I have watched Y&R for more than 25 years and I can say with absolute certainty that Y & R has lost its way. Whatever it once offered in the way of life lessons and good storytelling is gone. In recent years, story lines are dragged out f-o-r-e-v-e-r and clearly the only motivating factor working here is to keep the addicted viewers coming back day after day. Despite a larger population, its ratings have been slowly slipping for years.<br /><br />Once upon a time, Y & R was a fairly entertaining piece that included decent drama, a touch of humor and glamor and tried to make some points about what was happening in the world - dangers that young people could be exposed to, the consequences of making bad decisions that forever impact your life and so on.<br /><br />It hardly does that at all anymore and these days virtually every character is so flawed that there are few to relate to or even like - if only a little. Ruthless ol' Victor is so evil and corrupt that he should have disappeared years ago. Good guy John Abbott Sr. was dumbed down and then eliminated only to show up as stupid, clueless ghost criticizing his only son ad nauseum. The females are all messed up. <br /><br />New characters come into the story and often disappear without explanation because they do not attract a following. Sometimes, they don't disappear fast enough.<br /><br />The stories are stretched out to the max. A single day can actually be played out over 2 weeks! The bad guys rarely get punished and the writers keep bringing back psycho-Sheila every time they need a villain and can't come up with a new one.<br /><br />Over and over, this show has repeatedly tried very hard to promote interracial relationships even though they are statistically rare (about 3%) yet oddly enough - they never address the racial component of a relationship.<br /><br />After many years, especially the last few, I have concluded that this show is a waste of time. The next time you may be tempted to watch Y&R, ask yourself, "Is this the best way to spend the next hour of my life?" You'll never get that hour back again.