In part 4 of the series premiere episode of the TVSource podcast, the Year in Soaps discussion shifts to CBS' The Young and the Restless. Contrary to popular opinion, the hosts reveal they were mostly entertained by former head writer Charles Pratt Jr.'s final year of Y&R. But with a changing of the guard behind the scenes, what are their hopes for a revitalized Y&R for 2017?

The consensus among our hosts is Y&R's 2016 was less of a creative disaster than 2015. Pratt's storylines focused mainly on the fallout from the destruction of the year before, and while misogyny ran rampant along with plots driving characterization, in many ways the show was entertaining.

It's easy to pin the creative failures of Y&R at the feet of Pratt, but the damage did not begin with him. He was the last in a long line of writers who came in trying to put their own stamp on an iconic show with a unique identity rather than use the blueprints already in place to add, rather than remake it in their own lacking vision. With each new change in creatives, the show became more and more chaotic.

After years of chaotic reigns, new head writer/co-executive producer Sally Sussman, a veteran of the late great Bill Bell years, has a chance to steady the ship and she's starting off with a fiery passion. The show is forcing you to pay attention to the dialogue, the characterizations are returning to form and the show is using previous plot developments as a way to spin off into new, character-driven stories using history.

In our hopes for 2017, we discuss the need to refocus the "lost generation" of characters such as Noah, Lily and boost their age group with the returns of Scotty Jr., Fenmore and others; giving the "young" a purpose outside of reacting to their parents' drama; rehabbing Sharon Newman and more.

EP #4 - WTF - Year in Soaps '16 - The Young & the Restless

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