‘The Young and the Restless’ Creator Bill Bell Revamped ‘Days of Our Lives’ With ‘Psychosexual’ Storylines
The Young and the Restless is one of only three long-running daytime soap operas still on the air. But prior to its creation, Bill Bell was an integral part of the writing team behind Days of Our Lives. His time on the show left an indelible mark on Days of Our Lives. Here’s how Bell changed that soap opera, bringing a fresh approach that set the stage for years to come.
Bill Bell created ‘The Young and the Restless’
Even longtime fans of daytime soap operas might not realize how integral Bell was in creating the modern crop of shows. In the 1950s and 1960s, Bell co-created and served as a co-head writer on Another World. He also wrote for As the World Turns, ultimately becoming co-head writer there. After that, Bell became head writer for Days of Our Lives in the late 1960s.
Ultimately, he left that series to create The Young and the Restless and never looked back. In fact, he developed a spinoff, The Bold and the Beautiful, which remains on to this day. Long before expanding The Young and the Restless into a new show, he launched Our Private World, the first-of-its-kind spinoff of As the World Turns. The show lasted less than a year.
How Bill Bell changed ‘Days of Our Lives’
When Bell joined Days of Our Lives in 1966, the show was in major need of an overhaul. He signed on as head writer, and according to Town & Country, his contributions helped the show leap-frog many of its competitors. At the time, 17 soaps were on the air. But Bell brought a “psychosexual” element that has continued to shape this genre of storytelling for decades.
Among the ideas Bell introduced was the focus on love triangles and other relationship-driven storylines. In addition, he brought “heretofore unmentionable taboo subjects including the near-incestuous affair between Marie Horton and her plastic surgery–altered brother,” according to Soap Hub. Without his assistance, Days of Our Lives likely wouldn’t have lasted for nearly 60 years.
‘The Young and the Restless’ continues to thrive
Looking back, it’s easy to see how Bell created the template that soap operas have continued to follow for several decades. And it’s telling that most of the long-running soaps still in production bear his fingerprints. Aside from ABC’s General Hospital, The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful are the only ones still on the mainstream broadcast networks.
And even Days of Our Lives refuses to yield to the changing times. In 2022, the show embraced the age of streaming and became exclusively available on Peacock. For his contributions, Bell received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th annual Daytime Emmy Awards in 1992. Over the years, he’s also received many other Daytime Emmys for The Young and the Restless.
