B&B: Suggestions For Reviving The Ratings

[detroitpiston]

You know, it really wouldn't take much to make Brooke the new Steph. She's already meddling in her sisters, and childrens lives. They need to just take it a step further. And like someone else said, either send Steph out with a bang or just let her leave now. It's better to take the hit and rebuild then to stall for awhile and take the hit anyway cause by then you'd lose to much time you could have spent rebuilding.

[y&r_fan]

Is it because she went FiCore? Because if it is... so what? SOMEONE needed to keep the show going during the strike, and who better to do that than someone who knows it as well as she does? Plus, I think most would agree that she is a better writer than Bell. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

[Y&RWorldTurner]

No, Sylph and I myself to an extent find Alden highly overrated. I'm sure Sylph will reply soon stating some of Alden's flaws.

SOAPSFOREVER has said that Alden is not a storyteller, and I agree. A lot of her actual stories sucked, but she understood the way Bill Bell structured his shows. You can be an OK writer, and not a good storyteller, if that makes sense. I think Alden fits that bill for a lot of us.

I think Alden's style is a little to dark for what B&B has been about. I personally hated the show during the strike, but the show sucks so much right now without her as HW.

Alden does not know B&B, her forte is and will always be Y&R. She grew up as a writer on Y&R, not B&B. I'm not saying I want her back at Y&R either, her solo Head Writing stint at Y&R was highly hit and miss for me.

[y&r_fan]

I agree that her solo stint at Y&R was very overrated. Come to think of it, her stories move at an agonisingly slow pace. But I still think she is better than Bell. During the strike, characters actually started calling Brooke out on her constant waffling between Ridge and Nick, whereas before, it was dismissed as the norm, and we also got the long-awaited Bridget/Brooke confrontation. Also, I don't think Bell would ever have done anything like the Pam storyline. IMO, it wasn't until Alden joined as co-HW that the show finally started to pick up, after 2-3 years of writing that was just plain lazy. She reinvigorated several characters, and brought some long-backburnered cast members to the forefront.

Alden has her weaknesses, but she also has her strengths. Bell mainly has weaknesses. Come to think of it, I would rather have Jack Smith as HW and Alden as co-HW.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Alden isn't Co-HW, she's an Associate Head Writer, she has very little creative say in any of the stories going on right now.

[DaytimeFan]

It's off topic but anyone who thinks that Brad Bell wasn't writing during the strike is kidding themselves. Rain1 confirmed it, I noticed no difference pre, during and post strike...the show had Brad written all over it. And that's FINE, I for one applaud those who went Fi Core, daytime is in a precarious state and doesn't need any form of interruption and at least those who went Fi Core admitted that they weren't tolerating the strike because let's face it the strike was a disaster all around. Brad Bell wanted to do an independent contract with the WGA like Letterman did but couldn't make it happen. So he scabbed, so what, it's his show and he didn't fire any of his writers.

Looking back it's clear that Alden had her hits and misses at Y&R during her solo run. That being said, I have to wonder how much of a 'solo' run it actually was...Alden herself admits to being a 'worker bee' rather than the Queen of all she surveys so it stands to reason that Bill Bell knew it as well and provided her with a lot of input (he was obviously still in relatively good health from 1998-2001, the solo run of Alden). Essentially, I think Alden was the best HW, aside from Bill Bell, that Y&R was ever going to get because she understood the structure perfectly and the structure of the show was what set it apart from the rest of the pack. Jack Smith appeared to be the 'storyteller' and he had Alden to ensure the structure of the storyline so he worked out pretty well too...then of course there was LML, when she had Smith and Alden working with her things seemed promising, there was change, but it seemed tolerable...then on her own the whole damn thing fell apart. For better or for worse Alden is a necessary part of Y&R, not necessarily as HW, but perhaps as a script editor (the job she's doing now at B&, structural consultant or consulting producer, the sooner Sony/CBS/Bell realizes and admits it the better off Y&R will be.

