B&B: Week of Nov. 12th Discussion!

[DeeeDee]

HOOCHIE MAMA!

...Loves it!

[stenbeck212]

Interesting, because Brooke looks 5 years older than him. Patrick Duffy only looks old enough to be their big brother.

[Cheap21]

LOL....I guess its in teh Logan women's genes to look older than their brothers bc the same can be said for Bridget and Rick

Who's writing the day to day dialogue bc its been great! Favorite line yesterday was Donna saying to Steph "What the hell are you doing here" and Stephanie responding with "More to the point, what the hell are you!"

[sheilaforever]

This migh sound a little over-dramatic but I felt really blessed while watching Tuesday's show. Such fine acting doesn't come around every fortnight.

DeVry = amazing; Gareis = amazing; McCook = amazing; Duffy = amazing.

A truly devine episode with so many possible Emmy reels.

Since the writing is so good I find this whole gun stuff - with every citizen of LA leaving finger prints on it and knowing about its wherwabouts - a little disappointing although it's the most classic soap fun and I'm always just grinning when they mentioned it in this oh-so-unimportant manner. LOL! Keep it coming folks!

Now I've Thursday and Friday - and I KAAAHNT wait. Hopefully Jackie and her bath tub crash the fashion show. LOL!

[sheilaforever]

Me too!

It's the second time this phrase was used - my guess Vickie Rowell enthralled Janice Ferri Esser as much with it as us viewers. LOve it!

[Cat]

William DeVry needs to be given a contract, like, YESTERDAY. His scenes with Stephen and Brooke (where he damn near welled up as Brooke confirmed what Stephen had said) were SO impressive. I know B&B is hiring Todd Mckee and this I Wanna Be a Soapstar guy (and, Lord knows, B&B could do with diversity -- paging Victoria Rowell!), but they need to think about making Storm an integral part of the B&B scene.

Think about it -- a male character who has a quiet authority... an unusual soulful quality... yes, he's a bit of a control freak but that's story-fodder! PLus he's a well-connected on the canvas, is practically a legacy character, and he's a Logan! B&B needs a male character like this!

Cheap, ITA about the Logans. They are becoming my favorites. I really hope they return to being the 2nd family on the show because their scenes together are unmissable TV for me. It's like B&B coming full circle with some of the Logans essentially helming FC. They are Felicia, Thorne and Ridge's equals now -- something they most definitely felt they weren't back when the show debuted in 1987.

The only person missing is Ashley. I miss her! Hopefully as this Sweeps SL gets underway, she'll show up again. Brooke v. Ashley, the two scientists battling it out in the lab? I have been waiting 15+ years for B&B and Y&R to crossover using their two flawed, blonde chemists in this way.

[Cheap21]

lol...I loved the hootchie mama line. They need to give Felicia more to do. I love that she and Thorne are allied with Stephanie in wanting to get rid of Donna. I love the Steph vs Donna feud. Its very similiar to her feud with Brooke yet at the same time very different bc Donna is vicious. Brooke was always so needy and desperate for Stephanie's acceptance and approval and Donna is the opposite in that she could care less. She is ruthless and motivated by her hate for Stephanie. Steph may have met her match

Someone needs to tell Jackie that the blonde wig isnt working for her. Had to laugh at her crashing the fashion line and her little verbal fight with Stephanie

What a lackluster introduction for Jake McClain. I thought he was supposed to be a bigger character but we see him from a distance with Thorne and Felicia talking about him for a little bit

Finally Ashley is back. I missed her and I cant beleive they went so long without using her. I really hope we arent heading for a redux of her and Rick

I really miss seeing Taylor on screen. I have no idea when HT will return to work, but she does need all the time she can get for herself. One request though is that they give us some Taylor/Stephanie scenes. I miss their friendship and we havent seen that in months. I would love to see her there to support Stephanie in her time of need. Those 2 used to be one of my favorite relationships on the show and the show kind of forget it.

B&B is the BEST soap on the air. I have no idea when it got so good but its on fire.

[sheilaforever]

ITA. Ashley is such a wonderful character on B&B again, I hope they use her. ANd not just with Brady Black ahem Rick Snoozester.

I also felt kinda WTF by the return of Jake Maclaine. It was so never-mind-like but I guess this is another example of slaw phasing in. I'll bet we'll see more of him because why should they bring him back when he's just a Forrester lighting crew technician or so?

