50 free The Young and the Restless trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Young and the Restless has been on CBS since March 1973, was the top-rated American soap for more than three decades, and gave the world Victor Newman, the Katherine–Jill feud and a theme tune more famous than the gymnast it was named after. This Young and the Restless trivia quiz covers the show's history and its people: William J. and Lee Phillip Bell, the original Brooks and Foster families, the switch to an hour, the Abbotts and Newmans, Sheila Carter's crossover to The Bold and the Beautiful, and the movie stars who passed through Genoa City on the way up. Questions range from easy (which network, which fictional city) to expert-level detail about ratings streaks, head writers, the origin of the theme music and Jeanne Cooper's on-camera facelift. It is built for longtime viewers, but a casual fan will still get plenty right. Every answer was checked against network records and encyclopaedic sources before publishing, and each question carries a citation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which network has The Young and the Restless aired since its debut?
CBS
It is taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood and was created for the network to compete with ABC's youthful soaps.
Q 02What is the name of the fictional Wisconsin town where the show is set?
Genoa City
It's named after a real village that lay between the Bells' Chicago home and their summer spot at Lake Geneva.
Q 03The real town the show is named after lies on which US highway near the Illinois–Wisconsin line?
U.S. Route 12
The village had a population of just under 3,000 in 2020 and sat between the Bells' Chicago home and their summer spot at Lake Geneva.
Q 04Which married couple created the show?
William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell
Bell wrote the show from Chicago while it was produced in Los Angeles, and stayed head writer until his 1998 retirement.
Q 05What was the show's working title before it became The Young and the Restless?
The Innocent Years
Bell said young America had 'lost much of its innocence', and the final title better 'reflected the youth and mood of the early seventies'.
Q 06The show premiered on March 26 of which year?
1973
It inherited its cancelled predecessor's low ratings before climbing fast.
Q 07Which soap did The Young and the Restless replace on the CBS schedule in 1973?
Where the Heart Is
Its later expansion to an hour in 1980 displaced Love of Life, and its 1981 move to 12:30 pushed Search for Tomorrow to NBC.
Q 08The show expanded from a half-hour to a full hour on February 4 of which year?
1980
Bell blamed the change for the show's temporary slide from number one, because many actors' contracts only covered a half-hour show and they left.
Q 09Which two core families did the show originally revolve around?
The Brooks and the Fosters
The wealthy Brooks and working-class Foster families were phased out in the early 1980s in favour of the Abbotts and Williamses.
Q 10Who is the only original character still on the show, having survived the early-1980s clear-out?
Jill Foster Abbott
Jill debuted as an 18-year-old manicurist. Brenda Dickson originated the role and Jess Walton has played it since 1987.
Q 11The feud between Jill Abbott and Katherine Chancellor holds what record?
Longest rivalry on any American soap
It began with Jill's affair with Katherine's husband Phillip Chancellor II and ran for four decades.
Q 12Which actress played Katherine Chancellor for nearly 40 years, until five days before her death in 2013?
Jeanne Cooper
Her real-life son appeared as the priest at Katherine's on-screen memorial.
Q 13What real medical procedure did Katherine's actress have on camera in 1984?
A facelift
Q 21Melody Thomas Scott's first screen credit as a child was in which 1964 Alfred Hitchcock film?
Marnie
She later became the last actress to exchange lines with John Wayne, in The Shootist.
Q 22Who has played Jack Abbott since November 1989, after Terry Lester quit the role?
Peter Bergman
Bergman had just been fired from All My Children, where he was Dr. Cliff Warner.
Q 23Which two 'insignificant' characters did Bell build the show's new 1980s core families around?
Paul Williams and Jack Abbott
Bell said of them: 'They didn't have families. Hell, they didn't even have bedrooms.'
It has been called daytime television's first 'extreme makeover'.
Q 14Which L.A. Law star is the son of the actress who played Katherine Chancellor?
Corbin Bernsen
Cooper won her first competitive Daytime Emmy in 2008, nineteen years after her first nomination.
Q 15How long was Eric Braeden's Victor Newman originally supposed to last on the show?
Eight to twelve weeks
Bell wrote him as 'a despicable, contemptible, unfaithful wife abuser' to be killed off, then rewrote everything after seeing Braeden's first performance.
Q 16Eric Braeden was born in Germany under what name?
Hans-Jörg Gudegast
His early credits used his birth name; he played German officers in Combat! and The Rat Patrol before joining the soap.
Q 17Which real-life millionaire did Eric Braeden play in the 1997 film Titanic?
John Jacob Astor IV
He also played Dr. Otto Hasslein in Escape from the Planet of the Apes and won his Daytime Emmy in 1998.
Q 18What is the name of Victor's worldwide conglomerate?
Newman Enterprises
His backstory has him born in Buffalo, New York, and left in an orphanage at seven.
Q 19Victor Newman was born under what name, according to his backstory?
Christian Miller
His mother Cora put him in an orphanage in Buffalo when he was seven; he left as a teenager and built an empire.
Q 20What was Nikki Reed's profession when she was introduced in 1978?
Stripper
Erica Hope originated the part; Melody Thomas Scott took over in 1979 and has played Nikki ever since.
Q 24Which villain, presumed dead in a fire, was crossed over in 1992 to Bell's second soap?
Sheila Carter
Kimberlin Brown played her for 16 years across both shows. In 2006 the character got plastic surgery to look like Phyllis Summers.
Q 25Which sister soap, also created by Bell, regularly shares actors and crossovers with Y&R?
The Bold and the Beautiful
Bell co-created it with his son Bradley Bell. In March 2020 it briefly knocked Y&R off the number-one spot after 32 years.
Q 26What is the title of the show's opening music, used since 1973?
Nadia's Theme
It was written for the 1971 film Bless the Beasts and Children and only got its familiar title after ABC used it over footage of gymnast Nadia Comăneci at the 1976 Olympics.
Q 27The theme was originally composed under what title, for the 1971 film Bless the Beasts and Children?
Cotton's Dream
Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin Jr. wrote it; Botkin rearranged it for the show's debut.
Q 28Nadia Comăneci never performed her floor routine to 'her' theme. What did she actually use?
A piano medley of 'Yes Sir, That's My Baby' and 'Jump in the Line'
ABC's Wide World of Sports had simply laid the tune over a montage of her 1976 Olympic routines.
Q 29How many Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series has the show won?
11
In total the serial has collected 165 Daytime Emmys from 360 nominations.
Q 30Which long-time ratings leader did Y&R dethrone as the top-rated soap in the 1988–89 season?
General Hospital
It then held the number-one position solo until 2020, more than 1,500 consecutive weeks.