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Young And The Restless Storylines That Annoyed Fans

Dorathy Gass

September 13, 2019

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The land of Genoa City can be a happening place with steamy affairs, family in-fighting, and corporate takeovers at every corner. Yes, The Young and the Restless (Y&R) has kept audiences tuned in for over 40 years with their unique and interesting storylines and incredible love stories. At times, they can keep fans on social media and the Internet buzzing; other times, not so much. Below are some Y&R storylines in recent history that annoyed fans.

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12. Baby Christian

Maybe it’s because baby-switch storylines have been overdone on soaps in general or perhaps it’s because this one involved Sharon once again (who had a similar storyline years ago). Regardless, the Sully/Christian baby switch was massively annoying on so many levels. How could the same circumstance happen to the same woman twice? A little much to believe, even for daytime drama.

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11. Nick’s Love Life

There are fans who love seeing Nick with Phyllis, then there are fan’s who love seeing him with Sharon. There are also Y&R viewers that desperately wish he could stop bobbing around between these two beauties and move on to someone entirely different. Sometimes it seems like Nick just alternates between the mothers of his children, instead of trying to embark on a new romance.

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10. Abby & Arturo

It’s got to be hard to be Abby Newman. Money, corporate success, and social status aside, she’s a hard character to match up with people, as she has so many family ties within Genoa City. As part of both the Newman and Abbott clan, this leaves her limited in the romance department, and the character is often left single or struggling in relationships. Arturo Rosales seemed like a good fit; however, many Y&R fans found their relationship annoying.

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9. Summer’s Infatuation With Billy

Philly was quite content for a while there, until Red’s daughter flew back into town. Summer’s infatuation with Billy, causing her to constantly throw herself at him, was a frustrating storyline. Not only because he was her mom’s boyfriend, but it also made her look very pathetic. Summer’s no longer a teenager, and as a young adult, she should’ve known better.

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8. JT Murder Debacle

The JT murder cover-up started off hot. The plot twists and turns were incredible. Watching Sharon, Phyllis, Nikki come together (somewhat bond) and help Vicky was an interesting watch. Seeing the women scheme was even more intense, and when JT came back the first time (which was really just Nick), fans were on the edge of their seats. Even the women going to trial and Phyllis throwing the crew under the bus was pretty great. Having said that, the end to it all was very anticlimactic. Sure, JT kidnapping the gang was scary, but when it turned out he had a brain tumor and then just quietly left Genoa City, fans were not only confused, but also annoyed. After almost a year of the storyline occupying Y&R screen time, it felt like it was quickly swept under the rug, never really to be mentioned again.

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7. Neil/Hilary/Devon Love Triangle

Love triangles are nothing new in the world of soaps, especially when family members are involved; however, this one, in particular, got ugly and annoying fast. This family had a long history of wife-stealing, with Neil impregnating his brother’s wife, perhaps to get revenge on Malcolm for impregnating Dru. And then there were the times that Devon stole Neil’s girlfriends in the past. Having said that, both men crossed the line with this love triangle and went well outside of their normal characteristics when Devon stole Hilary from Neil while he was blind, and then Neil kidnapped Hilary during her honeymoon.

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6. Mariah Puts The Moves On Nick

Speaking of awkward, when Mariah rolled into town, her uncanny resemblance to Cassie (Nick and Sharon Newman’s late daughter) landed her a solid gig of terrorizing Sharon to help drive her to the nuthouse, a job that was funded by Victor Newman. As Sharon became aware of the real reason Mariah was in Genoa City, her heart grew soft and she welcomed the Cassie look-alike into her home. While viewers came to the conclusion that (surprise, surprise … another twin angle) Mariah was indeed Cassie’s twin sister, they also bared witness to Mariah, slowly growing infatuated with her so-called adopted dad. This was annoying because this storyline (twin and all) seemed to be an underlying trend in the land of soaps. It was even more annoying as fans had to watch the Cassie look-alike hit on her dad Nick. Just plain gross.

