Episode guide for The Young and the Restless from 1973 – 1979

Highlights of the Y&R’s main character’s best remembered storylines over the years…

“The Young and the Restless” was created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell. The show, set in a fictional town in Wisconsin called Genoa City, premiered on March 26, 1973 on CBS as a half-hour drama and seven years later, in 1980, expanded to an hour-long show.

1970s

Author Lorie Brooks (Jaime Lyn Bauer) was engaged to Dr. Mark Henderson (Steve Carlson) but upon learning they were siblings, cancelled the wedding. She and her sister Leslie Brooks (Janice Lynde, then Victoria Mallory) fought over ex- doctor, Brad Elliot (Tom Hallick) and CEO of Prentiss Industries, Lance Prentiss (John McCook, Dennis Cole). Lorie married Lance though his mother Vanessa disapproved. After learning she would soon die of a terminal illness, she committed suicide and framed Lorie for murder.  Beautician Jill Foster (then played by Brenda Dickson and then Deborah Adair) seduced Lorie and Leslie’s father, owner and publisher of The Genoa City Chronicle, Stuart Brooks (Robert Colbert) and they saw her as a gold-digger. Businessman, Victor Newman, whose given name was Christian Miller (Eric Braeden), relocated to Genoa City with his wife Julia (Meg Bennett). Victor purchased a ranch from Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper) and renamed it the Newman Ranch. Lonely, Julia became friendly with Brock Reynolds (Beau Kazer) and fell for him. Jealous, Victor believed they were lovers and bedded Lorie Brooks (Jaime Lyn Bauer) in retaliation. It drove Julia to photographer Michael Scott’s (Nicholas Benedict) arms. Victor struck back by kidnapping the man and locking him in his basement at the ranch.

When pregnant Julia learned of this and miscarried their child after a scuffle between the two men which happened during Michael’s escape, the couple divorced. Victor moved on to Eve Howard (Margaret Mason) and then stripper Nikki Reed (Erica Hope, then Melody Thomas Scott). Student doctor William “Snapper” Foster Jr., (William Gray Espy, then David Hasselhoff), Jill’s brother, helped out his mother Liz and his brother Greg and kept an eye on Jill. Snapper dated Chris Brooks (Trish Stewart then Lynn Topping) and Sally McGuire (Lee Crawford). Sexual themes came up such as premarital sex and rape and Chris’ mother, Jennifer Brooks was the first to undergo a mastectomy on any soap after having breast cancer. Married and later divorced to Phillip Chancellor II (John Considine then Donnelly Rhodes), Katherine Chancellor had a brief lesbian flirtation with Jill while drunk and a short relationship with Joann Curtis (Kay Heberle). Private Investigator Paul Williams (Doug Davidson) was introduced as a bad boy who romanced Nikki and gave her a sexually transmitted disease. Rose DeVille (Darlene Conley) and Vince Holiday (Alex Rebar) were involved in shady dealings such as prostitution and tried to get Nikki into prostitution.

Photo Credit: David Hasslehoff (Sean Smith/JPI)

– Christine Fix