“The Young and the Restless” will celebrate its 40th Anniversary on Tuesday, March 26. As part of the celebration the series has taken a cast photo that honors the history of the series as its moves forward to its next 40 years. The show has also released a behind the scenes video that shows how things came together.

CBS

ROW #1 – FRONT: Kristoff St. John “Neil Winters”, Michelle Stafford “Phyllis Newman”, Peter Bergman “Jack Abbott”, Jeanne Cooper “Katherine Chancellor”, Eric Braeden “Victor Newman”, Melody Thomas Scott “Nikki Newman”, Joshua Morrow “Nick Newman”, Amelia Heinle “Victoria Newman Abbott”, Billy Miller “Billy Abbott”

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JPI

Today “Young and the Restless” co-executive producer Paul Rauch announced that he will be stepping down from the drama series as of Friday, April 1, which ironically enough is April Fool’s Day. This of course is no joke.

“My collaboration with Steve Kent, and Maria [Arena Bell] and Bill Bell [Jr.] has been very rewarding,” said Rauch in a statement. “I had great pleasure working with ‘Y&R’s’ magnificent cast and crew. I feel that I’ve accomplished everything that I set out to achieve, and it’s now time for me to return to New York.”

Rauch was named co-executive producer in October 2008 alongside executive producer/head writer Arena Bell. Prior to joining “Y&R,” he served time as executive producer at “Another World,” “Guiding Light,” “One Life to Live,” and “Santa Barbara.”

EXCLUSIVE: Soap Opera Network has learned the names of soap opera writers who declared “Financial Core” status to keep on working during the strike. By going “Fi-Core,” these writers can never be members of the WGA again but they continue to pay reduced union dues and the Guild is obligated to continue providing services such health insurance, pension and residuals. Though they can still work on Guild projects, Guild members will not be keen to hire them.

Here is the list of “Fi-Core” writers:

• “All My Children”: James Harmon Brown & Barbara Esensten (returned to work in late December)
• “The Bold and The Beautiful”: Kay Alden
• “Days Of Our Lives”: Hogan Sheffer (went “Fi-Core” in early January), Meg Kelly (went “Fi-Core” in late November), Victor Gialanella, Mark Christopher Higley
• “General Hospital”: Garin Wolf (went “Fi-Core” immediately), Michael Conforti
• “One Life To Live”: Gary Tomlin, Fran Myers, Jeanne Marie Ford, Michelle Poteet Lisanti (all went “Fi-Core” immediately)
• “Passions”: James E. Reilly, Shawn Morrison, Pete T. Rich (went “Fi-Core” immediately)
• “The Young and The Restless”: Josh Griffith, Maria Arena Bell, Paula Cwikly (all went “Fi-Core” immediately)

There are no “Fi-Core” writers at “As The World Turns” and “Guiding Light.”

At “DAYS” the show decided not to use the services of Hogan Sheffer and Meg Kelly; instead they were paid to stay at home. This signifies that “DAYS” will name a new Head Writer.

Still at “DAYS,” it is unclear as to whether or not that the fired writers (Tom Casiello, Frederick Johnson, Gordon Rayfield, Judy Tate, Judith Donato, Renee Godelia, Richard Backus) will be returning to the show. More on this story in the upcoming days or weeks.

Over at “Y&R” there have been rumors and speculation about the departure of Executive Producer and Head Writer Lynn Marie Latham. However, there has been no word if these rumors are true or not.

UPDATE: April 18, 2008

The WGA released a letter today naming more writers that I didn’t originally have.

The list of writers are:

• “The Bold and The Beautiful”: John F. Smith
• “Days Of Our Lives”: Dena Higley (went “Fi-Core” just before the strike ended in February)
• “Passions”: Marlene Clark Poulter, Clem Egan, Darrell Ray Thomas Jr.