Young & Restless’ Eric Braeden Blasts the Regime That He Says Had It Out for Victor and Nikki: ‘Let’s Call a Spade a Spade’

Needless to say, the boxing enthusiast pulls no punches.
Eric Braeden is not a man who minces words. So he held nothing back when he recently discussed Mal Young’s tenure as The Young and the Restless’ executive producer/headwriter.
“Look, let’s be very honest. The last regime introduced things that no one gave a damn about, OK? Let’s call a spade a spade,” the Emmy winner told Soap Opera Digest. “No one gave a damn about some of those storylines, no one, because they were not part of the history of that show.”
Among the plots that were twisted under Young were Hilary’s death and J.T.’s “death,” Paul and Chelsea’s exits, Summer’s pursuit of mom Phyllis’ then-lover, Billy, and Victor and Nikki’s stab at having an open marriage. “You must remember that people who come onto the show as new executive producers have their own egos,” said Braeden, “and they think they can rewrite it, they can redo it.”
But the soap’s late, great co-creator William J. Bell had already invented the wheel — it didn’t need to be reinvented. He had given The Young and the Restless a solid foundation on which to build its future. “If you want to veer away from that foundation,” Braeden suggested, “it will begin to flounder.”
More: Tribute to the ‘father’ of Young & Restless
And heaven help the boss who tries to take a wrecking ball to it! Though Braeden and Melody Thomas Scott are as closely associated with the daytime drama as “Nadia’s Theme,” “what the last regime really wanted… ” he said, “was to get rid of me and get rid of Melody, if you want to know the truth.”
Can you freaking imagine? Rather than even try to, why not ease on into the weekend with the below photo gallery, a collection of 75 of the most breathtaking images ever taken of favorites past and present.
<p>… “patching” in a 1992 stopover in <em>Santa Barbara</em> between stints as Steve Johnson on <em>Days of Our Lives. </em>Great photo, but despite appearances, it was not a purple reign.</p>
<p>… serving more cloak than dagger — as far as we could see, anyway! — as Bobbie Spencer on <em>General Hospital. </em>Apparently, there was a time when nurses’ uniforms were super chic.</p>
<p>… holding up a wall in most elegant fashion early in her legendary run as <em>Young & Restless</em>’ Sharon Newman. Or was she lying down, and we’re looking at this picture all wrong?</p>
<p>… in the <em>Guiding Light</em> days that preceded his gig as Carter Walton on <em>The Bold and the Beautiful. </em>Or, as we think of him, the world’s hottest wedding officiant.</p>
<p>… turning heads — her own here — during her early-1990s return to <em>General Hospital</em> as Holly Sutton.</p>
<p>… reporting for duty as <span style="text-decoration: line-through">one of soapdom’s great missed opportunities</span> Sarge on <em>The Young and the Restless</em> in 2010 before reprising his iconic role of Jesse Hubbard on <em>All My Children.</em></p>
<p>… defining the term “teenage dream” as Blackie Parrish on<em> General Hospital</em> decades before Katy Perry would climb the Top 40 charts with her song of the same name.</p>
<p>… striking the kind of sweet pose that could almost make you forget what a troublemaker Rachel Davis was in the late 1960s on <em>Another World.</em></p>
<p>… against an altogether apropos background color as <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ John <em>Black</em> in the early 1990s.</p>
<p>… reminding us in the mid-1990s that every rose has a thorn — and on <em>Guiding Light</em>, Dinah Marler was kinda both.</p>
<p>… as <em>General Hospital</em> supercouple Luke Spencer and Laura Baldwin in the early 1980s. Ice Princess not included.</p>
<p>… as <em>The Young and the Restless</em>’ Mariah Copeland. Or is it a future vision of her late sister, Cassie? Either way…</p>
<p>… daring us to a history’s hottest stare-off as Dusty Donovan on <em>As the World Turns</em> in 2005. You win, Grayson! You win! We must look away, at least if we want to check out the next image of…</p>
<p>… looking suitable for framing as Kate Roberts and Sami Brady on <em>Days of Our Lives</em> in 2014. Not that that guilty-as-sin scheme team has ever <em>needed</em> to be framed.</p>
<p>… giving us blue steel as Jason “Stone Cold” Morgan on <em>General Hospital. </em>We’re sure he smiled later. <em>Much</em> later.</p>
<p>… judging us in 1975 as only <em>Ryan’s Hope</em>’s righteous Jillian Coleridge could. Dakota Smith, ma’am. That’s all we’re gonna say. Dakota. Smith.</p>
<p>… changing her stripes as Lily Winters on <em>The Young and the Restless</em> in 2009. Of note: This was <em>not</em> the character’s outfit during her unfortunate stay in prison.</p>
<p>… as <em>Bold & Beautiful</em> ne’er-do-well Deacon Sharpe. That is, he’s a ne’er-do-well at everything but taking stunning pictures; he kinda nails that.</p>
