Why Y&R Fans, Victor Newman, And Eric Braeden Deserve Better Writing

Once upon a time on The Young and the Restless, Victor Newman was the king of Genoa City. He wooed and wed Nikki Reed. He outsmarted both John Abbott and Jack Abbott and took over their family company.

He committed crime after crime after crime and got away with it, due to the sheer force of his personality (and quite a bit of yelling). And Eric Braeden won a Daytime Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama category in 1998.

End Of The Road For Victor Newman?

Those days are seemingly over. In 2021, The Great Victor Newman is a shell of his former dynamic, powerful, Alpha male self. Why do we think that? Because no one is listening to him.

He told Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) that he doesn’t like Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle) moving in with Ashland Locke (Richard Burgi). Nikki says, “Well, I think it’s fine, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

He tells Victoria he doesn’t want her merging the company Victor built from the ground up with the Locke’s. Victoria says, “Well, I think it’s fine, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

He tells Adam Newman (Mark Grossman) he doesn’t think it’s in grandson Connor’s (Judah Mackey) best interest to go on a road trip with his jailbird mama, Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan). Adam says, “Well, I think it’s fine, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Son Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) doesn’t even come around the ranch long enough for Victor to offer him an opinion to ignore.

Victor is reduced to randomly offering his help to Amanda Sinclair (Mishael Morgan) in her plot to entrap her grandfather, so he’ll have someone to tell him how still wonderful he is.

Just Desserts

We’re not saying Victor needs to continue winning every argument he gets into. It’s nice to see other characters have their moment in the sun. But if he’s to continue to be a force in Genoa City, then the character desperately needs some better writing. Not only should Victor be right once in a while – he should no longer be the only one who thinks so.

The Young and the Restless (YR) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Genoa City, check out all the latest that’s been posted on Y&R spoilers.