NOW: Mal Young confirms exit from “Y&R” : “Just arrived in London for the holidays. I felt like it was a good time to move on. Never a good idea to get too settled on a long running soap and I achieved all that I and CBS set out to do: improved scripts and production values. I have a project of my own that I’ve been developing and want to pursue that now. Plus running a show like this is all consuming and want to get a bit of my life back – and see my family occasionally!”

From me: Fans should not put all the blame for what’s happened at this show on Young. He had to report to people who dictated quite a bit to him. The real failure still lies with Head of Daytime Angelica McDaniel. to be continued…

EARLIER The end is near if not already passed for Mal Young.

The executive producer and head writer of “The Young and the Restless” seems to be out according to various sources.

My own efforts to reach Young have proved unsatisfactory, without a denial coming from the former producer of the hit show “Dr. Who.”

But Young’s tenure at “Y&R” went from being welcome to a nightmare in a short time. Many veteran actors from the show have left — either voluntarily or written out — causing a severe ratings drop.

Last year at this time, the 45 year old soap was up to 4.8 million viewers. Today it’s averaging 4.2 million with some days falling below the 4 million mark.

Doug Davidson, the show’s longest running actor, was dropped over the summer without even a goodbye. Eileen Davidson (no relation), the popular star of the show with a huge following and also more than 30 years of service, left, she said, of her own volition.

Young may have suffered from the same fate that has affected executive producers for decades: hubris. In an effort to brand the show his own, he alienated viewers by introducing new characters, dropping old ones, re-writing history. There are only four soaps left on the air. The ones that are gone did exactly that. and look where that got them.

With Young gone, viewers can expect to see their faves back before too long.

Guess what shows won their time periods on Friday night on CBS?

From 8 to 9pm it was “I Love Lucy.” From 9 to 10 pm it was “The Dick van Dyke Show.” In fact, “Kucy” was the highest rated show of the night on broadcast TV with 5.86 million viewers.

Yes, it’s 2018, not 1965 or 1956. CBS showed two colorized episodes of each classic comedy. They’ve done it before.

We remember these shows in black and white. They were filmed in black and white. But the people who made them were in color. You get that, right? The cast, crew etc were themselves IN COLOR. The film was black and white.

Personally, I’m not for the colorization. But “Dick van Dyke” creator Carl Reiner, who’s 95, loves it. He said so on Twitter.

Reiner Tweeted: “Just chatted with Dick Van Dyke about how, last night, we, and a majority of viewers, enjoyed seeing our old show in living color, Our hope is that some wise rich, entrepreneur also colorizes the 156 other episodes.”

No, no, no Carl. Rob and Laura, Sally and Buddy, Alan Brady– leave them in glorious B&W please! Lucy, Ricky, Fred, Ethel, too!

Just chatted with Dick Van Dyke about how, last night, we, and a majority of viewers, enjoyed seeing o\ir old show in living color, Our hope is that some wise rich, entrepreneur also colorizes the 156 other episodes.

— carl reiner (@carlreiner) December 15, 2018