Exclusive: David Tom makes his long awaited return to 'The Young and the Restless'

This week, an old fan fave made his long awaited return to The Young and the Restless. As announced in November, Billy Miller, who had portrayed Billy Abbott since 2008, left the role after contract negotiations broke down and he decided to walk in order to pursue other projects (while stating in an interview he would've stayed if negotiations hadn't reached a standstill). I admit I cringed at the thought of who executive producer Jill Farren Phelps would replace Miller with, as she has a noticeable habit of employing actors she's worked with in the past. However, news then broke that David Tom, who previously portrayed Billy and was the first actor to portray him as an adult, would be returning to the role. I thought it was an amazing decision and probably the best choice to replace Killer Miller.

After months of waiting, Tom made his onscreen return this week. Billy is currently injured and we haven't seen him really out and about yet, but it is already clear that he and Amelia Heinle, who portrays Billy's wife Victoria, already have chemistry. I was worried about that and hoped that if they didn't have chemistry, the writers would quickly pull the plug on "Villy". But I guess their chemistry was part of the reason Tom was rehired! At the same time, Kelly Andrews (Cynthia Watros) is still reeling from an affair she had with Billy, and Victoria is obviously being chemistry-tested with Ben "Stitch" Rayburn (Sean Carrigan). As much as I've always loved "Villy", I love Victoria and Stitch together (cleverly dubbed "Sticky") and maybe would want to see them as a couple. However, this does in no way mean I want Billy with Kelly, who is definitely harbouring some secret and is quite frankly very annoying and insecure. All this to say, Tom's portrayal is definitely amazing already and I'm excited for the future, despite some annoying fans on Twitter who keep whining about Miller leaving and are bashing Tom. Ah, newbie fans.

I hope head writers Shelly Altman and Jean Passanante have a helluva great storyline planned for Billy, as I'm sure David Tom will bring it just as well as Billy Miller. The writers are already adding in some crafty dialogue, for example on Thursday's episode when Jill (Jess Walton) was visiting Billy in the hospital and she said, "You're not my grown up Billy anymore. You're my young boy again." Oh writers, how you play with us. Catch The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS.