Nick dives toward Phyllis Y&R

Image: CBS screenshot

Young and Restless takes a different approach to love scenes from Bold and Beautiful.

In the first new episode filmed after the return to production (aside from Monday’s recapping installment in the park), viewers got their first look at how Young and Restless would handle love scenes whilst grappling with new safety protocols with actors required to remain six feet apart. Devon and Elena kissed and cuddled, but of course, their portrayers, Bryton James and Brytni Sarpy, are together offscreen. It’s clear that real-life partners will be the exception, as is logical.

In the case of other onscreen couples, the illusion of the actors being close was achieved by using creative camera angles. In a couple of instances, the audience could only see the shoulder of one player, while the other’s face was being shown…also effective.

When it came to characters actually having sex, Young and Restless went with the suggestive dialogue and facial expressions, followed by a close-up of one member of the pairing, then cutting away, leaving the rest to the imagination. This indicates they’ll take a different approach from Bold and Beautiful, which uses blow-up dolls and actors’ real-life partners as stand-ins only partially seen, when possible.

When Abby (Melissa Ordway) and Chance (Donny Boaz) made love there was suggestive dialogue, with him alluding to how they could make better use of their time, then a close up of Abby wearing an expression that said she could eat him up while walking closer to the camera. Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) and Nick (Josh Morrow) were another Genoa City couple we saw in an intimate situation. Phyllis got turned on by the idea of Nick offering Abby a building and it became clear where things were headed. As she was sitting in a chair, the last shot we saw of Nick was his face getting closer to the camera as he angled downward as though pouncing on her where she was seated. It looked slightly awkward, almost like he was doing a dive out of the shot at the end, and it did feel strange not to be able to see her at all, but it absolutely worked.

What did you think of the first intimate scenes that aired on Young and Restless? Let us know in the comments, then take a browse through our photo gallery of Young and Restless stars and their real-life partners. Be sure to sign up for Soaps.com’s newsletter to get the latest soap news and features delivered straight to your inbox.