Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (2024)

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The Young and the Restless
News

Dustin Cushman

Saturday, August 24th, 2024

Credit: CBS screenshot

In a Young & Restless preview for the week of August 26 – 30, is Daniel’s daughter repeating his tragic history? Read on for the details and watch the video below.

Even before the massive troubles that Kyle and Summer faced, including fighting over Harrison, Kyle and Claire seemed to click. More importantly, Claire and Harrison clicked and became close during the ordeal with her crazy Aunt Jordan. Kyle hired her to be Harrison’s nanny, which took a lot of convincing for Summer to go along with. Now, the little boy’s life could be upended once again.

Coming up, Victor tells Kyle, “I think it may be time for Claire to, you know, make a change. So why don’t you start looking for a replacement.” Kyle squints, “Are you asking me to fire her?”

More: Cameron’s disappointing return

After the incident with the booze and the concert, Lucy found herself grounded and getting a stern talking to and a history lesson from her dad. However, even that couldn’t keep her from obeying the rules, and she snuck out of her house and met up with Faith. She wanted them to be friends, but Faith felt Lucy needed friends her age.

Next week, at the hospital, Nick, standing with Sharon, asks Daniel, who is with Heather, “Lucy was in an accident?” Daniel replies, “Yeah. Why are you here?” Sharon says, “Faith.” Daniel asks, “Faith was in the car too?”

After overhearing Adam and Chelsea in the park, Billy and Sally were suspicious of what had happened between them in Baltimore. Sally confronted Adam, who lied to her face. However, Chelsea finally came clean with Billy, a fact Adam learned from Chelsea after having just deceived Sally!

Next week, Billy tells Adam, as Sally behind him says, “Chelsea told me the truth. She had the courage to be honest with me. You didn’t have any courage, did you?” Adam advances toward him, shouting, “Get out of my place right now. You are drunk, and you need to go home and sleep it off.” Sally yells, “No! Let him stay.” Is Sally about to learn once again that she can’t trust Adam?

Be sure to read ourspoilers to find out who has some advice for Phyllis, and what Nikki has to tell Lily.

Check out our gallery below of the40 best soapsof all time!

Video: Young & Restless/YouTube

Network: NBC. Run: 1969-72. Setting: The Midwestern town of Bancroft. The reason for the ranking: Oof. There was just no saving this soap created by Another World execs Harding Lemay and Paul Rauch. The title was changed from Lovers and Friends. It was put on hiatus for months to be retooled. But no matter what tweaks were made to its cast of haves and have-nots, what Bright Promise never had was an audience. Pictured: That’s Susan Brown, later Gail Baldwin on General Hospital, and Dabney Coleman, who famously <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/the-young-and-the-restless/news/589746/young-restless-eric-braeden-victor-newman-anniversary-tribute/" target="_blank">talked Eric Braeden into joining</a> The Young and the Restless.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (10)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

2/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1950-52. Setting: New York, NY. The reason for the ranking: The first daytime drama to get its start as a daytime drama (not a radio serial) didn’t last nearly as long as its title seemed to hope that it would — and it certainly didn’t get to The Second Hundred Years. But it did pave the way for Guiding Light to cross over from radio to television, and for that, we’ll always be grateful.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (11)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

3/40

Network: ABC. Run: 1964-66. Setting: Queen’s Point, NY. The reason for the ranking: James Elward’s soap put under the microscope the relationships of three couples — you know, the young marrieds that gave the show its title. And it did OK for ABC, which was just getting into the soap game at the time. But OK wasn’t going to cut it, not when the daytime drama was up against CBS’ The Edge of Night, which back then was a smash and a half. Pictured: That’s future movie star Charles Grodin, the show’s second Matt Crane.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (12)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

Network: CBS. Run: 1953-57. The reason for the ranking: Simple by today’s standards, Adrian Spies’ serial tested the endurance of its long-suffering heroine, Helen Emerson, a widowed mother of three whose problems always seemed to grow while her bank account shrank. Fun fact: Helen Wagner passed through the soap on her way to her long-running role of Nancy Hughes on As the World Turns.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (13)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

5/40

Network: ABC. Run: 1970-71. The reason for the ranking: Though the show lasted only a year, it had a promising premise. Written by Guiding Light, As the World Turns and Another World creator Irna Phillips’ adopted daughter Katherine, it was a fictionalized account of Mom’s struggles to raise her adopted daughters, one of whom was played by future movie star Susan Sarandon. (That’s her on the left.)

