Lauralee Bell Looks Back At 40 Years As Y&R's Christine 'Cricket' Blair
Ava Bailey The CBS interview with "The Young and the Restless" star Lauralee Bell was intermingled with clips of her early years on the show, and the actor pointed out, while looking back, that viewers could more easily identify with a real teenager. "The Cricket/Danny thing was, you know, super sweet because it was a crush, and she was never going to get this guy," she remarked, adding that the audience was thrilled as the relationship progressed, with fans saying, "'Oh my gosh, I can't believe it, they're holding hands' and 'Oh my gosh, he kissed her!'"
Bell added that when Michael Damian left the show, it was challenging to have the audience believe Cricket with another man. The soap star shared that the slow progression for Christine to move on with Paul Williams surprisingly worked, adding that it came across as truly believable, and the show found new magic. Bell also credited Lee Phillip Bell with informing her father and fellow co-creator, William J. Bell, that he could use the medium to impart lessons to the audience about topical messages.
The viewers would buy into them because they were already familiar and comfortable with the characters. Lauralee also credited the love of the fans with helping maintain the show's longevity, explaining that when she gets to meet them and see the happiness in their eyes, "I mean, we're all a kind of team to keep this going [for] 50 years."