Y&R’s Ratings Increase and Reign As Daytime Leader Makes Sense

The Young and the Restless spoilers continues to document how many viewers are watching this and the other remaining soap operas. This week’s ratings’ release, for the viewing week ending September 7, 2018, shows that slightly over four million live daily viewers were watching Y&R.

Y&R is playing in its forty-fifth year. It’s also standing as the scripted daytime ratings’ leader for twenty-nine consecutive years. Those points naturally make the show a target of contrarians everywhere. But detractors haven’t impacted the heaviest bulk of this genre’s from choosing to consume time-tested entertainment.

Everyone knows that it’s not twenty, thirty, or whatever number of years ago are subjectively considered to have been the golden age of soap. All who are watching today have chosen to like current daytime drama, or dramas. There’s no legitimate reason to question the intentions of all who do so.

All actors, behind-the-scenes staff, and powers that be are currently working under a three-year greenlight that will see Y&R remain alive through 2020. Whether it lives past that moment in time is a hypothetical distraction.

Escapist entertainment isn’t meant to be Shakespeare. Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) isn’t Willy Loman, a classic character who doesn’t need to be detailed for true supporters of the arts.

Y&R recently received an increased ratings bump for a simple reason. A specific storyline was highlighted, that being Shick’s intended remarriage.

Sharon (Sharon Case) and Nick (Joshua Morrow) are considered legacy characters, basically meaning that these alter ego’s are central parts of the show. Their love story and heartbreaks are known and more importantly, felt, by millions of fans.

Shick the Sequel didn’t happen, but people tuned in to watch because they still care. And they still will as long as the Newman clan and those who are connected to it live in Genoa City, Wisconsin.

Those who like the show watch because the J.T. (Thad Luckinbill) storyline is reaching its climax, Jack’s (Peter Bergman) paternity arc is creative and intriguing, Lily’s (Christel Khalil) prison sentence evokes emotion for the Ashby family, the Rosales’ family represents a fresh path for GC, and on from there.

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Is it plausible to believe that the major North American broadcast network’s streaming services many eventually serve as a home to this and other soap operas sometime in the next decade? Yes. Will that prove sustainable? No one knows.

But for now, Y&R is and will remain the most popular soap opera available on daytime television. The other three dramas (The Bold and the Beautiful, General Hospital, and Days of our Lives) also represent quality entertainment that fans of those shows, which include many crossover viewers, rightfully love.

Worrying about the future is never wise. So, enjoy what’s available today on both sides of the screen.

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