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5. Shictor

Along the same lines (and involving some of the same characters), the majority of Y&R fans got a tad bit sick during the Shictor era in 2012, when billionaire Victor Newman married his long-time daughter-in-law, Sharon Newman … which not only occurred once but twice. While both marriages were annulled, both ceremonies were whacky, weird, creepy, wrong, and annoying – all rolled into one! Victor has had a soft spot in his heart for Sharon for years and was always there to lend a supportive hand by playing a prominent father figure role to her for most of her adult life. But marrying her? Very annoying, albeit, it allowed Sharon the bragging rights to becoming the only woman in Genoa City who got hitched to all three adult Newman men (Victor, Nick, and Adam).

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4. Gabriel is Adam Newman

This storyline started off very well, but ended up taking a turn for the annoying. It was quite engaging to watch Adam parade around as Gabriel Bingham and slowly take Genoa City over, piece by piece. What was more entertaining was how recast Justin Hartley looked so different from the original Adam (actor Michael Muhney), yet nailed Muhney’s facial expressions, body movements, and charming smile to really bring the Adam Newman character (acting as Gabe of course) to life. It was also fun watching Gabe … no wait Adam … no Gabe … drop subtle hints that he is Adam, only to leave other characters within the show slightly confused. What was frustrating then? How long this storyline dragged on until the truth came out.

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3. Summer’s Marriage To Austin

Not sure who was more annoyed by Summer Newman’s marriage to Austin Travers: Jack, Nick or Y&R fans. While puppy-love is understandable to a degree, who would actually pursue a relationship with a person who held their aunt hostage and shot a long-time family friend/Genoa City’s police chief? Apparently, Summer Newman, that’s who. Despite the trail of disaster Austin left in his path, traumatizing Avery, and leaving Paul Williams hospitalized in dire need of a liver donor, all Summer cared about was helping Austin avoid prison. What was even crazier was watching these two play house post-wedding with the full support (both emotionally and financially) by her two rich dads, and a little help from grandpa, The Moustache.

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2. Who Killed Austin?

The scenario involving Kevin, Summer, Mariah, Noah, Courtney, Abby, and Fenmore seemed more like a cheesy remake of the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer than a solid daytime murder mystery storyline. As the pieces began to unfold and secrets were revealed (like Abby’s affair with Austin), it was hard to really take the angle seriously. Probably because of these characters’ ages. Fen, Austin, Courtney, and Summer are relatively young (seemingly in their early 20s); however, Noah, Abby, Kevin and Mariah are certainly not. The snowstorm locking everyone in the Abbott cabin was quite typical, and the entire storyline just lacked anything substantial. While the situation brought Kyle Abbott back into the picture and strengthened Courtney and Noah’s relationship in the long run, the ‘Who Dunnit’ storyline was annoying, from start to finish.

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1. Will The Real Jack Abbott Please Stand Up

It is not uncommon for unknown twins or look-a-likes to pop up in a soap, which even happened to Jack Abbott years back. Thanks to nemesis Victor Newman, Genoa City’s beloved Jack was kidnapped by his ex-girlfriend Kelly, held hostage, and essentially almost starved to death … all in the name of love. There are other ways to a man’s heart; however, while Jack tried to escape crazy Kelly and return to his wife Phyllis, Victor hired South American drug cartel criminal Marco Annicelli to impersonate him back in Genoa City. What was frustrating was that Adam caught on to Marco (he does know a thing or two about pretending to be someone he’s not), but left a huge question on many fans’ mind: how could Marissa tell the difference between Marco and Jack – but Phyllis couldn’t?

Dorathy Gass

Dorathy Gass is an avid fan of daytime drama and has been watching Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, and Young and the Restless for over two decades now. As a full-time freelance writer, she gets to combine her love of soap operas and writing through her Fame 10 articles. Also a mother of two busy girls and a mommy blogger, she's been published multiple times over in Huffington Post Parents and Scary Mommy.