Doug Davidson Explains How Mal Young Ousted Him From ‘The Young And The Restless’

Fans of The Young and the Restless are thrilled to know that Doug Davidson will bring Paul Williams back to their screens starting March 25. Davidson recently spoke out about all things Paul and Y&R.

Loyal viewers of the No. 1 CBS Daytime drama couldn’t believe it when former executive producer and head writer Mal Young simply stopped including Paul in the scripts after Davidson’s 40-year run on the show. Davidson was removed from contract status and put on recurring and disappeared from the storylines with absolutely no on-screen explanation. The actor spoke out on social media and explained the situation, and in the ensuing months, Eric Braeden (Victor) also spoke out often about Davidson’s ouster. Now Young is out, and Davidson is back in, and (almost) all is right in Genoa City again.

Recently Davidson discussed his past, present, and future at the sudser with Soap Opera News. The actor explained how he learned he would no longer be included in the scenes.

“I finished a scene and one of our associate producers got a text from Mal Young. Mal Young does have my phone number. We have texted in the past. But he texted the Associate Producer and said, ‘Have Doug come to my office.'”

Davidson said the request was strange especially since Young had his phone number. He went into the meeting realizing something was going on that he wasn’t quite aware of.

“Mal told me he was taking me off contract and that he preferred no one knew because it wouldn’t do me or them any good. He’d rather use me (in a recurring capacity) than hiring somebody nobody knows.”

The actor said he agreed because he worried that if he turned Young down, the show would kill off Paul altogether. Ultimately, the recurring status dwindled to nothing after several months, and the last time Paul was in Genoa City was September 19, 2018.

Davidson said, “It was pretty clear they were diminishing the vets. And it wasn’t just me. Kristoff, God rest his soul, went through the exact same thing. They were doing the same thing to his character. They got rid of Greg Rikaart.”

The actor said that after the announcement that he’s coming back to the show, he spoke to Rikaart, who portrayed Kevin Fisher. Davidson plans to let the powers that be know that Rikaart is available and willing to come back as Kevin.

Unfortunately for viewers, Davidson is not back on contract status, but hopefully this time his recurring status really will be that instead of dwindling to nothing at all with no explanation. The actor is pleased with how things will be moving forward.

As for Paul’s upcoming storyline, Davidson said, “I can tell you Paul tries to make everything right in lickety-split time. There is no explanation of his absence. As someone said, maybe he was just on a very long coffee break.”