The Young and the Restless: Five characters who are annoying (and 5 who aren't)

There are quite a few characters on The Young and the Restless whose traits drive us up the wall. Whether it's their behavior, their personality, or something else about them, they do things that make us roll our eyes. Here are five Y&R characters who can be quite annoying at times (and five characters who aren't):

Five characters on The Young and the Restless who are annoying:

1) Michael Baldwin on The Young and the Restless

Most of the time, we love The Young and the Restless' Michael (Christian LeBlanc). Unfortunately, he has one infuriating trait: he is obsessed with being the loyal servant of The Great Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), who doesn't do very much to deserve Michael's loyalty. Victor has been dismissive and rude to him, but Michael just keeps taking it. When he told Victor he was done working for him last year, we were hoping he would have enough resolve to stick to that decision. But Michael never learns his lesson.

2) Lily Winters

Lily's (Christel Khalil) self-righteous behavior can be extremely annoying. She just can't seem to give Cane (Billy Flynn) a break. She was understandably shocked when she learned that he was keeping the secret identity of Aristotle Dumas for six years and that he amassed a huge fortune under that name. He kept her and their twin children, Charlie (Noah Alexander Gerry) and Mattie (Lexie Stevenson) in the dark about all of it.

But no matter how much Cane tries to smooth things over with her, she is cold and unforgiving. We've heard her criticize him over and over for the past six months. Just when she was starting to forgive him and was warming up to him, she went right back to telling him off, and she left town. Come on, Lily! We know you still love the guy. Just give him another chance and get it over with.

3) Adam Newman

Adam (Mark Grossman) used to be the most amazing Newman on The Young and the Restless, because he actually turned over a new leaf and behaved like a caring brother to Victoria when Cole (J. Eddie Peck) was in the hospital and after he died. Adam even took a spontaneous trip to Nice, France and endured a grueling hike over a mountain to reach his family in Cane's traincar so he could warn them that Cane was buying a lot of property in Genoa City.

But now, Adam's obsession to prove his loyalty to Victor has gotten so out of hand that he even screwed over his friend, Jack (Peter Bergman), and the other Abbotts when he published the hit piece on Jabot Cosmetic's shutdown. Jack raked him over the coals for that, but it doesn't look like Adam has learned his lesson. He is still determined to do Victor's bidding, even though it cost him a longtime friendship with a man who has always been like a father to him.

4) Jack Abbott

Many of us love Jack, but he has two major flaws that are annoying. One is his blind loyalty to Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott), which may eventually cost him his marriage to Diane (Susan Walters) if he doesn't watch out. He just can't seem to understand that even though Nikki is his friend, when all is said and done, she will always take Victor's side over his.

His second flaw is that he never knows when to keep his mouth shut around Victor and leave well enough alone. When Jack gloated to Victor because the Mustache had lost Newman Enterprises to Cane and Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), he probably didn't realize that he was only making Victor even more determined to go after Jabot than he already is. When Jack runs into Victor somewhere, he should just ignore him, instead of poking the bear. After all, Victor is cold and calculating, and he never forgets when someone crosses him (especially Jack).

5) Victor Newman

Victor is arguably the most annoying character on The Young and the Restless. He is arrogant, he expects loyalty from others but doesn't always show the same loyalty in return, he interferes in his children's and grandchildren's love lives, and he has a God complex (which is possibly his most annoying trait).

We love when Victor goes up against psychotic criminals like Jordan (Colleen Zenk) and Matt Clark (Roger Howarth), because when it comes to dangerous characters like them, we want him to win. But when it comes to the way he treats his own family and the people he calls friends (and, of course, his main rival, Jack) his behavior is downright aggravating.

Five characters on The Young and the Restless who are not annoying:

1) Daniel Romalotti

One big reason why Daniel (Michael Graziadei) doesn't come across as annoying is because he isn't involved in the business world, so he doesn't have any business rivals he's constantly fighting with. Even though his love life is messy, considering that he may end up in a triangle with Tessa (Cait Fairbanks) and Mariah (Camryn Grimes), at least he's not involved in all that AI mess. He isn't stealing other people's companies or thinking about stealing them.

