The 52nd Anniversary of The Young and the Restless

Fifty-two years ago today, the first episode of The Young and the Restless aired on CBS.

52nd Anniversary of The Young and the Restless

On March 26, 1973, the very first episode of The Young and the Restless hit the airwaves.

Created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS, the show started being only 22 minutes long (without commercials) to fill the half-hour time slot. It replaced the soap, “Where the Heart Is,” which had been canceled.

Since the first airing, many actors have come and gone from Genoa City, and some went on to have careers on primetime TV series and on the big screen. An original character is still mentioned in episodes today, Dr. Greg “Snapper” Foster, Jill Abbott’s brother. Although the character was played by William Espy at first, David Hasselhoff made a name for himself after he took over the role.

In 1979, Melody Thomas Scott joined the show as Nikki Reed, becoming Nikki Newman after Eric Braeden joined the show to play the great Victor Newman. Over 45 years later, the pair continue to play the iconic roles that they originated — and two of the longest-tenured actors in American soap opera history.

Kate Linder, who plays Esther Valentine, is the third-longest-running cast member of The Young and the Restless. She joined the show in 1982 as the comical housekeeper of Katherine Chancelor (played by the legendary Jeanne Cooper from 1973 until her passing in 2013) and is still offering advice — and eavesdropping — around Genoa City.

The Bell family went above and beyond in creating the show. Their daughter, Lauralee Bell, created a legendary character when she was just 14 years old, appearing on the show as Christine “Cricket” Blair. Many storylines later, Bell recently did a crossover to Y&R’s sister show, The Bold and the Beautiful, a tradition that has happened many times between the two shows over the years. B&B was also created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, and it is now produced and written by their son, Bradley Bell.

Today, The Young and the Restless continues to hold its firm grip in the #1 spot in the ratings. It celebrated its 13,000th episode in November 2024 and is still breaking records and winning awards. Most recently, the writing team won the 2025 Writers Guild of America Award for Daytime Drama in February, beating out Days of Our Lives and General Hospital.

Catch new episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS or stream live or on-demand on Hulu. If you want to take a walk down memory lane, you can watch the beginning of the premiere episode here: