New THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS Executive Producer Mal Young Confesses His Love For Soaps!

UPDATE:

The first episode with Young’s credit as executive producer will air Thursday, July 14!

With prolific British TV producer Mal Young taking over as executive producer of THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS for the departing Jill Farren Phelps, look for lots of changes coming to Genoa City!

After producing U.K. series like DOCTOR WHO, CASUALTY, and EASTENDERS, Young journeyed to the U.S. with AMERICAN IDOL producer Simon Fuller and worked with him to develop a primetime soap that would run all year ’round like their British counterparts. “In the U.K., CORONATION STREET and EASTENDERS, they’re all primetime,” Young explains to Soaps In Depth. “We don’t see the difference between primetime and daytime. It’s all good soap.

“EMPIRE is a soap,” he continues. “SOPRANOS is a soap. It’s all about people and their lives that the audience relates to.”

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When the pilots he developed with Fuller failed to be picked up, Young found himself approached by Sony to take a look at Y&R. “I was honored to be asked my opinion,” he says. “But also, when I really started to watch it, the quality shone through. I was just sucked into it. To be passionate and be part of the people involved in keeping this thing going, I love it.”

For more from Young on his favorite things about Y&R and his plans for the soap, don’t miss his interview in the new CBS issue of Soaps In Depth, on sale now!