DRW50

9/1/92 SOD review. Why Is THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL So Fashionable? By Carolyn Hinsey What can we say about THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL? It certainly is beautiful, and the bulk of B&B's stories are riveting. It also boasts three of daytime's most powerful actresses: Darlene Conley, Susan Flannery and now Kimberlin Brown. If there were no other reason to watch B&B (and there are many), Sally Spectra (DarleneConley) would be reason enough. Creators Bill and Lee Phillip Bell took a real chance by creating this larger than life, very unsoap-like character, and she has resulted in some of the best humor on daytime. Conley never disappoints, and her storyline with the reprobate Clarke (Daniel McVicar) has been both funny and compelling. (Sally trying to seduce Clark: "Have an oyster, Clarke. Have two. Have twelve.") Sally's love for her young, handsome husband made her vulnerable, and even though they know better, viewers rooted for Clarke to fall in love with Sally just to see her happy. When Sally finally discovered Clarke in bed with Kristen ("We are going to storm the Bastille!"), the episode was both hilarious and heartbreaking. "I would have died for you," Sally told Clarke on her way out. And she would have. Unfortunately, Susan Flannery (Stephanie) doesn't have quite the same material to work with. It seems the burden of romantic B&B relationships is on the women, when the male characters turn away from them, somehow the females blame themselves (witness Stephanie/Eric, Sally/Clarke, Macy/Thorne). Since she gave up on Eric, Stephanie Forrester has spent too much time apologizing. She regrets not being a better wife to Eric, not being a better mother to Ridge, not doing enough for the homeless, etc. The character appears to be strong, but then she wanders around meddling in her children's lives and apologizing to everybody, and the viewer doesn't know what to think. However, recent developments with Jack (Chris Robinson) are promising; this woman deserves a love life (and a storyline) of her own. Speaking of love lives, can anyone explain why Ridge (Ronn Moss) is so popular? Whether he is breaking up with Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) or fighting with Eric (the formidable John McCook), his emotions are eerily identical. And notwithstanding the fact that Moss is one of the best-looking men on daytime, Ridge is in love with Taylor (Hunter Tylo), drawn to Karen (Joanna Johnson) and may have impregnated his father's wife, Brooke. Right before his wedding, Ridge kissed both Karen and Brooke, then vowed to love, honor and cherish Taylor. This is a hero? Perhaps the women in his life are prepared to forgive him, but why do the viewers? Additionally, some B&B characters are not fully developed. Why does Eric love Brooke? Why would Karen fall for Ridge before she even met him? What does Blake love about Taylor, and why wouldn't he let her go? Characters like Macy, Clarke, Darla and Bill need stronger storylines f they are hanging around. And there must be a better way to show Macy and Thorne's supposed love for each other than to have them burst into spontaneous song. The odd thing about this show is that while the stories are so interesting, the dialogue can be stilted. Often, the characters repeat each other: "Ridge called from the airplane." "THE AIRPLANE." RIdge to Eric: "I made this decision [to get married] while I was away." Eric: "WHILE YOU WERE AWAY." (Wouldn't a more sensible reply be, "Really?") And when RIdge told Felicia about his marriage, it's no wonder she was confused. Ridge: "The last week I've been with a person. A person I've grown very close to. A person I've taken for granted." Felicia: "Who is she?" RIdge: "Taylor Hayes." Felicia: "Taylor." Perhaps the minimalist approach to dialogue is an attempt to compensate for a few of the cast's less experienced performers. But giving strong actors less to say cheats viewers out of the masterful dialogue the Bell team is more than capable of delivering. Rather than catering to the lesser players, perhaps B&B would be wise to invest in some dramatic coaching. Among the many things this show does right, however, is taking chances. Jake's child abuse storyline was very strong, and B&B went out on a long limb with Sally's mid-life pregnancy tale. The developing gambling plot looks powerful, and most B&B characters are written not black and white, but gray. Sheila, of course, is the exception. Can we talk stroke of genius here? Kimberlin Brown, formerly one of the best reasons to watch that other Bell family staple, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, has surfaced on B&B with a vengeance. Sheila's scenes with Eric are charged with sexual tension, and viewers know that if she wants him, she'll get him. (The recent scene in Eric's bathroom, where Eric walked in on a "surprised" Sheila bathing in his tub, was perfect.) And it was a trip down memory lane when the evil Sheila set up Eric, Jr.'s nanny to take a fall (literally) and later grabbed the baby from Brooke's office - pleasant reminders of just how nasty Sheila is. But at the same time, we know she won't actually hurt the baby. So we can watch her wreak havoc on the pompous Forrester family guilt-free, knowing that eventually she'll get her comeuppance. But hopefully not for a long time. The second-best new character is Zach, played by the amazing Michael Watson (ex-Decker, GENERAL HOSPITAL). The story has been written brilliantly, bringing Zach in as a love interest for fan favorite Felicia (Colleen Dion) and then slowly developing the fact that he is Taylor's brother and Jack's son. Daytime veteran Robinson (ex-Rick, GH) brings much-needed dimension to Stephanie and Sally, as well as to his TV children. To look at them, Robinson, Watson and Tylo could be a family, and the actors are more than up to the challenge. With a little more attention to dialogue and some character development, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL could go from being good theater to becoming great drama. The elements are all there for some enthralling stories, and with the addition of a minority character or two (maybe at Spectra?), we'll have a truly bold half hour of beautiful daytime television.

Do you think the show missed Christine? I was watching a few Sharon/Brad clips from around the time they first had sex - what did you think of that story?

It never made any sense to me why they would trash Danny as being such a terrible father. I never liked Danny, but he was a devoted father.

