sheilaforever

This promo is classic soap. I love it. And of course it is soap 101 that such a “storyline” means that Sheila is NOT gone and will not go anywhere. It’s like those other biiiiiiig secret in soapland which must never come out.

Not so sure about the 70 and early 80s because so little connection to current cast, but late 80s onwards is such a sure bet. Production values were amazing and most actors are still on the show.

It’s just UNBELIEVABLE that the first 8 season are soon online in its entirety. A dream come true!

With that Clarke also was a rare species. Usually these non-Forrester males only drive story 1-2 years max before being reduced to a sidekick and eventually written off the show after 5 years the latest.

He was a hot commodity at a time when several ex-soapers made the successfull move to primetime like Tom Selleck and David Hasselhoff. He would have been stupid not to try his luck in primetime - it just did not work due to the projects offered to him.

It was an EPIC storyline. The writing, directing and acting was all top notch. Stylewise it more like Santa Barbara or GH than B&B because it was tad outlandisher than your average Brad Bell plot. Poor Dr. Mark was thrown under the bus for it - which was the final nail in the coffin for Clarke Garrison as a character with C.J. also being off the canvas and the Spectra exodus looming. Due to this story, the Stephanie Douglas Trust and Taylor's return 2005 was one of THE most iconic B&B years for me similar to 1993 with the Battle for BeLieF, Sheila/Lauren, Macy's alcolism or 1994 with Taylor's Arabian Nights, the sudden death of Jay Garvin and B&B in concert or 2002 with Brooke giving birth to Hope, Sheila's return as Mrs. Lovejoy, Taylor's second death and Portofino. I started reading because I was super eager for your assessment but then decided against it to remain the most Spoiler-free I can in my rewatch. It dawned to me that I missed/forgot quite a lot from the first half of 1994, so I will reply at a later date. I just reached September 1993, #1628 and James and Anthony are not yet in town.

+1 Both Ashley Bashioum and David Tom were not major draws for me, but I really appreciated that they were unique actors which gave Y&R lots of lawyers. It's this kind of talent which is nowadays replaced by looks/scene chewing actors like Billy Miller etc.

Thanks for sharing these! I guess it will be interesting what's next for Sheila now that Kim Brown is clocking in her first full year return since leaving in 1998... On the trivia front: Jacqueline McInnes Wood should super be close to reach her 2000th episode while Don Diamont is thisclose to celebrate 1500 episodes as Bill. Meanwhile, Dan Martin has reached his 200th episode as Brad Baker. It took him 25 years which I think should be soap record for longest recurring guest star who was never given a contract.

By mid 2005 Patrick Mulcahey was hired as a writer and story consultant and we got the dynamite arc of Stephanie faking her heart attack. Gold! And a couple of months later Stephanie kicked Eric in the groin when Stephanie Douglas Trust was revealed - by Katherine Chancellor no less. So much soapy goodness. But the beginning of 2005 was rough.

What a super weird period on the show. There was something with Amber skiing (taking pictures of Bridget????) and that was the Exit story of Adrienne Frantz after 8 years. wTF!? Then you had the Morgan story which was quickly wrapped up (unfortunately), Sydney Penny got Linda Gray as her mother (this was huge for me!) - and by late April everything changed: Taylor was back! I was in utter shock.