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (14)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

6/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1972-74. Setting: The New England town of Peyton Place. The reason for the ranking: We’re sure it seemed like a great idea at the time, picking up where the primetime soap had left off. But with most of the characters having been recast — including those who’d made the Allison McKenzie/Rodney Harrington/Betty Anderson triangle such a hit —this continuation felt less like going home than going nowhere.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (15)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

7/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1977-78. Setting: Point Clair, Ill. The reason for the ranking: Nothing, it seemed, could redeem this soap, which was created by Another World vets Harding Lemay and Paul Rauch. When Lovers and Friends stumbled out of the gate, the network put it on hiatus for seven months, changed its title to For Richer, For Poorer and altered characters’ names, address and even relationships. Didn’t work, but hey, credit for trying. Pictured: That’s Christine Jones, who played Amy Gifford on both Another World and For Richer, For Poorer before returning to Bay City as unhinged Janice Frame.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (16)

Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

8/40

Network: ABC. Run: 1964-66. Setting: Haviland. The reason for the ranking: Alas, changing the title of this soap to A Time for Us midway through its short run did not alter the audience’s tepid response to it. Once the show wrapped its kickoff story, in which wealthy Kate Austen wrote a Peyton Place-like novel about Haviland, it switched directions, erased any and all class conflict and focused on young love stories. Spoiler alert: It was too late.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (17)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

9/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1960-62. Setting: Cape Canaveral, Fla. The reason for the ranking: One of the first soaps to shoot on location — no, not in outer space! — The Clear Horizon orbited the lives of astronauts and their wives. Unfortunately, it didn’t make viewers see stars, even after Edge of Night writer Irving Vendig was brought aboard to pilot the ship. So after just two years, the show crashed and burned.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (18)

Image: Dramatic Creations/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

10/40

Network: ABC. Run: 1995-97. Setting: New York, NY. The reason for the ranking: As thankful as we were that ABC didn’t altogether cancel Loving but rebrand it and relocate it from Corinth to Soho, we can’t say that the experiment wasn’t an admirable failure. Neither the hiring of All My Children’s Debbi Morgan or General Hospital vet Jane Elliot — both reprising their previous roles —sparked enough interest to really put The City on the map. Pictured: You might recognize Amelia Heinle (now Victoria Newman on The Young and the Restless), Laura Wright (now Carly Spencer on General Hospital) and Ted King (now Jack Finnegan on The Bold and the Beautiful).

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (19)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

11/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1958-61. Setting: The New England town of Strathfield. The reason for the ranking: Hard to believe there was once a soap on the air that was considered too smart. But that was said to be the downfall of this daytime drama that followed future Edge of Night star Ann Food’s Liz Fraser back to her hometown, where she paved the way for Viki Buchanan as she took over her family’s newspaper.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (20)

Image: John Paschal/JPI

12/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1997-99. Setting: Sunset Beach, Calif. The reason for the ranking: Primetime powerhouse Aaron Spelling’s first (and last) foray into daytime television tried to make spectacles its stock in trade. Remember the tsunami? The Terror Island killer? For Pete’s sake, the turkey-baster incident? But no matter how big it went, the audience shrugged and suggested that Spelling go home to Melrose Place. Pictured: That’s Eddie Cibrian, who following his stint as Matt Clark on The Young and the Restless, replaced George Hamilton’s son Ashley as Cole Deschanel.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (21)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

13/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1939-60 (radio), 1958-63 (TV). Setting: Denison, Md. The reason for the ranking: This uber-traditional soap wasn’t ever going to be remembered as a daring trailblazer. But for years, stories centering on a father/son pair of M.D.s remained a prescription that the audience wanted to have filled and refilled. Fun fact: In 1964, William Prince, who played the older Dr. Malone married leading lady Augusta Dabney IRL.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (22)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

14/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1969-73. Setting: Northcross, Conn. The reason for the ranking: As scandalous as Peyton Place, especially for the time, Where the Heart Is was an eyebrow-raising blast. But despite a cast that included James Mitchell, prior to his star turn as Palmer Cortlandt on All My Children, the show was a ratings underdog that was cancelled to make room for The Young and the Restless.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (23)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

15/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1954-56 (radio), 1954-62 (TV). Setting: New Hope, Wis. The reason for the ranking: An offshoot of the radio soap Joyce Jordan, M.D., this Irna Phillips drama about the Reverend Richard Dennis and his kids was unique in that it was the first serial to place religion at its core. The Brighter Day is also noteworthy for being the first daytime drama to sign a Black actor to a contract. (That would be Rex Ingram as minister Victor Graham.)