Plus, we love how he always tries to straighten out his mother, Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), when she goes off the rails. He knows when she's up to no good, and he always calls her out on it.

2) Lauren Fenmore Baldwin

Lauren (Tracey Bregman) is another Y&R character who tells it like it is. She knows her husband, Michael, well enough to know when he's keeping a damaging secret from her -- usually one that involves Victor -- and she isn't afraid to tell him that she knows. She tries to protect Michael from the dangerous situations Victor puts him in, even though Michael rarely heeds her words of caution.

Lauren has no problem being outspoken like that with good friends either. A few months ago on The Young and the Restless, she asked Nikki how she could stand by and watch Victor try to destroy the man who saved her life. Of course, Lauren was referring to Jack and that night in the GCAC hotel room when he overdosed on pills as a risky way of trying to sober up a drunken Nikki.

Lastly, we loved when Lauren gave Traci (Beth Maitland) a heartfelt apology for treating her so badly in the past. It's hard to find Lauren annoying when she's one of the most direct and outspoken characters on Y&R.

3) Nate Hastings

Like Daniel, Nate (Sean Dominic) is another character who hasn't gotten involved in all the corporate wars we've been watching lately (most of it having to do with Cane and his AI program). Thankfully, the company he works for, Winters Inc., hasn't been attacked by the AI software.

Nate has been a good friend to Amy (Valarie Pettiford) and Victoria (Amelia Heinle), and he's also been a loyal cousin to Lily and Devon (Bryton James). He's done shady things in the past, but he's straightened himself out and is now one of the nicer characters on Y&R.

4) Diane Jenkins Abbott

Diane (Susan Walters) rubs many Y&R fans the wrong way because of her conniving background. When Jack and Kyle (Michael Mealor) discovered that she faked her death for years, they didn't know whether they could ever forgive her. Some fans have been wondering whether she's been playing the long game and conning Jack since she returned to Genoa City in 2022.

But some of us like Diane, and we love her loyalty to the Abbotts. She and Jack feel like a good fit together. We feel badly that he never listens to her when she keeps telling him how ridiculous he's being for putting so much faith in Nikki. Why did Nikki have to cave to Victor on Christmas Eve, simply because he gave her a fancy necklace (yet another one to add to her already huge collection of fancy necklaces)? If she really had the guts, she would have walked out on Victor and kept walking.

In the past year, Diane offered a caring ear to Traci during the Martin Laurent (Christopher Cousins) storyline, she asked Michael to help the Abbotts after Adam published that hit piece against them, she exhanged heated words with Audra (Zuleyka Silver) in Kyle's defense, and she "refreshed" the Abbott mansion. Say whatever you want about Diane, but we give her a thumbs up, and we hope that Jack doesn't ruin their happy marriage.

5) Traci Abbott

Some fans of The Young and the Restless may think that Traci's perpetually sweet disposition is annoying, but we don't. Traci is a bright light on the show, and every soap needs at least one or two characters who are truly good and honest. Soaps shouldn't only consist of cheaters, schemers, baby snatchers, and psychotic murderers. Soaps need a balance of both good and bad, and Traci gives us that much-needed goodness in spades.

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She's a loving sister to Jack, Ashley (Eileen Davidson), and Billy (Jason Thompson). She's a caring friend to Lily and Amy. She showed understanding and empathy to Phyllis when she crashed Christine's (Lauralee Bell) bachelorette party. She forgave Lauren for her past verbal abuse. It's just a shame that we only get to see Traci on a recurring basis. We hope she gets a good storyline when she returns to Y&R, and not one where she ends up heartbroken -- like she did in the Martin Laurent storyline last year.

Catch all-new episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS and Paramount Plus.

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