Eric Braeden Leaving 'The Young and the Restless'

Victor Newman, bidding Genoa City adieu forever? Say it isn't so!

Sadly, that seems to be the latest hit to daytime TV, as 'The Young and the Restless' star Eric Braeden, who has played manipulative, sometimes ruthless town gazillionaire and Newman family patriarch Victor since 1980, is leaving the Emmy-winning soap after a contract dispute with 'Y&R' production company Sony.

The star, who's won a Daytime Emmy, People's Choice Award, Soap Opera Digest Awards and a star on the Walk of Fame during his lengthy 'Y&R' stint, will leave the show just as his Victor is being sent off to Europe to rehab from a heart transplant. Braeden's last airdate, barring any last-minute negotiations, will be Nov. 2.

And about the possibility of such a reprieve: Braeden doesn't seem to think it's likely. The actor tells EW.com that he had volunteered to take a pay cut to help the show, but his offer was countered with a demand that he take an even heftier pay cut. He now considers Sony's method of negotiating disrespectful to all that he has contributed to helping 'Y&R' maintain its leading status among daytime dramas.

"There is no appreciation of the fact that I've been an important part of the show for 27 years that has been no. 1 in the ratings. That's extraordinary," says Braeden, the German-born actor (real name: Hans Jörg Gudegast) who also played Robin's (Cobie Smulders) dad on an episode of 'How I Met Your Mother.' "So to be dealt with in a perfunctory matter as if you had just known these people for a few months is what is most offensive. This is a certain corporate culture now that is very deleterious."

Braeden's shocking exit caps what has already been a tough year for the soap genre: 'Guiding Light,' the longest running daytime soap in history, was canceled by CBS and aired its series finale on Sept. 18; 'All My Children' announced that, to save money, it will move production from its New York City home base to Los Angeles; and rumors persist that ABC's 'One Life to Live' and CBS' 'As the World Turns' may be next on the chopping block.

One bright spot in soap land: Big-screen star James Franco's announcement that he'll be joining the cast of 'General Hospital' for a short, but intense run. His first airdate in Port Charles is Nov. 20.