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (24)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

16/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1982-87. Setting: Washington, D.C. The reason for the ranking: Had this soap come after The West Wing, maybe it would have gotten viewers’ votes. As it was, Capitol fared well, not fantastically, regardless of the fact that it was anchored by dueling matriarchs Myrna Clegg and Clarissa McCandless, played first by no less than Carolyn “Morticia Addams” Jones and future General Hospital baddie Constance Towers.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (25)

Image: John Paschal/JPI

17/40

Network: NBC, The 101 Network. Run: 1999-2007 (NBC), 2007-08 (DirectTV’s The 101 Network). Setting: Harmony. The reason for the ranking: Repetitive and loony, James E. Reilly’s supernatural soap had absolutely no boundaries. It threw at us everything from witches and zombies to an upside-down penis and a child born to a conniver who set out to seduce his own father. What it didn’t throw at us, however, was enough real feeling to be more than a goofy diversion.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (26)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

18/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1980-82. Setting: Dallas, Texas. The reason for the ranking: This Another World spinoff learned the hard way that it’s dangerous to build a whole show around a single — and singularly popular — character, in this case the legendary Beverlee McKinsey’s viperish Bay City transplant Iris Carrington. When the actress expressed her displeasure with the soap’s writing by bailing after a year, she took the audience with her.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (27)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

19/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1967-73. Setting: San Francisco, Calif. The reason for the ranking: Controversy — or, rather, the avoidance of it — was a hallmark of this offshoot of the 1955 movie of the same name. Anytime viewers clutched their pearls — whether over an interracial romance or, oh my, a woman lusting after her sister’s man — the network slammed the brakes on the plot. Still, there was no denying the star power of Donna Mills and Leslie Charleson as the sibling rivals. Pictured: That’s Charleson on the right, a few years away from joining General Hospital as a <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/general-hospital/news/639171/general-hospital-leslie-charleson-debut-anniversary-monica-tribute/" target="_blank">recast Monica Webber</a>.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (28)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

20/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1954-74. Setting: Woodbridge, NY. The reason for the ranking: This Roy Winsor-created daytime drama might still be raging, had it not been bought from its original sponsor in 1969. Under the network’s care, one headwriter after another came and went, with each transition blurring the show’s focus on the Ames family, in particular trouble magnet Amy, whose portrayer Jada Rowland grew up in the role.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (29)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

21/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1970-76. Setting: Somerset, Ill. The reason for the ranking: Whether its characters suffered identity crises, the show itself sure did. Originally, it was an Another World spinoff focused on Missy Matthews and Lahoma and Sam Lucas. But after a headwriter switch found Henry Slesar turning the soap into a crime drama a la The Edge of Night, subsequent regimes struggled to marry the traditional suds format and the one that he’d implemented. Pictured: That’s Lahoma’s portrayer Ann Wedgeworth, a Tony winner who is perhaps best known for her roles on the sitcoms Three’s Company and Evening Shade.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (30)

Image: NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

22/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1989-91. Setting: Chicago, Ill. The reason for the ranking: Daytime’s first and, until <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/the-gates/news/741857/the-gates-characters-new-soap/" target="_blank">The Gates</a> was announced in 2023, only Blackcentric soap deserves a helluva lot of credit for trying to diversify the genre. But no matter what NBC did — including recruiting fan favorites Debbi Morgan and James Reynolds from other shows — it couldn’t attract a large enough viewership to see the drama through to a second… well… generation. Pictured: That’s a baby-faced Kristoff St. John (en route to The Young and the Restless as Neil Winters) with Generations parents Taurean Blacque and Joan Pringle.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (31)

Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images

23/40

Network: ABC. Run: 1983-95. Setting: Corinth, Pa. The reason for the ranking: Agnes Nixon and Douglas Marland’s “baby” was largely a by-the-numbers soap opera, reliable but not necessarily engrossing. Still, we’d have ranked it higher for the murder mystery that it launched to dispatch most of its cast before morphing into the show at No. 31 if we weren’t so bitter about it having stolen the time slot of — and, in essence, killed — the daytime drama at No. 5. Pictured: That’s Susan Walters (now Diane Jenkins on The Young and the Restless) with Christopher Marcantel as cousin Curtis Alden. Ironically, Walters would go on to marry Marcantel’s replacement, Linden Ashby.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (32)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

24/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1951-80. Setting: Barrowsville, NY. The reason for the ranking: Initially sold as “the exciting story of Vanessa Dale and her courageous struggle for human dignity” — mainly against her naughty sister Meg! — Roy Winsor’s soap faltered when it veered away from its black-and-white take on good and evil. Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer set about righting the ship, but their exits as headwriters sank it for good. Pictured: That mustachioed man is none other than John Aniston as Eddie Aleata a decade before he’d land at Days of Our Lives as Victor Kiriakis.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (33)

Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images

25/40

Network: ABC. Run: 1997-2003. Setting: Port Charles, NY. The reason for the ranking: No two ways about it, the General Hospital spinoff was ahead of its time — and, taking into account the legacy of the soap at No. 14, behind them, too. Once its medical residents were displaced from the spotlight by Michael Easton’s sexy vampire Caleb Morley, it was love at first bite for viewers… just not enough of them to keep the show alive.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (34)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

26/40

Network: CBS, NBC. Run: 1951-82 (CBS), 1982-86 (NBC). Setting: Henderson. The reason for the ranking: At the time, we probably thought that this soap was run-of-the-mill, nothing special. Looking back now, though, we can appreciate its largely solid writing, its ability to know a good thing when it saw it (in particular, Michael Corbett as bad boy Warren Carter) and the sense of stability that was provided by Jo Gardner, played for all 35 years of the show by Mary Stuart.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (35)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

27/40

Network: ABC. Run: 1966-71. Setting: Collinsport, Maine. The reason for the ranking: There’s a very good reason that every so often somebody tries to revive this supernatural soap as a movie or a primetime series. Vampire Barnabas Collins, sorceress Angelique Bouchard and werewolf Quentin Collins all but raised the show from its premature grave, turning a deathly dull drama into a monster smash.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (36)

Image: George DeSota/JPI

28/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1956-2010. Setting: Oakdale, Ill. The reason for the ranking: We can’t say that in its 50+ years on the air Irna Phillips’ down-to-earth soap didn’t indulge in the occasional flight of fancy. (Remember James Stenbeck trapping estranged wife Barbara Ryan with a raging bull?) But at the end of the day, and at the end of its run, As the World Turns remained true to its core: love and family.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (37)

Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images

29/40

Run: 1956-75 (CBS), 1975-84 (ABC). Setting: Monticello (Capital City). The reason for the ranking: If Law & Order had been a soap opera, it would have been this one. Originally conceived as a daytime adaption of Perry Mason, The Edge of Night made its bread and butter crime and punishment rather than love and romance. The concept was — and remains — so winning that we’ll go to our graves saying that the show is <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/soaps/news/587800/edge-of-night-cancelled-soap-anniversary-reboot/" target="_blank">ripe for a reboot</a>.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (38)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

30/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1963-82. Setting: The New England town of Madison. The reason for the ranking: The Grey’s Anatomy of its time, Orin Tovrov’s soap made pulses race by prescribing its titular M.D.s a sense of humor and a mile-wide competitive streak that made them adversaries as often as it did allies. The Doctors also shone a spotlight on Elizabeth Hubbard, who won the first Best Actress Daytime Emmy for her portrayal of Althea Davis.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (39)

Image: NBCUniversal/Getty Images

31/40

Network: NBC, Peacock. Run: 1965-2022 (NBC), 2022-present (Peacock). Setting: Salem, Ill. The reason for the ranking: Back in the day, this soap churned out supercouples like it had an assembly line. Roman and Marlena, Bo and Hope, Jack and Jennifer, Patch and Kayla… Need we go on? Alas, a few successful trips over the top — for starters, to bury Carly Manning alive and bring Satan to Salem — left the show in need of grounding, ideally in reality.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (40)

