The Young and the Restless could learn from Days of Our Lives how to treat soap vets

The Young and the Restless should respect veteran characters

Soap fans who enjoy both Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless cannot help but notice the disparity when it comes to older veteran actors. Y&R fired Doug Davidson who had been portraying Paul Williams for 40 years. Fans were outraged and even signed a petition but the powers that be ignored their pleas.

Christian LeBlanc who has played Michael Baldwin for 3 decades is on backburner status and Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) and Melody Scott Thomas (Nikki Newman) are basically sitting idly and watching the world through the eyes of their children ad grandchildren.

Lauralee Bell who portrays Chris Williams only shows up to deliver bad news while Trisha Cast (Nina Webster), Tracey E Bregman (Lauren Fenmore Baldwin) and Judith Chapman (Gloria Bardwell) are practically nonexistent. Soap spoiler Soaps.com shared the following recently on it's site.

"Unfortunately, it’s sort of an across-the-board problem at The Young and the Restless. Some vets are altogether discarded (Doug Davidson’s Paul). Others appear now and then but mainly to discuss other characters’ stories (Christian Jules LeBlanc’s Michael and Tracey E. Bregman’s Lauren). Still others do factor into frontburner plots — but they’re merely passengers, not the driving forces that they should be (Eric Braeden’s Victor and Melody Thomas Scott’s Nikki)."

Days of Our Lives values older cast

Days of Our Lives on NBC embraces aging cast and utilizes them until they are unable to fulfill their duties. Francis Reid portrayed the iconic Alice Horton and was with DOOL from day one. She remained active on the soap until age 93 when she began forgetting her lines. Joseph Moscola was the evil villain Stephano DiMera until age 86 when he too could no longer remember his line and was let go.

John Anniston at 88 is still active in Salem and stirring up trouble as Victor Kiriakis. Deidre Hall is 74 and Drake Hogestyn is 68 and they continue to be fan favorites and have front burner storylines as Marlena Evans and John Black. The two most fascinating characters on Days of Our Lives are 78 year old Susasn Seathford Hayes and her husband Bill Hayes who is 96. They play Julie and Doug Williams and recently were involved in the storyline where Marlena was possessed by the devil.

Aging soap fans enjoy seeing the legacy characters involved and younger viewers learn the value of respecting thoe who have gone before them. The Young and the Restless should pay attention to the NBC soap and the way the older actors are treated, If someone is fulfilling their duites by showing up on time and not missing their lines and they desire to remain active they should be obliged.

The Young and the Restless can learn from other soaps

Those of us who were children during the 1960s and 1970s watched the soaps with our grandmothers and learned to love the characters who were older than ourselves. We grew up with them, watched them age and mourned when they passed away. The Bold and the Beautiful only has 77 year old John McCook in the senior bracket but he is hanging in there.

On General Hospital Leslie Charleson is still going strong as Monica Quartermaine. Jon Lindstrom (Kevin Collins) and Genie Francis are 64 and 59 and are often invovled in front burner storylines. Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos) is 58 and one of the most popular actors on the show. The Young and the Restless should take note before they begin losing their number one status and fans begin watching the soaps where aging characters aer valued.