It seemed to me like Lauralee was phasing herself out of the show in those periods. They were very long leaves. I can't remember but for some reason I thought they asked Michael back once a few years ago (after the stuff with him singing in 2008) and he declined.

I doubt she'd want it.

I thought he destroyed the sense of community. The problem with the Kim/Susan rivalry he wrote was that it seemed petty. Kim wasn't a petty person. Under his pen, everyone was petty, otherwise they were losers and we were supposed to look down on them.

I wouldn't take Wolf Blitzer's word on ANYTHING, but beyond that, I wouldn't say Romney is a political weakling. The media worships him, they always have (I remember one reporter gushing over how just being in the room with his masculine strength made them go aflutter), he has tons of money, and he's a robot. The media love Republican Presidents because it fulfills their insecurities about "strong father" and look, there's GWB in his flight suit, isn't he a stud, and so on. It says a lot about Romney that he hasn't closed this up yet. Everything has gone his way.

I'd never seen this Y&R logo. It looks like a beer logo.

1983 credits at about 5:10. Who is the woman on the top left?

If the ratings keep falling is Sony going to do anything? Then again I don't even know what their idea of a solution would be. Is Catherine Bell available?

So they don't care too much about any of this now since a Bell is in charge? I wonder if Sony cares. I know many believe Sony is like ABC or P&G and wants out. I'd forgotten about that Shackleford thing. Do you know what stories she rewrote? The Tammin thing was Sony right?

Thanks. I've wondered, exactly what role did Bloom even play at Y&R? All I know is the Nichols bit. Clearly she had no problem letting various teams gut the show. Did she ever do anything? Was the LML firing her decision? I'm kind of surprised they even got rid of LML since they don't seem to care about the show at all, unless it was some kind of huge personal issue. I know a few of the Knots Landing actors weren't fond of her.

Yes. He was a makeup artist.

Do you know if there was any issue at Y&R with Melody having a child without being married to the father? There's an article in '82 where she models fashions for pregnant women and talks about why she wasn't marrying her child's father (Carlos, can't remember his last name). I was a little surprised SOD was discussing this, especially since the Bell soaps seemed to be conservative in view.

You have to wonder who they thought they'd replace them with. Imagine if Braeden had left and Bloom's choice Stephen Nichols had become the new male lead. If his work on Y&R so far is any indication, yikes. I guess wanting new talent to replace old is also why people like Maura West were hired, yet if rumor is true, MAB railroaded her out and gave Diane a disgusting time, all with Sony letting it happen. I just have no idea who cares about this show. It's sad to think this show was such a profit-maker and a force for CBS and so many different people are happy to let it die.

Do you think that Twitter fans were partially responsible for the show bringing Melody back or was that down to falling ratings? Or maybe she has some friends at Sony, I don't know. She's survived so many weird coups over the last decade - I guess a lot of the tension started when she got together with Ed Scott but I wonder if she was really that different in the '80s than she is now. I always wonder exactly what MAB is doing. Everyone always makes sure she isn't blamed for anything. I don't know if she is Machaevallian or if she really just goes to art shows, or pashmina sales, or whatever, and then says, "Hey don't blame me, I'm your friend."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG18b0g_SKs

This stuff always fascinates me, mostly because it seems like the cast had a much more together attitude in the early years. I'm never sure if that's just a myth (since most of what I know is the cast feeling they were treated unfairly), or if as some of the originals left and MTS, Braeden, etc. arrived, and the show began to build itself, egos took over.

Was this because Brenda felt like Melody had taken her role on the show? Or was this one of the issues Melody had with people? I don't ever hear about any serious conflicts Melody's had with anyone but I know that there's this idea she's not hugely popular with the cast.

Did Neil die oncamera? I should look in the synopses I have about that I guess. I guess he and Gina were already split up by then. It's tough for me to picture Jack and Lauren, perhaps because this never seemed to be addressed later on, compared to many other relationships Lauren or Jack had. Chloe is one of those characters Bill Bell probably would have enjoyed writing for, at least the way she was early on, when people were going on about how she was a young Nina or a young Jill, instead of not even quite making it up to the young Mari Jo Mason level. And thanks again for all your help.

They still had a role in each other's stories here and there. For instance, Lauren was one of the people who helped Maggie in her schemes against Sheila. I think there was a magazine cover with Lauren, Maggie, and someone else (Brooke?) in a plan against Sheila. This was when Sheila was somewhat redeemed and Maggie was starting to go nuts (around early 1997). I think Lauren also testified against Sheila when Sheila wanted to be released from the mental institution in fall 1995. What type of role did Lauren have in stories between the time of the Shawn saga and Sheila? I've read about her schemes to get JoAnna away from Marc, and I guess she still had some times with Paul? What else? It always seemed off to me that she and Jack were on a ski trip together when they found Brad locked up. How close were they? What were Lester and Bregman like together?

I mostly remember Victor/Ashley for her conflicts with Victoria, which were very entertaining, and yet you knew Ashley also cared about Victoria (another reason why the triangle over Cole was an odd idea). I think that this Ashley was so low-key and subtle, that it must have changed the Victor/Ashley dynamics. Weren't they initially written as grand passion? Ironically, they were never written as that again, even when Eileen returned. Hadn't Lauren already reformed before the Sheila story? Or was she still naughty?

Brad Bell so quickly dumping Brooke/Thorne in favor of the first of many "Brooke debases herself with ___ while pining for Ridge" storie s was when I truly knew B&B had run out of ideas and would just coast to it's death. That's exactly what happened, especially when they brought back Taylor. The show is devoid of any motivation or purpose and no amount of frozen-faced camp and bad social issues hides that.

Was Traci ever involved in Lauren's story during the Sheila years? Sometimes I wonder if Bill lost interest in writing for Lauren after the Sheila story, if he'd lost the essence of her character.