W the Actual H! Young & Restless’ Latest Missed Opportunity Isn’t Just Disappointing, It’s Infuriating

In a way, we weren’t surprised when Trevor St. John announced via X on June 18 that he was leaving The Young and the Restless. If we were him, we’d have been annoyed at having been so poorly used as the soap’s third Tucker McCall. The character’s big love story was a reunion with ex-wife Ashley about which she was most of the time “meh.” Devon’s dad is a card-carrying schemer, yet he never managed to successfully hatch a single plot. And we were told over and over again what a power player Tucker was, but he seemed to have about as much impact on Jack and Victor as a mosquito does on an elephant.

Simply put, it didn’t have to be that way!

It is exhausting being a Young & Restless viewer these days, because you want to root for the show to be great… and at every turn, it disappoints you. That big Lily/Daniel lawsuit? “Let’s not bother with all that pesky drama,” the powers that be decided. “Michelle Stafford just won another Emmy. Good thing we have her in a red-hot story… Oh, wait. We don’t have her in any story at all, do we?” How’s Ashley doing in her search for the deep, dark secret that caused her personality to splinter into a series of cartoon characters? We have no idea, because all of her therapy is taking place off screen.

So really, it’s not a shock that Young & Restless utterly bungled Tucker’s comeback. It took an actor who is such a chemistry machine that he once managed to leave a faction of One Life to Live’s audience uncomfortably hoping that Todd and Marty would get together — years after the character set in motion her gang rape, for God’s sake — and made his alter ego a romantic booby prize. It took a character who is so sneaky, he should have had all of Genoa City sleeping with one eye open and only went halfway — by putting Genoa City to sleep.

We’ve written before about how we’d fix the show. Apparently, we are going to have to again and again. Because at damn near every turn, Young & Restless looks at the canvas, says, “Hey, this could be interesting!” — and then says, “Oh my stars! We wouldn’t want to do that. Let’s have someone change jobs again instead! People love that!”