I couldn't agree more about Karen. Originally supposed to play the Caroline angle as her clone, the writers wisely dropped this and opted to make Karen her own personality. Then, she was supposed to enter the business world but got only three or four episodes were we actually saw her doing business at Spectra. At the same time she was second best option for both Thorne and Connor, mostly insecure about her own sexuality yet she was pushing Brooke to get herself the married man Ridge back. WTF!? I guess the main cause for failure is that as of January 1993 the latest the writers had zero investment in Karen as a character. She is just there and fitting multiple purposes which contradict each other at times. Another character which is quite botched is Connor: I have now reached September 1993 and Connor has been in nearly all episodes since his introduction. I had no idea how heavy Brad Bell was pushing this character to the forefront. Right now Connor is even involved in a bitter rivalry with Sheila!? Come 12 months later Connor will be involved in a Statler and Waldorf kind of "relationship" with James Warwick where they talk about Brooke, Taylor and Sheila and totally forget about their own lives. You would never know that Connor was initally the new super alpha male in town. In typical B&B fashion male characters burn out quickly in LA it seems. PS: as of #1621 I experience a tiny bit of discomfort by watching the show: the tone seems to have changed by August 1993. Everyone seems to be bitter with each other. You have Brooke vs. Stephanie and Sally vs. Stephanie which has always been the case. But you also have Connor vs. Sheila and the general atmosphere in LA feels like a typical Aaron Spelling soap. Everybody crosses everbody - I kind of miss the lightheartedness of the Spectras and some good old fun. Macy just had the accident with Kevin and was exposed as an alcoholic doing hidden drinking (which was GOLD!) which makes some wonderful scenes, but naturally it is also rather dark. I'm curious about what's coming up next because Catalina and James Warwick happenend a bit later in my memory and I have no idea what else will be going on.

I recall that B&B was SUPER bad around 2008 and rebounded masterfully in 2010 (POSÉ!). In my mind then came Sarah Joy Brown as Sandy Sommers and it went into a giant ditch. I think I actually quit watching in 2011 or 2012, not because of RM and SF's exits but because it all felt very lifeless to me and Liam&Hope were on 24/7. I did not come back fulltime until early 2014, Thorsten Kaye was suddenly around and was some much needed fresh air. To me, the show has never gotten this bad like in the early 2010s. Even though it came close in 2018 and beyond (like frist half of 2021). I cannot remember much of Amber's return - except that scene with Bill at the cliff house where he imagined her pushing her off that very cliff. Talk about a dream come true for many old-school B&B viewers. LMAO!!! Tawny was always great fun - too bad that in my recollection her return was just sampled script from 10 years prior.

Good point - it really felt like a series finale type of episode with all the Logans from the show's premiere and some present. I think a lot came down to one's personal perception of how much you were done with BRIDGE (after 10+ years of constant back and forth) to cheer for THROOKE

# 1616 - this is definitely an episode I have missed out on during its original run Quote of the day goes to Stephanie when Brooke wants to evict her from her office: "I don't quit, bitch!"

The Venice location shoot was amazing. Gondola rides, a ludcrious chase at the Bell Tower, an amazing proposal and a stylish photo shoot on St. Mark's Square... The cast used was tighter than in Portofino but still broader than everything since (minus Syndey 2017). One reason why Portofino was far superior: they shot in Venice in December when clear skyes are rare and it didn't have such outdoor events like a fashion show AND a spectacular return... And if it weren't for B&B I might not have heard from Portofino ever - unlike Venice which one has seen before. Cut: Been to Portofino on vacation many years ago and am now desperate to stay Hotel Splendido (like the B&B cast did...) because it is all oh-so pretty.

Ha! Birthdays of characters not actually born onscreen are so fluid - and rarely mentioned. I think the bdays of Ridge and Brooke were also mentioned once many years ago. wasn’t Macys birthday her second wedding to Thorne (in 1995) or so?

Nah, it was just lazy writing and did not fit in. It COULD have made sense IF Sheila were having troubles with Eric over having a baby of their own (at this point already) or IF she were having issues with Brooke. Speaking of Sheila: I've reached #1604 - aka. the fight for BeLieF is (almost) over. After ca. two months of backburner status, Sheila is back with full force. Concerned over Eric's health and/or the possibility to losing her newfound wealth (take your pick!), Sheila resorts to her scheming ways. When teaming up with Stephanie falls flat, Sheila realizes that she has to bond further with Brooke. They were somewhat friends before - even though mostly due to lack of other friends in town and bonding over their hatred towards Stephanie. This time around: Sheila clearly has an agenda and it is delicious: getting as close as possible to Brooke to protect Eric's interests (which Stephanie failed!!!) and maybe build a safety net of her own. At the same time, Sheila tries to promote herself to Stephanie, Eric and Ridge as their best chance to save Forrester Creations from falling into Brooke's arms. Naturally, the Forresters do not trust Nurse Sheila for their business problems - but Stephanie - thinking that she sees a scheming pro at work - grows suspicious like she did the year before that Sheila is not just an innocent nurse. As for the battle for BeLieF: I had totally forgotten that it was Connor's idea for Brooke to demand majority control of FC. Brooke was totally blindsided when he brought it up - yet kept a straight face not to weaken her case. The dialogue is just GREAT in all scenes of this storyline. The business aspects (lack of liquid funds, residuals, selling the patent to a third party) make a lot of sense and add an extra lawyer to all these not sooo professional motivation like Brooke's vendetta against Stephanie. This almost 30 year old storyline is still killing it on all levels. What a treat! PS: in the totally unrelated "A" story of Macy's alcoholism, Kevin somewhat tried to play matchmaker for Sly and Darla. Based on her reaction, the "C" story of Spence&Darla is officially dead because there was no mention of it at all - and Bill Spencer has not been seen in a long time...

