Television series

The Young and the Restless

Name: The Young and the Restless
Genre: Drama, Family, Romance
Released: 1973
Cast: Joshua Morrow, Eric Braeden, Terry Lester, Peter Bergman, Heather Tom

Family drama

The Young and the Restless is a daytime soap opera that's been running since 1973, following interconnected families through decades of romance, scandal, and melodrama. It's visual comfort food—designed to be lived with rather than watched intently, rewarding long-term investment with payoff that feels earned. For people who love intricate character webs and aren't afraid of soap opera conventions.

TVMaze rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a soap that rewards years of memory, where a glance across a boardroom carries decades of grudges and the family feuds feel personal.

Skip it if you want a self-contained story you can finish in one sitting, since some 5,825 episodes of intertwined history will leave you lost without dedicated catching up.

What it asks of you: Long stretches of talk, scenes that linger, an hour per sitting, and storylines that simmer for months before anything resolves, measured out at a pace built for daily viewing.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Bold and the Beautiful1987

The spiritual sibling soap with equally gorgeous people, impossible circumstances, and a fashion house setting that gives it distinctive texture. If you love the Newman/Abbott dynastic energy, this delivers it with style and glamour.

But It's even more plot-driven and less character-focused than Y&R, which means emotional beats can feel thin. The fashion storylines won't land if you don't care about haute couture drama.

Dynasty1981

Prime-time soap that captures the same family-feud energy but with higher production values and more money on screen. Addictive, gorgeous, and unapologetic about its own absurdity. The Carringtons are the Newmans with better shoulders and worse dialogue.

But It's campy in ways that undercut dramatic moments. If you want your melodrama played straight, the winking tone will be distracting or off-putting.

Succession2018

Modern dynasty drama with the same core architecture: powerful family, internal warfare, money as both weapon and addiction, and characters you despise but cannot stop watching. It's Y&R with a HBO budget and no commercial breaks.

But It's brutally cynical and offers almost no catharsis—characters don't grow, they only scheme. The tone is acidic rather than romantic, and nobody gets a happy ending.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Young and the Restless

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Imitation of Life1934

Both build meaning through family legacies and generational conflict; both understand that melodrama is a valid form for exploring real social anxiety about class, inheritance, and belonging.

Douglas Sirk's masterpiece about family secrets, status anxiety, and impossible choices—the melodramatic DNA of soap operas, but compressed into two hours and executed with visual perfection. It's what Y&R would be if it had a cinematographer and a Technicolor budget.

But It's 90 minutes of heightened emotion without release. The pacing is glacial, and if you need plot momentum or lighter moments, the relentless intensity will exhaust you.

General Hospital1963

The longest-running American soap still on air, with five decades of interconnected storylines and a mix of hospital drama, crime, and family saga. If you love Y&R's longevity and mythic quality, this is the other pillar of daytime television.

But Older episodes have dated production values and pacing that feels glacial by modern standards. The show's been revived and reset so many times that continuity becomes a barrier to entry.

Santa Barbara1984

A soap that perfected the balance between romance and adventure, with a gorgeous California setting and a supernatural edge that elevated it above typical daytime fare. Tragically canceled too early, but what exists is compulsively watchable.

But It only ran nine seasons, so there's no decades-long investment payoff. If you need that multigenerational weight, the time scale feels too brief.

Knots Landing1979

Prime-time soap about an interconnected cul-de-sac of families dealing with contemporary issues—addiction, affairs, business schemes. Grounded and genuinely tense, with better writing than most network dramas of its era.

But The ensemble format means no single character dominates, which can feel diffuse. Less glamorous than Dynasty, less romantic than Y&R—it sits in an awkward middle ground.

All My Children1970

The companion daytime juggernaut with similar DNA: interconnected families, decades of mythology, and occasional departures into camp. Pine Valley has its own distinct ecosystem and a devoted fanbase for good reason.

But Harder to access than Y&R legally, and the early 2010s revival was poorly executed. Starting decades in is almost impossible without massive time investment or plot summaries.

Coronation Street1960

British soap with even longer tenure than Y&R, proving the form transcends geography. Working-class warmth instead of wealth, but the same addiction to long-form storytelling and character investment. Genuinely funny without winking.

But The cultural specificity is real—British working-class rhythm and humor won't click if you're not already attuned to it. Episodes are shorter and air more frequently, creating a different pacing.

Days of Our Lives1965

The soap that embraced pure fantasy: time travel, possession, evil twins. If you love Y&R's romantic core but want something weirder and less grounded in family business drama, Days leans into melodrama without apology.

But The willingness to do literally anything can feel narratively unmoored. Character continuity is a suggestion rather than a rule, which breaks the engine that makes long-form soaps work.

902102008

Both use a contained setting and ensemble cast to explore how personal drama becomes myth; both understand that soap opera pacing—slow, relationship-driven, forgiving of narrative tangents—creates genuine investment.

The reboot that understood soaps better than the original series: take a familiar template (Beverly Hills high school) and fill it with actual character depth and serialized storytelling that rewards investment. It's Y&R for people who grew up on MTV.

But It's glossy teen drama, not family saga. If you need complexity and adult stakes, the focus on school gossip and romantic triangles will feel shallow and regressive.

Passion2013

Both are long-form family sagas built on secrets and reversals; Passion is what Y&R would become if it embraced soap opera conventions fully rather than hedging its bets toward mainstream television respectability.

A Spanish-language soap that aired on American TV, proving the form thrives globally. Intricate plot machinery, stunning locations, and the distinct flavor of Latin American telenovela: higher stakes emotionally, faster plot turns, more willing to go operatic.

But Subtitles required. The pacing is faster and more melodramatic than American soaps, which can feel exhausting if you're used to Y&R's slower burn. It ran only four seasons, so no deep well.