THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: 2023 Best & Worst

Sharon (Sharon Case) has been woefully lacking in the storyline department for years (how many different ways can she pour coffee?), so it was a welcome relief to see her activated in 2023 via the return of Cameron (Linden Ashby), a man who had tortured her 20 years before and got right back to that pastime upon his release from prison. Cameron was a viable villain — one part chilling, one part cunning, one part charming — so when he resurfaced at Crimson Lights, Sharon knew it wasn’t to say “my bad” for his past transgressions. Indeed, he quickly kidnapped her daughter Faith, strapped explosives to her body and lured Nick and Sharon to a sewer, where he threatened to slit Sharon’s throat. Linden Ashby gave great psycho in this high-stakes story drenched in danger and drama, and the best part of Cameron's comeback was that it put the spotlight squarely on Sharon. Case delivered one of the best performances of the soap year as as Sharon triumphed over her tormentor, stabbing him to death.

Y&R dug deep into its Wayback Machine for one of the juiciest storylines in years, which kicked off when Nikki hired bubbly Claire (Hayley Erin) as her assistant. Little did she — or viewers — know that Claire was actually Eve, the baby girl Cole and Victoria mourned upon her apparent death in 1998. Poisoned by her great aunt Jordan (Colleen Zenk, the AS THE WORLD TURNS alum who is taking scene-stealing to a whole new level) to despise the family she believed had abandoned her, Claire teamed up with Jordan to take the Newmans (and Cole!) hostage, forced Nikki off the wagon and turned Victoria’s world upside down with her claim to be her not-so-dead daughter. It’s incredible to watch the show milk so much drama from the descendants of the OG Eve, Victor’s one-time secretary and Cole’s late mom, who first appeared in 1980. You won’t find a recent example of using the past to shake up the present more inspired than this one.

The course of true love between Phyllis’s daughter, Summer (Allison Lanier), and Diane’s son, Kyle (Michael Mealor), was never going to run smooth with their mothers being archenemies, but the show needlessly rushed the split of what was once its most popular younger duo. The premise of this marital implosion was that Summer knew her mom faked her death, yet let Kyle’s mom go to prison for “killing” her, which Kyle could not forgive. He demanded Summer move out of the Abbott mansion and hopped into bed with Audra so fast Summer had barely packed her Marchetti gowns — this, despite Summer having saved the life of Kyle’s previous wife Lola by donating part of her liver and having raised Kyle’s young son Harrison as her own. Rather than have them remain in each other’s orbits and pine for one another like a true supercouple, Kyle stayed in Audra’s bed while Summer was soon crushing on Chance. Any way you slice it, it was a brutal year for "Skyle" fans.

They’ve “died” multiple times, battled psychos, kidnappers and disease, had over 20 weddings between them, and she’s currently hiding her drinking from him… but never bet against Victor and his “baby", Nikki Newman. 2023 was a particularly strong year for this stalwart duo as Victor promoted his wife over his kids to head up Newman Media even though her opinions often clashed with his methods (like when he pulled that sick act to suss out disloyalty at the company). We saw the depths of Victor’s love when Claire lured them to Oregon and he fought to save Nikki even when he was poisoned and dying (yet again). Nikki and Victor are that rare soap couple who can be together for years, yet remain as interesting as they were when they were married to others and fighting to return to each other. But word to the wise, Victor: Hide the vodka!

Love triangles between two brothers who hate each other and a beauty who's torn between them is a soap staple, but in this instance was far from a winning formula for Y&R. Adam/Sharon/Nick worked because Adam/Sharon and Nick/Sharon were both viable pairings on their own, but fans never bought Nick (Joshua Morrow, r.) and Sally (Courtney Hope) as a couple — we’ve seen Nick fall in love many times (Sharon, Phyllis, Sharon, Phyllis) and this ... wasn’t it. The good thing the show had going with Adam (Mark Grossman) and Sally was badly compromised by throwing his big bro into the mix. As this story churned along, Sally regressed from spicy spark plug to woe-is-me hand-wringer, Adam at times seemed more like a stalker than a suitor, and Nick's passion for one-upping Adam burned brighter than his ardor for Sal ever did. Our advice is to keep these three in separate corners in 2024.

Business has always had a place in Y&R’s narrative universe, but its oversaturation is not doing the show any favors. Between Newman Media and Jabot Cosmetics and Marchetti and Chancellor-Winters and McCall Unlimited and ChancComm and Omegasphere and Kirsten, Inc. and (insert next business here), it was mighty hard in 2023 to keep up with who works where, much less care about it. We shouldn’t need an org chart to keep track of our faves as they jump ship from week to week, and all the corporate raiding and backstabbing feels like overkill in a town where everyone gathers for drinks after work to… talk about work. (Notable exception: the renewed rivalry between Jess Walton's Jill, l., and Veronica Redd's Mamie for control of Chancellor-Winters is gold!) We’re used to mixing business with pleasure in Genoa City, but too much Wall Street-inspired storytelling is sapping the emotional strength of the show. 

Y&R delivered in spades for its golden anniversary with a boffo bash celebrating Genoa City's bicentennial, starting with a dazzling red carpet at the G.C.A.C. (yay!) dotted with returning faves including (from l.) Leanna (Barbara Crampton), Nina (Tricia Case), Gina (Patty Weaver) and Danny (Michael Damian). Other highlights included the heartwarming dedication of the Neil Winters Jazz Lounge, an homage to the memory of Neil's portrayer, the late Kristoff St. John; Jill and Mamie trading barbs like it was 1995 at the Abbott mansion; and Victor, Nikki and Esther toasting to the great Katherine Chancellor. There were pockets of drama all over the place, but the main event was Jack and Diane announcing their engagement just before Phyllis stormed in, unleashed her fury and collapsed. A perfect mix of nostalgia and action, the 50th proved to be just what Victor said it would be: "a hell of a party."

Tucker (Trevor St. John) crashed Kyle and Summer’s vow-renewal ceremony by landing his helicopter on the Abbott lawn last year and his snarky smugness has been whirring around Genoa City ever since. Every soap needs a bad guy, but the problem here is that Tucker is a jerk to everyone for no apparent reason. What is he after? We still don't really know! He proposed to Ashley while sleeping with Audra, then vanquished Ashley on their honeymoon. He interrupted Jack and Diane’s wedding to deliver an "apology" gift with a hidden microphone so he could steal Jabot. He vowed to his son Devon that he only wanted the best for him, then went behind his back to raid Chancellor-Winters. None of Tucker’s manipulations have landed him any of the companies (or women!) he says he wants, so what’s the point? In 2024, we'd love to see more bite balance out Tucker's bark.