How to Watch ‘The Young and the Restless’ and ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ Without Cable
Husband-and-wife duo William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell created The Young and The Restless in 1973. The soap opera originally focused on the upper-class Brooks family and lower-class Foster family. However, after a few departures, the show made some changes. They added the Abbotts, the Williamses, the Newmans, and the Barber/ Winters family.
A decade later, the mogul couple created Y&R‘s sister show The Bold and The Beautiful. Read along to find out how you can watch the two shows without cable.
‘The Young and the Restless’ and ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ are both available on Pluto TV
If you’re a fan of the sister show but don’t have cable, you don’t need to worry; Pluto TV has got you covered. The free TV app lets you watch the “classic” episodes of these fan-favorite shows with the promise of more to come.
Soap Opera Network reported in 2021 that Pluto TV launched its Soaps channel, which will show B&B and Y&R classic episodes. You may wonder what “classic” means and if you can watch those from earlier days of the soaps. Unfortunately, Pluto TV says viewers will only have to access to certain seasons of the shows.
The Young and the Restless is only available from seasons 47 and 48; The Bold and the Beautiful is available from seasons 32 and beyond. This effectively means you can start your B&B and Y&R journey from about 2018. If you loved watching Gina Tognoni play the hot-headed Phyllis Summers, you’ll love watching the classic episodes.
Fans of Courtney Hope’s Sally Spectra during her B&B days will also get to reminisce. Those who miss seeing Kiara Barnes play the two-timing Zoe Buckingham will get their fill of the character and actor.
You can watch newer episodes on Pluto TV, too
Pluto TV is your go-to option if you don’t feel like catching up on the past and want to start (or continue) your soap journey. The service allows viewers to not only watch “classic” episodes but also catch up with the characters in newer and fresher episodes.
CBS’ parent company owns Pluto TV; both sister shows air on CBS. However, you can download the Pluto TV app on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xfinity, Roku, PlayStation, TiVo, and other smart TV-enabled devices, including Vizio and Samsung.
If you don’t want to register or sign up, Pluto TV lets you stream its shows through its website. This helps you keep your information while gaining access to your favorite programming. The only caveat: You won’t be able to customize your viewing experience.
If you wish to watch B&B and Y&R Live or OnDemand, head to the official Pluto TV Soaps channel website. Alternatively, you can download the app on Google Play, App Store, Roku or Amazon App Store. A Pluto TV rep told Soap Opera Network that the service plans to add other soaps to its roster with time.
Where else can you watch ‘Y&R’ and ‘B&B’?
While some major streamers like Netflix and Hulu haven’t yet added the soaps to their roster, Amazon Prime has 37 seasons of The Young and the Restless, which are available to watch with a Paramount+ add-on. You can also catch up with the Forresters and the Logans on Prime, although there are only 24 seasons available.
The Paramount+ add-on will cost you $5.99 monthly. There’s a 30-day free trial that allows you to gauge if you like the experience or not, after which you’ll start getting billed. If you wish for ad-free content, you would need to fork out $9.99.