BTW: My memory is fuzzy here because Jake never did work that much - except for Steph's tennis skills and the other laides in LA LOL! - did he really for Forrester back then? I only remember he was prime suespect and likely theft for the BeLieF files back in 1992 (?) which miraculous fell into Sally's lap.

[YRBB]

Well, Jake McClaine will have a limited run return, but I'm betting that camera of his will provide some proof pretty soon, don't you?

Fantastic episodes, fantastic week! I LOVED Friday's episode, more of all. It has so many characters, storylines, situations thrown in, it mixed everything, great acting, very good production values.... Oh my God, I can't wait for next week!

[Toups]

More of William DeVry can only be good for the show. I'm glad he's getting more airtime now.

Next week is going to be really good.

I agree, B&B is on fire right now.

And Leslie Kay is so hot. I hope we get to see more of her too.

[Juliajms]

Those scenes where Stephen walked in on Eric and Donna were classic B&B. That doesn't change the fact that I am disgusted by their relationship though. Eric is going through the Logan women the way Brooke went through the Forrester men! Thank god Katie seems to have more sense. I love her!!

[MarkH]

I'm writing to agree, but also to comment on your "classic" comment.

I felt that those scenes were more than classic B&B...they were classic soap. I seem to remember someone walking in on Doug and Julie during Bill Bell's DOOL like that.

The episodes where Eric went to see Steph at the hotel, and then where Steph jousted with the Logans in the fashion show auditorium all seemed truly, vintagely classic soap. The stagework with how Eric and Stephanie stood near each other...the firm, crisp delivery...not melodramatic, articulately spoken...I closed my eyes and it almost sounded like a radio soap. Yes, almost dated...but that wasn't a bad thing.

My point is that I truly think this kind of thing might be Kay Alden's influence. I think she's going over these scripts to give them a weight, and classic soap feel, and to give the show a consistent voice, and this is working. The plots are still consistent with B&B's plotting (after all, this was also part of Bill Bell's vision), but now the show feels like it has a underlying plan and leadership.

I will critique the reintroduction of Jake McClaine though. He just appeared...with minimal fanfare...like we were all supposed to remember him. Felicia had no emotional reaction to this ex-boyfriend. When Felicia said to Thorne "Are you okay with him being here?" and he said "That's water under the bridge", I had to pause and figure out what this meant. And then I recalled that, back in the day, when Thorne and Felicia were played by other actors, Jake had an affair with Macy while she was married to Thorne.

Okay--I liked the nod to history--but I had to stretch to recall it. Why, then, didn't they do a better job of laying this out for viewers?

Still, B&B is clearly fully embracing what it means to be a soap, and it is respectfully honoring it's campy conventions again. Hey...a show with a clear identity...rooted in history....embracing that identity...writing current stories that play off the past (which is what B&B is all about these days)...THAT'S A RICH SOAP.

Why can't everyone understand that THIS is the way to do it?

[YRBB]

That was perfectly put. B&B has been incredibly good these last few weeks and I truly, truly enjoy watching it each day. All the scripts now have a high quality and feel like they were written by the same person. A little while back, you could tell the Esser from the Kelly, but now it's almost impossible. There is a unified voice, unified acting and I feel that the production values have also gotten a little better. You constantly see the show tapping into the past for stories, references, motives.

Kay Alden has worked unbelievable wonders for the show.

And, yet, B&B hasn't lost that feeling, that uniqueness that it had, has it?

People were worried about how Alden's style would mash with Bell's, but I think it has more than perfectly.

[Cheap21]

and here is a clip of my favorite line of the week. The camera work was perfect and Susan Flannery delivered the line so good

[MarkH]

I think you are right. I have been with B&B since 1987, BUT there have been vast periods where I couldn't take it anymore, and I took it off my VCR/DVR.

This never happened with Y&R, which has earned my undying loyalty even as, like Chris B has eloquently written, my iniitial enthusiasm for LML diminished as her ego caused her to fire her anchors to tradition...and she turned the show into an inconsistent mess. I watched less this week, though...which is the sign that my ability to tolerate is slipping.

I never thought I'd think B&B was better than Y&R. I still think Y&R has more good actors and better production values. But B&B is so perfectly, classically soapy right now. It's the ONLY show on daytime that I can pinpoint as being perfectly soapy.

If this is to be laid at Kay Alden's feet, then I worry what happens if the LML/Y&R firing rumors are true I don't want B&B to lose this spark.