B&B and Y&R Suspend Production Over Coronavirus Concerns

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic is affecting all walks of life around the world and now it has affected the CBS Daytime lineup as both THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL and THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS are suspending production in the face of the rapidly-escalating health crisis. Deadline is reporting that in the wake of new restrictions by Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, the soaps will halt production beginning March 17 as both shows were dark on Monday, March 16.

B&B and Y&R are currently planning to be shut down for the next two weeks, although that could change as the situation develops. The CBS soaps join ABC sudser GENERAL HOSPITAL, which announced it would suspend production starting March 16 until Friday, April 10. NBC soap DAYS OF OUR LIVES is also taking at least a couple of weeks off out of concern of spreading the virus.

&B Brooke Bill — Brooke isn’t very good at “social distancing.”Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Since B&B and Y&R tape approximately one month ahead, there shouldn’t be any interruption to the broadcast episodes — barring preemptions for breaking news coverage, of course — but obviously, if the production shutdown lasts longer than predicted, that could change. So please keep checking back here for updates as the story continues to develop.

For more B&B and Y&R news, keep reading the CBS edition of Soaps In Depth magazine.