Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: CBS’ daytime drama The Young and the Restless will be restless for at least three more years with a new renewal that will keep the top-rated soap on the network through the 2013-14 season. The pickup comes on the heels of NBC giving a two-season renewal to Days of Our Lives. That makes it 2-for-2 for Sony Pictures Television, which produces both series, at a time when many daytime dramas are struggling. The soap world has been contracting over the past couples of years with the cancellations of CBS’ The Guiding Light and As the World Turns and NBC’s Passions. The Young and the Restless was never considered in jeopardy as it ranks as the top-rated daytime drama for a 22th consecutive year. Still, a long-term renewal so early into the series’ current season is a vote of confidence to the show. I hear the pickup is a straightforward one. The previous two-year renewal in August 2009 included a license fee reduction that resulted in budget cuts, including trimming the cast’s salaries that led to a brief standoff between star Eric Braeden and Sony. Created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell, The Young and the Restless debuted on March 26, 1973 as a half-hour and was expanded to an hour in 1980. The soap recently featured the return of one-time star David Hasselhoff.

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