B&B: Ratings are sinking

[King]

B&B has always been my least favorite soap. I've often wondered why it is as high as it has been.

[Chris B]

I've said it for ages, Brad Bell is the worst Headwriter on soaps. He has a good handle on the characters, but he has absolutely no creativity. After the severe unsuccessfulness of Bridge (both times), he's putting Phoebe with her Uncle? It's not like the two had chemistry and they were forced into it. This is the best he could come up with.

Then you have screen hog Jack Wagner who SUCKS. Nick and his mom are worthless at this point and need to be written out. It's shameful that Sally and Spectra has been neglected for years and now are being replaced by Nick and his mom? BORING. Why not bring on another major family to fill the void?

I hope that the declining ratings cause them to do something. B&B has a great cast and TONS of potential being wasted for YEARS by Brad Bell. I want more camp, new characters that stick (like Harry, who should be with Phoebe), more fueds, etc.

B&B only works because it has a stable cast and we can recongnize the characters. It's so weird that they'd try and "fix" Y&R yet not do anything to B&B.

[sheilaforever]

The show isn't boring per se. But they lost lots of steam ever since the last week of January/first week of February.

So much focus on Ridge/Brooke and NuRick who Isn't a horrible actor but I can't stand nonetheless & Phoebe is clearly NOT how it should be done.

They have all the wrong people on the front right now which also explains the falling ratings, IMO.

[Chris B]

I think they always have the wrong people on the front because they only focus on Ridge/Brooke/Nick/Stephanie with everyone else grabbing the scraps. They'll use other characters for a little while, but not consistantly. Why aren't we seeing Thorne (instead of Taylor, HE should've been the focus of Darla's death), Clarke (for YEARS), S

[AntiNWO]

Was the 1/30/07 ep of B&B it's least watched ever? The ep garnered 3.753 million "family loving" viewers. I firmly believe that B&B is NOT America's 2nd most watched daytime drama. It's either GH or DOOL.

Also on that day, ATWT got what I believe is a record low: 2.88 million viewers.

[nassaunew]

Another thing is that it's hard to get invested in new characters and romances. The new characters leave suddenly, and the new romances always revert to the old romantic pairings.

[kentville]

Bell is the worst headwriter in daytime. He doesn't give a crap about viewers. He changes 20 years of history at the drop of a hat, and hasn't had an original idea in years. Revisiting Bridge was a huge mistake, he's ruined Nick and focused way too much on Taylor. His biggest problem is that he doesn't respect the people who watch his show.

[JamesF]

To be honest, the show has not been consistently entertaining since 1998. It works best when there are plenty of non-Forresters thrown into the mix because it doesn't rely on stale rehashes or incestuous pairings. Consider how camptastically brilliant the mid 90s were to what we have today. Sheila's disintegrating marriage to Eric, the fresher Brooke/Taylor/Ridge triangle, Spectra in full force, Anthony Armando, Maggie. As soon as Grant, Sheila, Lauren, Maggie, James etc were written out to "refocus" the show, it was all downhill. There have been flashes of brilliance (particularly Stephanie's trust story) but they amount to nothing.

The recent firings just go to show that we're in for more of the same.

[Lucid]

I am so boroed with the show, everything just seems recycled, especially Ridge and Brooke.

I will say that having Betty White on has been a bright spot, but I can see why GH overtook B&B. We'll see if it lasts though.

[Brandeis]

Agree about Betty White and while I agree with all of the criticisms, it works well for the occasional viewer like me. I can tune in briefly to see Betty White stunt-casted as Stephanie's mother and the rest of the cast is quite familiar to me so I don't waste a lot of time play who's who catch up. But they really shouldn't be writing and casting for people who tune in once in a blue moon only to tune out again.

[Cat]

Spooky! I used to frequent a pro-Brookie board that eventually got caught up in internacine warfare when Ridget occurred and Nick came on the scene. Suddenly it was Bridgies vs Brickies and Don't talk to them, they ship so-and-so. Crazy! I didn't want to stop posting with people just because they held a different opinion on the show than my own.

And I think all these fan agendas are what is killing the show, to be honest. IA with what James F said, B&B hasn't been consistently compelling, hasn't had REAL purpose or direction, since the late 1990s. IMO Brad Bell is the worst kind of a hack, and not a very gifted hack at that. Worse, he has the attention span of a newt which means that badly-needed newbie blood gets discarded after a month or two.

Then it's back to the same old recyced [!@#$%^&*]. I say this is a Brooke fan -- but I just cannot deal with seeing poor KKL go through the Same Script, Different Day anymore. I think she deserves far better, as an actress. Seeing Taylor break away from Ridge and into her own orbit on the show has really made me appreciate the character so much more and HT as an actress... (and if I posted that on the B&B fan boards, I would be hounded out as a "traitor" !)

But that's what Brad does. He's more concerned with playing the fanbases against each other because an outraged audience is an engaged one. I've seen the Official B&B Board, where Bell will drop little hints about SLs or "What do you think about this pairing?" Then he just sits back and watches the animosity between Brookies and TayFans escalate into a vicious piranha fight over his latest piece of bait. And that sucks for most of us who enjoy(ed) the show AS A WHOLE. Our wish for good stories, more characters featured and evolution gets royally shafted in favor of fan agenda baiting.

[Brandeis]

Sounds like he's stolen a page or two from the Brian Frons playbook.

[Juliajms]

^^^ I was just thinking that. But does that really work. I don't think it does. At least not long term. Because it gets to the point where people are so caught up in shipping their couple that when they don't get them, they tune out. How often have you seen people post "the second couple X is done, I'm done"? I think that's the danger of pitting fanbases against each other the way GH does.

It's a little different on B&B because over there it's never really over. On GH couples do end and always in the worst possible way it seems.

[ZaraB]

B & B is in some trouble. It has an aging core. Susan Flannery is fantastic, but isn't going to be around forever. Brooke and Ridge have almost been grandparents - they don't need to stop switching partners altogether, but slow it down, and don't have it front and center every single day. It's time for Brooke and Ridge to start meddling more in their children's lives for awhile.

The show desperately needs some new blood that can stick around. I don't expect this Rick to last, and even more have been let go. I'm glad Bell picked up Eileen Davidson - but I don't see Ashley Abbott fitting on the canvas for more than 1 or 2 stories.

B & B does have some things still in its corner. The fashion industry has a lot of glamour attatched - and the family business means something to the characters. It does have many talented cast members, and a core history with lots of open windows and hallways. Brooke's family might have been an interesting one to go down farther.

[Brandeis]

No it doesn't work. It alienates those of us who tune in for the ensemble cast and balanced, intelligent storytelling. Let's face it, these characters would be considered insane masochists in real life. I used to watch OLTL regularly in the 90's but started getting discouraged back around the Todd/Tea/Blair triangle. ... And I haven't been back as a regular viewer since. Any time I've considered going back, what I've read from fans (jovan, Jolie, et al.) has made me run in the opposite direction. Frons and Baby Bell are not the first to make this mistake though I'm sure if asked, each of these clowns would say they've elevated it to an art form instead of admitting they've squeezed it dry.