Image: Denise Guignebourg/JPI

32/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1987-present. Setting: Los Angeles, Calif. The reason for the ranking: Styles may change, but William J. and Lee Phillip Bell’s soap set in the fashion industry never really does. For better or worse, it always reverts to its tried-and-true formula of family members bickering over control of Forrester Creations and a love triangle constructed for the sole purpose of complicating Brooke Logan and Ridge Forrester’s destiny.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (41)

Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

33/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1937-56 (radio), 1952-2009 (CBS). Setting: Springfield, Ill. The reason for the ranking: Guiding Light may have gone out with a whimper as a cheaply produced soap grasping at straws to stave off cancellation. But for decades, it kept viewers on the edge of their seats as they followed the exploits of one iconic character (scarlet woman Reva Shayne) after another (playboy Alan Spaulding) after another (ruthless Roger Thorpe).

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (42)

Image: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

34/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1964-99. Setting: Bay City, Ill. The reason for the ranking: As every soap does, Irna Phillips and William J. Bell’s team-up ebbed and flowed in terms of quality over the course of its long run. But at the peak of its popularity in the 1970s — largely owing to the Alice Matthews/Steven Frame/Rachel Davis love triangle — it was such a mega-hit that it expanded to 90 minutes a day and spawned not one but two spinoffs.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (43)

Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

35/40

Network: ABC, The Online Network. Run: 1968-2012 (ABC), 2013 (TOLN). Setting: Llanview, Pa. The reason for the ranking: Though over the decades it veered further and further away from creator Agnes Nixon’s original concept of Llanview as a melting pop for a diverse population of different ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds, we have — and always will have — fond memories of the stretches when the show held a mirror to the world we all live in. OK, fine, and when it took us to Eterna, too!

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (44)

Image: Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images

36/40

Network: ABC. Run: 1975-89. Setting: New York, NY. The reason for the ranking: All these years later, Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer’s soap about Johnny and Maeve Ryan’s sprawling Irish-Catholic family remains arguably the smartest in daytime history. At its best, its half-hour episodes unfolded like mini-plays that served its cast meaty material that they devoured as hungrily as viewers who were grateful not to be treated as dumb.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (45)

Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

37/40

Network: ABC, The Online Network. Run: 1970-2011 (ABC), 2013 (TOLN). Setting: Pine Valley, Pa. The reason for the ranking: The brainchild of Agnes Nixon not only introduced <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/gallery/soaps-most-iconic-characters-ranked/" target="_blank">daytime’s most iconic character</a> — Susan Lucci’s self-absorbed glamour girl Erica Kane — it tackled hot-button topics like the Vietnam War, AIDS and abortion with a fearlessness that is altogether missing from the remaining daytime dramas.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (46)

Image: New World Releasing/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

38/40

Network: NBC. Run: 1984-93. Setting: Santa Barbara, Calif. The reason for the ranking: Witty. Emotional. Daring. Once Bridget and Jerome Dobson’s soap hit its stride under EP Jill Farren Phelps, every other daytime drama paled in comparison. And not for nothing, but Santa Barbara gave us the unparalleled pairing of A Martinez and Marcy Walker as star-crossed lovers Cruz Castillo and Eden Capwell, one of <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/gallery/soap-operas-best-couples-all-time-ranked-list-photos/" target="_blank">soapdom’s all-time greatest couples</a>.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (47)

Image: Bernard Boudreau/TV Guide/CBS /Courtesy of the Everett Collection

39/40

Network: CBS. Run: 1973-present. Setting: Genoa City, Wis. The reason for the ranking: CBS’ top-rated soap may not be in top form these days — enough with the musical CEOs! — but it still ranks high, owing to co-creators William J. and Lee Phillip Bell’s provocative initial concept and the ensuing Golden Age that made epic rivals of Katherine Chancellor and Jill Foster, and Victor Newman and Jack Abbott.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (48)

Image: ABC

40/40

Network: ABC. Run: 1963-present. Setting: Port Charles, NY. The reason for the ranking: With an enviable gift for reinvention, the longest-running American soap that’s still airing has transformed itself from a traditional medical drama to an action-adventure thrill ride to its current form. Which is? A mostly well-balanced serial in which romance and family strife are set against a backdrop of Mob plots and corporate intrigue.

Young & Restless Preview: Billy Confronts Adam Over His Latest Infidelity — and Victor Makes a Demand of Kyle (2024)

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