The Young and the Restless debuted on CBS in March 1973. And the daytime soap opera continues to thrive even after five decades on the air. Even so, The Young and the Restless appears to be experiencing some challenges in the current television landscape as one of only three daytime soap operas still on the air. The show reportedly had fewer hair stylists on staff in 2022 following rumored budget cuts.
‘The Young and the Restless’ had 7 credited hairstylists in 2021
Soap operas are known for keeping their stars looking glamorous even amidst all kinds of drama. The Young and the Restless is, of course, no exception. According to the show’s IMDb page, the soap had no fewer than seven credited hairstylists in 2021. After all, with such a sprawling cast of characters, The Young and the Restless could certainly use the help.
One has to assume that, aside from long-running stars like Eric Braeden, the extensive hair and make-up crew of The Young and the Restless is likely one of the show’s chief focuses. But as the heyday of daytime soap operas has faded, the struggle to keep operating at the same means as before has increased. As such, the show has undergone some major changes.
The show saw some major changes behind the scenes in 2022
Fans have begun to notice visible differences on the show, with some characters’ hairstyles just not living up to the way they once looked. And it’s easy to pinpoint why the styling work on the show may have suffered a bit in the past couple of years. According to the Los Angeles Times, the entrance of Kelly Kahl as the president of CBS Entertainment could signal a big shift behind the scenes.
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For The Young and the Restless, that could take the shape of a tighter budget. While a number of new hires joined the styling team in 2023, The Young and the Restless lost several existing crew members in the previous couple of years.
Hairstylists Kathy Jones, Adriana Lucio, and Regina Rodriguez all left the show in 2021, with Patti Denney and Laura Schaffer following the next year. Several of these creatives have worked on the show for decades, so it’s possible they moved on to new projects and haven’t been replaced yet.
‘The Young and the Restless’ is more expensive to produce
Due to the amount of talent involved, soap operas are often way more expensive to produce than other forms of daytime television. After all, there’s a reason why – in the age of streaming and fierce competition on television – The Young and the Restless, spinoff The Bold and the Beautiful, and ABC’s General Hospital are the only three major daytime soaps left.
Talk shows, game shows, and other daytime programming are much cheaper to produce. So fans might wonder if the behind-the-scenes changes on The Young and the Restless are aiming to extend its life a bit further. In any case, the show continues to rank number 1 among its genre every season, a stat it has held for decades.