I got a kick reading this - thanks for sharing. I rememer some of these jarring moments as well.

I'm totally blinked out that KB was on maternity leave in 1994. Hopefully it was not too long - unlike her 1998 maternity leave which basically killed all storyline moment at the Psycho Villa - with Barbara Crampton walking out after contract expired and never giving proper resolution to the whole Maggie/James/Sheila story. I tend to believe that Brad Bell wrote out the entire crowd within the next 12 months because Amber/Rick clicked and it was far too simple to write for Brooke/Ridge/Taylor/Pierce than to come up with some good story for Sheila afterwards... Jack is murky character at best. I had no problem with Chris Robinson as Rick Webber on GH but his Jack was never "it" for me. Taylor is one of those characters who does not need her parents in town because she is sane and smart. Jack was only beneficial to Zach but as soon as young Mr. Hamilton was dropped, there was no need for him either. The grandparents triangle was, IMO one of those stories you could tell on Y&R because it is 40 minutes of airtime, but on a 20 minute show having 60+ character "getting it on" kind of kills all interest of a young demographic in the entire show. Seems like Brad Bell thought so, too, because the later triangles with Eric (1995) and Massimo (2001) were equally short-lived. That's why those sex-pot pairings with Lauren, Donna and Quinn made Eric seem like a horndog but made much better storylines.

Now that I moved on to #1590 I've to say that your assessment is spot on. For the past 20-30 episodes Macy and/or someone else from the Spectra orbit was feautured in basically in at least every second episodes. What a difference it made! Suddenly, one is invested in all of this. Keith doing research on alcoholism, Macy hitting rock bottom with a brawl at Bikini Bar, Thorne "saving" Macy in an alley, Thorne being there for Macy but she is moving in with Darla, Macy denying that she is an alcholic but willing to get better, Sally's beachelorette party etc. etc. etc. Somehow the grandparents triangle, as SOD or some other magazine once called it, is heavily under-utilised with all of them but Jack too absorbed in the other BIG stories - Stephanie in BeLieF or Sally in Macy's alcoholism storyline -, but all actors involved are doing great work.

We are still missing writers and directors credits for 1996-2000, so it's a longer road to have these as well but the cast info should be complete in about 12 -15 months - if the uploads go on...

The revival didn't feel like a waste of time to me. I was quite surprised when Brad Bell dropped them like a hot potato because it DID work for me perfectly.

Totally agree! The 2017 Spectra revival could have easily intertwined with Macy's legacy

Fun fact from #1586 aka. Sally's Bachelorette Party with FABIO: Scott Layne is one of the make strippers. By 1996 he - now with the character called VINCE - would "graduate" to owner of his own strip club: Beverly Hills Hideaway and served as Dylan's mentor à la Magic Mike.

This is a comment I was hoping for. Have only been browsing through the rest not to spoil myself. I LOVED season 1 and season 2 was decent to good and a natural conclusion. Seacon 3 started off really well, but by episode 5 it took a nosedive and never recovered from it. Some episodes of third season 3 were just unwatchable. We watched the bonus material on DVD to understand "Mrs. Nolands" ambitions - it just did not work for us. Judging by these interviews, she's a semi-skilled writer and lacks her husband's (who was MIA for most part of season 3) gift to translate super complex material into gripping and thought thru material. Season 3 still had its moments, though.