BOLD Twist: Kay Alden promoted to B&B head writer!

[YRBB]

I'm sorry you feel that way. I was just trying to comment on the comments about Brad handling both Y&R and B&B that were made earlier. Then there were claims that William J. Bell could do both. But none of the current HWs really seem to be able to handle one show, let alone two.

[Cat]

I agree. Of all the EPs/HWs out there, Bradley Bell has barely the attention span to even do one show -- and a half-hour show at that.

I'm going to wait and see how Kay Alden's co-tenure starts to pan out. However, as much as I rejoiced at her bringing the Logans on as a counter-balance to the Forresters, I have been deeply disappointed by the killing off of Storm (which was obviously a ploy to put B&B into contention for Best Show at next year's Emmys). B&B could make an amazing spin-off with all the great secondary characters they refuse to use in favor of the usual Ridge/Nick hard-on (Grant, how I loved thee! Morgan, Becky, Pearce, Whip, Deacon, Storm, Felicia, Ashley, Thorne... the list will undoubtedly go on).

I am also not thrilled reading about Alden's sniffy attitude towards B&B in that MIT conference. But... I will try to keep an open mind. Perhaps Jack Smith will eventually see a promotion?

[Sylph]

It wasn't a malevolent post on my part.

I, too, agree that Brad shouldn't be given both shows. He needs to take a break, for a year at least. But that doesn't mean Kay Alden should write for B&B.

Brad needs lessons in subtlety, drama and a few other things. But I still like him a lot.

[Cat]

ITA. I loved Meg Bennett's stint on Sunset Beach. But she was not a good fit for B&B.

Brooke & Ridge were her Ben & Meg -- even though they had just been broken up by Ridge's waffling affair with "She's my sister AND my daughter!" BRIDGET. Brooke had just dumped him at the altar! But Meg put them back together as if Sicket had never happened. Then they had some sub-GH adventure in some Latin American country (Porto Carlos? No, Porto Vista) where they get married in Mayan tribal gear.

Then Ridge got kidnapped by Helena Cassadine and Heather Lars Webber Criminal Mastermind Sheila and Sugar.

Then Rigid fell into a fiery furnace.

Then Brooke and Nick had that old GH standby, "grief sex," on the floor of the foundary, right where Ridge had been crispy fried.

Then Ridge miraculously returned from the dead. Barf.

Then Brooke & Ridge had sex on the Forrester private jet. Then we had a year of Whose The Daddy?

Then I lost the will to LIVE.

[MarkH]

Those boys had some serious chest action goin' on then!

Can I say I LOVED that story (up to the grief sex). I had no spoilers, and I SERIOUSLY thought they had killed off Ronn Moss for a while. This was when there as all this hinting that he'd quit the show and move to Australia, so I figured he'd disappear, and reappear years later--either recast or "post Sheila" in some form.

I was therefore equally shocked when he turned up a few days later.

[Cat]

I did think the Aztec wedding was B&B camp at its most hilarious. Needling die-hard Bridgefans with its campiness, perhaps?

And if the show had cut Ronn Moss loose at that particular point, then I definitely would not have minded the far-fetched adventure setting, or even Sheila whipping out a blue-eyed baby from under her cloak and claiming it was Massimo's! (both Mass and Sheila have brown eyes).

But the fact was, Ridge showed up two episodes after the foundary boink. More than that, I thought the story was rushed out of nowehere and completely contrived. I don't know whether it was at the behest of Jack Wagner in order to make B&B a little more Action Man-oriented, or whether Meg fell back on what she knew best.

Or maybe to divide the loud-mouthed Brooke fans into Bridgies and Brickies? Or perhaps it was also a way to draw a line under the Ridge/Bridget hideousness and never mention it again? Either way, it triggered one of the show's most drawn-out, soul-sucking SLs as a pregnant Brooke boohooed over Ridge and Nick every week.

[Sylph]

But was Meg just the wedding?

[sheilaforever]

We already touched on this issue: writing a soap is a collaborative issue unless your name is Bill Bell and you write it for five years single-handledly and together with some college student called Kay...

WE never know for sure who came up with what idea of what we then get to se on-screen. And as Meg Bennett was a storyline consultant she definitely was hired to pitch. Out of this pool of 2 years of B&B, she consulted on, this one story just stood out. As Cat said: Hello GH replica material, hello Meg! (Similiar thing happened when Patrick Mulcahey came to B&B, it was evident that part of his hiring was the liberty to pen Stphanie's faked heart attack)

The other stories B&B told 2002-2004 all involved characters - non core-Forresters - Meg never knew because she was only on the show from 1987-1989. She sure worked on other stories during her last tenure but I can just associate her with one that didn't really impress me to say the least...

[Sylph]

My reactions: spot on (you cannot blame Meg) and puhleeez (Mulcahey - the attack, Meg - "GH replica material"). So if you cannot accuse Meg with certainty, don't speak.

[Cat]

Well, this is a forum where we can debate issues -- any issues -- pertaining to the soaps. I don't know Meg Bennett personally, I don't mix with the world of TV and script writers, I don't have an "in" with Bradley Bell. However, I am still allowed to post, I trust? And make suppositions based on some fairly logical rationales?

My feeling -- judging from Meg Bennett's tenures at Sunset Beach and her link with GH writers with whom she honed her craft way back when they were part of the Santa Barbara brain trust -- led me to suppose that she had a hand in this very uncharacteristic (for B& SL. Not only that but at a pro-Brooke board I used to post at (Miss B's -- now defunct, sadly), there was a soap mag article posted just before the Mayan Wedding & Bar-B-Q where Meg herself supposedly trilled about how excited she was about the "supercouple" known as Brooke and Ridge. Yes, the consultant herself was quoted and that doesn't usually happen. Bradley mostly does all the talking.

[MarkH]

Non-sequitur: Would you still join a "pro-Brooke" board if it existed? Sadly, I would not...not for some time now.

[Cat]

No. It was a fun board with some ballsy posters but the Brookie fanbase wars destroyed it. People who had been friends for years turned against each other with nastiness and alacrity. All over who Brooke should be with: Ridge or Nick? It wasn't worth the hassle. luckily I found SON where I could just post about the show without having to undergo Stalinist questionning about "hidden agendas".