Credit: CBS screenshot (3), Howard Wise/JPI (3)

I wouldn’t dare to speak for all viewers of The Young and the Restless, but I can safely say for all of us here at Soaps.com: We’re rooting for you, Jamey Giddens and Dan O’Connor.

Often, when there is a changing of the guard at a daytime drama, fans groan. We know that, when there is a change behind the scenes, it soon manifests itself in a change on screen. In this case, however, we are here for that change. We want it — desperately.

We’ve tried to be politic in our critiques of outgoing headwriter Josh Griffith’s material. But we’ve often failed. That’s on us — probably me in particular. (Once an aunt taught me how much fun being catty could be, there was no turning back.)

It’s not all on me, though. How did no one at Bell, Sony or CBS say, “Maybe Sharon’s been kidnapped enough for a while?” or “Are we really just going to go from one psycho to another to another… forever?”

But that’s not the point of this post. The point is, I want Jamey and Dan to know that, perhaps more than any other scribe or tag team ever to be installed at a show, we are cheering them on. We want them to succeed. Knowing their past work, we have a sneaking suspicion that they will, too.

And that’s it. That’s the message. I’d say, “Be bold, take chances, remember how other soaps have regained their footing and run with it.” But Jamey and Dan don’t need to hear that, they already know it.

The dynamic duo also knows that the audience isn’t stupid. So they don’t have to hit us over the head with the same dialogue scene after scene, day after day, week after week (like Bold & Beautiful does). They know the difference between witty and obnoxious, flawed and insufferable.

Hell, the more I think about the stuff I know these guys already know, the more stoked I get for their material to start airing. As far as I’m concerned, November can’t come soon enough. Slay, fellas, and restore Young & Restless to its former glory.

Here’s our checklist of the fixes the new headwriters need to make asap and our new photo gallery of October previews and predictions for all five shows.