When it debuted, The Young and the Restless originally focused on the personal and professional lives of two core families in Genoa City: the wealthy Brooks family and the poor Foster family. After a series of recasts and departures in the early 1980s, most of the original characters were written out and the show shifted to the rivalry between the Abbotts and the Newmans.
Other families such as the Williams, the Winters, and the Fisher/Baldwins were also introduced through the years.
The series was originally broadcast as half-hour episodes, five times a week. It was expanded to one-hour episodes on February 4, 1980.