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Melody Thomas Scott, who has played Nikki Newman on “The Young and the Restless” for the past 40 years, tells us that returning to set two weeks ago was “kind of like stepping into ‘The Twilight Zone.’” The long-running soap opera — the second daytime drama to resume filming since production was shut down due …
Melody Thomas Scott, who has played Nikki Newman on “The Young and the Restless” for the past 40 years, tells us that returning to set two weeks ago was “kind of like stepping into ‘The Twilight Zone.’”
The long-running soap opera — the second daytime drama to resume filming since production was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic — is following COVID measures that Scott, 64, says are stringent and slightly surreal.
“Just entering the building is a process,” she told Page Six in a recent interview of the Los Angeles set. “They take your temperature, they ask you a few questions. There are security wristbands on every floor of the building. We have a team of COVID safety experts on the set making sure that we are observing the precautions.”
Scott said the all the restrictions are hitting the cast hard.
“You think, Oh, I’m going to remember not to hug anybody, not get close. But we’ve all been a family for decades and is just so hard for us and we haven’t seen each other for so long.”
But there are people hovering to make sure no physical contact happens.
“It’s kind of like we’re in kindergarten,” she said with a laugh.
And perhaps there might not be as many smooching scenes as before.
“There’s certain blocking by our directors with everything in mind, as far as keeping us distant but they’re using camera angles to make us look not so distantly apart,” she explained. “The actors are escorted to the set by stage managers when we are ready, It’s just a very, very different land that we are trying to negotiate but at least we are back and I think we are doing a very good job as far as staying safe. But it’s very strange.”
Fellow CBS soap “The Bold and the Beautiful” was the first US broadcast series to resume in mid-July. Both CBS series ran out of original episodes at the end of April and began airing repeats curated into theme weeks. According to Deadline, producers sent out letters to cast and crew informing them that they hoped to restart production July 7, which was subsequently pushed forward a week.
In New York, film and TV productions will gradually start again next month.
Scott’s memoir, “Always Young and Restless: My Life On and Off America’s #1 Daytime Drama,” comes out on August 18.