<p>… reminding us that after Robin Strasser left the role of Rachel on <em>Another World</em>, she kinda became the soap’s heroine — butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth smile and all.</p>
<p>… going turtlenecking in the early days of Erica Kane on <em>All My Children. </em>As if we didn’t all know that the vixen’s favorite kind of necking didn’t involve turtles at all.</p>
<p>… doing undercover work as <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Brady Black in 2011. Aw, sheets, that was funny… wasn’t it? A little? No? Moving on…</p>
<p>… striking gold as Carly Tenney on<em> As the World Turns</em> in the mid-1990s, years away from her <em>General Hospital</em> stint as Ava Jerome.</p>
<p>… challenging us to make a move as Victor Newman on <em>The Young and the Restless</em> in 2021. Erm, we’ll pass on that, sir; we are hereby conquered, now and forever.</p>
<p>… putting the “beautiful” in <em>The Bold as the Beautiful</em> as Steffy Forrester in 2009. And hey, it’s always bikini season <em>somewhere</em>.</p>
<p>… making us miss<em> Santa Barbara</em> supercouple Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo anew by reminding us that they photographed as well as they loved back in 1989.</p>
<p>… with a devilish gleam in her eye as <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Marlena Evans in 2008.</p>
<p>… hiding his washboard abs as Curtis Ashford on <em>General Hospital</em>. We know they’re there, though. We <em>know</em>. OK?</p>
<p>… giving us the kind of side-eye as <em>Young & Restless</em>’ Phyllis Summers that we never get in real life: the sexy, sexy kind.</p>
<p>… sitting <span style="text-decoration: line-through">pretty</span> handsome as Ridge Forrester on <em>The Bold and the Beautiful.</em> Side note: It’s OK to “stair.”</p>
<p>… giving us a clue why <em>General Hospital</em> ratings must have (cough) dipped after he was killed off as Duke Lavery, thereby separating the irresistible Romeo from dance partner Anna Devane.</p>
<p>… warming up to play <em>Guiding Light</em>’s Reva Shayne by scheming her way through <em>The Doctors</em> as Nola Aldrich.</p>
<p>… going from good to downright <em>Great Gatsby</em> as Lily and Holden Snyder on <em>As the World Turns</em> in the late 1990s.</p>
<p>… sharing a laugh as <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Chad DiMera in 2017. About what? We only wish we knew; it was just the laugh that he shared, not the reason.</p>
<p>… doing something her saintly <em>General Hospital</em> character Robin Scorpio never would: lie.</p>
<p>… making “Shirts or skins?” a rhetorical question as <em>Young & Restless</em> heat miser Michael Baldwin.</p>
<p>… in 1994, the year that yeah, pretty much <em>everybody</em> on the show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. It was and they were <em>that</em> good.</p>
<p>… serving Vargas Girl realness as Katie Logan on <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> in 2009. (Eat your heart out, Bill!)</p>
<p>… as Caleb Morley on <em>Port Charles</em> and John McBain on <em>One Life to Live</em>. Different flavors, same intensity.</p>
<p>… getting into the swing of things as Maggie Horton on <em>Days of Our Lives</em>. If only this were the only way we wound up “seeing red,” so to speak.</p>
<p>… deciding how much don and how much Don Juan to put into his portrayal of Sonny Corinthos on <em>General Hospital</em>. </p>
<p>… managing to make herself, not the big hair or colorful outfit, the most compelling thing about this 1983 portrait of her as Felicia Gallant on <em>Another World.</em></p>
<p>… classing up the joint as <em>Young & Restless</em>’ Jack Abbott, born with a silver spoon just waiting to be knocked out of his mouth.</p>
<p>… reminding us what young love looked like in the early 1990s — at least if you were mega attractive and into one another — as Tomas Rivera and Maggie Cory on <em>Another World</em>.</p>
<p>… practicing the arched-eyebrow seduction technique at <em>The Young and the Restless</em> that he’d later perfect as <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Eli Grant. Ya know, on second thought, he appeared to have had it down pat at <em>Young & Restless</em>, too.</p>
<p>… proving that as far back as her early-1990s days as Jessica Griffin on <em>As the World Turns</em> that there wasn’t a dazzling pair of earrings or complicated dress that could distract from her stunningness.</p>
<p>… making sure <em>Young & Restless</em>’ Nick and Sharon Newman would always have Paris in 2015. Not pictured: the best parts of Paris (unless you were really into this balcony).</p>
<p>… contemplating a “brooch” of etiquette as Stephanie Forrester on <em>The Bold and the Beautiful</em> in 2007.</p>
<p>… playing doctor as Tom Horton on <em>Days of Our Lives</em> in 1965. Not <em>that</em> kind of doctor, obviously. His character really <em>was</em> a doctor. But you knew that.</p>
<p>… passing through <em>Days of Our Lives</em> as Belle Black in 2003 before joining <em>General Hospital</em> as Maxie Jones.</p>
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