edgeofnik

I'll focus on the positives: 1. VP has been an unexpected addition to the cast. I wasn't thrilled that Amy had been recast simply to eliminate her. Gotta give props that Josh saw more. Amy actually works as the glue for the Winters/Hastings family. The surprise Audra/Amy relationship has added depth to both characters. 2. Victor/Phyllis. It was fun to watch Victor undercut every single Phyllis pitch/bluff. MS played this well. No way Phyllis can get away with histrionics with Victor. It was a nice touch that Victor acknowledged Phyllis' trauma, but that he knows her all to well. 3. Chelsea reading Billy. MCE is being wasted when Chelsea is a victim. Look at how much more interesting Chelsea has been challenging Billy and Adam. Please bring Chelsea back to life. Same with Adam. 4. Anyone else notice that AG sometimes plays this homoerotic vibe with Adam/Billy. Like that look he gave Billy when Adam exited the bar. Since it's neither actor was there during the Delia s/l, it's just a lot tougher to sell the animosity. Since she's always been there, EH's pain with all the Adam's sticks.

@janea4old With the Pope full pre-emption, will JW's first airdate move to Monday, June 16?

I never thought I'd say it, but SC is B&B's best male actor - by far. SK is next. Has there ever been a US soap that has so much female talent surrounding by Himbos? KKL, JMW, HT, KB, AN, RB could be/have been leading ladies on any other soap. Even the secondary females are the ones who carry their scenes. It's been rare periods when B&B actually had a few solid male cast members. JMW really did a great job in the scenes with AN. Considering everything we've witnessed the past couple of years with Steffy/Hope, I thought reveal may ring hollow. JMW proved me wrong. No doubt this is Emmy material.

I'd checked out of Y&R for a couple of years because it was boring as... I returned in August because the Sharon story sounded intriguing. I know some hated it, but let's face at least something was happening! It was a solid use of vets and on-screen history. I honestly don't get the Dumas storyline at all or the premature end to the Sharon/Phyllis kidnapping. The latter story actually could've gone on for months. Alan playing cat-and-mouse. It's like they also did a 180 on Billy/Phyllis - the Valentine's Day dream, Billy *saving* Phyllis and a month later he kicks to the curb! What??? That's completely illogical based on their history. Please let Mariah's secret be a good one. At least, Daniel/Tessa/Mariah have a non-business related storyline!

@Maxim This Liam dying out of the blue was crafted in a hurry for three reasons: 1. To facilitate JMW's leave 2. To prop Steffy - 'Oh, Steffy has so much grace and moral superiority that she ignored everything that swine HoLo did to tell her for the sake of their daughters. Queen Stephanie would be so proud of her!' 3. Distracting Steffy enough to give Lunacy an easy way to slither into Finn's life. Once Luna discovers that Lame is dying, she'll play that card: 'Dad, life is too short and precious!' If this was an intentional story, we would've had the typical B&B foreshadowing - Liam faceplanting into a bowl of pasta, Lame missing meetings, being forgetful. Instead, Lame does an impulsive quick quit and $B doesn't even care enough to make a single attempt to get him back? Please.

Today's B&B as the only one I wanted to see this week. I assumed it wouldn't post on cbs.com until tomorrow. Thank you for letting us know!

That's always been my thought. I can't imagine that the show would play up the unseen AD so far in advance without them casting a *star*. After today's episode, I wonder if he'll somehow be connected with Diane. It was strange that Diane mentioned her very distant family today. I can't recall Diane ever talking about her backstory. Maybe he's her much younger brother? It's also possible he's connected to Diane during her time in LA. Sally's already said she crossed paths with him. OC, I think Dumas is Mariah's mistake.... As a side note, it was good to see some mixing it up - Adam with Clare/Kyle and Sharon with Tessa.

What's even weirder to me about the next gen of Forresters Marones looking down on the Logans is that they were raised the same: - Rick, Bridget, Hope and RJ were all born and raised in Bel Air (or the B&B equivalent). That means they all went to the same private schools and the Marone kids, etc. - Brooke has been wealthy for 30+ years. Katie not only got a huge slice of $B's cash in the divorce, but also has had high paying jobs for the past 15 years. Donna, well, she got the divorce settlement from Eric and then a payout from $B and remarried Eric. And all 3 have lived in highly exclusive neighborhoods, etc. The class thing worked until Brooke got the rights to BeLief, became CEO of FC and moved into her mansion wedding present. Brooke and Taylor's children are absolutely the same *class* - so it's disingenuous for Steffy to look down on them. I really wish one of Brooke's kids would call out Steffy/Taylor on this.

Totally agree. KKL looks great! It makes the Widge groveling so bizarre. Brooke needs to leave FC and with $B's/Liam's funding launch a rival fashion house with Hope, Rick, Katie and a secret designer. The best scenario is that Rick has been absent because he's been with very much alive C2, who is revealed on the runway as the secret designer. It'll never happen because B&B is comfortable just focusing on FC and the Forresters Marones v. Logans. But it'd been so much more interesting if the Spencers/Logans united.

AL breathed new life into Summer. Explains the past few weeks, particularly the odd break-up with Chance and why Audra was anointed the spoiler for Clare/Kyle out of the blue. Summer's presence would've taken care of that.

