Daytime TV Performer of the Week: ‘Y&R’s Eric Braeden Plays His Adversaries Like a Fiddle

Michael Maloney October 12, 2025, 9:00 am

Eric Braeden — 'The Young and the Restless' — Sonja Flemming/CBS

Victor Newman’s no stranger to adversaries on The Young and the Restless. A businessman of Victor’s stature would be justified in using a sledgehammer to deal with his foes, but Eric Braeden, who plays the mustached mogul, prefers, at times, to use a surgeon’s scalpel to deal with his enemies.

For his performance as a cerebral strategist, TV Insider is giving Daytime Performer of the Week honors to Braeden.

Recently, Victor invited Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) to join him at his table at Society. Understandably, she was surprised given that they aren’t particularly tight and Phyllis is in bed (figuratively) with Cane (Billy Flynn), who claims to have Artificial Intelligence software that could destroy Victor’s company.

Victor attempted to acquire information from Phyllis, but he realized he could do that by just letting her talk so he could expose her vulnerabilities. Hoping to gain respectability among those she feels has wronged her, Phyllis went on the attack. She told Victor he seemed rattled because Cane was coming for him.

“You know, ‘rattled’ isn’t really the right word,” Victor calmly corrected his coffee companion.

Instead, Victor said he was merely curious. Phyllis theorized that Victor only asked for her company so he could get information from her.

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Rather than resort to an angry shouting match (we’ve seen Victor “I will break you!” Newman do just that when he’s felt it was warranted), Braeden had his character take a more cerebral approach.

That was a wise move as he and Phyllis were in public. While Newman Media wouldn’t likely report on a public shouting match between the two power players, one never knows when a Society patron or two would text a scoop to gossip monger Leanna Love (Barbara Crampton) or post it online on their own social accounts.

Keeping calm, understated tones did nothing to detract from the intensity of the scenes between Braeden and the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning Stafford, whose Phyllis matched TGVN’s (the Great Victor Newman) intensity.

“Has it occurred to you that I may want to warn you?” Victor asked, prompting Phyllis to accuse Victor of trying to screw with her head. She countered that she and Cane were going right to the top.

“Right to the top? I love that,” Victor said with a smile, his arms folded not defensively but rather in total confidence.

Victor may not think much of Phyllis, but he figured she wouldn’t want mutual loved ones like her ex-husband Nicholas (Joshua Morrow) and her daughter, Summer (Allison Lanier), Victor’s son and granddaughter harmed, so, he played those cards.

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“Has it occurred to you that Cane Ashby may do a lot of damage to Nicholas and Summer when he is through with his shenanigans,” Victor pointed out. “That doesn’t matter to you, does it? You’re that desperate, right? Why do I even ask that question. Of course, you are. You always were.”

Victor effortlessly took another swipe at Phyllis when he reminded her that she caused her family great pain after she faked her death. Off Phyllis’s belief that Cane respects her, Victor reminded his former daughter-in-law that respect is not given, it is earned.

The more Phyllis asserted herself and spoke with confidence about her goals and plans, the more Victor grew bemused. “We’ll see about that,” he said before getting up.

Victor may have been slightly entertained by Phyllis’s bravado, but he didn’t give her an inch of satisfaction in terms of taking her speeches seriously. As a final act of showing just how in control he was, Victor said as an aside to the wait staff, “Put it on my tab, please.”

Bravo to Braeden for showing why Victor Newman is always in charge, why every chair he sits upon is a throne, and why he’s confident that he will emerge as the victor in his battle with Cane.

The Young and the Restless, Weekdays, CBS