In a stunning revelation, Eric Braeden recently admitted that he almost quit The Young and the Restless last year.

According to Soap Central, Braeden was not only disgusted with the direction of his character's storyline, but he was also unhappy with the situations of the other veteran characters. The actor sat down with then-executive producer Lynn Marie Latham to discuss the problems, but was frustrated by what he viewed as a lack of reciprocal concern.

This 2007 meeting came just after Latham had hired a brand new team of writers, some of whom had no previous experience in the soap genre.

During this regime's reign, Braeden said he felt that Victor Newman had become a weak and diminished character, forced to sit on the sidelines while an array of "new, younger characters" took over.

"I will always rail against this chasing of the mythical, young demographic, (that) leads to the dumbing down of television," Braeden said. "It's the bane of a lot of writers, directors and actors in this town."

Fortunately, The Young and the Restless recently elevated Maria Arena Bell, daughter-in-law of series co-creators Lee Phillip Bell and her late husband William, to the head writer position. Braeden couldn't be happier with the change.

"This is the happiest I've been on the show in a long time," he said. "The emphasis is again where it belongs, with the established characters on the show."

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.