Back to topic: if Susan Flannery is indeed planning to leave in the not so distant future then she should be written off with a BANG by the end of November sweeps. Her exit should be one that reboots B&B to a certain extent, perhaps Stephanie does something totally heinous to Brooke or Donna, something that pushes Brooke from the victim role to that of the villain. However she exits things should NOT be good between Stephanie and Brooke, it just wouldn't lead anywhere. Brooke, all along, has been fighting her desire to be Stephanie and Stephanie has been fighting the fact that she sees much of herself in Brooke. It's twisted, it's very Bill Bell, it's witchcraft...or bitchcraft.

[arcibaldo]

change all daytime slot for example Y&R at 7 pm so first soap B&B 12:30 with 1 hour so more charatter and story for B&B.

Spectra fashon with Jackie, Nick and Brooke and Ridge so Nick vs Ridge and Spectra vs Forrester .

a cross over Y&R David Tom as Billy Abbott and Beth Maitland ( Traci Abbott). i love Tracy and Thorne .

a family Owen with dad and brother

[David V]

Smith and Alden were far from perfect at Y&R but compared to LML? The way I see it, even after Bell retired from HW duties he remined behind the scenes and that meant that the show didn't deviate from his vision overall- furthermore, Smith and Alden learned their craft under Bell. Only after Bell's death did we begin to see a deviation from what Y&R was, and even then only when LML took over.

[Sylph]

Sorry, late to the party! But yes - she needs to go!

[nicknack]

1.) Get rid of Clarke and Jackie. They are the characters who contribute least to the show. They are a waste of space. Spetra is dead. Accept it.

2.) Instead bring on a new designer a la Grant. Ruthless. Ambitious. Starts as a designer at Forrester. Sabotages them and screws them over, seduces their women and then breaks off to create his own company. Maybe he could even come with his own later revealed ambitious Stephanie like mom.

3.) Brooke doesn't work as the new Stephanie. What made Stephanie work was that her sway over her children was believable. Brooke doesn't have any believable sway over her children. Why not have Pam succeed in snagging Eric and make her the new matriarch for a while? And if really necessary, Ridge as the new Stephanie and Brooke as the new Eric works much better. They could start by having Ridge be violently opposed to Marcus/Steffy and scheme against them. And yes, make it a racist thing. No pussyfooting around the deal by having him claim it's because he is Donna's son (which would make him a hypocrite anyway since he is married to Brooke). On the long run (a few years from now) make Thomas the unloved "Thorne" son who fell from grace because he married a maid's daughter, make RJ the golden boy (who in a twist of irony is revealed to be Nick's after all 10 years from now so the unloved Thomas is now Ridge's only son), have him show distrust for Deacon's child Hope. There, you got yourself pletny of drama for the next generation.

4.) Consider bringing back Amber. She sucks on Y&R and last time she was on B&B she was a designer. She is one of the few people who Brad seems to like enough that I can picture him giving her a good design storyline. (maybe she could help "new Grant" in battling Forrester.

5.) There is no point in getting rid of the incestousness of the relationship. B&B just is not and is not supposed to be a professional soap like Y&R. It's a campy soap. There is no point in raping the structure of the show and try to make it something it is not. Lots of the best dynamics and storylines B&B has ever done came from the incestuous dynamics (Brooke vs. Stephanie when Brooke married Eric, Thorne vs. Ridge over Caroline, Brooke vs. Stephanie when she was dating Thorne).

6.) Nick, Bridget, Katie. All characters with no ties to the fashion concept. Consider phasing them out. On the long run Nick and Katie hook up and leave. Bridget becomes an occasionally seen supporting character.

[Sapounopera]

The show has been about Stephanie vs. Brooke and it took them years to build that dynamic. We can't expect something new to take over that easily, it takes years to create these things.

Brooke vs. Taylor has also been ruined. Taylor turned from sophisticated heroine to Sue Ellen Ewing for no reason. They should have kept Ridge and Taylor together with their grown children as the new core family and have Brooke create her own company and try to destroy FC. Think Alexis vs. Blake. But I guess it's too late for that.

The show needs a gay character. An assistant for Donna. Her partner-in-crime. Someone attractive and funny. He could be in war with Pam all the time.

