Lynda Hirsch on Television

Q. With "Young and Restless" celebrating its 40th anniversary, can you offer a brief history of the show? — Lorna in St. Petersburg, Fla.

A: Sure. When the show first hit the air, it was different than all the other soaps. It had a glossy look, with only beautiful people, and was lit differently than any other show. There were no Abbott or Winter families.

Bill Bell, who created the show, focused on unrequited love, sexual quadrangles and poor versus rich. Jill was Kay's closest confidant and manicurist. That changes when Jill got it on with Kay's husband.

During one of her legendary drinking bouts, Kay drove a car with Phillip off the road and killed him. This created years of tension and hate. It was especially tense when Kay became very close to the son produced by Phillip and Jill.

One of the oddest moments on the show was when Kay stole the toilet paper from a stall Jill was using. Are we talking Noel Coward or what?

One time, Jill bought a tarantula and tossed it on Kay's bed. Jeanne Cooper recalls everyone on the set was squeamish about the spider in the basket theme.

When Jill first came on the air, she had a large family. The Fosters were the simple-living family trying to move up the financial scale. Her mother, Liz, was Kay's trusted housekeeper. The Brooks family was rich. In the show, money did not equal happiness.

Sister Lorie and Leslie were always fighting over the same man. Janice Lynde, who played Leslie, was an accomplished pianist and often played to show her mood. Lance Prentiss, played by John McCook, became the love of her tortured life.

With McCook's beautiful voice, it seemed natural to have his character and several others just break into song at any moment. McCook once told me: "I'm an actor. If they ask me to crawl under a piano and lay in a fetal position, I can and will do it."

One of my favorite characters, because of his name, was Bill "Snapper" Foster.

Yes, a gynecologist named "Snapper."

In 1982, Bell said goodbye to his two major families and welcomed the Abbotts and the Newmans. One of the reasons was the continual departure of the actors in the Brooks and Foster families. It was a first in daytime, although it had been done on a radio soap.

The writer grew tired of the characters. He had them go on a picnic. The bus went over a cliff, killing everyone, and the town they crashed in became the new setting. All the characters, including one played by MacDonald Carey, who later played beloved Dr. Tom Horton on "Days of Our Lives," perished. The new characters were played by the actors who played the now dead characters.

Although Victoria Rawl (formerly Drusilla) is constantly tweeting that "Young and Restless" does not have an "African American presence" on the show, there are the Barbers — Dru and her sister Olivia. One major flaw was that the African American families and the other families in town barely crossed each other on the street. That has changed. Lily is married to Cane. Neil works as an executive with Jack or Victor.

One of the oddest storylines was when the character of Tyrone Jackson pretended to be a white man to expose a criminal. We remember one day they forgot to make his hands "white."

The show has been No. 1 in daytime for 25 years — over 12,000 consecutive weeks.

The show did lose some rating points in the past few years. Maria Bell's odd storylines were off-putting to viewers.

There was the plot when fragile Kevin started to wear a chipmunk head as a disguise and one where a woman died when she jumped or was pushed into a volcano. The "are they kidding?" list goes on and on. In the past four months, Jill Phelps has taken over as executive producer, and the ratings have moved up several points.

To find out more about Lynda Hirsch and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators web page at www.creators.com.

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