Y&R Renewed

[OLTL_fan]

CBS Press Release:

CBS RENEWS “The Young AND The Restless” FOR THREE MORE YEARS

Show Has Been #1 Daytime Drama for Nearly 22 Years

CBS’s The Young AND The Restless, television’s #1 Daytime Drama, has been renewed through the 2013-2014 season.

“The Young AND The Restless has been the #1 daytime drama on television for more than two decades, as well as an enduring symbol of CBS’s success in the daypart,” said Barbara Bloom, Senior Vice President, Daytime, CBS. “Our audience’s beloved characters in Genoa City will continue to flourish under the leadership of Head Writer and Executive Producer Maria Bell and the wonderful storytelling ahead.”

This season, The Young AND The Restless is first among daytime dramas in viewers (5.15m), women 18-49 (1.7/11) and women 25-54 (2.3/14).

The Young AND The Restless has been the #1-rated daytime drama for nearly 22 years. The show is broadcast weekdays(12:30-1:30 PM, ET; 11:00 AM-12:00 Noon, PT) on the CBS Television Network and is produced by Bell Dramatic Serial Company, in association with Sony Pictures Television.

[All My Shadows]

THREE years for Y&R! Good job, Y&R! You GO, Y&R!!!

And none for Maria Arena Bell. Goodbye!

[Gray Bunny]

Glad to know that both shows, "The Young" AND "The Restless" are being renewed

[DeeeDee]

+1.

[Soapsuds]

At this point I could care less since I dont watch it anymore.

[Michael]

LOL!

Nevertheless, congrats to the Y&R fans, and to the cast and crew who no doubt bust their asses and have some amount of job security right now. My wish is that you all get an overhaul at the top now...

[Vee]

I'll admit I'm surprised. It's clear CBS wants out of the soap game. But while Y&R is turning into a dreadful ABC soap clone - it's now worse than at least OLTL IMO - I agree with others in that this is a kind of good news because where there is life, no matter how feeble, there is hope. Y&R will be the last soap to go, if they must go, so this gives everyone more of a clock. And CBS would not have done this if they had anything, anything at all to replace the soap opera with. The trick now is for the genre to stay ahead of the game and rebuild and make itself fully relevant, and essential, again. Unfortunately that's a losing prospect right now because none of the shows are as of yet truly willing to make those kind of changes, or management is reluctant.

I think almost all upper management at these networks want out of soaps in the end - the 'embarrassment on the resume' - so they resist sea changes that could give soaps new life. More diversity, gays, lesbians, the layered, informed storytelling people want. Any soap that comes close to having all these elements gets punished. Because everyone in the upper echelon seems fixed on making any potential future employer who might tune in to their show see something vaguely, superficially primetime-like or cable-like - like JFP turning AW's opening into a NYPD Blue/ER gangbang all those years ago - instead of seizing on the storytelling, concepts and risks that make cable or primetime into cable or primetime. Everything being done on the flagship shows - GH, Y&R - is about proving something to someone else, proving some executive's range, some creative personnel's "ability," as opposed to servicing the show they are actually working on. And herein is the problem.

I detest what has become of Y&R but I applaud its survival. Every breath these shows take, in whatever condition, is another moment to survive. As for my show, I honestly did not believe OLTL would make it through this year, though I was much prouder of its condition this time last year then I am now; I think it is improving again lately, but still has huge defects. But while it's here, and trying, while any soap is, then there is more to be done. There is still a genre, a tradition and institution that can one day, possibly, be updated and properly cared for and nourished again. This is an American institution and these shows should be preserved, as so many British television staples are.

[Khan]

I hope the current regime at Y&R doesn't get too comfortable, because every dog has his day. Am I right, Jeff Zucker?

[DRW50]

They know they can do anything they want and will go nowhere, because CBS will just be in autopilot mode until they have a good reason to cancel.

What I wonder is how they manage to make everything so incredibly boring. It's like someone telling the world's longest dirty joke and then forgetting the punch line.

[bellcurve]

The only thing that will kill Y&R will be Price is Right being canceled or Y&R moving timeslots.

[Toups]

So no budget cut for the next 3 years? I thought people said there would be budget cuts coming?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

The last time Y&R was renewed in late 2007/early 2008, we didn't hear of any budget reports. Remember when Maria Arena Bell was running to the press with her arrogant self about how they wouldn't be effected by budget cuts like DAYS was experiencing at the time? I believe it was in the Michael Logan interview.

Fast-forward to the end of 2008 when she went spinning sh!t to Nelson about how the show's budget was cut by 40% when it was last renewed and how there was nothing she could do about it.

It will probably be a while yet before we knew the full details of the renewals. I seriously doubt they got an increased budget and I doubt the budget will remain the same for the next three years given the overall economy and state of soap ratings/demos.

[bellcurve]

Yep. I bet this contract has outs and provisions just like any other Hollywood contract.

[sheilaforever]

You're probably right.

Just last November CBS shredded the original licensing contracts with both Y&R (ca. 1 year before its end) AND B&B (more than 2 years before the end of cycle) and pushed through those reduced licensing fees. If ratings continue to erode, both Bell shows might have been renewed for several years on paper, but reality might cause the contrary.

[Sylph]

If only Barbara Bloom staged a coup and hounded Maria out of the job.