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SOD: B&B Revamp?


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Oh, for heaven's sake...! Is no soap opera "sacred" anymore? I never enjoyed B&B as much as others do, but I always gave their company credit for never fixing what isn't broken. Now, this. Whatever it is they are doing, I just hope it isn't as bad as what GL is doing to attract younger audiences.

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Well, this could mean ANYTHING. It's all so vague. It could be anything from "hipper" sets, to new cameras, to the dismantling of the Forrester family and phasing out of Stephanie and Eric (God forbid)

Maybe they're just putting new rugs in. :lol: :lol:

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Let me apologize in advance for this rant.

I share everyone's concerns. Is this going to be shaky-cam? Is this going to be filmlook? Is this going to be new 'edgy' sets with loud music? Is this going to be played by lots of pretty, vapid people with few skills...and little tie to history? (Hey, the vapid-and-pretty defines this show since 1987 :) ).

Clearly, this is not going to give us more Lesli Kay or Winsor Harmon on our screens.

ON THE OTHER HAND...I have been unable to watch for weeks. I simply can no longer watch grizzled, angry Ronn Moss. I loved Kelly Lang, but goodness is her schtick old. Jack Wagner looks old and tired. Flannery is being phased out, and her absence is felt. The main story now is about DEMENTIA using an actress we never saw before (and character who has not been a viable onscreen character since the 80s). This is after a long run of terminal abdominal cancer, drunken hit-and-runs, alcoholism, meltdowns of key characters, confronting one's elderly mother about one's abused childhood, rape, shooting, insanity, suicide, and terminal heart conditions. This is darker and more melodramatic and more eye-rolling than anything. The endless litany of 40- and 50-somethings playing characters with adolescent sensibilities, morality, and capability for commitment are.... Promising entertainers (Lesli Kay, Heather Thom, and Eileen Davidson) languish or are mis-used in high-concept stories that are reminiscent of 1930s/1940s women's films. That's fine--but you can't build a whole show unendingly on this dreck.

I sit here, in my 40s, and even _I_ feel this show is stagnant and over-populated with the older generation. The show has failed to bring along a viable younger generation in forever. There WAS promise with Sean Kanan and Adrienne Frantz...but shockingly this was squandered when the creative team got bored.

So, I _do_ feel the show needs reinvention and new characters/stories. On the other hand, every single "reinvention" at B&B has failed. There was the "diversity" experiment, where Paulo Bendetto and Lilly Melgar and George Alvarez were introduced. How long did that last? There was last summer's "Boldface Records" undending tripe. Appealing performers have been introduced throughout history (most recently, folks like Ben Hogetsyn and Mykel Shannon Jenkins), only to wither on the vine. Stellar infusions by the likes of Lesley Anne Down and Joseph Mascolo have been allowed to fade out with whimpers, not bangs.

This show has been as lost as any show on daytime. It has been held afloat only by its' lead-in and its international sales and, yes, its pedigree. But, as the lead-in and the international sales decline, and the pedigree grows older and colder (we miss you, Bill Sr.!), I find B&B has less and less to offer.

So, yes, re-invention is needed...more here than anywhere else in daytime. BUT...if they do not change their EP and they do not change their HW, and they do not listen to their experienced consultants (Jack Smith and Kay Alden have left NO imprint on this show; I find NO improvement due to the Y&R writers who were added)...then there is no mechanism to bring about change or improvement.

You'll think I'm nuts here...but if any show needed Wendy Riche and Claire Labine, this is it. SERIOUSLY. For B&B has lacked a soul, an identity, commitment to characters and stories, and a direction forever. There is a reason I DVR this show nightly but cannot bring myself to watch. It is too painful. There are brief and grand glorious soapy moments (Sally weeping over Darla's dying body; Storm's suicide and the resulting transplant), interspersed with unending sap played by largely unlikeable characters.

It is time for change. I embrace it. But I am afraid if a "youth-quake" is what is going to be offered. That misses the point. PLEASE give B&B a soul.

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