The Young And Restless Tv
Series
The Young and the Restless is another American daytime drama,
created by Lee Phillip Bell and William J. Bell for the CBS
television network. Set in a fictional incarnation of Genoa
City, Wisconsin, it was first aired in March of 1973. It was
originally broadcast in half-hour installments, five days
a week, before it went to a full hour in February of 1980.
The show also airs in syndication, both on Soapnet and internationally.
The Young and the Restless is one of the few successful shows
that was able to “write out” almost all of the original characters,
replacing them with new faces. Since ‘84, Jill Foster Abbott
has been the only remaining original character. The show’s
original focus was the interpersonal and professional relationships
of two families; the well-to-do Brooks family and the less-wealthy
Foster clan. Over the ensuing years, other families, such
as the Winters, the Newmans, and the Fisher/Baldwins were
introduced. One theme that keeps popping up is the rivalry
between Katherine Chancellor and Jill Abbott, which is one
of the most enduring rivalries in TV history.
Since its inception, the show has won many awards, such as
seven Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series. Right now,
it’s the most popular drama on American TV, and since 2008,
it has enjoyed over one hundred weeks at the top of the Nielsen
ratings.
William and Lee Phillip Bell created the show under the title
“The Innocent Years” because they believed that the country
was losing its innocence. However, they changed to the current
title to reflect the mood and the climate of the seventies.
Since it started in 1973, the show was produced and distributed
by Columbia Pictures’ television arm, and its production values
were unique because they focused on setting and environment
at least as much as they did dialogue and story.
The innovative filming style of The Young and the Restless
has influenced a lot of other daytime dramas. The show was
lengthened to an hour due to network and affiliate pressure,
but the extended time led to the departure of quite a few
of the original cast. This in turn led to the recasting of
the main characters and the gradual “writing out” of the original
families. Even with all the recasts, changes, ratings decreases,
and controversies, The Young and the Restless is a show that
will be popular with viewers for a long, long time.
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