Francis was excited to join The Young and the Restless, expressing disappointment in her former daytime role and saying that her fan base would "follow whatever she does."

The character would later develop a romance with Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman), which Francis hoped would give the audience "more insight into who this woman really is".

She also had a brief affair with Jack's business rival Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), which both their families criticized, and was revealed to have had a past with Tucker McCall (Stephen Nichols).

Sara Bibel of Xfinity wrote that the character was not an "audience favorite", feeling that the written material was not on par with Francis' strengths as an actress.

[1][2] Both Francis and Geary were part of the supercouple pairing of Luke and Laura on the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital.

"[2][3][4] A month later in March 2011, it was announced that Francis had landed the newly created role of the mother of Daniel Goddard's character, Cane Ashby, on The Young and the Restless.

[2][3][5][6][7] The casting would reunite her with several of her former General Hospital alumni, including Tristan Rogers, Stephen Nichols, Judith Chapman and Kin Shriner.

[10][11] Co-head writer of The Young and the Restless, Scott Hamner, stated that the role was going to be a "very, very different character than we've seen Genie Francis portray".

"[13] In August 2011, Francis began experiencing lack of screen-time, leading viewers to speculate she had been let go from the soap opera and possibly returning to her General Hospital role.

[19] The soap opera's official website describes her relationship with Colin Atkinson (Tristan Rogers) as "twisted" and "confusing".

[24] In September 2012, following the hiring of former General Hospital executive producer Jill Farren Phelps onto the series, Francis was let go from the soap opera due to budgetary cuts from Sony Pictures Television and CBS.

"[31] Despite confirmations that the actress' dismissal was due to budgetary reasons, Jillian Bowe of Zap2it reported a rumor that "the veteran's tenure on the show wasn't well-received by the brass at CBS and Sony".

Genevieve later lures Colin to her home where she set up a shrine for Samantha and tries to push him off a balcony because he was abducting their grandchildren, Charlie and Mattie Ashby.

Genevieve attempts to bond with Charlie and Mattie, however, Cane's wife Lily Winters (Christel Khalil) is against that as she believes her mother-in-law is dangerous.

Later, Colin locks Genevieve in the wine cellar at her home, planning an explosion that would kill her and Gloria Bardwell (Judith Chapman).

Her stolen money is later found on Cane’s doorstep and her room at the local athletic club is trashed, leading to suspicion that Samantha is alive and doing all of these actions.

When the woman's hotel room was found trashed with blood on the floor, Ronan Malloy (Jeff Branson) considered Genevieve a suspect.

Jamey Giddens of Zap2it wrote of the decision to sign Francis onto the series: "Maria Arena Bell just made Brian Frons kick a puppy in the face.

I don't know if Francis is painfully attempting to channel the late Elizabeth Taylor’s fun, campy turn as Luke and Laura's arch nemesis Helena Cassadine on General Hospital 30 years ago, or going for Evil-Lyn from the old He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon, but she's missing the mark either way."

He also wrote that as much as he would "love to solely blame this performance on the writing—because let’s face it, the story is dreadful—Francis is the one making the choices to jerk, gasp and wince as Genevieve registers each and every emotion or painful memory.

Former General Hospital followers may find her more biting character hard to swallow, and longtime fans of The Young and The Restless have watched her push aside some of their favorites, but Francis has undoubtedly shaken up the local landscape.

She also stated that seeing Francis paired with Tristan Rogers "will be delicious", and that she thought "we can all agree this is a far more exciting addition to the show than Eric Roberts or Sean Young".

She started out as a dark psychopath hellbent on revenge then, when that persona made the character less than viable over the longterm, morphed overnight into an aspiring business woman.

"[33] Omar White-Nobles of TVSource wrote: "Genevieve was determined to bring down her crime lord husband Colin (Tristan Rogers) and attempt to reconcile with her son.

Subsequent attempts to soften the character failed as well, leaving aborted pairings with Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) and Victor Newman (Eric Braeden).

"[34] In 2012, Francis received a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 39th Daytime Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Genevieve.

"[42] However, she lost her bid for the award to former General Hospital co-star Nancy Lee Grahn for her portrayal of Alexis Davis.