Will The Young and the Restless Survive After Losing Michael Muhney and Billy Miller?

Will The Young and the Restless Survive After Losing Michael Muhney and Billy Miller?

Not only is it a new week for The Young and the Restless but there is also a serious changing of the guard underway as not one but two beloved characters were sent packing late last week. Fan favorites Michael Muhney and Billy Miller both had their final scenes air and a multitude of fans have insisted that they would be leaving along with their favorite actors. In Fact David Tom starts today as Billy’s replacement. We could ponder whether or not they’ll really follow through but the reality is that Y&R has already lost 500,000 viewers since this time last year and those ratings don’t lie.

The show has been sliding downhill for a but with the firing of Muhney seeming to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. It caused longtime fans to band together in order to become very vocal and CBS quickly learned that this isn’t a group that they necessarily wanted to do battle with in a pinch. Now that Muhney is gone what will happen next? I think that is the huge question on everyone’s mind. The show has already lost a lot of its core audience by character assassination both onscreen and off and executive producer Jill Farren Phelps has made it clear that she is running things her whether regardless of who likes it or not. She appears to be ruining the show for many fans, yet no one is stepping up to fire the appropriately nicknamed “Dr. Death”.

Last week Y&R began cynically trying to keep viewers engaged by hosting Twitter parties during Y&R. This gimmick is intended to keep viewers watching in the hopes that if they actively join in on Twitter then maybe one of the stars will respond to them. I suspect it’s going to take a lot more than tweeting to keep the savvy viewers tuning in, don’t you think? Tell us in the comments below!