Bring Marcus's father to town. A REAL bad guy, B&B hasn't had one of these, since...?? Someone who has just been released from prison, who blackmails Donna and gets involved with several other characters. Shemar Moore, Jason Winston George, Keith Hamilton Cobb could play the part.

I think Bridget should have a nervous breakdown. Nick and Katie would raise Jack together, Bridget would be in a sanitarium, sneak out from time to time and become more like Heather Webber from GH or early-Kay from Y&R. This could last for years. Dr. Mark McLaine could return as part of this storyline.

C.J. Garrison should also return as the owner of the Insomnia. With another character playing the part.

Donna vs. Felicia? Felicia getting involved with Marcus's dangerous daddy?

Owen in love with Donna, but prepared to marry Steffy in order to become part of the Forrester clan?

[JamesF]

I do agree with this. I don't think the Spectra idea needs to be dead. Any rival could have that scrappy mentality but Clarke and Jackie are not dynamic characters. In fact when I think about it, it astounds me that Lesley Anne Down has been with the show for five years. She's an incredibly weak character and if they want someone in that age bracket who can do the "bitch goddess" thing, then they need to seriously consider giving her salary to someone else. I still think that Lauren Koslow as Margo could add something to the show. Of course now Bradley's decided to take 20 years of Beth's age, it becomes a little difficult to justify.

I've got to disagree there I'm afraid. The stories you mention are all from 10 years ago + and now it's to such an extreme, nobody could deny it's just lazy writing and another symptom of Brad's inability to revitalise the show. Rick/Taylor, Ridge/Bridget, Rick/Phoebe, Nick/Bridget/Katie. It's all boring and very very confusing for viewers to keep track of and the beats aren't even played anymore. Nobody on the show seems to bat an eyelid about how ridiculous the Nick/Bridget/Katie triangle actually is.

[nicknack]

I don't suggest keeping the same characters pairing up. I'm just saying it's a decent concept for the new generation to follow. There is not question that the old characters need to be taken out of rotation. But there is nothing wrong with the structure for B&B as a show.

And a lot of the storylines you named would be even more boring if there wasn't the scandal factor around it. Rick/Phoebe was gross and boring (always thought the character of Phoebe was a twit) and the only thing interesting about it was that it got Ridge and Brooke arguing. Rick/Taylor actually had some promise and led to some good old fashioned Brooke/Taylor fun (actually if Rick and Taylor married, maybe that could create a good rivalry between them again since Brooke would be the mother in law in this case; have them intangled in business ways or even by living in the same house).

Ridge/Bridget, I agree that was gross. No doubt about it. And thankfully nixed soon.

And the problem of Bridget/Nick/Katie isn't that it's incestuous, it's that it's boring and the characters are overexposed and shoved down our throats. Say what you will about Brooke and Taylor, but at least they have earned their place in the spotlight. Katie hasn't.

For a lot of people B&B works because it is about tightly interlaced families. IMO if somebody wants to watch a show more about unconnected ambitious people they should watch Y&R. The business storylines on B&B worked only because of the family connections and the personal factor.

Brooke and Ridge doing it on the floor when she discovered BeLieF. Brooke finally getting her comeupperance when she took the company away from the Forresters. Brooke marrying Grant and giving him power over the company. Brooke's lingerie line mainly there to put Ridge and Brooke into suggestive situations. Kimberly's dress being torn off on the runway because of sabotage. Eric pretending to be in love with Sally and pretending to want to marry her for business reasons. All the "Forrester spawn wants to prove their design abbilities" storylines.

B&B has never been about hard nosed business storylines. Could there be/should there be more glamour? Sure. But keep the emotional connection. Because most of the time the poor business takeover storylines (like all the shuffling around Marone industries) were mindnumblingly boring.

[Khan]

I wouldn't phase out all the Forresters and Logans, but I would add a new, third family of have-nots that reflects L.A.'s true diversity. (Actually, if I did take over B&B, I'd go in a more Raymond Chandler-esque direction, featuring (in addition to some Forresters and Logans) a variety of African-American, Latino, Chinese, Hollywood and old-money types.)

[nicknack]

IMO, they should bring on Marcus' (black) Foster parents. Put them in conflict with the rest.