The Young and the Restless: 5 things we need to see happen this fall

If the comments on social media and across the internet are any indication, The Young and the Restless fans are hoping to see some changes on the soap opera in the coming months. It appears many of them are growing tired of the constant reshuffling in leadership at Newman, sick of the entitlement and hypocrisy of certain legacy characters and just begging for romantic recouplings.

With all that said, we decided to combine the online critique with our own knowledge of The Young and the Restless to propose five things that we, as viewers, need to see in the fall. From new relationships to new plotlines to the return of one or two characters, we developed a list of ideas that would certainly shake things up in Genoa City.

So without further ado, let’s jump into it.

The return of classic Phyllis

After Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) narrowly escaped prison, under the condition that she minds her p’s and q’s while she’s on probation, she’s been relatively dormant.  She’s not hatched any wild or crazy schemes, made a play to reunite with Jack (Peter Bergman) or even attempted to hatch a plan to go after Audra (Zuleyka Silver) for having an affair with her daughter’s husband.

While we understand the reason behind Phyllis laying low, she’s at her best when she’s knee-deep in the mess of Genoa City. We aren’t calling for her to fake her death again, but we’d love to see her return to her mischievous ways. For example, she could attempt to go after Audra on Summer’s (Allison Lanier) behalf. Phyllis already has a bombshell secret about the Newman Media COO and has done nothing with it.

There’s also the fact that Ms. Summers is currently unemployed. Perhaps a new job could cause her to rely on her certain set of roguish skills. Since she owes Adam (Mark Grossman) a favor already for the leverage he gave her on Tucker (Trevor St. John), maybe an unorthodox business partnership with the Newman heir could cause the stir fans would love to see. Remember, Adam was recently fired, so a career shift is on the horizon for him too.

Adam launching a successful business of his own

Speaking of Adam, with him once again on the outs with his family and kicked out of Newman Enterprises, the coming months could present a great opportunity for him to build something of his own and break this cycle of working with Victor (Eric Braeden) only for it to end in disaster.

Out of all Victor’s children, Adam is most like his dad. Time and time again, Victor has stated that he built Newman Enterprises from the ground up. Adam should take his father’s moxy and do the same.

As we already suggested, he could work with Phyllis in building something great. Although we’d prefer he’d start a company in a different sector, should he opt to develop something in the media space, he has the experience and Phyllis is a great tech person to have on staff. Taking it a step further, maybe he can manage to recruit other tech wiz, Kevin (Greg Rikaart), and bring him back on The Young and the Restless canvas.

The reuniting of Sharon and Nick and Victoria and Billy

Straight and to the point, we’re calling for legacy couples to stop messing around with other people in Genoa City and just reunite. We’re talking about Sharon (Sharon Case) and Nick (Joshua Morrow) as well as Victora (Amelia Heinle) and Billy (Jason Thompson).

In the case of Sharon and Nick, they’ve been dancing around each other ever since the return and subsequent death of Cameron Kirsten (Linden Ashby). Although they’ve professed over and over that they’re just friends and co-parents, Adam told Sharon that Nick loves her and the two exes are destined to be together. We tend to agree.

It’s almost as if Sharon is wasting viewers' time the longer she’s with Chance (Conner Floyd). The same goes for Nick being with Sally (Courtney Hope). Besides, it’s obvious Sally still loves Adam.

The return of a real villain

The Young and the Restless needs a "big bad" to return to town. With Jeremy Stark (James Hyde) and Cameron dead, the show is missing a looming presence. While it seems there is this build-up that Adam could soon slip into the role, we don’t feel he quite fits the bill. Meaning someone else better suited for the job should return.

We propose bringing back Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk). Her deadly obsession with Jack alone is enough to cause havoc in Genoa City. Should she manage to escape the institution she’s currently residing in, she could arrive back in town and continue on with her quest to claim the Abbott for herself. That of course would put her on a direct collision course with Diane (Susan Walters), and that could mean fireworks.

Patty’s arrival wouldn’t be great news for Phyllis either. The two women have their own history which includes poisoning Summer. We can’t fail to mention that Patty also has a history with Sharon and Victor, the latter of whom she shot.

Another good candidate for a returning villain is Ian Ward (Ray Wise). Given his awful history with Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), Victor, Sharon and Mariah (Camryn Grimes), he too could stir a lot of drama.

A Newman and Abbott Feud

It’s been a long time since viewers have seen a war break out between the Newmans and Abbotts. Back when these two powerhouse families were actively feuding, spearheaded by Victor and Jack, the soap was full of some amazing daytime moments. As of late, the two families have resorted to infighting which has become a bit draining in some respects.

The fall is the perfect time for Jack and Victor to reignite their decades-long rivalry. It would probably end the tension between Jack and Billy at Jabot and the bickering at Newman Enterprises. A reignited feud may not be good news for the family members the two clans share in common like Abby (Melissa Ordway), but viewers like us would be satisfied.

Brand-new episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.