state.
One person I am thankful for, though, is Greta Thunberg, not so much for her planet-saving agenda (although I like that too), but for her refreshing, awkward, and brazen stubbornness to be as real as her words.
On The Young and the Restless, poor Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) is moaning about sharing his corporate jet with his new cousin, Coachella Theo (Tyler Johnson). On the one hand, he should be thankful his new kin isn’t someone like Greta.
If she was in Theo’s shoes, there would be no corporate jets bearing the Abbott moniker. In fact, he wouldn’t be riding the friendly skies period.
Environmental activist Greta is trying to make people be kinder to the planet. It’s a long story, but plane rides are not allowed in her world.
What’s different with her, though, is that unlike plenty of other environmental folks who preach for the rest of us to limit everything from hamburgers to toilet paper, she actually eschews the habits she abhors.
Thus, she will not ride a plane to appear onstage at any of the galas that fete her, unlike, for example, jet-setter Leo DiCaprio, who the media have excoriated for claiming to want to clean up the mess made the masses while not living by his own example.
Getting back to Kyle, while hilarious Theo wouldn’t be flying around in planes if he was like Greta, he does actually share a lot of common ground — because he’s transparent, and like non-fictional Greta, will tell you the truth as he knows it.
So while I’m not thankful for lots of things — media titans taking over my favorite daytime programming with talking heads, and people who don’t live by what they preach — Kyle has lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS.