‘The Young and the Restless’ Fans Love Revisiting Their Favorite Villians
When several soap operas announced that they had run out of new content amidst the filming hiatus due to coronavirus (COVID-19), many fans were heartbroken to discover that they wouldn’t be able to keep up with their beloved storylines until filming resumed. The Young and the Restless creators knew they needed to keep their, well, restless fans happy. They came up with the perfect plan: take fans on a nostalgic walk down memory lane as they traipsed through past episodes.
Fans have been especially excited about the chance to catch some of their favorite villains of yesteryear back in action in these throwback specials.
The Young and the Restless has decades of drama
With nearly 7,000 episodes under their belt, The Young and the Restless creators have plenty of content to choose from for these throwbacks. The series premiered in 1973 and has some actors who have been on the series almost the entire time, according to IMDb. The show follows the drama of Genoa City as two feuding families twist and turn out of each other’s lives.
The narrative focuses on the Abbotts and the Newmans, two wealthy families who have made their fortunes in the cosmetics industry. Each family is headed up by a patriarch with plenty of foibles. Victor Newman is an arrogant man who has worked his way through a series of wealthy wives. Jack Abbott came onto the show as a playboy who even cheated on his pregnant wife. The various plotlines — most of which have a foundation in the rivalry between the two companies — have toyed with murder, kidnapping, adultery, and various other nefarious acts.
The throwbacks include ‘Villains Week’
As The Young and the Restless has worked to keep fans entertained over the length of the hiatus, they unveiled “Villains Week,” a week of episodes dedicated to some of the meanest, most shocking characters from the past. The week of May 25 was dedicated to these dastardly roles, and there were plenty of contenders for the show to use.
The lineup included an episode that featured former cast member Eva Longoria in her role as Isabella as well as an episode that showed Kevin’s darker days. Fans were also treated to an appearance from Sheila Carter, who attempted to kill businesswoman Lauren Fenmore Baldwin multiple times over the course of the show.
Fans enjoyed the dark look at the past
Fans were definitely excited to take a look back at these darker episodes from the past. The oldest episode from the week dated all the way back to 1991 but most were from the early 2000s, according to CBS. As fans started anticipating the drama, they began naming which characters they were most excited to see on the screen again.
Many were delighted that they would get to see Sheila once more. “Sheila is so scary. I don’t think I can watch next week!!!” one fan wrote on Twitter. Others just responded to the post about “Villains Week” with Sheila’s name. Without a doubt, people were excited to see Kimberlin Brown reprise this iconic role. After all, it’s a face they thought they would literally never see again since — when Brown did not renew her contract — the show wrote in a plot where Sheila underwent plastic surgery so that new actor Michelle Stafford could take over the part.
While fans are definitely ready to see their favorite soap opera move on with new plot lines, they are without a doubt enjoying these throwbacks. The chance to see some of the darkest characters return to the screen — if only for a moment — helped them remember why they love it so much in the first place.
