Doug Davidson Cleans Out His Y&R Dressing Room
It was a bittersweet visit to CBS Television City on July 15 for former THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS star Doug Davidson (ex-Paul). As the beloved actor explained on Twitter, he recently went back to the television studio to gather his remaining belongings, almost three years after he made his last appearance on the soap. “Well, I cleaned out my dressing room a week ago Saturday,” Davidson confessed in a July 23 Twitter post.
As longtime Y&R viewers know, the actor had been the soap’s longest-running cast member, having made his Genoa City debut back in May 1978. However, in recent years, the Emmy winner’s screentime dwindled, and the last time viewers saw Paul was when he was investigating Chance’s shooting in a November 2020 storyline. Technically, at that point, Davidson had been bumped from a contracted actor to recurring status, but he was never called back in by the soap’s higher-ups — and previously shared on social media that the lack of communication left him feeling disrespected. In recent weeks, it was mentioned in storyline that Paul and Christine had split up (off-camera, of course) and he was in Portugal visiting his daughter, Heather, and granddaughter, Lucy.
So, when Davidson went to the studio that Sunday earlier this month, he had some mixed feelings. “Yes, it was sad for several reasons,” he noted. “One, it was my home for over 40 years, and it was like a ghost town.”
Several television shows are taped and produced at Television City. In addition to Y&R, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL also films at the complex, as does DANCING WITH THE STARS and AMERICAN IDOL. Now known as Radford Studio Center, the historic facility is about to undergo a massive renovation, according to Deadline, requiring many of the programs utilizing the space to find other homes. THE PRICE IS RIGHT vacated TV City’s Studio 33 after completing its 52nd season in June, for example, and has moved to a state-of-the-art studio in nearby Glendale for the upcoming Season 53.
It is not clear if Davidson cleaned out his dressing room because that part of the campus will soon be under construction, or if his decision to gather the rest of his belongings was personal. But he was somewhat shocked by what he saw upon his arrival. “Price has left, and the new owner of TV City isn’t really keeping it up,” he noted. “The sets were all small and a bit tired.”
Not surprisingly, Davidson received an outpouring of support from Y&R viewers who miss him desperately after sharing his news. “Thank you all for the kind messages. Sending lots of love right back to you all!” he tweeted, adding that he was “eternally grateful” to Y&R co-creators William and Lee Phillip Bell “and CBS for everything!”
