Young and the Restless Message Board

Eric Braeden doesn't buy Victor being transformed from a grouchy corporate raider into a depraived, sociopathic enabler being just a coinky dink with his tense contract negotiations any more than I do (Keep checking back for this week's CBS/DAYS podcast)! In the blockbuster soap interview of the year, the former Young and Restless frontman tells TV Guide Magazine's Michael Logan he believes it has all been calculated by a hardball playing Sony!

How is Victor written out after his heart transplant? He’s been painted into such a dark and irredeemable place. Was this done to scare you?

Victor and Nikki go to Europe somewhere, Belgium or whatever, to some rehabilitation clinic. When I watch the show I realize—boy, oh boy—this exit was all calculated! They have now painted Victor Newman so black. He’s now killed this Colleen girl. He is responsible for the demise of everything. What he did do is hire that girl [Patty] and give her plastic surgery to get even with Jack Abbott. They’ve totally forgotten that Adam was gaslighting Ashley—now Victor’s held responsible for it. Jack Abbott is totally relieved of any kind of responsibility. It’s all Victor! They have forgotten all the backstory in order to make a rush to judgment. What they wanted to do—I’m thoroughly convinced of it—is make Victor look so bad to the public that the public will say, “Let him die.” So, yes, this is orchestrated and it happened at a very propitious time when my 26-week cycle was up. This is totally calculated from the top. It infuriates me, the conscious intention behind it. It’s a very dramatic story, a very good story, but it certainly has the potential for a permanent departure.

Well, we've been wanting a big business storyline on Y&R, who knew it would have to take place behind-the-scenes?