On the plus side, it was great to see CG again. It's also a plus when Mariah is obviously hiding something. The whole I need to get back to work, evasiveness... Hopefully this secret is actually something significant and not another tease. The Billy/Phyllis split is so forced. Billy just saved Phyllis. And like Phyllis, Billy is an outsider and they've always understood each other. Billy knows she's gone through major trauma so his natural instinct would be to try to *save* Phyllis while risking his thing with Sally. If Billy was actually maturing, I'd buy it. However, we know that's not the case since he's teaming with Dumas to take back CI and to get revenge on Adam/Victor. I get the show taking a breather after 9 months of Sharon being terrorized, Heather's death, Ian/Jordan and then Alan, but the last two weeks have been too much of ... nothing.

I decided to stream today's episode only because I wanted to see how Katie would confront Daphne. The only time HT's skills come into play is when she's on a mission to expose frauds - like Poppy and Daphne. Look at the difference between the lame girl talk scenes and the way HT slinks down the stage ambiguously quizzing/taunting Daphne. Fun fact: the scenes with Eric, Brooke and Katie represented a rare time when the 3 longest continuously running actors shared the stage alone. It's hard to believe that HT has been there 18 years! Obviously, KB and SK had huge breaks and JG has mostly been non-contract. It further shows has HT has been wasted. I still consider Katie a more peripheral character.

I guess Liam and the Fashion Show were a ratings hit last week.

Now that Bridget is back, I really wish she'd read Ridge for filth over blaming Brooke joining the takeover. As true Forresters, Rick + Bridget, need to pull that card on Ridge/Steffy every now and then to keep them in check. Like I said, this *coup* could've gone on for a couple of years because so many angles simply weren't played - Rick, Bridget, RJ, Kristen - via Zende, $B being an interloper via Justin. It would've been just like Justin/$B to know there was a legal out to the LLC papers but to withhold it because $B wanted Brooke/Katie to shine and to stick it to Ridge. Justin using Eric's stress to win back Donna.

I'm completely confused why the writers think Phyllis would be obsessing about Daniel joining Billy's latest flop company after he said 'no'. Even MS is having a hard time selling this. Truly, no one cares about this. I'm all for Daniel/Tessa. I've had my issues with CF, but she and Graz do have something. It was clear from the Halloween episode. I'm willing to tolerate clothing-optional guitar lessons. Tessiah needs a huge shake up. The Ian Ward stuff was a reminder of how CG is being wasted.

Great job! That would've been perfect for the 38th Anniversary show. TK actually captured some of RM's vibes.

How many times during the past two weeks has CBS had a 'special report' during BTG? Seriously, like nothing that urgent has happened during the past few weeks that couldn't wait until the news or cable.

@janea4old WOW! You're the best. Thanks for all the amazing info!

On what planet would any daughter want her mother to reunite with a man who's treated her so poorly? I do give credit to Brad when Will was not in favor of Katie reuniting with $B. Will laid out every reason why Katie shouldn't go back. Both Katie and $B acknowledged Will's feelings and the facts. Again, if RM was playing Ridge, I wouldn't be as opposed - kinda like Nikki/Victor (Y&R) - we've watched the same actors for 4 decades. TK is a solid actor, but he'll never be THE Ridge Brooke has pined for 38 years so I - and I bet most of the audiences - have zero investment in this nonsense.

It was interesting that Audra made a comment about the Newman rebuilt today - even though it's been 6 months and she's been there multiple times.... The Ranch is a stunning set. The Abbott set is not.

Steffy being so invested in Liam is simply laying the foundation for Steffy going with Liam to Europe for an experimental treatment during her leave. Hopefully, they don't ask Taylor for advice on European doctors - you know the ones who told her she was dying.... The best thing that could happen to Waffles is that this brain mass allows Brad to write Liam as a villain - aka like $B. It's long overdue. SC has been given such awful material. He deserves better.

The Sheila/Poppy scenes were illogical. The only reason Sheila would turn on Poppy is simply because Poppy will be eliminated and they need more suspects. Sheila passing judgment on anyone is just dumb and isn't true to character at all. Sheila and Poppy as outcast allies would be interesting. Sheila understanding why Poppy kept the Lunacy secret because it protected Finn, allowed him to go to medical school, etc. Poppy could lean on Sheila to help her with Luna, even though she's still bitter about being framed for the two deaths. Poppy/Sheila united front against Li and Steffy! And Sheila could totally manipulate Poppy as a way to get Finn back into her orbit, which is Sheila's real goal.

My issue with Jack Marone is that it's implausible that all-loving, warm, kind Taylor doesn't care at all about the baby: 1) she carried; and 2) that was conceived out of her love for Nick. At the same time, Taylor had no problem snatching and loving a random black market baby (Beth) for Steffy. Even though Brooke had no connection to Jack, except her DNA was illegally used, it's also out of character for her not to care about her heir to the Marone fortune son. Bringing Jack back on canvas actually could be a compelling and emotional story for Brooke/Taylor. Not as a competition, but rather how these two women try to connect with their son and how he tries to connect with his moms. It sounds like JW is only there for a short visit, which means whatever transpires will be forgotten almost immediately.

Glad for DG + Y&R fans.

Wait. He's filming April 10 for shows airing June 13? Two months seems like a long tape-to-air for B&B. Has the show changed its production model?